What I especially love about Whistler’s nursery is that mom took an inspiration she found out the world (in this case Jenna Lyons’ son’s nursery in New York) and made it her own. Also, the nursery fits seamlessly into their thoughtful home which is chock-full of many unexpected decór combinations; from vintage to modern to victorian. Lezlie has an amazing talent for creating lovely and unique spaces. It also helps that her hubby has a gift with a saw. She’s first to admit though that many of her ideas are borrowed and re-envisioned for her own space. Here’s a little Q&A with Lezlie on designing her son Whistler’s nursery. I hope you find it helpful and inspiring!

Whistler’s  nursery 2010
inspiration: Jenna Lyon’s yellow striped nursery NY
colors and design elements: yellow, black, mushrooms, owls, and other animals
cost: $600

Whistler's nursery, Chicago

• where did you get your initial inspiration?
The inspiration for Whistler’s nursery came months before I was even pregnant. The now defunct, and greatly missed, interior design magazine, Domino, did an editorial spread on the Creative Director for J. Crew, Jenna Lyons, gorgeous home. Her son’s room had yellow and white stripes painted on the ceiling with the contrasting walls of chalkboard paint. Black walls in a baby’s room might give most people reason to pause. But those yellow and white stripes on our 3-sided ceiling really make it more circus tent than black hole. I was searching for something unexpected, we knew we were having a boy and really did not want the pale blue and chocolate brown that seems to be so popular. I tore that magazine spread out and tucked it away for when the happy time came our way.

Lezlie's inspiration for Whistler's nursery

• how did you give it your own spin?
I get a lot of my decorating inspiration from homes featured in interior design magazines. It’s a borderline addiction actually, maybe I could redecorate more if I would cut back on all those magazines! For Whistlers nursery I started with the yellow, white and black color scheme and ran from there. I really wanted a room for him that fit in with the rest of our eclectic house. I’m not a fan of the super precious baby room, this room will grow with him for a few more years than a typical baby nursery. I also did not want a “theme”, no  single room in our house has a theme, so why would I try to impose one with the nursery? Every room fits in with each other this way and gives the house a great flow.

• where did you source all of the linens/textiles? who helped you?
My mother and sister have great eyes for textiles and I’m forever picking up ideas from their homes as well. There is a great discount fabric store in Memphis where my sister lives, called Premier Fabrics.  Alot of the fabrics came from there, including the black and white stripe and the great yellow bamboo print. They were both $9.99 a yard! The monkey print fabric was 50% off at a local Hancocks Fabrics and I used my mom’s talented seamstress in Tennessee to make the Roman Shade. My mother herself sewed all the crib linens for us.

• can you tell us where you got the 1. crib 2. chair 3. mushroom table 4. changing table 5. decorations…and anything else you want to mention
The crib and changing table were hand me downs from my sister. We just had to purchase a new mattress. The rocking chair, which is on the small side and perfect for a tiny Chicago bedroom, was picked up at an estate sale for about $40. Again, I bought this chair months before I was pregnant as I knew it would be perfect for our small Chicago house someday. My mom refinished it and had it reupholstered for $50. The faux sheepskin rug is from Ikea ($130). The mushroom table set (my one big splurge) was bought at Mango Street Baby ($230). The Elephant Hamper ($125) is from Home Decorators Collection. The zebra head ($68.00) and framed dinosaur needlework ($130), which my husband gave me for my birthday and is a total inside joke between the two of us, are both from Anthropologie. The sweet Mama Mouse and Baby Mouse painting actually hung in my nursery as a baby. My mom painted it while pregnant with me and lucky for me, the yellow could not have matched the room more perfectly. And of course, it’s probably my favorite item in the nursery.

Lezlie's favorite element in the nursery a painting by her mom that hung in her nursery.

• did you have a budget for the project? would you mind sharing how much it cost, roughly?
Actually, my husband Brett, and I have been a bit shocked at how inexpensive our newborn son has been thus far due to great gifts from friends and family and greatly appreciated hand me downs. (We know this will not always be the case!) We estimate the total budget for the room to be around $1000.00, but we ourselves only spent about $600. We spent $90 on wood and hardware. $75 on paint. $100 on fabrics. And about $300 on decorations.

Lezlie found discounted fabric for Whistler's nursery

• how long did the nursery take from your ideas to completion
Well, considering I started to plan this room in my decorators mind well before I was even pregnant, it took years to complete! However, once we had a firm baby countdown on the way, it probably took about 3 solid weekends worth of work to complete. My impressively patient husband and father-in-law outlined and taped the stripes on the ceiling in 8 hours one day. They truly deserve a medal for that! Then it took about 20 minutes to paint them. But they are the straightest stripes you have ever seen!

• any design challenges?
While we love and adore our older and character-filled Chicago home, the storage and closet spaces leave much to be desired. This room didn’t even have a closet! Plus the slanted ceilings don’t allow for much wall space to work with. That is another reason why I love the stripes in this room, they are so bright and all encompassing that Whistler can lay on his rug in the center of the room and get so much stimulation just staring at the ceiling! A dear friend of ours helped Brett carve out the shelving into the empty attic space in the side wall. And then Brett built the “floating” shelves and small hanging rod in the one corner. The wall already had a perfect little cut out in it that was perfect for a “closet”. As Whistler and his wardrobe continue to grow, I foresee a great fabric panel hanging from the ceiling to create more of a door/cover for that area.

Lezlie & Whistler, Summer 2010, Chicago

Thank you, Lezlie!

I’ll be out of the office the rest of the week. I’ll be checking in most evenings but bare with me until I’m back online again on Friday.

xo

hello baby, Ned, Chicago, IL, 2010

Have a great weekend. I hope you’re enjoying Summer wherever you may be.

welcome baby Whistler

A gigantic thanks to Anne, Ryan, and especially Miss Arabel for a really lovely afternoon. We started at home where I got to see Arabel’s wonderful personality. She was giving me hugs within a few minutes of meeting her which is always a good sign of a great shoot. After we shot for about 45 minutes at home Anne and Ryan took us all to a perfect location nearby. We were greeted by really spectacular late afternoon winter light, mix that with a really handsome and fun family and well that’s my favorite way to shoot. Enjoy and let me know your thoughts!