NEW IN BLUE

THE FAMILY HOMES ISSUE

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NURSERY TIMES New in Blue

In Little Rock, designer Jonathan Parkey creates a nursery that checks all the boxes

WRITER TIFFANY ADAMS PHOTOGRAPHER RETT PEEK

“This is an older home, and Meredith is quite traditional so I wanted to keep it in line with that.”

—Jonathan Parkey, designer

Design Resources INTERIOR DESIGN Jonathan Parkey, J. Parkey ACCESSORIES, BEDDING, AND FABRICS J. Parkey EMBROIDERY (MONOGRAM) Mrs. Polka Dot FURNITURE Cantrell Furniture Design Center WALL AND WINDOW COVERINGS Laura’s Draperies & Blinds hen longtime friend and client Meredith W Causey told Jonathan Parkey, owner of J. Parkey, she wanted to convert her master closet into a sitting room, he knew something was up. A couple of weeks later, she confessed the room actually needed to become a nursery, as she and her husband, Chad, were expecting their third child. “We wanted to stay upstairs with our kids in this stage but there were no other bedrooms,” Meredith explains. The spacious closet, which is connected to the master bedroom, offered a solution.

Jonathan knew he needed to get rolling on the project to meet baby boy Miller’s arrival date. After removing the closet components, he traded the room’s standard door for a pocket version, saving valuable floor space.

What the space lacked in square footage, the pair wanted to more than make up for in style. “This is an older home, and Meredith is quite traditional so I wanted to keep it in line with that,” Jonathan says. “I sent him one inspiration picture and told him no themes,” Meredith recalls. “I’ve never seen anything he’s done that I don’t love,” she adds. Jonathan’s first instinct was to cover the walls in a buffalo check. Rather than wallpaper, he chose a cotton Stroheim fabric. The print encases the room; it’s even echoed on the drapery panels, which were designed to align perfectly with the pattern. “These are my colors. I have to work not to own only blue and white—in both my home and my wardrobe,” laughs Meredith. The padded walls also turned out to be functional. “The wallcovering has been the biggest unexpected surprise. It created the quietest, coziest room,” she says. “With two older siblings right down the hall, it’s like a soundproof booth for Miller.”

From there, Jonathan wanted to do something a bit unexpected. “Instead of just shades of blue, I popped in this red,” he says. The designer found a pair of vintage prints with red lacquer and gold frames and used them to set the tone for the rest of the room, including bedding for the crib the Causeys already owned and accessories for the dresser-turned-changing table. “I like the idea that the mirror is sort of like a porthole and references back to the ship artwork,” he says, noting both it and the artwork will transition easily to a big boy room down the road.