A rockin’ room

Designing a teenager’s room can be challenging. Teens change their likes and dislikes, current acceptable styles, and which hobbies they are into very quickly. So a teen room must keep up with a teen’s mindset and be easily reinvented when necessary. Ginger Curtis, President of Urbanology Designs in North Richland Hills, a suburb of Fort Worth, Texas, starts out by interviewing the teen to find out exactly what they want in their room. Then she translates what the teen is looking to do into something wonderful—acceptable to the parents and exciting to the teen.

“We begin with neutrals,” explains Curtis. “So the room can grow with the teen. Then we add pops of color and style accents to make the room interesting.” These touches can change relatively effortlessly as his tastes change. Curtis wanted the 300-square-foot room for a fourteen-year-old young man to look pulled together, but didn’t want it to be overly theme-y. “A room doesn’t have to be overdone to be creative,” she says. “I advise not giving into the masses, but rather being more intentional by paying real attention to the individual person you are designing for.” In this case, the teen loved music and tech. Curtis was able to incorporate both aspects in a way that was not overwhelming.

Wood is an important element in the room. Curtis installed the wood floors. “They add value to a home and make the room more versatile,” she explains. “Once our teen is grown and on his own, the room can become a guest bedroom.” The bed, designed by Curtis, was custom built by a local craftsman. It is standard height, but incorporates built-in cubbies underneath with tons of storage for books and baskets full of odds and ends. Functionality was a key goal for the design. Curtis found a picture of a vintage microphone by an artist in San Francisco. The frame was handmade and stained to match the color of the bed. Wall shelves were custom built and also stained the same color. The shelves hold several classic album covers, which are some of the teen’s favorites.

The walls were painted a clean white and one wall is decorated with a “blackboard” of dark-charcoal chalk paint. The group at Urbanology used regular white chalk to create the musical notes representing some of the teen’s favorite songs. They also added some fun graphics and comments. “These can be erased and changed at any time if our teen wants,” says Curtis. “Although our teen seems to really like what we did.”

The young client loves the Beatles, so when Curtis found a Union Jack rug and coverlet, she knew she scored. “We found these items late in the design and realized they worked perfectly,” she says. They were relatively inexpensive but were a great fit for this design. The combination of the coverlet and rug make quite a statement and add a nice punch of color. Curtis found a really cool guitar holder and saved a guitar from the closet by hanging it strategically over the bed. Headphones and a microphone casually hang on one end of the headboard, while a light on an orange-red cord hangs on the opposite end. A picture of the design of a guitar is framed to the right of the bed. Prints of musical sound waves hang on the left.

Some of the furniture is from Restoration Hardware’s teen department. The gray sofa is actually a sleeper sofa, perfect for when friends stay over. Accent pillows continue the music theme and add a little color. The side table and the table holding the vintage turntable have somewhat of an industrial feel. The windows have a simple treatment with custom fold-up window shades in dark gray.

Curtis wanted to create something that would be fun and appropriate for her fourteen-year-old client, yet something that would grow with him over time. The furnishings are classic. The colors simple. The theme can be changed with some switching out of pictures and decor items. The room can easily see this young man into his college years and beyond. Written by Carolyn M. Runyon. Photography by Sesha Smith, Convey Studios.