SB Re-Do: From Spare Room to Nursery

A peek into Baby Mimi's nursery! And a few tricks I used to make sure the room was pretty AND functional.

September 16, 2013 · By Katherine Snell

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When my husband and I moved into our home we made a list of projects and rooms to tackle first. Way down on the bottom of the list was the room next to our master bedroom. We knew that we wanted children soon so we didn’t want to spend money or time changing the room. I turned a blind eye and handed the room over to my husband so I wouldn’t have to share a closet with him. And we jokingly referred to it as his “dressing room.”

A true before picture! I added an old rug and dresser to the room and my husband accessorized with a pair of antlers (our dog added her stuffed pig for the picture). As you can see we started with very little!

Our home is one story and most of the rooms connect off of a center hallway. Anticipating Mimi’s arrival, I quickly realized that not only would we be spending a lot of time in the nursery, but we would also be passing by the open door multiple times a day. So my first goal was to choose items that have the same look and feel as the rest of our house. Nothing too cutesy or anything that screams “baby’s room.” We wanted a beautiful and functional nursery for our baby girl. To help bring my ideas to light, I enlisted the help of Bowdre Longo of Bowdre Longo Interiors .

A view of the nursery as you walk in the door. The room is airy and colorful, but not too cutesy.

My second goal was to make sure the room could be used again for another baby. While there is a bit of pink in the room, all of the pieces that would stay in the room (the curtains, window seat, rug, the chair, etc) are green or off white so they can easily be used again, even if our next child is a boy.

Lots of hot pink accents to make the room fun and bright for a baby girl. But take the pillows away and you have a gender neutral space filled with green and cream hues.

One of my favorite spots in the nursery is this window seat (pictured below). We’ve realized while giving Mimi her evening bottle that it’s nice to have a space for both mom and dad to sit. And it is the perfect spot to prop up a few stuffed animals.

Pops of pink in the pillows, but an easy swap out for future children.

One of my biggest challenges in completing the nursery was finding a dresser that could also double as a changing table. I wanted to find something that was well built so it would last, but I also didn’t want to spend a lot of money on a piece of furniture that might end up with scribbles of permanent marker on it. While putting away dishes one day I realized my dining room sideboard would actually be the perfect alternative to a dresser.

A changing pad sits on top of the sideboard, along with a basket for diapers and wipes. A bookshelf that was in my office was painted and relocated to the nursery and filled with special items.

After using this set up for the past few months, I love how it works! Baby things are so small, I feel like they could get lost in dresser drawers. The individual baskets keep everything organized and I can change out the labels as needed.