I am ridiculously excited to share our newest little clients' room, Rafael and Leonardo's shared baby and toddler boy room!!! Their gorgeous Mama contacted me when she was pregnant with her second baby in the hopes that we could maximize the space of her son's existing room to include the new baby. Although the room is small, I was confident that we could make it work and include the necessities for a new little one as well as the growing needs of her toddler son.
As part of our initial consultation, we discussed how the family wanted this space to feel. The words used were, "uncluttered and calm". There were A LOT of toys, clothes and items that had been collected over the years since Rafa, the 2 year old, was born and in order to make sure this space could really feel uncluttered, we needed to ensure that the toys could be stored somewhere where they could easily be played with and also tucked away for bedtime.
The beautiful Oeuf classic crib was the only piece of furniture that they wanted to keep from the old room and I have been dying to use this Oeuf vertical shelf since it came onto the market, so this presented the perfect chance!
We played with different layouts until we came up with this one where the twin bed would cover a bit of the window. We wanted to maximize the floor space in the room to make sure the boys had a little play area. The key to making this work is that the bed is low to the ground as well as void of a footboard, so that the furniture really doesn't get in the way of the window at all.
I love how the beige star wall decals transform the main wall and give the effect of wallpaper (but have the ability to be easily removed).
The incredible baby mobile below was a find that Rafa and Leo's grandfather picked up on his travels in Greece and brought back for the room (seriously cool Grandfather I'd say!).
One of the things that we have to consider when designing baby and kids rooms here in Vancouver is ensuring that the room is 'earthquake safe'. It's not something any of us like to think or talk about but I love that this tall wall shelf can so easily be secured to the wall. Safe not only for that but also for little toddlers that like to pull and tug on things.
The boys' Mom and Dad love to go to local markets around Vancouver on the weekends and many of the beautiful accessories and toys on the shelf and around the kids' room are handmade by local companies, including this alphabet poster. It's so much fun to be able to use such special pieces in this space.
Rafael is currently obsessed with little finger puppets so we popped these into a bowl that he can easily access on one of the lower shelves. I love how easy it is to move toys around and rotate new ones on the shelves that he can reach.
Although he is only 2, Rafa is growing up in a musical family and adores playing different instruments. He loves this little guitar. Other instruments are in one of the baskets on top of the shelves so that they can easily be brought down when baby brother Leo is awake and easily put away during nap times.
You've seen me use these clear bookshelves in a previous baby nursery but I couldn't resist using them here too. In this case, as we were putting the shelves above the bed, I wanted to ensure the books were on shelves that they couldn't easily fall off of. I really do adore how these shelves allow the books to be featured as art.
As I mentioned earlier, so many sweet accessories by local companies were brought into this space, such as the gorgeous heart blanket from Yarning Made and the darling wooden animals from Trae Designs. You can find this sweet name banner from Sprig West and the custom growth ruler on Etsy.
On the other side of the room you can see that we decided to turn the closet doors into a playful chalk board!!! I LOVE how these turned out and especially how Rafa and Leo's Mom decorated them for shoot day; just too cute. I imagine hours of fun here where Rafa draws pictures for his brother and one day baby Leo will be able to join in.
Have I told you that this is my dream job? This room was so much fun to create and I hope the result shows that. This is the room that so many adventures will happen in, sibling giggles, stories read, music played. I literally love creating spaces for little ones to make memories in.
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