Room of the Day: Creativity Takes Flight in a Girls’ Bedroom

When Joanna Glick’s clients wanted to reorder spaces and have their daughters share a room, the designer knew she had to make it good. The new room is on the lower level of the house, and the girls hadn’t shared a space before — a massive sea change for the under-6 set. “In order to get them to sleep there, I had to create an enticing room where they would want to be,” Glick says.

Photos by John Woodcock

Room at a Glance
Who sleeps here: Sisters Kendyl (age 5) and Remi (3)
Location: Gilbert, Arizona
Size: 121 square feet (11 square meters)
Designer’s advice: If you want kids to share a room peacefully, make it fun. “I do everything I can to make shared rooms feel more like a slumber party,” says Glick.


“I like to start each room with what I call a lead,” says Glick, a principal at J&J Design Group. “It is usually an element with colors that hold the whole space together.”

In this case it was fanciful butterfly wallpaper that was created by an artist. “She hand paints the butterflies and then has them printed on wallpaper,” says Glick. “I asked her to enlarge the insects, and I chose the ones I wanted to use.”

Once the headboard wall was fluttering with winged creatures, the adjacent wall seemed vacant. “I didn’t want to leave it white; it didn’t seem like enough. But I didn’t want to add art, either — there’s already a lot going on in the room,” says Glick. The answer was to pull a teal color from the wallpaper and use it as a horizontal stripe.

The designer layered on other lovable elements, such as classic Jenny Lind beds in a raspberry hue and throw pillows with a silhouette that looks a lot like that of Ruby, the beloved family dog.

Wallpaper: J&J Design Group; beds: Jenny Lind, The Land of Nod


Glick redesigned the existing double closet using Ikea cabinetry and drawers for a kid-friendly configuration.

The idea for day-of-the-week drawers came from her personal experience. “I work full-time, and it often falls to my husband, a babysitter or grandparents to get my girls ready in the morning,” she says. “Their father was often at a loss when it came to putting outfits together, so I came up with these drawers. When I do laundry, I bundle outfits together with rubber bands and drop them in the right day. I also slip in any extras they will need, like clothes for dance lessons. Whoever is getting them ready doesn’t have to think about it.”


The designer used a Cricut (a home die-cutting machine) to make labels for Monday through Friday, the weekend, pajamas, socks and underwear.


It’s the details that make the difference in this room. Glick found this vintage dresser and painted it a deep blue. She outfitted it with vintage hardware and then hand painted the gold trim around the upper handles.


Pillows with brightly colored tassels beckon little heads (and fingers).

Who says it’s a pain to share a room?

Pillow: Anthropologie

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