Designed with Love

HOME and Cabin

Designed with Love

It’s the little touches that stand out the most in this nursery design by Holly Costello.

Candace Kennedy photos

When Holly Costello and her husband were expecting their first child, they did what all expectant parents do – put a lot of thought and love into building a nursery. Holly, being a professional interior designer, was more than up to the task.

“Nurseries and kids’ rooms are at the top of my list of favourite rooms to design, whether it’s for my own little people or for others’. There’s so much opportunity to play with fun and whimsical themes and colours, and incorporate tons of personality,” she says.

When she was pregnant, Holly and her husband decided they wanted the gender to be a surprise, so she designed a genderneutral space that they could add boy or girl touches to once the baby came. She wanted it bright with white walls, to match the rest of the house, and livened up with a pop of kelly green. “So with this in mind, I did what I do for most design projects: I worked on a mood board of inspiration pictures and ideas that developed and changed a bit over time leading up to completing the room,” she explains.

Candace Kennedy photos

Some of the features that made their way into the nursery just over five years ago were collected in a way that would resonate with us today, as we shelter at home and limit our shopping trips to survival essentials.

“I’m a big believer in shopping your house and mixing things around before heading out to purchase new items,” Holly says. “It’s always fun to change up pieces throughout your house, and that’s especially easy with artwork. I also love to use items with sentimental value, so often I’ll have at least one piece of furniture in a room with a past life that I have repurposed.”

Among the artwork in this nursery is a painting by Holly's husband's grandmother, a beautiful way to bring the love of extended family into this child's life and space. Another cherished item is a framed orange snail. Explains Holly, "It was a piece from my husband's nursery mobile that my mother-in-law had saved, which I took and framed. It's so special to think that that same item was hanging in his room when he was just a little baby."

Candace Kennedy photos

To represent the new mom, Holly incorporated a dresser that once belonged to her. "It was my dresser growing up, which I painted in this bright green. It was one of the first things I knew I wanted in the room, a bold pop of colour to set the tone for the rest of the room."

Holly filled the nursery with other things found around the house that mixed well with the room’s colour and theme, plus necessary new purchases such as the crib and the window shade.

Candace Kennedy photos

“It’s been a while since I completed this room, and I did make some changes to make it a little different for our younger son who now lives in the room, but all the main components stayed the same, and I still love it to this day.”

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