Before and After: A Wavy, Striped Closet Nook Adds Fun Storage to This 97-Square-Foot Nursery
When transforming a small space into a nursery (like this Brooklyn closet-turned-kid’s-room), maximizing all nooks and crannies is important. So, when homeowners Bob and Anne-Laure Lievense were updating the 97-square-foot nursery in their colorful home in The Netherlands, they had to get creative.
The couple had already renovated the space by adding electricity, insulation, and floors and redoing the walls. However, when Farrow & Ball approached Anne-Laure about a collaboration, she saw it as a way to add color and functionality to the nursery.
There wasn’t much storage in the original floor plan of the nursery. However, seeing two unused nooks, Anne-Laure asked Bob to DIY create more space for their 9-month-old son’s, Aeden, clothes. Here’s how the couple added more storage areas to their kid’s small room.
Because the nooks were unused — they were essentially wasted space. So, the couple decided to create a closet out of the boxy alcove, and because they were already brightening up the room by painting the walls in Farrow & Ball’s “Joa’s White,” they decided to have some fun with the shape.
“I saw this wavy edge on a closet via Instagram, and I loved it right away,” Anne-Laure wrote at the time of her house tour. “It’s quite a square space, so I loved adding some soft, wavy lines. I explained what I wanted, and Bob made it!”
After creating the wavy molding on the sides of the closet, they used Farrow & Ball’s “Templeton Pink” and “Bamboozle” to paint a splashy, eye-catching striped pattern. “The contrast brings out the waves even better, and it’s also just a fun detail. I think a kid’s room is allowed to be playful and unexpected,” Anne-Laure explained at the time of her house tour.
They placed an IKEA drawer at the bottom of the closet for additional storage and updated it with rope-covered handles from Zara Home.
Wavy shapes are a common thread throughout Aeden’s nursery. The couple also DIY-created another wavy shelf in the reading nook that houses his books and sits next to Anne-Laure’s favorite furniture piece: a vintage chair with carved swans on either side. After purchasing it in Gent, Belgium, the couple reupholstered it to match the stripe detailing in the closet.
Anne-Laure loves filling the nursery with secondhand furniture. For example, she framed some leftover fabric from Facebook Marketplace and put it over the dresser and found a wooden plank that they hung above the door and painted in Vestingh’s “Moss” to match the rest of the room’s moulding. And when it comes to decorating a nursery, Anne-Laure has some tips.
“Have fun, use some colour, and use your imagination,” she says. “Oh, and please buy secondhand, there is so much secondhand kids’ stuff for sale online!”
