Themed rooms

Themed children’s room & nursery designer

Not a wall sticker, but a whole world. We design bespoke themed rooms your child steps into every night, from fairytales to ballet classics.

Most themed rooms come out of a box: a castle decal, a roll of starry wallpaper, a moon-shaped lamp. Lovely for a while, but it stays loose decoration. We work differently. We design the whole room as one world, where every detail belongs and tells the same story.

You feel a real themed room the moment you walk in. The colour on the wall, the soft fall of light, a mantel that is no longer a mantel but a little stage, a rug of moon and stars where every daydream lands. That is the difference between sticking something on and designing it.

The red fireplace above a deep blue rug of moon and stars
The Nutcracker: a mantel that became a little stage

The worlds we make

  • Fairytale rooms, from a princess world to a soft dream full of stars
  • Disney-inspired rooms, with a light hand and a timeless feel
  • Ballet rooms after The Nutcracker or Swan Lake, with a felt swan and a lily-pad rug
  • A starlit night sky, or a world that belongs only to your child

Two worlds that really exist

No moodboard that stays a moodboard: these are rooms where a child falls asleep tonight.

How we build it

First the story: who your child is, what lights them up, the world they already half live in. Then colour and light, the heart of it. Then the furniture and finds we hunt down with patience. And finally the small, secret details they will still remember as a grown-up.

Based in the Netherlands, we design for families in Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam and across the Randstad, in English and Dutch. Looking for a nursery designer in Amsterdam?

The Swan Lake nursery, a sheepskin rocker, a felt swan on the wall and a berry red dresser in golden light
Swan Lake: the felt swan above the dresser

The same room, before and after

The Nutcracker room started as a bare building site. This is the same corner today.

The Nutcracker room as a stripped building site, before the renovation
Before
The Nutcracker room, a warm playroom with striped walls, a red painted fireplace and a bookshelf full of toys
After

How we work together

From the first conversation to handover, every room follows the same four steps.

More about how we work
  1. I

    Introduction

    We meet over coffee, in person or online. We listen to who the child is and which world you have in mind. You send us the floor plan with the measurements, photos of the room and where the sockets and light points are.

  2. II

    Design

    You get the full plan: palette, materials, furniture and the layout of the room. You see exactly what is coming before anything is bought or built.

  3. III

    Making

    We source the furniture and objects, have the custom pieces made and tune everything to each other. You don’t have to hunt for anything.

  4. IV

    Handover

    We install the room completely and style it down to the last detail. The door opens and the room is ready to live in.

Lisa Giasi, designer and stylist behind Once Upon a Room

About us

Lisa Giasi designs worlds you don’t just see, but feel.

Her work is about colour, detail and imagination. Not as decoration, but as a language a child understands without words.

So she designs every room bespoke. Around the child, the parents and the feeling they want to create together.

Lisa Giasi · Designer and stylist

More about Lisa

What it costs

Three packages, from one conversation with a colour plan to a room we furnish entirely. Prices include VAT.

We add no margin on purchases. You order through your own item list, at shop prices.

All packages and what they include

Every child deserves magic.

Common questions

What is a themed room, exactly?

A children’s room we design around one story or world, from a fairytale to a ballet classic. Not a sticker on the wall, but a whole world: colour, light, furniture and details that all tell the same story.

Are these official Disney rooms?

No. We design Disney-inspired rooms, not officially licensed products. We translate the feeling of the classics into an original, timeless design that belongs to your child.

Will a theme date quickly or feel too childish?

That is exactly what we design against. We use a light hand, so the room feels magical but still holds up as your child grows. A world that stays, not a phase.

Do you order the furniture?

With the restyling you order everything yourself through your personal item list, at shop prices and without markup. With the full design we source, buy and furnish the room ourselves.