Venus Williams put tennis-ball feet on a kids bed

Somewhere between seven Grand Slam singles titles and the interior design firm she has run since 2002, Venus Williams designed a kid's bedroom. Crate & Kids put it on sale September 15: 66 pieces, her favorite color everywhere, and the tennis mostly in the details.

What's actually in it

The whole collaboration is nearly 200 pieces across Crate & Barrel and Crate & Kids. The kids half is a full room. The Winner bed is $999 to $1,399 in twin, full or queen, in a neutral cabana stripe or a deep pine velvet, and it stands on four oak balls the size of tennis balls. The Volley dresser is $1,699 and the matching nightstand $449, both in ivory lacquer with brass knobs. The Match Point quilt is $199.95 to $239.95, a wide rugby-shirt stripe in lavender and burgundy or deep jade and navy, reversible, 40% organic cotton. Sheets run $89.95 to $159.95. A velvet accent chair is $599, a round play table $399, and the rugs go from $649 to $1,749.

Then the small things, which is where the tennis lives: a $129 floor bin shaped like a tennis ball, a $44.95 velvet tennis-ball pillow, a $209 neon wall light that spells Ace in cursive, a $149 mirror shaped like a racket, and framed prints of tennis balls on a green court at $109 to $249. The one item in the shop Venus didn't design is a $33 Jellycat plush tennis ball, which has been pre-sold to every toddler in the country already.

The lavender is the point

Venus called this “the bedroom of my dreams” and said the heart of it was “bringing an energetic, playful spirit” to a kid's room. What that means in practice is that the collection is built around lavender, with neon tennis-ball green as the accent, and Crate & Kids styled two whole rooms to prove it: one lavender, one court green. The shapes are round on purpose. The bed feet, the play table, the chair and the toy bin are all nods to the ball. It reads as a grown-up room with a sense of humor, which is rarer in kids furniture than it should be.

The one we'd buy

The Match Point quilt, in lavender and burgundy, at $199.95. It is a rugby stripe, it flips to a second stripe when the first one gets old, and it will still look right the year your kid quits tennis for skateboarding. Add the $129 tennis-ball bin if the room needs a joke, because it is a good one. The $44.95 tennis-ball pillow is the obvious gift, and it is pre-order only right now, so plan around that. Skip the $999 bed unless you are redoing the whole room. The ball feet are charming; they are also $999.

The full kids collection is on Crate & Kids' own site →