ROOM WE LOVE: Bonus Points

As founder of CoCreative Interiors, Misty Molloy does one-room redesigns and whole-house transformations in and around Charlotte. When it came to her own home in Huntersville’s Gilead Ridge neighborhood, she renovated nearly every room in the “builder-grade” house, save for the upstairs playroom for her two boys, Cooper, 11, and Owen, 9. “After we first moved in, we were focusing on the rest of the house, so it wasn’t a priority,” Molloy says. “There was no furniture in there for the longest time, just toys.” After a few years, it was clear that hers was the neighborhood “hangout house,” so Molloy decided to give it better function and flow. “My kids are boys in the truest sense of the word,” she says. “They’re rough and tumble and play hard, so the stuff I put in there needed to hold up to them. Everything was chosen to give it that wow factor, but be durable and budget-friendly, too.”

MOODY HUES

Molloy already had the gray sleeper sofa, so she knew the gray walls needed to be a dramatic color. She painted the walls, doors, and trim in Sherwin-Williams’ Black of Night and wallpapered the ceiling in Magnolia Home’s Cross Stitch pattern. “I wanted something that drew your eye up, but kept the space feeling open,” she says. “Painting out all of the trim work and doors black makes the space feel bigger and continuous.” 

THOUGHTFUL ACCENTS

Molloy anchored the room with a Safavieh rug from Lowe’s and dressed the windows with golden velvet drapes from Ikea. “It needed to pop because everything else was so dark and moody,” she says. “I don’t think any other color would have worked.” The media console was a custom piece made by a local craftsman, and the teal table has folding leaves to hold snacks. She found the metallic coffee table on Amazon, which “adds some glitz” but also provides extra storage. “It’s hollow, so it’s really easy for the boys to move around if they need more space to play or fold out the bed,” she says. “We can hide toys in there, too.”

PERSONAL TOUCHES

The basketball hoop on the closet door was the one item the boys said “had to stay,” so Molloy covered the backboard in the same wallpaper she used on the ceiling for continuity. The wall of movie posters is a compilation of the family’s favorite flicks. Molloy purchased them through Weekend Poster and had them framed at Four Corners Framing in Mooresville. “We went with basic black so the poster itself would stand out, and framed them in acrylic so they can get knocked by a flying basketball without breaking,” she laughs. Now, she says, they occasionally use the room for family movie night, but it’s mostly a destination for playdates and sleepovers. “I love to have my kids here as much as possible, so we designed it to be a really fun space where they want to be.”