In our April/May issue, on the stands now, Interior Designer Tammy Cowlishaw showed us the nursery she lovingly put together for new baby Caleb. With budget playing a large part in the end result of the room, Tammy got down to business by up-cycling items to give them a new lease on life, for the new man in her life! She talks to us here about getting creative.
Was coming up with a theme for the room difficult?
I did struggle with the idea of a boys room needing to be more masculine, and I had to restrain myself from adding too many 'pretty' bits. Knowing when to stop and keeping in mind that toys and general chaos would eventually be filling the room, I had to repeat "less is more" to myself often. Working within a budget and having a definate idea of what each piece would do, and where it would go, caused me to be deliberate my decisions and stick to the plan when my pregnancy hormones took over!
You transformed the rocking horse into a striking statement piece, tell us about this?
This is one of my favourite elements of the room. It is something that I have had for years and all it needed was a new coat of paint to bring it back to life. We started by sanding it back and priming it for painting. Then once we had chosen and applied the colours we wanted he was nearly done. We applied Folk Art Antiquing Medium for an instant aged look and finished with Resene Aquaclear Satin Varnish - which is safe for use on products for children.
Was finding the perfect change table a challenge?
When we couldn't find what we wanted within the budget we set, I decided it was time to get creative. On Trade Me we found an old rimu dresser - within budget - and converted into what we wanted. I removed the cupboard door to expose the shelves, sanded the whole thing back and attached mouldings to the sides for some decoration. Once it was primed we applied a couple of coats of Resene Waterborne Lustacryl, attached new handles and voila! I used wicker baskets in the shelves for a tidier storage solution.
With teal and duck-egg as the colour scheme, you took this one step further by ensuring it continued into the linen too!
Linen can be very expensive and by adding ribbon, crochet and your own personal touches to a plain set of white linen you can make it feel more expensive than it was, at half the price. I sourced my ribbon from the huge range at Bed, Bath and Table in the same colours and tones as my colour scheme and simply stitched it onto the linen to give it some decoration. I added crochet around the sides of the muslin's to create a vintage and personal feel too.
For more on how Tammy designed her own nursery, see our April/May issue on sale now.
