The Pieces You Need for a Stylish Nursery According to a former fashion editor.
By Ruthie Friedlander | Photo courtesy of @nicolelelagreen
In the realm of life’s grand anxieties — you know, like misplacing your recently purchased Summer Fridays lip butter balm or scuffing the toe of your favorite flat (the horror!) — decorating a nursery in a small NYC apartment ranks pretty high. Especially when you’ve spent the majority of your life working in and around fashion and your most daunting concern has never been about sleepless nights or diaper duty or the sheer terror of your carefully curated home being overtaken by an explosion of plastic, pastels, and playmats. Misplaced anxiety or totally correctly placed anxiety, my focus as I entered the second trimester of my pregnancy surrounded this: Was my sanctuary about to morph into a cheesy funhouse overnight? Babe’s first steps are momentous, but did they really need to be taken on a neon alphabet puzzle mat that clashed with my vintage rugs? Here, the pieces that made my nursery fashionable, functional, and yes, even baby-friendly.
Ruthie Friedlander’s Nursery Registry
When I say it’s all about the glider, it is ALL. ABOUT. THE GLIDER. We loved so many, but most were too bulky for our New York City Apartment (or resembled some sort of video gaming throne). I fell in love with just about everything from Nurture&, but especially The Gliding Swivel. It’s specifically built for small spaces and comes with an ottoman that has storage!!! WE LOVE STORAGE SPACE! Photo courtesy of Nuture&.
And speaking of dressers, this was a toughie. Mainly because there were so many options. I landed on Oeuf’s Sparrow Three Drawer Dresser for its simple, modern look — it also didn’t hurt that it was super easy to put together and fit into our space perfectly. Photo courtesy of Oeuf
The crib was my starting place when it came to the room, and in the world of cribs, the Nestig Wave stood out like a colorful Chanel in a sea of sad, shapeless totes. Its sleek design whispered sophistication, ensuring my future babe would sleep in style from the get-go. It was great to find an option that fit in with our apartment’s aesthetic. Photo courtesy of Nestig
The lines of the room were something I became randomly obsessive about. I wanted things to feel soft, but not too soft; angular, but not abrasive. This changer was a no-brainer aesthetically. Plus, it’s easy to wipe down, and you can put it on anything! Just put it on a dresser you love and transform it into a changing table. Photo courtesy of Amazon
“Blackout shades are a MUST for deep sleep. You can get them anywhere, but I like the ones from The Shade Store.” Photo courtesy of Ruthie Friedlander
BOOKS! Buy them locally or from The Strand! Get a great bookcase (we got this adorable one from Zara Home) and fill your room with books. I can’t wait to start reading to my daughter from one day old. Photo courtesy of Zara Home.
I can’t stress enough the importance of having something that feels like YOU in the baby’s room. For my husband and I, this was a vintage lamp he had bought me our our anniversary. It felt kiddy enough to make sense in the room, but still made us feel like we were bringing in our own aesthetic. We love how it looks. Pro tip: You probably already have this in your house (we did!), but if you don’t, think about something from your childhood bedroom and find it on eBay or 1stdibs. Photo courtesy of Ruthie Friedlander.
