A Favorite PN Nursery Grows Up

Designing rooms for my own children is always so much harder than doing it for my clients for some reason. With all the latest trends on my brain, it is always hard to choose which one I like best. When my son Doran was ready to transition into his big boy bed, I hesitated a little on just what I wanted to do. You may or may not have seen his nursery reveal a few years ago, so here’s a reminder of what the room looked like before.

When I’m designing a kid’s room, I always try to design the space so it can grow with the child. I held true to this with my own son’s room, so it easily transitioned from a nursery into an eclectic toddler room—they grow way too fast (sigh)!

As you can see, I kept some of the key elements in the room. The wood wall remained the same, as well as the drapery and floor lamp, but the real wow factor is the custom lofted toddler bed.

My son loves to be inside tents and forts and under the couch cushions, so I thought a fun little loft bed would be the perfect thing for him! I found a bed similar to this on Pinterest, but it was only available to purchase in Europe so I decided to draw up some plans and have my carpenter make one for me. I added some of my own features, including the cross bars on the window and the little door so he would be safe from falling out of bed at night. Then I found a fun rug that pulled everything together and popped in some new colors that weren’t in his room before, refreshing it and making it feel “new.”

Big sisters, beware—no girls allowed in this clubhouse! I painted the bed with my favorite Dunn Edwards hue called Novelty Navy. I also attached a little book light from IKEA and a couple of book ledges inside for all of his favorite bedtime books.

There is a vintage campaign chest in a natural finish on the other side of Doran’s eclectic toddler room, along with a gallery wall that includes some of his favorite things. The vintage paint-by-number art pulled all the colors over to that side of the room and completed the compilation of artwork.

When you’re designing your nursery, think a couple steps ahead and consider how easily a big bed will fit in the room. This will make your transition all that much smoother as your little one grows into his new space. And as any mom knows, it all happens way too fast!

photography by John Woodcock Photography