A Pattern-Filled Nursery Pretty Enough for Any Age

When an expectant Alexandra Willkie Pasanen and her husband relocated from Brooklyn to the Westchester town of Bronxville two years ago, they faced the challenge of transforming their city style to something that better fit their new surroundings. "Our home in Brooklyn had a midcentury modern feel, which suited the space well," recalls Pasanen, an alum of the chic children's brand Maisonette, who today launched her own online shop, Willkie's. "I've always felt that crammed corners in the city work better with a more pared back aesthetic."

But in Bronxville, the family had a 1922 Colonial with lots of space and natural light. When it came time to decorate a nursery for their infant daughter, Rosie, Pasanen wanted something that better reflected its surroundings. She landed on the Next Wave duo of Laura Stanley and Lizzie Bailey. "A shared love of textiles is what ultimately led me to select Story Street Studio as our partners in decorating," Pasanen says.

Kate Pauley

For the nursery, the three women wanted to create something that balanced grown-up elegance with childhood whimsy. "We wanted to create a space that felt appropriate for a baby and yet felt like it would transition well as she matured into a little girl," says Bailey.

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Their first jumping-off point was the home itself: "The architecture of the house helped inform what the space needed,” explains Stanley. Plus, with much more space to work with than in the family's previous apartment, the designers had room to execute the kind of pattern and texture play for which their company has become known.

"Applying a lively patterned wallpaper might have been overwhelming in a smaller space in New York City, but having this large room and multiple windows allowed for lots of pattern and color," Bailey says.

Sanderson’s Passion Flower made for the perfect backdrop—but got a darker balance with Peter Dunham’s Kashmir Paisley on the window treatments. "Typically, nurseries in the city have less natural light, but in this suburban nursery we had to be strategic about using layers of window treatments so that the baby could sleep," Stanley says.

nursery, floral wallpaper, green curtains, white cot, white and wooden dresser, nude area rug

Kate Pauley

nursery, white rocking chair with pink and blue quilt, nude and grey area rug, wooden floor, floral wallpaper and green curtains

Kate Pauley

The Serena & Lily rattan daybed is the one piece the family repurposed from their previous apartment; its more mature look is balanced with a bookcase found on Wayfair, which the designers painted a cheerful shade of pink. Parisian-themed alphabet art from The Letter Nest is a more sophisticated take on the ABCs.

When it came to accessorizing the space, Pasanen opted for handcrafted items wherever possible, a mission that has also driven the curation of Willkie's, whose products can be found throughout the space. "I topped the daybed with a quilt made by Projektityyny x Apolina, two amazing vendors that are stocked at Willkie's. Above, we outfitted the walls with sconces and the sweetest handmade paper lampshades from Rosi de Ruig.”

nursery, floral wallpaper, wicker day bed, giraffe stuffed toy

Kate Pauley

The result is a careful balance of grown-up elegance and playful wonder—much the same line Pasanen hopes to occupy with her company, which is slated to open a brick-and-mortar location in Bronxville next year. “The website is designed to feel mature and thoughtful—a curated experience akin to shopping in a small store for yourself and your children,” she explains. “The pottery I stock, for example, is lovely at a (grown-up!) dinner party, but sweet enough to work well in a child's bedroom (albeit somewhere high enough off the ground!). Ultimately, most of the design principles I applied in decorating the nursery—namely a fun mix of colors, textures, and prints—is exactly what you'll find when you shop at Willkie’s.”