2: felicia carisa erik

Felicia

The room is stylish and functional. The headboard and the bed (with its storage drawers and side tables) are really wonderful innovations. The look is a very nice design for a more mature, intellectual adolescent boy's room.

However, it does feel a bit like a hotel/upscale dorm room. Some of the problems are due to the fact that they didn't tell designers that this was going to be a kid's room. Other problems are more generic. The desk chair looks uncomfortable (but I could be wrong on that) and there isn't a light on the desk. The desk is too small -- as well as being practical a larger desk would have filled some of that large empty space in the middle. And where are the bookshelves?

In terms of design, I like the bike outline but that makes it feel more like a dorm room. Why wouldn't he put his bike in the garage? The bike hanger would be cool if he had a special vintage bike that he didn't ride but wanted to display.

She didn't seem to be able to grasp where this kid was coming from. She probably sat at the cool kids table and doesn't know anything about the lives of dorks. (If this room's kid is reading this -- or his family: I'm just joking. And I married a physicist & cyclist -- who played chess as a kid -- who is very cool. Although I am a total dork.)

Seriously, where are the bookshelves? Kids who play chess also tend to be readers.

Actually, I'm concerned about the lack of bookshelves in most of the rooms. Have we reached the point where there is no need for bookshelves because kids no longer read books? Just shoot me now.

Go team Tasty & Delicious!

Carisa

This room is pretty astonishing when you think about the fact that Carisa is still just a student. She has some remarkably great instincts. That bed/headboard/desk is a terrific design. And she has a very vibrant sense of color. These colors are risky for an adult's room and somewhat sophisticated for a child. It works because of the brightness and energy and the light wood and plants provide a more calming element. Furthermore, depending upon accessories this room could be great for a young child or an adult.

As I mentioned in my discussion of the pink rooms, I've been surprised by the lack of innovation in the designers' use of color. (And if Goil does another stark white room he is going on my "to be latered" list!!!)

Those ropes are not strong enough for climbing -- a hammock might have been a better but the ropes are a gesture towards a really good idea. I think it would be great to get some actual (safe and tested) children's climbing equipment and put it in the room: the kinds of things that athletic kids like to have at home to do pull ups and other exercises. A small climbing wall could be fun, but that would have required going to a specialty store.

I think this room has the best use of space. It doesn't have a yawning space in the middle the way that so many of the other rooms do. She doesn't have more furniture she just uses what she has to create a wonderful sense of balance. And that bed/desk design is brilliant.

Erik

It isn't all that pleasing to the eye in the way that other rooms are but in the end, when it comes to kids, fun and imagination trumps everything else. Their bedrooms are their retreats, their sanctuaries. (Maybe Erik should have designed a pirate room for Alexis Arquette??!!) Sure it would be more practical to create a room that would transition better into adolescence, but everything in our culture is forcing kids to grow up faster and faster. Let him have a few more years to be a pirate. He has the rest of his life to be into fly-fishing and to decorate with antique maps and old decoys.

All you had to do was look at the face of the kid when he was in this room and you knew that Erik had hit the jackpot. He was in heaven. You could see that Erik was able to really connect with the kid. He quickly discovered what the boy really wanted to be: not a fisherman but a pirate. But of course! Naturally.

That kid quality in Erik is cute (yes, he's adorable) but his rich imagination is a key element in both his skill and his talent. Watching Erik switch gears and reconfigure the room was impressive: and that was a major redesign. He and the carpenter must have built most of the furniture themselves.

And for the record, it is a practical room. There is storage. There is a good desk. My one comment is that the rug is nice but it might be more pirate-y folded up on the end of the bed to be used as a tarp in a storm, matey.