In my role as a baby and child interior designer, I meet many amazing parents, from different cultural backgrounds. I’ve meet clients who don’t have a clue what to do with their childs room and need to be guided along they way. I meet busy parents who know exactly what they want but just need the work done. I meet parents who wants their design projects done ‘last year’; and missing the deadline is the worst thing that has ever happened to them. On the contrast this year I had the privileged to work with families who face the most difficult challenges life could throw at them. They struggle daily with many health issues, and having a day without pain is the best thing that could happen to them. Parents and carers of children on the autistic spectrum really do struggle and its always an honour when I can create a retreat for the children. Below are pictures of Jaydah’s room before the makeover:

One of the projects I worked on was Jaydah’s bedroom. Jaydah was 14 years old. At our first design consultation Jaydah refused to speak with me, her mother tried to coerce her to speak to me but she went to hide upstairs. After my consutation with Jaydah’s mum, I went to find Jaydah to try and break the ice and to find out what she wanted in her new bedroom. Working with Make a wish Foundation, I was provided with a mini brief, which also guided me to ask Jaydah the right questions. It was when I took out the paint swatch and asked Jaydah, “what colour would you like to have on your wall”, her face lit up as she pointed to a beautiful dusty pink colour. I started to speak to her about the type of bed she liked, and she also told me about having stars on the ceiling that ‘light up’.

Jaydah room was very small and could not fit many pieces of furniture. We decided to install a mid sleeper bed with a chest of drawer below. with a wardrobe that fitted perfectly next to the bed. When designing a small bedroom, mid and high sleepers are the best options as there are a wide range of storage and space saving solutions available. you can have cupboards, a chest of drawer, a desk etc.. There were not many options of room layouts but we made it work. My team did an amazing job on this ‘pretty girlie’ room. The Disney Princess stickers were very dear to Jaydah, and although I’m not a fan, I installed a new set of wall stickers which she absolutely loved. A new carpet was laid, and a new windows treatment was installed. We went with black out roller blinds with a coloured trim to high ligh the pops of purple, which was another choice of Jaydah’s. Although she loved her new room. It took Jaydah approximately 2 weeks to get used to the change (as it is with some autistic children). She also said,’her mother and I were not her friends’. When she did finally slept in her room she slept under the bed. Now she sleeps in her bed and I am her friend again.  Here’s a video of another room for a teenager on the autistic spectrum, you can find the blog post here. If you would like to design a room for your autistic child, I would be happy to help. Email: info@mkkidsinteriors.com Love Medina xXx