Design Reveal: Sutton’s Place

When in doubt paint it! That’s just what Charlotte, North Carolina based mom Ashley did when designing the nursery for her son Sutton. She wanted to stick to a budget and wasn’t scared to tackle a few DIY projects in order to use pieces from around the house. A little elbow grease and a few cans of paint later and Ashley was able to create a tailored and playful room for Sutton centered around the color scheme of pear green, chocolate brown and raspberry. Ashley has had some experience designing nurseries for friends and it shows! Her resourcefulness, hard work and attention to detail are evident and the finished product is one to be proud of. Here is how she did it:

What was your inspiration for the room?
I had been decorating nurseries for other people, so when I got pregnant, I was so excited to design Sutton’s room. I wanted to keep the design unisex, so I used a palate of pear green and chocolate brown with a little raspberry red thrown in.  I also wanted to be cost conscious, so I did my research and got the best bang for my buck. Simple lines and a clean design made this a great little haven for our baby boy.

What best describes your decorating style?
My home is full of modern loungy pieces mixed with some traditional antiques from my husband’s grandmother.  I love the mix, it’s fun to update old things with a modern twist.

Share with us choice of paint colors, furniture, art, DIY tips, etc.
The walls are two shades of pear green from Benjamin Moore; ‘Rainforest Dew’ and ‘Pale Avocado’. The raspberry red was a color match in Behr paint. The chocolate brown paint was Ralph Lauren ‘Traditional’. I found the crib and dresser at Walmart!  Great find, modern look for less money.  I bought the armoire from an antique shop years ago (it use to be my entertainment center), and just painted it to give additional storage.  The side table is from IKEA, I just painted it to match my color scheme.  The ‘day bed’ was my husband’s bed frame his dad built him in college.  It had to stay in the room due to storage constraints, so I transformed it with paint and created a cozy resting spot.  It will later become Sutton’s big boy bed. The rug was a steal from Pier One Imports; it was on major sale after Thanksgiving and just happened to match my color scheme.  I snatched it up! I ordered the wall letters from Craft Cuts, as I usually do for my clients and then painted them in different designs that matched the bedding and color scheme. The mirrors were from Spiegel; they were originally white so I painted them to match everything else. All the crib bedding fabric came from Mary Jo’s, and was sewn by Cynthia Robbins. I bought the art prints from Art.com and bought plain scrap-booking frames from Michaels and painted them chocolate brown.

What is your favorite item(s) in the room?
I love how the armoire turned out, it looks so cute with the two paint colors and it’s totally functional as storage for clothes, books, toy, etc.  I also love the rug, it ties all the colors in the room together.

Is there anything else you would like to share?
Anyone can create their dream room with a little bit of imagination and it doesn’t have to cost a fortune to do it.  I have done many nurseries and kids rooms for clients and am always sensitive to costs; you would never know it by looking at the end result…