Babyspace: Virginia Grace's nursery

By Published On: June 20th, 2013

P&N’s Nursery Tour: A peek into fabulous baby rooms across […]

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P&N’s Nursery Tour: A peek into fabulous baby rooms across the country.



sarafarisSara Faris
is mom to baby Virginia Grace in Atlanta, Georgia.

What was your vision for the nursery?
We didn’t find out the sex of the baby until she was born, so we wanted a nursery that would work for a boy or a girl.  Travel is very important to my husband and I, and that stood out to me as something I really hope my child appreciates also. (Indoctrinate them as early as possible, right?)
What would you consider your most essential piece?
Three prints depicting three world-class travel destinations (by Bianca Gomez) were my first ‘must-haves’! And when we found a rug featuring passport stamps from CB2, it was pretty serendipitous!
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Is there a history or a story behind any of the pieces you chose?
My brother gave me a globe lamp that had previously belonged to my grandfather. My grandfather, an Air Force veteran, once famously told my grandmother that they could go anywhere in the world that she wanted, as long as it was somewhere he hadn’t been yet. She was stumped! That makes this globe particularly special to me. I hope my children will be so well-traveled some day!
I’ve been saving two vintage suitcases from neighborhood garage sales for about a year, and I wasn’t sure what I was ever going to do with them, but they fit perfectly with this theme.  They look cool, and they are great for storage of bulk diapers and wipes and diaper genie bag refills:
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Following a Pinterest project, I framed three heart-shaped maps of locations that were important in the history of our family: where my husband and I met (Brooklyn); where we got married (Savannah); and where my daughter was born (Atlanta):
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My husband and I got married in Savannah at the Roundhouse, a train yard, so we put a large wedding picture of us on a train in the nursery. (Photographer was Anne Almasy)
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I priced out several frame-worth world maps, but ended up finding a really inexpensive map that Paper Source was selling as wrapping paper. I plan on putting a pin in every location that my daughter visits. (She got her first passport stamp at four-months-old when we took her to meet her great grandmother in Johannesburg, South Africa.)
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What are your favorite pieces and why?
One of my favorite pieces is a framed original illustration of suitcases and the words ‘travel far’ from one of my artist friends, Ashley E. Howard.  She is an artist and a world-traveler, and I will be happy no matter who my daughter grows up to be, but I wouldn’t be disappointed if she turns out like Ashley!
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What is your best tip for decorating?
I don’t claim to be an interior designer, but I did have a lot of fun with this room! Once you determine a theme you are excited about, the actual decorating part becomes very easy! And if you find something at one store that you like, always make sure to look online to see if they have a more affordable version somewhere else!
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What is your biggest secret confession (Do you never use your changing pad? Hate the color of a certain item?, etc.)
The glider chair is covered in a soft throw blanket because it was inherited from my friend who’s twin girls went all Jackson Pollack on it with permanent markers about a week before she brought it over to our house!
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Also, we didn’t change the paint color of the room at all, I was just too lazy, and I liked the color as it was. (Hopefully the name of the paint color won’t dictate my daughter’s personality as she ages: Sherwin Williams 6221 Moody Blue.)
What is your baby’s favorite spot in the room?
She always wakes up in a good mood, so I’ll say the crib!
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What is your favorite spot in the room?
Sitting in the glider. It reclines, and I love feeding the baby there when she wakes up in the middle of the night. It is so comfortable that my husband keeps trying to convince me to move it down to the living room.
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What would you like to add about designing a stunning nursery?
In addition to the vintage suitcases, we also have an upholstered storage bench in the nursery. I can’t stress enough how valuable storage spaces are in the nursery, and your house in general, once you have a baby! I swear the toys and blankets just multiply at night, and it’s great to have a convenient place to put them!
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Before I was pregnant I had no idea which bedroom I wanted to turn into the nursery. One night I woke from a sound sleep with the idea that we should turn the open area outside of our room into the nursery. The crib could fit right where the desk and computer currently were, and our baby would be sleeping right outside of our bedroom if she woke up and needed us! (ie – I wouldn’t have to fumble downstairs half-asleep to feed her!)
It turned out perfectly, and the ceiling angles and open-feel of the nursery remind me of the children’s nursery in Peter Pan.
So I guess my advice would be to keep an open mind about where in your house might be a good spot for the baby. As newborns and babies, they don’t really need THAT much room, and if you only consider spaces categorized at ‘bedrooms’ you may be overlooking a cool spot!
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