Japan Sumo: Kids' Room Decorating Ideas: Project Nursery

Filed under: Decor

Two moms started a home design site that specializes in decorating kids rooms, and we love their most recent project: They gave our writer's baby a nursery.

If you've ever been faced with decorating a baby's or kid's room, you know the feeling: You're so excited to create a whimsical getaway for your little bean, but picking a style and color scheme for the space has left you feeling paralyzed.

Do you go with the standard pink or blue? Stripes or polka dots? Modern furniture or classic silhouettes? And once you've decided on a look, how do you find the pieces you have in mind? Yep, creating a room for a tiny person can actually turn out to be a huge dilemma. Luckily, the ladies behind Project Nursery can help.

Melissa Fluhr, left, and Pamela Ginnochio are the moms behind Project Nursery. Photo: Courtesy of Little Apple Nursery

Founded in 2008 by moms, business partners and design enthusiasts Melisa Fluhr and Pamela Ginnochio, Project Nursery, an online resource for moms, is a virtual jackpot of kid-friendly design ideas, featuring hip finds for the family home, do-it-yourself projects, clever party ideas and tips on how to create an amazing kid's room on a budget.

And the Project Nursery empire is growing. Fluhr and Ginnochio recently launched Little Apple Design, which provides clients with their own personalized "e-design" based around a kid's room of their choice.

Here's how it works: Simply fill out the detailed questionnaire on the company's website and send over any photos you may have of your existing room. From there, Little Apple Design will custom create an electronic design board of 15 to 20 items, along with a list of product links for you to check out. Costs range from $50 per hour to chat with the designers over the phone to $525 for a customized design board.

Sound easy? I can tell you from personal experience that it is. As a new mother to a 10-month-old baby boy and the recent owner of a new home, I decided to try out the design service myself (the nice moms at Project Nursery waived their fee). After filling out the questionnaire, here's the design dilemma I submitted:

My family and I are about to move into a new townhouse after living in a rented apartment. In the rental, we weren't allowed to paint or hang window treatments, so I'm really looking forward to creating a baby space for my son Sam (10 months old) that I couldn't create in the old place. With that said, we want this new baby room to be somewhat gender neutral so that it can be our next baby's room -- whatever the sex! Also, because our house isn't that big, it's important to me that the room flow with the rest of the home. (In other words, no childish characters on the wall!) Any advice?

And here's what they came up with!

Photo: Courtesy of Little Apple Nursery

In planning Sam's nursery, Fluhr and Ginnochio said their top priority was to ensure that the room was designed with versatility in mind, since we planned to use the room for another baby. If our next child is a girl, the light blue, green and white palette is gender neutral and can easily be brought to the feminine side with pops of pink.

They also saved us money by working around our existing white Da Vinci Jenny Lind crib, and they picked a rocking chair, changing table and shelving unit in more modern styles so it would flow seamlessly with the other rooms in our home. On the other hand, they did accessorize the space with kid-inspired, easy-to-change items, like tree and bird wall decals and a giraffe growth chart (see more of the room below). Both added a bit of childish whimsy without having to commit to a particular theme.

The total cost of their suggestions, about $3,000. It's quite a bit more than my husband and I planned to spend, but I definitely got some really great ideas that I do plan to incorporate, like the paint choices, the sheepskin rug, the pennant decal and the bright green floor cushion and shelving units.

Here's what they planned for the room, by the numbers:

1. Pendant Light, $298, Taley; 2. "Lake Placid" Paint, Benjamin Moore; 3. Little Lion Baby Mobile, $40, Modern Baby Co.; 4. New Garden Tree Wall Decal, Surface Inspired; 5. Custom Alphabet Print, $50, Modern Pop: 6. Ryder Simple Shelving, $59, Pottery Barn Kids; 7. Arm Shell Rocker, $349, Sparkability; 8. KiteLinen Pillow Cover, $35.95,sukanart; 9. Martini Side Table, $129, West Elm; 10. HiyaDresser/Changer, from $845, by Spot on Square; 11. Sheepskin Rug, from $159, West Elm; 12. Sprout Star Crib Sheet, $36, Serena & Lily.

kids rooms decorating ideas