apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

What caught our eye and made us fall for this nursery was how welcoming and unpretentious it is. A mixture of vintage knick knacks with dashes of modernity combine with sweet touches to create a place for Maia that is both calming and fun to be in.

We asked Karin about her design style and she replied:
"My design ideas for the babyroom were the same as for the rest of our house: a mix of vintage finds and design although for the babyroom, especially it being a girl’s room I could go a bit mad with the color. I've always love the pink and green color combination but didn't want it to be a standard girly (Barbie/bubblegum) pink. I found a more gritty pink in the magazine of a Swedish paint brand that we can't buy in Holland so I had it mixed by hand by my local paint store. It's just a bit more edgy. I made the curtain myself from a vintage duvet I had laying around (it was bought at a famous second hand market in Amsterdam). It matched perfectly with the pink. From there on it just came together. The floor was already in place and I painted the bed and changing table, that used to be my son’s, in a subtle pink-- just pinker than white.”

We also asked Karin about specific items in Maia’s room. The hanger is from a local shop called Het Filiaal, the butterfly wall hanger is designed by a Portuguese artist named Anna Ventura and the white mirror was a lucky thrift store find from the UK -- and we know how great thrift stores can be for nursery items.

We also love the vintage Fisher Price phone, the framed vintage dog and cat artwork (also a thrift store gem) and the doll on the white shelf designed by Rosa Pomar. The best addition, however, is the Holly Hobby doll which belonged to Karin as a child and has now been handed down to Maia. Fabulous!

When asked for advice on approaching the design process, Karin adds:
"I can't really give any advice, only tell you how I did it. When I was pregnant I just loved to sit in the room that was going to be the nursery and dream about how it would be with the baby in it. In both my pregnancies i knew if i would get a boy or girl so that made it easier. And just let my imagination run free. Sometimes it's nice if you have an object or fabric that you really love to have in the room and you can pick a color from that. I think pregnant women are really intuitive, you should just really go with that."

That sounds like some good advice to us. Thanks Karin and Maia!