Nurture With Nature

Ursula of Room to Bloom shares her nature inspired

nursery design for baby Oona.

This is Oona’s room. When Oona’s family moved country, her mum asked me to design her and her sister’s bedroom, to help them settle into their new life abroad. We worked remotely via email, calls and facetime, proof that this can work just as well as being there in person.

Oona’s nursery was created in the smallest room in the house, leading off her sister’s bedroom. My main focus was to make the room feel as spacious and restful as possible.

I choose a peaceful, dusty green colour as the main theme for the room, to counteract and mellow the strongly coloured oak floor. The focal point is a pretty woodland wallpaper – it has echoes of the floor colour in it so it is the perfect connecting background. There’s lots of sweet detail in the design to hold Oona’s gaze.

The simple natural wooden cot is livened up with bedding in the wallpaper’s accent colours. Because the bed blends in with the floor, the room feels as spacious as it can be – the cot’s open design also helps with this. To anchor the cot we painted a dusty green border alongside, creating a two tone wall. An oak framed pear print adds height and creates a cosy corner.

A there was not much space for lots of furniture, we prioritised clothes storage at this early stage. Using the height of the room, I found a vintage single wardrobe in just the right colour, so it blends in with the background – another trick to make a small space feel larger.

As most of Oona’s toys were stored elsewhere, we decided a simple play corner with cushions, book ledges and a house shelf on the wall would suffice for the early years. Oona just loves rearranging small toys in the house. Later down the line a compact toy or book cabinet could be added.

To style the room I used vintage elements, like the small chairs and the suitcase on top of the wardrobe, and continued a light woodland theme with a bunny lamp, a small fox head on the wall and other creatures. A grey bear shaped rug covers some of the floor’s surface, which helps keep it in check and provides a soft surface. Adding a playful touch, it tones with the grey curtains, keeping the mood calm.

Despite the distance and having to work remotely, I think the design was really successful and my client did a great job at overseeing the installation. I just love how pretty and together the room has turned out!

If you would like to hear more about Ursula, what inspires her and why calm spaces are important to her, check out our interview, and to work with Ursula either directly or remotely contact her here and I highly recommend you check out her other projects o her site too, Room to Bloom.

More Nursery Ideas….