Q1 is always an extremely busy time of year for POOLSIDE. We're gearing up for our busy season -- the spring and summer months! Like most businesses, we've been having strategy and planning sessions (on Zoom) with all of our teams. This year, a trend that stands out (and that may seem obvious to you) is the increase in content creation and sales as it relates to home goods. As you can imagine, one of our top selling styles is now our Mask Basket. While the "Mask Basket" may seem like a timely pivot to home baskets, I've been using baskets in my home for years. I use them as storage, and as a design accent throughout the house.
That being said, I'm so excited to finally share my daughter's nursery design, as I used many of our personalized straw bags throughout her small nursery as storage. Please keep in mind that I worked within a very small space -- her nursery is only 8 ft x 6 ft!!!!
Since my daughter's nursery is small, I knew that many things had to be custom. We couldn't purchase traditional nursery room furniture because it would be too large for the space (example: most glider chairs are just so big and boxy). That was OK by me, since I prefer being inventive in a space, and using unexpected items. A few of the custom items in the room include:
Custom Carpet, Country Carpet
Custom Dust Ruffle, Fabric From The Fabric Mill
Customized Chair, Antique & Refinished, Fabric From The Fabric Mill
Custom Neon Sign, Etsy
We live in a duplex in the West Village, and it's a skinny and funky space! The bottom floor is loft-like and completely open. When we first moved in three years ago, we built an entire room as a closet and closed it off with French doors. When we were building the nursery and preparing for Harper's arrival, we knew that we wanted both to create a special space that was all her own, but to keep the layout and the floor plan open and airy.
Here is an aerial view of Harper's tiny space, looking down into her room! As you can see, we turned a small window alcove into a custom closet.
We installed two hanging racks with a shelf on top. We store some of her shoes on the top shelf, and hang her dresses, coats, pants and sweaters down below. In addition, we used a personalized Medium Beach Tote Bag embroidered with her name, "Harper Rose," to store some of her smaller items, like hats. We used additional baskets to store her booties, socks, and bows.
A great space saving hack was using these flat lucite bookshelves from Pottery Barn Kids. We didn't choose just any old books for this prominent display. Instead, we used a mix of antique books, beautiful and multicultural "little leaders" stories, coffee table books including Mother and Child by Claiborne Swanson Frank and art from Brooklyn-based artist and dear friend, Moomooi. To create more height in the room, we hung a beautiful Hunt Slomen multicolored bunny print, which both picks up the pink of the room, and also adds some color in a really sophisticated way.
We knew that we wanted to use a lot of lucite with this small room, since the material takes up no visual space. Hence, the flat lucite bookshelves! We worked with Nursery Works to select this crib, which features clear lucite slats on the front of the crib. Nursery Works makes some of the most beautiful cribs in the world, including an all lucite "Vetro" model, which I plan on purchasing when we move apartments!
"End Table" Cube - Crate & Barrel
Wool Baby Blanket - Hermès (exact color discontinued)
Board Books - Little Feminist
Crib - Nursery Works
I personalized an XXL Tote Bag with the phrase "Harper's Toys" for storage. This bag fits SO many things inside of it. Sometimes, I hide diapers in the bottom to keep the "back stock" out of site. This bag holds all of Harper's blankets and stuffed animals. We can embroider in every single color you can imagine, and I love it for every nursery!
I'm obsessed with all of the details! I transferred baby powders and creams to antique glass jars. The lucite changing table tray can be removed from the top of the mirrored piece of furniture, creating versatility in your home. Also, I love how it's just so different! The monochromatic Coterie diapers without patterns are chic, minimal, and look beautiful in every baby room. Not to mention, they are better for the planet, which we fully endorse. The leather giraffe is from my most recent trip to Morocco, when I was 6 weeks pregnant with Harper.
A needlepoint "Thank Heaven For Little Girls" sign hangs off this "lamb petal" pink Mongolian wool animal rocker from RH Baby. I love how it adds texture to the space, and the shade of pink works perfectly in Harper's room!
I'll end the post with this photo, which I love! I worked so hard to create this chair, pillow, and lampshade during lockdown in New York! My father refurbished and painted the chair, a local upholsterer created the cushions and lampshade with fabric that we sourced safely before lockdown. I shipped the pillow fabric and toile swatch to Monogram Mary for the "HARPER" embroidery, and we worked on color matching via iPhone photos. Everything came together in the nick of time. I sourced the tiny lampshade on Amazon, and had it custom made by Top Of The Line Upholstery in Stamford, CT -- all managed via the USPS.
This process of creating Harper's nursery was so special to me. It was important for me to create a beautiful space for my daughter -- her first room in her first home. She is the most important part of our lives and I will always go above and beyond to make sure she is surrounded by thoughtful details. While she will not remember it, I will be able to show her photos and tell her the back story of how we created this quirky little nursery during a global pandemic.
All photography by Daphne Youree Photography