Matilda’s Whimsical Bedroom

June 2, 2022
BY Kate Rabbitt

This whimsical bedroom belongs to 3 year-old Matilda, a bright, bubbly and imaginative girl. Matilda’s room is vintage-inspired, with a delicate green, floral wallpaper. Designed by Jemma Johnson, a stylist and photographer from Western Australia, this bedroom is beautifully warm, inviting and a calm space for her daughter to play and rest.

It is an exciting milestone when your child is ready to move from a nursery with a cot to their big girl or boy room with a bed. For the child, it is when they start to gain more freedom in how they use the room, while for the parents, it is an opportunity to invest in helping their evolving little human use the space in a mindful manner.

For Matilda ‘Milly’ her new room just had to be green and Mum, Jemma Johnson of Styled By Jemma, more than succeeded with the custom-designed wallpaper from Minnie and Me Interiors. Jemma asked for the ‘Milly’ wallpaper to be a delicate floral on a sea-green background. The result is a stunning motif that is modern yet will age gracefully as Matilda grows up. Jemma explains, “I wanted to create a room that Milly loves now, but one that is classic and will also suit her as a pre-teen and even as a teenager.” The bonus is that the wallpaper is removable and reusable so if the Johnsons ever move house, they can take it with them!

The choice of bed is all-important, being the raison d’être of a bedroom. Jemma took her time in choosing Matilda’s bed to ensure it set the vintage tone she was aspiring to. The Macy bed from Village Little Interiors is a work of art and an heirloom in the making. “It’s so special knowing that each piece of Matilda’s bed was hand-cut, joined and hand-turned. In a world where so much is made by machinery, it gladdens me to know we have such a special piece of furniture created by the hands of skilled artisans from my hometown of Perth WA”, says Jemma.

When selecting other colours for the room Jemma wanted contrast to the green but in a way that created cosiness and warmth. Enter the caramel tones of the Rumi and Fae French Oak wooden hook rack, rust tones from the Pop Ya Tot canopy and tan of the Ohh Happy Home Cotton Berber washable rug. To complement the colour palette and continue the feminine theme, Jemma chose the chalk Bonne Mere pillow and bedspread set from Willow and Reign with its beautiful, scalloped detailing.

Jemma was purposeful in her design, wanting to promote imaginative play and make it a technology-free zone. To encourage Matilda to interact with the space this way, Jemma took care in keeping the space open for fun and relaxation. “Milly will often curl up and look through her favourite books or play with the antique dollhouse I upcycled for her. What both Matilda and I love is that she can be in here independently, or we can be doing something together which was a challenge considering the room size”, explains Jemma.

Being realistic about what can be achieved in a room is a hurdle for every design. Blocking out the noise of so much choice and honing the vision is a process which often benefits from some expert help. Jemma has found that her dual skillset of interior styling as well as product photography and videography has given her ‘snapshot vision’ where she can see each part of the room as an image yet can link these images together to achieve cohesiveness and a story that makes sense. For Matilda, her story was all about the calm of green whilst taking you on a whimsical European jaunt. “Milly loves her room and so do I. It is a space which invites her in to make childhood memories which she’ll recall fondly as she grows up”, confirms Jemma.