My Favorite Room

Problem: How do I turn a small interior room into a welcoming nursery?

Solution: To make a small interior room seem bigger and brighter, use light colors and painting techniques that expand the space (such as a trompe l’oeil window), make sure the room has bright lighting, and choose two or three pieces of furniture that can serve all of your needs so there is no overcrowding.

Here’s how I solved this problem for my own family and turned a tiny home office into a wonderful space for my daughter that was featured in the Time Out New York Kids magazine blog!

We live in a one bedroom with a small (8’ x 10) bonus room built out of the living room. Here is a picture of the space from when we were thinking about buying our apartment:

We initially turned the space into a home office (here is a picture):

Then with a daughter (Katie) on the way, we decided to turn it into a nursery. There were a few challenges. First, I wanted the room to feel bigger (as an office it didn’t include much space for playing). Second, I wanted it to feel like a kid’s room, but because it is almost part of the living room, it couldn’t be too cutesy. Third, it needed to fit all of our Katie’s furniture, toys, books, dolls, etc. because we didn’t want our limited adult spaces turned into playrooms.

To make the interior room feel more open, I brought the outside in. I had the ceiling painted to look like the sky. Since the only lighting in the room was two wall sconces, I decided on a ceiling fixture – this lighting choice provides the most light, is the best choice for child safety (for nurseries it is recommended not to have lamps that can be pulled or knocked down), and takes up none of our limited floor or surface space! To match the ceiling, I chose a ceiling fixture that looks like the sky (www.lampsplus.com/products/Sky-and-Clouds-17-inch-Wide-Ceiling-Light-Fixture__86631.html) - perfect!

I hired a muralist to paint a full-room mural that had the effect of a fine painting as opposed to a cartoon-look so it wouldn’t be “too cutesy” and would reflect Central Park, which is right outside our building (Barbara Listenik, www.netconnections.ws/123/artist/home.html). I also had the muralist incorporate the existing wall sconces into the design, which she did by making them look like they are light posts within the mural. We also got a green rug with lots of color variation to be suggestive of a grassy field (www.landofnod.com/family.aspx?c=9841&f=3698).

In addition to bringing the “outside” was “in”, I had to figure out where the “stuff” was going to go. I took advantage of the soon-to-be nursery’s two small alcoves for accommodating the only two pieces of furniture – her crib and the all-in-one storage unit I knew I wanted – leaving the rest of the room open for playing. For the storage unit I designed a custom built-in (which was built and installed by Little Wolf Cabinet Shop, www.littlewolfcabinetshop.com). Even though it provides lots of storage, because it looks like an integrated part of the back wall, it doesn’t feel bulky or overwhelming in the space. Note: to make furniture appear built-in, you need to match the baseboards and crown moldings! All of Katie’s clothes, books, blankets, extra diapers, bedding and towels, and most of her toys (not, of course, the ride-on duck) fit inside the storage unit. For the upper cabinets (where we keep the extra supplies and clothes we are waiting for her to grow into), I had the door fronts made as picture frames to display Katie’s drawings and paintings.

Finally, I found the perfect curtains for the hopper window that opened onto our entryway and the double French doors. Note: if the window wasn’t there, I would have created the effect of a window either with a trompe l’oeil effect or just by using a curtain, as the presence of a window helps significantly to make a small room feel more open. After looking through hundreds of fabric, I finally found the perfect white sheer with a delicate pattern of green and blue ovals that looked almost identical to the leaves painted on Katie’s wall. I had the fabric sewn into curtains with a backing that makes the room darker when Katie needs to sleep, and since it can be seen through the glass panes from our living room, provides a more sophisticated look for the “grown-ups’” part of the apartment.

Katie’s room (picture below) is now my favorite room!