Behind the Scenes with HGTV's Erinn Valencich

Erinn Valencich, of Erinn V Design Group and a frequent design expert guest on HGTV, is sharing one of her latest nursery designs with us today, and she kindly answered some of our questions about her design. Thank you, Erinn!

Erinn, what a great room! Can you tell us some of the main goals you hoped to achieve with this room?

I wanted to create a nautical, fun room for my best friend’s first child. She loves preppy, tailored looks, so the room needed to have a bit of that feel. We decided on navy, white and red after seeing these fabulous étagères from Rosenberry Rooms. They were the launching pad for the color palette.

The nautical theme is such a classic nursery theme. Can you let us know how you keep things fresh when starting with a familiar theme?

Bring in something modern, like flanking the bed with the bold-colored étagère or accessorizing with some “non-childlike” accessories, such as the few pieces from Jonathan Adler. They funk up the room a bit and avoid the cliches of boats and whatnot.

We love those horses peeking out of the cubbies. Do you have any tips for creating “special moments” with the details of the room?

Think of creating small vignettes—little areas of surprise or areas to explore. Grouping items together also makes a bigger impact than spreading small items such as the horses all around the room. This is a great tip if you have a collection to display.