Reka designs a tween bedroom to grow into

Reka Thornton’s family loves to live life in a joyful kaleidoscope of pastel colours so when it came to decorating her daughter Lily’s attic bedroom, the colour palette was a given. Combining lilac with pink and mint and a grounding wood design floor with a crisp clean finish, Reka has created a dream room that will effortlessly evolve with her daughter over the coming years.

A timeless purple aesthetic

Reka explained: “Lily’s favourite colour is purple so it was no surprise that the brief for her new bedroom was a ‘purple aesthetic room’!”

Being an attic room, the largest surface is the sloping ceiling so Reka decided to use a bold wallpaper here and coordinate with painted walls. She and Lily chose a statement wallpaper with wide stripes in lavender and mint and a pale lilac paint for the end walls.

Reka offered this advice when choosing paint to accompany bold wallpaper: “It may make sense to colour match the paper but you don’t want the whole room to be overpowering. You want the wallpaper to stand out. You do this by choosing paint in a paler version of the wallpaper colour.”

Floor Installed: Texas White Ash

When it came to the flooring, Reka turned to her Instagram community @reka_thornton_home for help choosing between three Palio Express wood designs before selecting Texas White Ash from the Korlok range. With its elegant light tones and natural grain details, the flooring brings a warm neutral base to the pastel colour scheme. By laying the planks across the room, Reka has introduced a sense of width which makes the small bedroom appear larger.

Korlok is the ideal choice for kid’s rooms

Easy to fit without the need for specialist tools and suitable for slightly uneven floors, Korlok is perfect for DIYers. The rigid core planks have an innovative click-locking mechanism, snapping together quickly and securely. What’s more, a pre-attached acoustic backing means that sound transfer to the room below is reduced by 21dB so there’s no need for a separate underlay to ensure your home remains peaceful.

Reka said: “To say that I’m in awe of Palio Express flooring is an understatement. There are many reasons I am so glad we chose a Korlok floor, from its beautiful authentic look and quick fitting to being low maintenance and water resistant. I don’t have to dread the kids spilling their drinks as cleaning up is a breeze.

“The flooring was super simple to install; we completed the whole room in just 45 minutes! Because this is a new loft conversion, we covered the 5mm expansion gap around the edges with skirting boards, but otherwise we could have used the colour matched scotia.”

A labour of love

The lavender colour scheme is calming and relaxing, ideal to help children sleep, but can also aid concentration which will be important as Lily grows up and needs a quiet space for homework.

By adding plenty of storage, a practical desk and some cute accessories, including a colourful handmade mirror and a beaded chandelier, Reka has created a gentle haven that will effortlessly stand up to the demands of childhood yet is also sophisticated enough to mature with Lily through her teenage years.

Reka said: “This room has been a labour of love for sure. I made sure when I designed it that I included every element Lily had dreamt of. Putting striped wallpaper on the ceiling was so hard, and I wouldn’t recommend attempting to do alone as I did! But now I’m delighted with the effect and Lily couldn’t be happier.”

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