Behind the design: Ellington’s Nursery

Ellington’s nursery was a dream for me to bring to life, for many reasons, not least of which was a long wait and a room I imagined for years on end. When we found out we were having a girl I knew I wanted to incorporate pink but in a far more modern way and less in a “baby” way.

Opting for a hotter pink helped achieve that and I brought in other colors by incorporating our prints into the space, four different ones to be exact. I went with our Fine and Dandy wallpaper in Blue for the main print on the walls. I adore a parlor look so, with the help of Merrilee McGehee Designs, we created panels throughout the space and then wallpapered within them.

This room was originally a small home office and our pantry, so it took some reconfiguring and new construction to figure out, but not a ton. The old pantry ended up being the perfect nook that I had imagined for the crib. With a little notch trim detail, upholstered walls in our Versailles wallpaper in White (one of my favorite details of the whole room), and small flanking sconces, it was Lucite crib ready.

I knew I wanted to incorporate animals, but again, in a more unexpected way. Turning Amanda Lindroth’s rattan elephant console into a changing table was the perfect find for doing just what I had in mind. I used our Metamorphosis print to reupholster the glider.

My favorite parts of the room are of course the more sentimental ones, including a stuffed animal I bought her at Singita while on safari in South Africa. On the trip I had received hard news about an IVF round and I was crushed. But I still had hope and bought a locally handmade, stuffed elephant as a sign of that hope for the baby I knew I one day would have.

Two large Rwandan baskets hang to the left of her crib, a nod to the country where her dad and I met. And finally, over her rocker hangs a painting I made for her while I was pregnant. It’s a Frederick Buechner quote I’ve always found so simple yet profound about this being human thing. It reads, “Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid.”