This Limewashed Nursery Looks Anything but “Typical” (It’s So Peaceful!)
Even though Rachel Oliner’s home is in New York City, she wanted her son, Yves, to feel as if he lived in the sky or the sea while spending time in his nursery.
“The design inspiration, for me, stemmed from wanting a mixture of calm, ocean feeling, with a bit of hygge,” Rachel explained. “I also didn’t want it to look like a typical nursery, and I wanted my son to look up while he was in his crib and feel like he was in the clouds, or the sea, whichever!”
Rachel leaned into the idea of creating an “immersive” space through color-drenching, or covering both the walls and the ceiling in the same color. She reached out to Michelle of Fantastic Finishes NYC, who had helped paint other rooms in the house, to collaborate on the project.
“I knew I wanted to do some kind of blue-green-gray, so she created a few custom colors from Portola Paints for us and gave us some sample boards,” Rachel says. “I also recognized that kids have messy hands and sticky fingers, and I decided we should put some kind of easy-to-wipe wall paneling up the first third of the wall.”
Rachel ended up choosing a mix of Portola Paints’s “Rococo” and “Windsor” for the limewash color. She hired Paintworks NYC to install paneling and create a custom Benjamin Moore color match to the limewash.
To complement the seafoam color, Rachel furnished the room with creams, whites, and natural wood tones. For example, a cream washable wool rug from Revival adds softness to the room, while the two-tone Nurture& crib and wood dresser bring a natural warmth. Other products, like a Wayfair bookshelf and Pottery Barn Kids recliner (gifted from Rachel’s real estate agent), help to make the room feel even more tranquil.
If she had to choose, Rachel says her favorite parts of the room are the wall color and a print between the windows, which she purchased at a New York City art fair years ago. The room took three months to come together, and it’s become a spot where the family can unwind.
“The room feels very calm,” Rachel says. “I don’t feel stressed or anxious when I’m in there, and I like to think that’s how my son feels, too. I also just love the full-color walls and ceiling; you’re really immersed in this cloudy ethereal feeling.”
Product List
- Dresser — Nurture&
- Crib — Nurture&
- Rug — Revival
- Curtain Rods — Etsy
- Recliner — Pottery Barn Kids
- Prints — Babar
- Mirror — Birch Lane
- Bookshelf — Wayfair