Alison Egan

This is the nursery my husband and I created for our now 10-month-old, Mila. When we learned we were pregnant in late 2016, we were living in a one bedroom in a Brooklyn high rise with our 160 lb. English Mastiff, Apollo, who had recently undergone knee surgery. We immediately began our apartment search with very acute criteria: two bedrooms, close to my office at Industry City, accepting of a 160 lb. dog (nearly impossible in New York City), backyard, ground floor (we knew that we wouldn’t be able to take Apollo on walks every time he had to use the bathroom during the first few weeks of Mila’s life. Plus, he was recovering from a knee surgery, so long walks and stairs were out of the question.) After several months of searching, we landed on a beautiful little place to start our family.
As most New Yorkers know, there’s always a sacrifice when it comes to finding the perfect apartment, and ours was the size of the second bedroom. Although the apartment was marketed as a two-bedroom, the second bedroom may as well have been a walk-in closet. But everything else was ideal, and we knew that with a little creativity, we could make the space work. The first thing we picked out was the wallpaper. Actually my husband Kyle picked it out. He’s an art fan, and thought that Hunt Slonem’s bunnies would make for a great nursery accent wall. Although I wanted to avoid being too theme-y, I loved the bunnies, and the fact that they were in baby-friendly high-contrast black and white made me feel like our girl would too love them as soon as she was able to see. We kept the rest of the nursery white/light colored so that it appeared as big as possible.
Across from the accent wall, we hung a beautiful unicorn painting that my dear friend Kristina made for Mila shortly before she was born. Mila loves it so much!
When it came to furniture, we had to be minimal, and compact. At bare minimum, I knew we needed a crib, a rocker, and somewhere to store diapers and clothing. The crib was easy; rather than a full-size crib, we opted for a mini crib by Babyletto. It’s great for the first year or so of her life, and we plan to expand after that anyway. Probably my favorite piece of furniture is the chair. It’s from Nursery Works and by far the sleekest-looking rocker I found. And it’s comfortable, which is a must for all of the late night feedings. The AMOUR pillow is from Ondine Csao, hand-made by women and children in Senegal.
For storage, we had to get a little creative. The room has these beautiful built-in shelves, but I did not want to fill them up – I only wanted to use them for books and a few toys and decorations. So I had Kyle craft a hanging rod where we could hang some dresses and rompers in a more decorative way. Besides the wallpaper, this is my favorite design element. I love clothes, and this was a cute way to display some of them and also be space-conscious. Below that, we have a small chest of drawers for other clothing items, diapers, etc. and a basket from Home Goods for some toys and stuffed animals.
It’s amazing what you can do with 60 square feet of space. I think most people are intimidated by small rooms like this one, but you CAN make it work! And while the nursery is perfect for us and our girl, we’re quickly growing out of our apartment. Unfortunately, we lost Apollo just a few months after Mila was born. So needless to say, our apartment horizons have broadened, and we will likely move within the next year. Until then, we will continue to cherish this little space.