“Modern Marvel” Boy’s Bedroom: The Inspiration & Design (ORC Week 2)
We’re into week 2 of our Spring One Room Challenge. If you missed last week’s post we revealed that we’re finally tackling our son’s room and shared a few before pics of the space. It’s been a busy week getting the room emptied & replacing the flooring, but before we get into the progress we’ve made we thought we’d take you through our design plan for his superhero bedroom & some insight into where we’re drawing our inspiration from.
Anyone who knows us knows that we’re comic book fans. We both grew up reading comics & watching our favourite Marvel superheroes come to life in Saturday morning cartoons. As adults, that love for those characters and their stories never really faded…. Remember this throwback??
So it really should come as no surprise that our son is growing up with that same love of superheroes. As a family we’ve watched all 18 films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far but it’s safe to say that something special happened after our last trip to the theatre. I’ll get into that in a second, but first let me backtrack a bit…
Last year for his birthday Kash received this awesome framed poster featuring all the Marvel comic characters.
From that point forward, we knew we wanted his space to have a superhero bedroom theme of some sort, but we weren’t exactly sure how to achieve it. Hours of Google and Pinterest searches didn’t seem to provide much inspiration. Everything we came across was too childish. Too colourful. We wanted to create a space that would grow with him and still fit within the aesthetic of the rest of the house. But we also wanted the space to capture the essence of everything we love about those heroes and their stories. A sophisticated superhero haven, if you will. It had to be modern. It had to be cool. It had to feel like a room that could exist in a universe where radioactive spiders and demigods are real and average people can gain superhuman strength through fantastical circumstances….
And then we went to see Black Planther.
If you’re one of the 10 people on the planet that have yet to see this movie, seriously, don’t walk. Run to see it. Not just because it’s an awesome action-packed movie that tells a great story. But aside from all that, it’s visually stunning. The art direction & set/production design that went into creating Wakanda (the fictional, super technologically advanced African nation that the movie is set in) was absolutely mind blowing. Each of the 4 (yes I said FOUR) times we left the theatre, we came away more inspired.
A quick look at some of the concept art and set designs for the film, and you’ll see why….
Everything from the geometric elements, patterns, and the use of lighting & wood textures spoke to us. So we took that inspiration to create a design for a superhero bedroom that any fan big or small would be proud to grow up in. We put together a mood board to help us visualize how all the elements will come together.
The Design Plan
Duvet Cover & Rug – Wayfair | Bed & Chest – The Brick | Pendant light & wall sconce – Kichler | Fabrics 1, 2, 3, 4 – Tonic Living | Felt Memo Board – Bouclair | DIY honeycomb shelves (inspiration) | DIY Superhero lightboxes (inspiration)
We’ve got a lot planned for his space! We are excited to be partnering with some fantastic brands to help us bring our vision to life. We’ll get into all the details in the coming weeks as things unfold, but we wanted to touch on a few highlights before we go.
Colour
If you’re familiar with our designs in other areas of our home, you’ll already recognize a familiar pattern. We like to create spaces that are overall pretty neutral and then incorporate one or two bold pops of colour. Yellow is one of Kash’s favourite colours, so for his bedoom, it seemed like the natural choice. We’ll be incorporating that with a few different shades of grey & black. We’re thinking of getting him either a dark hardwood floor or a grey plush carpet. At the moment we’re just looking at companies like Carpet Now – Austin Carpet Installation to see which would be better.
Furniture
As we mentioned last week, Kash is in desperate need of some new bedroom furniture. We wanted something that would be clean and contemporary with just enough visual interest to stand out without competing with other textures in the space. We’ve partnered with The Brick who is providing us with some pieces that are a perfect fit for our design.
We’ll also be building a mid-century modern inspired desk for him to provide some extra storage and a space for homework & drawing.
He will also have a small area to play in. After all, it is his bedroom. His toys will be in a toybox and he’s also asked for a foosball table to be put into his bedroom. He’s not sure what kind of foosball table he would like just yet but these top rated foosball tables can be a perfect choice according to YouFoosball. We need to get the bed and drawers in first before we get the foosball table just to make sure all of our measurements are correct.
Feature Wall
The plan is to create a DIY geometric feature on the wall behind his bed with a little help from our friends at Metrie & Kichler. I’m not sure exactly how to describe what we have in mind, but let’s just say that if all goes according to plan, it’ll be something that would be right at home in Shuri’s Wakandan lab! I’m thinking that it will need to be a custom wallpaper Melbourne that has all the designs we want on it. It might take some work but it’ll be worth it!
So there you have it! Did we capture the superhero feel while still maintaining a bit of modern sophistication? Do you think our little superhero will feel at home in this space? We’d love to hear your feedback!
Don’t forget to check in on what the rest of the ORC participants have been up to this week! And be sure to follow us on Instagram for a few sneak peeks as things progress.
Until next week friends!
Love the yellow and gray combo!
Thanks Kate! Hopefully Kash likes the combo as well ?
YES TO ALL OF THIS!!! I seriously can’t stop staring at your gorgeous mood board – c’mon week 3, I want to see more!!
Thanks so much Lidia! We were a bit worried that we chose too many patterned elements but once we started to visualize things on the board it came together so much better than we had imagined. Fingers crossed it all works in the space! ??
Oooh – Looks great!! I have to admit to being one of those 10 people who haven’t yet seen Black Panther. I’m planning on it though!
Also, I’m jealous of your kid – a Queen bed at his age?? I didn’t get a Queen until last year . . . . . đ
Lol! Definitely go see it Michelle itâs SO good! And I know what you mean…I donât think I got a queen until I moved out of my parents house. Weâre fortunate to have been able to work with an amazing sponsor tho so he lucked out! Definitely wouldnât have been possible without them.
Wow! That is a seriously cool room design! Just the right touch of superhero, lots of fun, but with style with plenty of space to grow up and mature his tastes. Surely this has been one of your harder design challenges?
Thanks Kathleen! It really was at first because as I said we didnât want the design to be to childish & then have him outgrow it in a year or two. But once inspiration hit it really all came together pretty easily. Thanks for following along!
Wow, looks amazing. I love the story behind it and can’t wait to see it all done. I’m loving watching your progress on Instastories too. Great job.
Wow this is going to be awesome!!! He is going to love it!
I love your moodboard and I also cannot wait to see what happens next! Chris is not a superhero fan but I am so iâm Slowly catching up on the movies Iâve missed. LOVED Black Panther and canât wait to see it again ?
That is an exciting plan!! Very classy and not at all cheesy like so much of that superhero decor you can buy…I am excited to see how this progresses!!
Love that mood board! The fabrics are fantastic! And super impressed at your take on a comic book room!
A-mazing! I love that youâre making this a modern room with nods to the set design of the film as opposed to super hero characters plastered all over the room- very chic take on it!
How fun is this space going to be!!!!