Designing A Nursery
Q: Take us through the design process of creating your first nursery? How did you approach it?
RM: I started with laying out the essentials in CAD. This was pretty simple as it’s not a large space so it laid out very easily. My first material selection was the wallcovering which we absolutely love and it really set the tone for the rest of the nursery. It was important to Andrew and I that the space didn’t feel “too cute” or overly girly. This wallcovering by Pierre Frey captured everything we wanted - it has great subtle texture, has a playfulness that feels just youthful enough, and we love the terracotta accent color. From there, I put together a presentation with ideas for the furnishings themselves. We wanted to keep the palette fresh and organic, so the natural wood tones felt right for the main pieces. The Nash crib from West Elm has clean lines and it’s convertible to a toddler bed which seemed ideal. I pulled a lot of options for the dresser and rocker, but Andrew had the idea to make them which was so thoughtful and special. He designed the dresser, called the “Adler '', and House of Morrison made it. I let him do his thing, and it turned out beautifully with the inset leather on the drawer fronts, brass accent hardware, and the slatted shelf below. We will always have this piece - I love it so much! The rocker was a similar process in that Andrew had a vision for the piece and he ran with it. I weighed in on fabric which is this earthy washed green linen and adds a great pop of color in the room against the natural wood tones.
The final layering of window coverings, art, and accessories was also a lot of fun to put together. We worked with Sole Shades on the window coverings in Adler’s nursery as well as the rest of our home. Pegah, the owner of Sole Shades, was so helpful in directing me to do both a roman shade and drapery in the space so that we could block out all the light when needed for nap time, bed time, etc. Sole Shades has the most gorgeous fabrics to work with and we decided on a textural cream linen for the roman shade and a natural linen for the drapery, both with blackout lining. The art was pulled mostly from pieces we already had and that helped make the room feel more collected than decorated - a definite theme in all the design we do at DMi. The two color pieces over her crib I bought years ago from the Venice Beach Artists and Flea and the adorable lamb art next to it was given to us by a designer on our team, Marina, that she found from Loloi! It worked so perfectly with everything in the space. Then on the opposing wall, I found a great articulating sconce from Rejuventation that we offset with two antique french baby sketches from a book (found at the flea market) and a piece I purchased when I was in my early twenties and traveling with my best friend in Southeast Asia. I envision adding to this wall over time to create an ever bolder gallery wall effect.
“I think there is a tendency to want to pick a theme (i.e. safari, woodland animals, etc) for a nursery but I am a big believer in not feeling heavily tied to this concept” Rachel Morrison
Q: What are your newborn must-haves?
RM: We have been so lucky in that both of us have had a lot of close friends who have recently had babies and offered us a wealth of information and advice. One of the items that has been extremely helpful is Magnetic Me clothing. This company utilize magnets instead of zippers / buttons and let me tell you, in the middle of the night it’s pretty much the best thing ever. Another item that we have loved for Adler is the Charlie Crane baby rocker - it’s super stylish and a great place for her to relax. We jokingly call it the “eames chair” for babies since it really is so design forward, especially compared to everything out there.
Q: What does your new day to day look like?
RM: My new day to day is definitely different than before Adler was here! We start the day around 7 or 8 depending on how our night’s sleep went with a good feeding and diaper change. This normally involves either Andrew or I handling those activities while the other one of us makes some big, strong cups of coffee! From there it’s a mixture of a lot more feedings and diaper changes with some tummy time, and a walk around the neighborhood in our stroller. A few nights a week, we do baths for her which she absolutely loves. She seems to enjoy just hanging in the warm water and then we will all hang until we try to get her down for bedtime. In my few short weeks of mamahood, I have learned to appreciate going more with the flow of things. We are trying to have somewhat of a schedule, but it doesn’t often work out to the hour or minute I might think haha. I am also excited to start at the New Moms School in Newport which we will go to weekly and meet and hang with other new moms who had babies around the same time Adler was born.
Q: Any advice for mothers-to-be designing their nursery?
RM: I think there is a tendency to want to pick a theme (i.e. safari, woodland animals, etc) for a nursery but I am a big believer in not feeling heavily tied to this concept. Rather, I would suggest pulling together more of a palette of colors to start working with. If you’d like to introduce items connected to a theme, this can be more easily done through art or small accessories in the space. This way, the larger items that are more of an investment can grow with the baby for longer. I would also highly recommend adding a wallcovering or changing up paint as this can quickly give a space a whole new feel!
Q: All in all, how was designing for a newborn client?
RM: She was very demanding ;)...kidding. In all honesty, we designed the space for both her and us in mind. We already spend a lot of time in the nursery and that will only increase as she gets older. Both Andrew and I are so happy with the final design, and as with all things I am sure it will continue to evolve and grow with her. But all in all, Adler’s nursery evokes happiness when you walk in, and to have that as a backdrop for many of our special moments to come is so meaningful.
