Photo Credit Wing Ta
When you find out you’re expecting, one of your first thoughts is bound to be, ‘Where is the baby going to sleep?’ Thanks to Instagram and Pinterest, it’s easier than ever to spark interior design inspiration for your bundle of joy. For Minneapolis mom Erin Francois, who runs the home DIY and styling blog François et Moi, designing her 2-year-old daughter Sylvia’s room was a favorite project.
Francois, who has a background in interior design, describes her aesthetic as “Nordic vibes meet modern midcentury,” a style evident in the adorable-yet-elegant nursery she created with her husband Ken. The focal point of the space is the lovely Hygge & West wallpaper designed by Julia Rothman, featuring a playful pattern of woodland creatures including deer and swans. “It’s kind of an English pattern, but it felt Nordic to me, and very folkloric,” says Francois. “I knew I wanted to create a playful, lighthearted space that would foster creativity and spark imagination, and the wallpaper just felt like a storybook.”
The addition of a white board-and-batten siding to the lower half of the walls—which the couple installed themselves—balanced out the wallpaper above, and furniture was chosen to transition easily with Sylvia as she grows older. Mustard yellow accents, like a lace appliqué pillow Francois made herself, were added for a touch of youthfulness in the otherwise neutral room. Originally, she wanted to add a sisal rug to introduce some more warmth and natural texture into the space, but she knew the rough material would be hard on a crawling baby’s hands and knees. The rug she settled on looks very similar to sisal but is made up of a much softer blend of chenille and jute.
Though she regularly swaps out the art in the nursery, a whimsical bicycle print by craft blogger Merrilee Liddiard is a favorite. “My husband and I love to bike, and there’s a girl, a boy, and a bunny—we kind of pictured it as the three of us: Mom, Dad, and Sylvia the bunny,” she laughs. “It was a cute way to add our love of biking into the space.”
