Llama Mama: Nursery Story + Room Reveal with Natalie Ehrlich

9/23/2019

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Like babies each nursery project is unique and beautiful, this nursery design for Natalie Ehrlich is no exception. Nor was this mama's honest account of pregnancy whilst raising a toddler and all the tough stuff that sneaks up and tries to steal the bliss of motherhood.

Natalie is a mama already with a little girl Lilly – a lively, now two year old, girl who ruled her world. But as only a mother knows their world was about to change with the arrival of her second baby, a boy to be named James.

One big happy family after the birth of their son James!

While this Type A personality planned and prepared for becoming a mother of two, Natalie's family battled some wicked sicknesses (both her and her daughter) and after giving birth she was covered in by a thick veil of postpartum depression. Natalie opens up about both on her Instagram and website Mindful Mama Collective so do check out her heart felt sharing.

"I had no idea how esSential this service would end up being between getting so sick during my third trimester and potentially being induced early." –Natalie E.

BLANK SLATE

Natalie's YouthfulNest design team was, Ali Forman and myself, Lisa Janvrin. With Ali taking the lead on all the main client communication and bulk of the design process. I jumped in here and there to help decide between this amazing piece of décor or that amazing piece of décor. Ya know, the fun stuff.

Ali was fortunate to be working with a homeowner like Natalie who had an amazing aesthetic herself and a true appreciation for the work we do to create a space that allows mothers and fathers to feel more at ease as well as set them up to be more confident caretakers.

Natalie also had established vision for a soothing environment inspired by cuddly Llamas and lots of creamy textures in neutral colors. All this was infused with pops of baby blues and tons of texture. Natalie also already had the crib, dresser and a set of framed Llama prints to get us going.

BEFORE

The other bonus for this project was being given a blank canvas. The room had been painted a super subtle gray. Of course within there were still so so many decisions to make and design choices to approve. So let's dive right into those now.

BEFORE

The Llama Mama StrUggle Is Real

We had been working with Natalie for about a month and her design was almost finalized, just tweaking a few product selections. She was ready to start using her clickable shopping list when sickness for both her and her daughter took over their lives and we realized just how helpful this virtual design process could be to an expecting mother.

First Natalie's little girl, Lilly, got Croup and landed her in the hospital. Unfortunately, she also passed it on to her very pregnant mom. Ugh, we can't even imaging that level of pain that sort of coughing is at 34 weeks pregnant! Natalie went on to experienced additional physical complications between insomnia layered by heartburn and topped with Braxton Hicks contractions.

With Natalie busy taking care of her daughter and herself we were all thankful to take care of her nursery and simple shopping platform. Usable by her mobile from a hospital bed or comfy home sofa.

Poor little Lilly caught a case of the Croup and then unknowingly passed it to a very pregnant mom.

DEsign IN PROGRESS

Like I said, from day one we had a clear direction on style and inspiration so our first style board doesn't look wildly different than the final board. But in between there was lots of swapping out of pieces like throws, mobiles, book storage, etc.

Nursery room deisgn and nursery products

First design board.

Second design board with alternative products.

Neutral baby room or nursery room design for baby boy

Final room design by Ali and Lisa.

A few pieces that were must haves passed through to the final design and were made up of some old and new YouthfulNest designer favorites.

Let's start with a new favorite for in the nursery like the the adorable easy to maintain air plant trio in Tillandz Stand plant holder from The Sill. Both plants and stands can be ordered online and shipped directly to your home. Yes, plants shipped to your doorstep, what a breath of fresh air!

We suggested these live plants because they only take a little misting here and there to stay perky. However we know how hard it is to care of a newborn baby so we all agreed on bringing in another larger spot of flora in the form of a larger faux plant.

Air plants and stands from The Sill

These shelfies go green with easy to care for plants.

While curating designs with stylish pieces from Paynes Gray isn't that new to us this textured Karim throw pillow is. Mama's deserve top style and lumbar support!

All the texture and style in this small throw pillow.

A neutral nursery gets some love pops of blue.

Back to our favorites for comfort and practicality is a Kroma Carpet faux fur rug. When working with lots of neutral layering in lots of textures and patterns helps to create cozy space. This is new large machine washable, faux fur rug from the Kroma Carpet's collection fills the space with softness and tons of space for mommy & me time.

This new double size rug is more to love.

How happy is this little guy floating on a cloud.

One other perfect touch we introduced to Natalie was the cuddly creature of Slumberkins crew. Not only are these plush toys totally loveable they come with stories that help little ones and parents talk about their feelings in regard to like gratitude, stress, affirmation, conflict and many other common emotions.

Welcome Slumberkins' newest addition, Honey Bear.

James and his Slumberkins are fast friends.

"To be honest I would be quite stressed right now under normal circumstances because aesthetics and how spaces feel are so important to me — it affects my mood, my vibe, my energy, everything. But instead of feeling stressed, I’m pretty calm because even though everything hasn’t been built and installed, I know it’s all going to come together beautifully and it was so easy to just order everything once it was all selected."
–Natalie E.

Everything In Its Place

Natalie took advantage of our Premium design package which of course comes with a custom room design and clickable shopping list just like in the Essential design package. In addition it also comes with a 2D floor plan, room installation guide and color consult. All of this helped Natalie bring the room together and install it herself without having a designer step foot in her home.

We don't include the 3D floor plan in our minimal Essentials package because often there are only a couple spots to place the main furniture pieces and we don't want to charge clients for something they don't need. With Natalie's spacious room there were various options for furniture placement and she really appreciated have specific installation instructions for furniture and décor. Saving her time once again not having to figure it all out on her own with trial and error.

A 2D floor plan saves even more time when it deciding on where to place all the furniture amd décor.

WELL DONE MAMA & Welcome Home Baby James

SHOP THIS LOOK

Bravo EhrlIch family

Of course we can't take all the credit for this brilliant nursery. The fact is Natalie and her husband, were ultimately responsible for taking the virtual design with all it's products and styling recommendations and installing it all themselves. I'm sure you would agree it is stunning!

Our best wishes to this lovely family and welcome to the world James Asher Ehrlich!
–XOYN