Room and Board

I tend to get stuck when designing rooms in our house because while I LOVE all things traditional, I tend to have a touch of modern in me. However, I also tend to talk myself out of the a-touch-modern look because it seems so scary and beyond my reach; especially when trying to work with what we've already got. So I relegate myself to looking at other people's pretty, modern spaces and deem myself unworthy of ever achieving something that melds both traditional and modern together in a cool, sophisticated yet whimsical way.

But, now we have a blank slate to work with. The nursery. No previously owned furniture brought from apartments we had years ago or handed down from the family. Nope, while we may end up getting pieces that are used, because who are we kidding here, it just makes sense to do so, we have the advantage of figuring out what we want first and then trying to find pieces to fit the bill.

While this may seem incredibly exciting, I have actually found it a bit overwhelming. Until now.

One secret I like to give to my clients when I meet with them is to picture their events and come up with an inspiration board to help them define their event to anyone who lives outside their brain. I find it really helps people to focus on the overall aesthetic and feel that they want their event to achieve. This makes it much easier for me to design something that achieves the same vision and is able to evoke the right emotional response from the whoever receives the invitation.

So I figured maybe I would start my own inspiration board for the nursery and I am proud to say that it worked! Without any further ado...here is the inspiration for our nursery:

The room in the background is actually the room we are using for the nursery and it has been painted in a light espresso color. We have already purchased a dresser in dark espresso and hope to find a used crib in dark espresso as well.

I found the crib bedding set at Land of Nod but didn't like the skirt so I will switch it out with one I found on sale at Restoration Hardware Baby and Child...which is also where I found the Roman Shade and the light fixture.

The carpeting is really fun. A few months ago I saw a special on the Martha Stewart show where they were talking about FLOR, the carpet tiles that adhere to themselves and are completely customizable. I LOVED the color palate and it turns out that all the carpeting in Martha's collection is on sale. I plan on making the rug cream in the middle with a border of small squares of the other colors.

So there you go. By making an inspiration board, I was able to mix and match and edit what did and did not fit my aesthetic and in the end, I think I have come up with something that really does mix modern and traditional pretty cohesively. And the best part is that none of it looks overwhelmingly 'baby' but rather whimsical and inspiring.