Before and After: A Designer Puts Together a Poolside-Meets-Preppy Teen Room
Written by Danielle Blundell | View Article
The transition from middle school to high school — and from tween to teenager — often calls for a little bit of bedroom redecorating. For Texas-based designer Sara Johnson of Sara Johnson Interiors, a full makeover was actually in order. Her 14-year-old client (and her parents, of course) was looking for a more grown-up sleep space equally equipped for studying solo and hanging with friends. The challenges were mostly architectural ones, namely the size and shape of the space. “This room has unique angles, as it is a second-floor attic conversion,” says Johnson of the project, located in a historic Highland Park, Dallas-area home. “There were some awkward areas that we felt we could capture to add additional storage and useful spaces. It also lacked a cohesive look and feel.”
The design process started like any other. Johnson gave her client a questionnaire, and they kicked off the work by sourcing a Gray Malin photograph together. That artwork then became the springboard for a poolside-meets-preppy look that would pack plenty of utility with built-in storage throughout the space and zones for different activities. Color would come through a handful of bespoke furnishings and special design details, which Johnson worked to source locally where possible. “We love using local vendors,” she says. “This allows us creative control, and honestly, it often allows for a shortened lead time and less room for error.”
To ready the room for all the newness to come, the walls got a fresh coat of Sherwin-Williams’ Intimate White (SW-6322), a whisper-light pink. Maximizing the function of the space would be an art of fitting things into its compact layout and interesting roofline, so Johnson decided to work the perimeter of the room to make the most of its footprint. She added a custom pink daybed that mimics the room’s A-frame shape; that way, she could nestle it right up against one of the room’s shorter walls horizontally, where it projects less into space. This also gives the room more of a hangout vibe, since, to guests, it has the appearance of a sofa versus a traditional bed. Additional space was saved here with wall-mounted sconces for reading and recessed niches that serve as makeshift nightstands. Paired with Wayfair slipper chairs — reupholstered in inexpensive, room-coordinating fabric — a mirrored side table makes for a glamorous little reading area.
While the room has a closet (the doors were just changed from a generic shuttered style to the millwork-forward design pictured here), Johnson knew keeping the space super-streamlined visually would make it appear larger. So she commissioned a built-in wardrobe, which runs along one of the room’s long walls. “We designed a beautiful custom wardrobe with lovely glass doors featuring gathered textiles behind the glass and brass hardware, topped off with simple sconces flanking the sides,” says Johnson. “This design allowed us to offer the client much-needed space without taking up the much-needed square footage. A client/designer win-win!”
