Nursery Tour: Jakob’s Retro Nursery

A while back, we got ourselves all in a flutter over byGraziela bedding. I bumped into the co-owner Nina at Kids.modern where I got a bit swoonish over her fabulous stand which was like stepping into retro kids bedroom heaven and of course, with us launching a new feature where we’re featuring children’s living spaces, I just had to find out what her 9 month old Jakob’s nursery was like!

London based Nina runs her own design agency and is co-owner of byGraziela, a range of bedding and interior accessories for children’s rooms which use her mum, Graziela Preiser’s award winning designs from the 1960s.

Nina told us “We’d describe Jakob’s room as engaging for the stories the designs tell, contemporary for the clean white lines, and playful for the colourful mix of everything. We have literally thrown together souvenirs from our travels, our love for all sorts of animal sculptures, and foremost of course the designs by my Mum. Having had an amazing childhood with my Mum’s imaginative designs, I want Jakob to also grow up and be inspired by bold and happy elephants, ducks and ladybugs!

We used white as a primary base colour for the walls and furniture to bring the colours to life and give a modern and fresh look. We especially love the screen which we got made upholstered in my Mum’s 1,2,3 design from the 1970’s and it’s the first design to be reissued. The screen adds texture and detail to the room and can function in many ways, as a room divider, to hide things behind or just to make a room more cosy.

The cheerful bed linen, wall organiser and cot bumper are also from byGraziela. We have two wall organisers in use, one which holds all the nappy changing essentials and one which acts more as Jakob’s personal organiser of all his favourite stuff. He still enjoys nappy changing as he adores pointing to the different animals (or pulling out a few nappies out of the pockets!)

The height chart was given to Jakob and me by my husband Simon this Valentine’s Day! It’s by the brilliant illustrator Rob Ryan. Other favourites include the woolly sheep (from Thorsten van Elten) which also doubles as a stool (£390), my collection of vintage 1970’s cushions designed by my Mum (of course!) and the chain of satin butterflies which my husband bought me on the night when we found out I was pregnant in New York. Oh, and I will of course need to get the letter ‘J’ now to add to our initials/letters on top of the mirror which are available from Bob&Blossom on Coloumbia Rd, London.”

For a similar cot, try the John Lewis Luca Cot £77 (we recently featured this in our 7 stylish cots feature) or if a cot bed is more up your street, try Mamas & Papas Alpine Cot/Day Bed £195 or Brio’s white ‘Sleep’ cot, which is £199 at Lula Sapphire.

The drawers are part of Habitat’s ‘slot’ range of furniture for children which aren’t showing on their website currently so you’ll have to go in store. For similar drawers try Ikea’s Anes £155, or if you’re on a serious budget and can forgo the handle slots, there’s the Malm which is £53.83.

For a similar changing table try John Lewis’ budget friendly Ella Changing Table £63. The upmarket alternative which is also includes a drawer is Brio’s sleek white offering which is £185 from Nubie. You can also see our previous post on it.

Try your local Ikea for similar storage baskets, or if you want to go with colour, Zara Home is always a good bet. Ikea’s also the spot for a number of the toys in the room and Swedish favourite Brio makes the big cars on the chest of drawers and the toddler wobbler (baby walker).

Nab a screen on ebay for a real bargain and recover with your fabric of choice.

If you would like to take part in this feature, please email features AT bambinogoodies DOT co DOT uk with a shot of your room and include your contact details so we can get in touch.

Tagged Brio, byGraziela, Ikea, Mister Rob, retro baby nursery, Thorsten Van Elten