Room of the Day: Color Energizes a Texas Playroom

This Frisco, Texas, playroom was “blank, cold and barren, and I wanted to make it cheery, warm and welcoming,” says Dona Rosene. Her clients, who found her via Houzz, have a young son and daughter, who kept them too busy to finish the decorating themselves. “My clients had begun to decorate, but after three years of living in the house, they had only had the leather sofa, the media unit, the toys and a play table,” Rosene says. That left a lot of white walls and empty space.

Working with what they already had, she balanced shrewd splurges on special fabrics with inexpensive scores from stores like HomeGoods and Pier 1 Imports. The result is a colorful, cozy and inviting room that inspires creative play and family gatherings.

Photos by Michael Hunter

Rosene began by dressing up the family’s leather sofa with color and pattern. She splurged on a Kravet bargello fabric for custom throw pillows finished off with lime fringe. She then pulled her color palette from the woven fabric.

Her next key fabric choice was an exuberant suzani pattern for the ottoman. Note the way the scale of the fabric fits the large piece, and the skillful way the upholsterers placed the pattern over its octagonal form. She repeated the colorful fabric on the window valance, connecting one end of the room to the other.

The two Scandinavian rockers close out a comfortable seating area within the large room. They were a lucky find at HomeGoods and are covered in a tweedy chenille fabric that has hues of orange mixed in with the red. The colorful butterfly pillow was a Pier 1 score.

Bargello pillow fabric: Kravet Couture 28931, color 1619


The ottoman was a worthwhile splurge, not only in terms of the striking visual impact but also in terms of function. “My clients tell me that the ottoman is the most used piece of furniture in the room,” Rosene says. “They tell me it serves as a jungle gym, a sofa, a chair and a table.”

She special ordered the piece from CR Laine, had it upholstered in the Robert Allen suzani-inspired fabric and finished off with lime green velvet cording and nickel upholstery nails. The fabric is a flax and rayon blend that can stand up to a lot of wear and tear.

The existing cabinetry houses all of the media as well as board games, books and toys. Rosene added colorful touches like a picture frame made out of colored pencils.

Paint: Ryegrass 6423, Sherwin-Williams


This end of the room is where creativity thrives, thanks to paints, crayons, a table and an easel. The wet bar was existing but empty; Rosene styled it up with colorful accessories, and now it handily holds juice boxes and snacks.

She replaced the existing wooden blinds with woven grass ones, adding another interesting and warm texture to the mix. “They are organic, and they let the light filter through,” she says. The wall-to-wall carpet was existing, and everyone agreed it was best to keep it, because of all the tumbling around the kids do in the room.


White walls were probably the biggest factor in making the room feel cold and unwelcoming. Rosene remedied that with deep lime-green paint that continues up the walls to the ceiling. “The color is just so happy,” she says. “I used it on the ceiling to bring it down and warm things up.”

Metal flowers and a giant ampersand are playful touches that stand up to the large scale of the wall. The ampersand is magnetic. “I thought this would be a good spot for the children to hang up their art projects,” Rosene says.

The playroom’s design will accommodate the kids as they outgrow crayons and move on to movie-night slumber parties. Homework desks can one day replace the play table, so the cheerful space will carry them all the way through to college.

Ampersand, flowers: The Sample House and Candle Shop; black side table, green table lamps: HomeGoods

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