I love designing themed rooms….it can be challenging…always a treasure hunt, and most likely, I always have to create something myself for I can’t find the item or it’s out of my budget. For several years now, I’ve been invited to do the interior design for the Parade of Homes here in Upstate NY. The Parade is a huge design project, choosing everything from the siding color to tile, and cabinet knobs, but also, picking out all the furniture and accessories. It’s a little different when there is no clients, so I’m pretty much designing for a “pretend” family…something that is neutral enough to please, and unique enough to attract attention.
Teen room designed by TayRose Design Parade of Homes 2014
For the 2014 Parade of Homes in Clay, NY there was a large bonus room which I decided to design for a teen boy bedroom. My friend Judi from 1829 Farmhouse, owner of shop (Inspired in Liverpool, NY where bed is currently for sale) made the bed out of a pallet with pipe arms that we turned to the side so it was more like a sofa loaded up with lots of pillows. A trunk on wheels served as at coffee table; a found at a Flea Market of a large cardboard cutout sign of a basketball player laying up for a dunk that would be perfect when I place it next to the wall hoop positioned right over the laundry hamper….Nice Dunk!!
Basketball cutout themed room laundry dunk
I came up with the sports equipment headboard idea, and the frame was made by Judi in 3 sections with hardware cloth and kreg jigged together. I stained the pine headboard a weathered grey and gathered and attached all the different sports equipment using u-nails and clamps. We brought in vintage metal lockers for storage; a pallet desk that Judi made; a tennis racket memo board I made; and I painted the bedside lamp to look like a baseball from a thrift store lamp.
Baseball lamp hand-painted from Thrift Store lamp to look like a baseball for themed room design by TayRose Design
Tennis racket memo board made to hang over pallet desk Room Design by TayRose Design
I really needed something for the corner of the room that people would see when they first entered the room next to the bed. It had to be sports related of course, and since I had already painted a baseball lamp, the next best thing would be a basketball lamp….so the creating began..
I had several student globes that I had picked up at thrift stores that I was going to use in Home Staging projects, and thought that the shape was just the right size to emulate a basketball. I removed the stand, and had an actual basketball that I was going to use in the room as a sample for how to paint the globe. I needed to figure out where to cut the globe so that the cut was low enough to still look like a ball, and yet have enough room around the bottom to attach the net and change the bulb. What is nice on most globes is that there are latitude lines that run horizontally on the globe and there just happened to be one that would work perfectly as my cut line. I took a box cutter and cut around the line and removed the bottom of the globe.
Cutting student globe to use as shade for Basketball floorlamp in themed room design by TayRose Design
I then used a screw driver to punch in scattered holes in the shade to let out light and allow heat escape from the bulb, plus I needed the holes around the bottom for the net to attach. The hardest part was putting grommets into the holes I punched, I needed my hubby’s help to push them on. I painted the inside black since it was just a cardboard and it would be more of a finished look, and I painted the outside with several coats in the color Brandywine, which just happened to be the color I had picked out to paint the dining room walls. I hand-painted the lines with black paint, I tried using a felt tip marker but I wanted the finish to look more like hand painted. I used a bit of white painted thinly to one side as a highlight. To finish the bottom cut edge, I glued on some black grosgrain ribbon.
Painted globe for Basketball shade with grommets design by TayRose Design
Grommets punched along bottom to hold net for basketball shade design by TayRose Design
I was out thrift shopping one day and spied new in a bag a basketball net and had to stop and just smile at how God is so good and helping me everyday! I had been looking online for nets and thinking I would have to go to a Sports store and buy one, and there it was, sitting on shelf amid dishes and stuffed animals…SCORED! Plus the price was right, .79 ! My last purchase was the floorlamp itself. I had to find one that the globe shade could sit on top of without a harp. I was able to find one at WalMart, simple, black and it had a torch top with a dense plastic shade that I could bend slightly to fit in the globe opening where it fit perfectly….whew!
Added net to bottom of painted basketball lampshade for themed room design by TayRose Design
The Basketball floorlamp was just what the corner needed, and it was one of the first things that sold when the Parade opened.
Basketball lamp in corner of themed room in Parade of Homes design by TayRose Design
With themed rooms or with just about anything, if you can’t find what you are looking for, or maybe it doesn’t fit your budget, try and make it…it could turn out much better, or a new idea stems from your attempt!
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