Today I am giddy with excitement to share with you Liam’s nursery nook in our master bedroom. Given Liam’s (lack of) sleep tendencies and the fact that his older sister still sleeps in her crib, we have had to figure out a sleep solution that will work beyond the bassinet days but still make me feel like Liam has a space of his very own.
The Backstory
Liam is 4.5 months old now, and will probably be in our room for another 4 months given the fact that he is still waking several times during the night. As we are moving into a new house soon we are hopeful that he will be able to move into his room around 8 months, but given his track record at the moment, I’m not getting ahead of myself. Marina is very small, so it serves us well to keep her in her crib as long as we can, and even transitioning her crib to a toddler bed so as to keep her comfortable in the new house. Where does that leave us? Needing a versatile crib solution for Liam as he grows, so that he can be in our room as long as we need, and in his own full-sized crib when he is ready.
We were thrilled to work with Nestig on this post, as their brand new convertible Wave cribs launched right when Liam was born, and I knew it was the perfect long-term solution for our family. Liam can be in the rolling mini crib until about 6 months, giving us the ability to move him in the bedroom, to the office, or wherever is the best place for a nap while he is an infant, and then convert the crib to a full-sized crib when it’s time. We put the mini crib together in 30 minutes, and are in love with the design. The rounded slats and curved corners work for both modern and traditional spaces, and the mini crib size is perfect to fit in the nook in our room behind our French doors. The fact that it is on wheels was a game changer; in fact, that versatility inspired my design for the rest of his nursery nook!
The Design
I could go on and on but here’s the deal: for the short-term, Liam was going to be living in MY space, in MY room. I was not going to wallpaper a nook in my bedroom, hang a mobile or put in a changing station for only 6-8 months. While I will fully do a bedroom for him down the line, what we needed was flexibility. So, I opted for solutions that fit my bedroom decor and could be used in my bedroom or my office once he has moved out. However, I still wanted his nook to provide him with graphic elements (good for his eyes) and help block out any light, either natural or coming from the TV (hey, we still want to use our bedroom too!). Enter, the perfect screen. Screens and room dividers are not meant for children’s rooms because of course they can be knocked over easily, but they are the perfect solution for a nursery nook in an adult’s room. By simply moving the screen, I can block any light coming through the window for daytime naps, and block the light from the TV at night. And while this room divider from The Inside came with many upholstery options, we chose this graphic black, grey and white Scalamandre zebra print because it checked all the boxes: high-contrast and good for Liam’s eyes, whimsical enough print for a children’s area, but also it’s Scalamandre (!) so it’s classic enough to keep in our room or use in my office down the line. I can literally move the crib and the screen anywhere in the house (easily) and Liam has his nook! It’s pretty genius if I say so myself. Plus I can tell he loves looking at the screen- he stares at it and smiles, and lately when I wrap it around him (like closing a door) he goes to sleep in minutes!
For the sheet, I found this teal spin on a mud cloth fabric that I thought was a nice twist on the classic print from Spoonflower, and quickly whipped up a bedsheet. The letter name sign was the only thing that truly caused me some issues, because the wooden letters have been sold out with either an ‘A’ or an ‘I’ at all of my craft stores for MONTHS, and I put off finding another solution until the last minute. Finally, this past week the Holiday letters came in stock in my local Michaels, and I ripped off the metal holly berries and leaves that were on them to make them work as a name sign. I couldn’t decide how to paint them (as my original plan was to wrap them in string… but, time) but eventually I came to the solution of DIY painting my favorite upholstery print, Kelly Wearstler’s Graffito. Between the faux Graffito and the Scalamandre, Liam’s nursery nook has fancier prints than the rest of my whole house, hah!
In the end, the nook is a bit more ‘Safari’ than I intended (given the styling with Liam’s lions, but hah, couldn’t resist). I know the trend right now is for nurseries to be more muted and monochromatic in color, but I also know the benefits of a high-contrast space when they are little. I know Liam’s eventual room will be a totally different look, so I figured why not have a little graphic fun as long as he is in my space? Ironically, the rest of the space came together with stuff we already owned, which plays up the safari theme even more. I mean, take a look at this Aden & Anais reversible dream blanket we registered for with Marina, doesn’t it fit the nook perfectly?
We are SO in love with this little nook and our Nestig Wave crib and how it all came together. I’m thrilled that we have a stylish little space for Liam in our room that feels like we gave him the same amount of attention as his big sister, and I also love that when I am ready to design his own room we won’t have to acclimate him to a new crib. And bonus, if he is anything like his sister, we will be using this crib as his toddler bed when he’s older as well!
Side note: If you are wondering what the rest of my bedroom looks like right now, that is an obvious question that I have avoided answering. The answer is, it is also being redecorated from top to bottom, and I will be sharing that plan with you guys here soon as well. You can consider Liam’s nursery nook a little sneak peak :) But, if you are wondering how this room fits into the rest of the room, here is a zoomed out picture that shows how- behind the French doors and between the bathroom (the only free space in the room)- the nook fits into the space. To the left in the picture is our bathroom, and on the other side of the French doors is our TV. The bed is on the wall directly across from the doors.
