Fresh Starts: Stripes and Style in a Flexible Nursery
While Kevin and Kari McIntosh Dawdy were expecting their first child, it seemed like the world was expecting them to buy stuff, and a lot of it. Although the two were eager to sign on for new-parent duties, they weren’t ready to commit to a lot of baby gear that would stretch their two-bedroom condominium to the limit.
“We felt tremendous pressure to bulk up on things and add items to our registry, and resisting that was hard,” says Kari, an interior designer with a practical streak. They decided to convert her home office (in what would normally be the guest room) into a nursery — but it relies on items they already owned or repurposed to be baby appropriate. They also installed an undercover office and used the closet to store off-season clothes.
Nine months after baby Maxwell’s arrival, the designer has no regrets. “I’m really glad we didn’t buy a lot of things we don’t use,” she says. “We decided that if we really needed it, we would buy it later. After all, you can order items online, and they will be there the next day — it’s no big deal.”
Photography by Julie Mikos
Before Maxwell’s birth, Kari had used the room as the headquarters for her interior design firm, Kari McIntosh Design. “We decided not to find out if we were having a boy or a girl,” she says. “Since the walls were already gray, I thought I’d leave them that way, as that color works for either.”
Kari did want to add some fun, so she looked to the white ceiling as a place to inject color and pattern with wide, awning-style stripes. “Orange is one of my favorite colors, it goes with gray, and it’s gender neutral,” she says.
Picking up on the blue and white armchair and table lamp, she chose a rug in a print that would look at home on china plates. “The rug is 100 percent wool and very soft,” she says. “I wanted something that would be soft for the baby to play on.”
The couple went with an undercover office in the room, and selected a secretary with a fold-down desktop as well as a cabinet deep enough to house a printer and with plenty of drawer storage for office supplies. The white desk chair doubles as a guest chair.
Rug: Smithsonian Collection, Surya; Patchwork Secretary: West Elm
The couple chose the Robin Crib by Oeuf after a lot of research and comparison shopping. “I liked that it has a low profile and uses nontoxic materials,” says Kari. “I also liked that it comes with a changing table. My husband’s tall, and he can change the baby without having to uncomfortably bend over. It also converts to a toddler bed, and I’m all about multipurpose furniture.”
How to Paint Perfect Wall Stripes
The room has no official theme, but it gets a big-top vibe from the striped ceiling and a hand-knitted mobile featuring acrobatic animals: a lion, a monkey, a giraffe, a zebra and an elephant; it was made in Peru.
Mobile: Jungle, Blabla Kids
“Acquiring and holding on to furniture runs like a disease through my family,” admits Kari. Her mother happened to have an armchair that swivels and rocks. She slipcovered it to give it new life as a nursery chair. “Everyone told us we should get a glider chair,” says Kari. “But the truth is, they are really ugly, and you’ll never use it outside the nursery.”
A old baker’s rack (seen in the entry) is outfitted with canvas boxes to hold office supplies and baby gear.
Kari selected the chair’s fabric for its hand-drawn quality and jungle animal print. She brought a Lucite table in from her bedroom as a place to set her water glass while she feeds and rocks the baby.
Upholstery: Jungle Jubliee, Lulu DK for Schumacher
Kari’s mother repurposed an old plate rack as a bookshelf and coatrack, painting it and adding hooks along the bottom. It’s a great move, as the couple uses the closet in this room for off-season clothing. A dresser holds the baby’s clothes.
Another coatrack at the room’s entry holds the equipment a parent on the go needs, such as a diaper bag and an Ergo carrier.
Kari had the vintage distressed dresser for years. To make it ready for the nursery, her mother sanded and sealed it so no paint would flake off. The mirror once hung in the couple’s entryway.
Kari bought this giraffe years ago during a trip to South Africa.
Giraffe: Shirley Fintz
More recently but well before the baby, Kari was delighted to see that the artist, Shirley Fintz, had created this lamp in partnership with West Elm. “Although I wasn’t pregnant, I bought it knowing that I wanted it for a nursery someday,” she says.
She employed the same look-ahead philosophy for everything in the room. “We don’t know if this is our home for the long haul, but it could be for the next several years,” she says. “I chose things I thought could be used again or adapted as he grows.”
Shirley Fintz Table Lamp: West Elm; art: Alphabet Blocks Wallhanging, Paul Smith
More: Oh, Baby! 12 Ideas to Get a Chic Nursery Rolling
