A family of four we are visiting today lives in North-Rhine Westphalia, Germany in a spacious house with raw finishes. Matteo is almost eight years old, and Emmy will soon turn two. Their mum Mirja is a sales manager for an international fashion brand but doesn’t hold a secret her passion for interior design.
It all started when she was a young girl. With their blessing and full-hearted support, every weekend when Mirja’s parents went for a walk, she would completely rearrange her room.
“Up till today, I am stuck with this habit. During the weekends when the kids are with their friends, I simply love to take a little time for myself in order to think of new concepts for different rooms of our house. While doing that, Instagram became a fun hobby of mine. My husband would describe me as a perfectionist. It always takes me so much time and so many tries till I am satisfied with a picture, that I’m ready to upload,” Mirja explains.
Emmy’s room is all about the cosiness. Mirja is a lover of structure and a clear design:
“A room should always give you space to breathe and think. Less is often more.”
She prefers to invest in quality over quantity, so Emmy doesn’t get new toys very often. But as she used to do with her own room while she was growing up, Mirja enjoys making changes in her kids’ rooms too.
“I love theme-worlds, which enable my kids to get creative and motivate them to role-play in order to support their imagination. That is why I try to create new experiences for them as often as possible. Also, I am obsessed with storage boxes for Schleichtiere, Duplo and Kapla. They simply facilitate the cleanup for everyone and at the same time bring a clean structure to the room,” Mirja points out.
To get her creative juices flowing, Mirja loves connecting with creatives of all sorts and, of course, discovering new perspectives on her regular Pinterest searches. But there is one thing that fuels her inspiration above everything else:
“Still, I’d say that my biggest inspiration is my daughter. She has a huge impact on me. I am inspired by her reactions, her smiles, and her feelings. Every day she gives me new signals with her behavior and what she shows interest in. That is what I try to implement into the concept of her room.”
Even though the average kid’s room in a German new built family home is somewhere around eleven square meters, to provide them with more space to grow, Emmy’s and Matteo’s parents went for seventeen square meters. But Mirja stresses that it is still it is quite tough to arrange obligatory elements (like storage-space), toys and creativity in a harmonic way.
Her favourite thing about Emmy’s room is, obviously, the pink wardrobe:
“It simply shines through with its color and ornaments. When you enter the room it really spreads a cosy atmosphere.”
But Emmy’s favourite piece is most definitely the play-kitchen with the little table in front of it, and she is obsessed with developing new recipes in it.
Mirja admits that she is usually too impatient to indulge in DIY projects, but with a few exceptions:
“I was extremely proud of my son when he asked me to repaint Emmy’s wardrobe and the wall in her room. We had so much fun together on that project.”
Take Mirja’s word on this:
“Don´t be afraid of changes, and especially not of colors.
Don’t hesitate to perhaps swing the paintbrush yourself when it comes to repainting items or walls.
Don´t be afraid to combine old and new. Even if it is an old furniture piece or an old toy, both can give a room individuality and a unique character.”
SOURCE LIST
Wardrobe : vintage I Playkitchen : Woodchuck I Table, chair and bench : NoFred I Elephant chair – Eo I Horse wallpaper : Fermliving I Seesaw/rocker : Vanbu kids I Ccanopy, garlands : Numero74 I Droplet garland : Velveteen babies I Basket : Olli Ella I Prints : Pax and Hart I Crown – Suussies I Bookshelf : IKEA I Bedlinens : Swedish linens I House cushion : Camomile London I Star cushion : Numero 74 I Folding crates : Aykasa I Secret friend bunty: Lucky Boy Sunday I Cubbie bag : Tellkiddo I Bunny lamp: Miffy I Drum : Acne JR I Wooden toys: Timureva , Flexa World, Grimm’s , Ooh Noo, Le Toy Van, Wooden Story, Ostheimer
