When artist Natalie Erwin, originally from Fort Worth, Texas, was ready to decorate her daughters' bedroom in their new home in New Orleans, she turned to Madre, an interior design firm from Dallas. She and her husband were renovating a large-scale house on St. Charles Avenue, so working with designers from her home state was fun and familiar. As the Madre designers explain, "Decorating with Natalie is a blast. As an artist, she has distinct visions and it has been a treat to help bring them to life." For Marion, 7, and Talia, 5, the team created an ultra-feminine and elegant environment with lots of room to play. "I love that my girls chose to share a room even though there is space in the house for their own rooms. They're best friends and inseparable," says Natalie.
The room is painted a delicate and restful hue — Middleton Pink by Farrow and Ball. From there, the design team installed custom headboards, valances, and canopies dressed in rosy layers of pattern and print to heighten the sense of joyful girlish whimsy. "The window treatments are actually the bed canopies," says the designer. "They’re designed so that the backs open to let light in. And the valences have a soft wave that outlines the custom frames and portraits that Natalie painted of her girls." Yes, you read that right. Natalie is a noted artist who creates unique portraits on custom oval panels. Her paintings of Marion and Talia are showstoppers. Natalie also painted the stunning chinoiserie panels that cover the room with enchanting flowers, birds, and trees. "The panels are removable and I used a neutral and mature color palette so they could be in my girls' collection throughout their lives to use in their future living, dining, or bedrooms. I wanted to create memorable pieces that could grow with them over time."
Beautiful D. Porthault linens in the Chardons Luzerne pattern bring in several pastel colors that complement the artwork. Skirted bed platforms hide trundles that come out for sleepovers and a classic chest between the beds doubles as storage and nightstands. For an "organized chaos" trick, Natalie spaced the beds just far enough from the walls so that the girls could store all of their favorite stuffed animals there. "They never want to part with any of them," says Natalie. "This allows all of them to sleep besides them every night." With an adorable confectioner's "shop" in the room and plenty of uncluttered floor space, Marion and Talia spend hours happily playing in their magical and sweet bedroom.
This article appeared in the August 2020 Issue of Adore Magazine.