Name: Emerson Kate
Location: Alexandria, VA
Our goal was to create a bright and creative space with touches of warmth, nostalgia and subtle femininity. We knew we wanted a mix of patterns, but the challenge was finding a good combination that wasn't too overwhelming. We used pops of bright turquoise and orange running throughout the room to bring the mix of patterns together. The lamp shade from Anthropologie served as the inspiration piece of the mix of patterns and fabrics.
We have a small space (our 1930s flat is less than 800 square feet with limited closet space), so we had to be creative with how we stored Emerson's belongings. We found a small dresser that was refinished by Cassie Bustamante at Primitive and Proper. The drawers allowed for storage for changing table supplies, as well as blankets, burp clothes, towels, and wash clothes. Baskets underneath the changing table are cute and practical - they hold bath toys, extra diapers, and wipes.
Because my husband Tim uses the already-tiny closet in Emerson's room, we needed a dresser to hold her clothes. We found the dresser at an antique shop between Washington, DC and Richmond, which we painted as the dominant turquoise element in the room.
We had a big challenge with furniture placement because there are three doors in the room (main door, closet door, and door to a sunroom/office), as well as a long radiator under the window. We didn't have a lot of space for furniture, although we needed it for storage.
Drawing on inspiration from a kid's room tour on Apartment Therapy, we made a bird mobile in which our close friends made fabric birds that now hang over the changing table. We covered a bird house in fabric scraps and found a branch on a walk around our neighborhood. This has been one of Emerson's favorite elements in the room.
We pulled in vintage pieces to give the room a nostalgic feel. We picked up the whale plank at the Eastern Market flea on Capitol Hill. We found the vintage Pooh books at a yard sale, and spotted the wooden duck at an antique store in our neighborhood of Del Ray. The colors in the LOVE print from Made by Girl fit so well with the room that we decided to use that over the dresser.
Thankfully, our work paid off! This is one of Emerson's favorite rooms in our flat. The soft shag rug gives her a nice break from our hardwood floors and she finds great amusement in pulling the items out of the storage baskets under her changing table! We wanted to find pieces that could grow with her from infancy to childhood, and perhaps to her teenage years. We think we've achieved that with a lot of the pieces in the room.
Thanks Jessica! Readers, say hello at Jessica's blog, Silhouette.
(Images: Timothy and Jessica Mancari)
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Beautiful!!!
Love this nursery! Love the orange and teal. Great job!
I may be a lone voice in the crowd, but is any one else over the "My Room" thread? The rooms are lovely, but basically they are all the same: a crib, a changing table and a chair at an angle in the corner. It was good while it lasted, but I've personally had enough. The appeal here is likely limited to those with children. Perhaps this content requires a spin-off site? For this non-parent, it's irrelevant.
Totally agree. I have children, but enough already, all these baby rooms look the same...
I love it...and personally enjoy the "My Rooms" thread (to each their own). Nice choice of the Degas above the crib! It adds a subtle feminine touch to a more gender-neutral room.
I really like this room... The lampshade is beautiful
Very nice!
This room is cozy and nurturing without being overly themed out or over the top with the baby items. Looks wonderful!
What a lovely sweet little room! I love the color choices in here.
@blackberrysquirrel and @K & K COLOUR--There used to be a spin-off children/family site--Ohdeedoh--but it was consolidated into the main Apartment Therapy site however many moons ago.
I like the "My Room" posts. I don't have kids yet, but want them so posts like this appeal to me too, not just people who *already* have children. And if you don't like the posts don't click on them, scroll on. Problem solved.
This room is adorable. The turquoise and orange compliment well.
In my opinion, everyone has their own unique story to tell. Who are we to tell them that its uninteresting?
Please keep the My Room posts- I enjoy them. There are plenty of techie/homeowner/entertaining friends posts that I happily scroll right past. I know they're satisfying someone else's eye. :)
I love that lampshade!! I would have planned an entire room around it.
I don't really get the complaint that all of these rooms use the same components. Most of the living rooms on here have the same basic components: a sofa, a chair, and a table. So lets just stop posting those, since they're all the same and it is so boring, right?
Anyway, I love the colors and the little birds on the stick. The faux-aging on what would otherwise have been a cute dresser is really killing me, though.
I don't have kids and, at this point in time, have no intention of having any. But I enjoy these posts as they appeal to my own sense of whimsy and give me inspiration for my own home. This is a lovely room, and the colorful birdies on the stick are my favorite thing in it.
This is Apartment Therapy Family, formerly Ohdeedoh, so ummmm yah it's gonna be about family/kids related content. If you don't want to look at kids rooms then don't click on the link, why complain about it? I agree that a lot of the nurseries have similar things - not so much the furniture because obviously all nursery/kid rooms NEED a crib, change table, etc., but a lot feature a similar style (hand made mobile, book ledge, embroidery hoops, etsy prints, etc). But really, who cares, don't we all love being voyeurs into someone else's home? Bring it on, the My Room and Nursery Tours are the best part of this site, whether you like the style or not, it's still fun and inspirational or will at least give you an idea of what you don't want. By the way, this room is sweet, not my style, but I like reading how much thought and care people put into creating rooms for their kids.
Yeah... I'm really getting tired of all these living rooms. Couch table chairs over and over again. Boooooring!