Is it any surprise that her most personal project is also the cheeriest?
Drew Barrymore’s been dreaming of this toy chest for years, ever since it was yanked from under her at a flea market. “Another woman got to it first, and she would not let me have it,” Drew says. “I couldn’t barter this woman out. She was like, ‘I don’t care who you are or what you have—this is going home with me.'”
As soon as you see it, you get why this container’s been the One That Got Away: It’s sunshiny yellow, with a bold rainbow across the top, and just spacious enough to clear up a cluster of toys that’d normally cover a kid’s floor, becoming booby traps for parents in the middle of the night. It’s no wonder that when Drew decided to expand her Flower Home line into kids’ furniture and décor, creating her own riff on the chest was at the top of her list.
With more than 100 items in the collection—from bedding and art prints to melamine, vintage-inspired cups and plates—the actress/entrepreneur carefully considered each piece, selecting each design with the hopes that it’d shake up the monochrome, neutral, “Do kids really live here?” trend in the industry. “Something that always made me feel crazy was how un-colorful kids’ lines were,” Drew says. “I wanted to create something that I felt I couldn’t find as a parent out there. I wanted a lot of joy. ”
Though the products are mass-produced—all available now at Walmart, Hayneedle, and Jet.com—she wanted each piece to feel personal. That’s why each print has its own frame, custom-selected to go with the art, and you’ll never see a plain white lampshade.
“I feel like that’s just something you can find anywhere, and if I think I’ve seen it, or I think it’s easily available, I don’t want to do it,” she explains.
For a sense of cohesion, Drew stuck to a few specific themes, which she divided into rooms in the sneak peek video above. There’s a jungle room, meant for young explorers; a galaxy room, complete with fluffy, cloud-shaped headboards and a very David Bowie-meets-Atari lightning bolt bedspread; a rainbow room that’s every bit as vibrant and cheery as the name implies; an animal room, for all of the pet lovers out there; and a room devoted to Drew’s favorite color to decorate with: pink.
“I loved getting to do a room that was so absolutely feminine,” she says, noting the strawberry bedding and ballet-slipper-pink bed frame (also available in light wood), which is framed to resemble the outline of a classic, triangle-roofed home. “I love the house bed, because kids can create such a world within it.”
The 50 First Dates star drew inspiration from her own walls, too. That rainbow print in a child’s scrawl is an actual note Drew’s daughter gave her as a birthday present one year. A friend asked her daughter questions about her famous mom, to which she answered: “She says, ‘My mom’s name is Mom,’ and ‘my mom’s favorite food is salad.’ She also says that I live in Las Vegas, which—I don’t know, I’ve never lived in Las Vegas—but I like it,” Drew says. “This piece is probably the one that makes me cry the most. It’s very emotional.”
That’s the thing about Flower Kids—yes, it’s playful, as anyone who sees the alligator toy trunk or the massive, pear-shaped bookshelf can attest—but it’s got soul. There’s a reason for each piece’s existence, one that’s not just about boosting Drew’s bottom line. (In fact, she’ll readily admit her insistence on a custom frame for each type of wall art isn’t very “fun from business-margins perspective.”)
At the end of the day, she’s approaching every piece as a parent: “What is the theme of your kid, and their passions, and their curiosities?” she asks. “Design-wise, to feed into that and create a space for them that amplifies and encourages what they’re interested in, is really important.” Without pausing, she smirks: “But it’s got to look cool, too.” Preach, Drew. Preach.
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