A Nature-Themed Nursery Designed to Grow With the Child
This baby’s room in a barn conversion in England is stylish, comfortable and adaptable
When the homeowners bought this barn home in the village of Stowting, Kent, it was in good shape structurally but very much in need of decoration. The couple had seen designer Sophia Fish’s previous projects on Houzz and liked her style. “I got a notification of a lead through Houzz,” Fish says. The owner told her, “It’s really bland and I just want to add some personality.” The nursery was no exception, so the challenge for the Golden Feathers Interiors designer was to create a room that would work from babyhood through to young tween.
Fish included a day bed, which tucks neatly into the eaves. For now, it’s a place where the parents can sit, but in time it can become a bed. “When [the child] gets a bit bigger … they can put a support bar on the front of it,” she says. It also hides a trundle bed so she’ll be able to have friends to stay.
The bamboo pendant light picks up on the natural theme without feeling heavy in the space. “It’s one of the nicest features, I love it,” Fish says. “We put it on a dimmer, so it can be low light in there.” The roof windows have integrated blackout blinds to ensure darkness for nap time.
She has painted the areas between the beams in a hardwearing, washable white paint, leaving the oak in its natural state. “The beams are original and we wanted to keep them that way,” she says.
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The bamboo pendant light picks up on the natural theme without feeling heavy in the space. “It’s one of the nicest features, I love it,” Fish says. “We put it on a dimmer, so it can be low light in there.” The roof windows have integrated blackout blinds to ensure darkness for nap time.
She has painted the areas between the beams in a hardwearing, washable white paint, leaving the oak in its natural state. “The beams are original and we wanted to keep them that way,” she says.
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The original “Bedroom 5” marked on this floor plan was the perfect spot for the nursery as it’s so close to the parents’ room.
From this angle, you can see how the nursery is nicely positioned close to the master bedroom, left, and the bathroom, right.
Fish’s husband, who runs the carpentry side of the business, made the oak shelf, which works well with the oak beams. “I was looking everywhere for a little shelf, but I couldn’t get one that fit perfectly,” Fish says.
Fish’s husband, who runs the carpentry side of the business, made the oak shelf, which works well with the oak beams. “I was looking everywhere for a little shelf, but I couldn’t get one that fit perfectly,” Fish says.
The shelf and rail give scope for a changing display. “I’m sure the little girl will have fancy dress outfits on there in a few years,” Fish says. “As I was doing the room, it was nice to imagine her as she was getting older and how she would use the space.”
Here’s the barn seen from the outside. The nursery is above the living room in the section with low eaves.
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Read more nursery stories
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Who lives here: A family with two young children
Location: Stowting, Kent, England
Size: 385 square feet (36 square feet) 11 by 35 feet
Designer: Sophia Fish of Golden Feathers Interiors
The owner asked Fish to come up with ideas for the room. As she’d seen the firm’s previous project photos on Houzz, it was no surprise when she immediately liked Fish’s design.
“My client and I are quite similar in our tastes,” Fish says. “She loved the design and said it felt calm — important for a nursery — so it was nice to go with that natural feel. It’s complementary to the house because of all the oak beams and the palettes elsewhere in the property.”
The focal point of the room is the washable nature-themed wallpaper (Wallpaper Safari by Roomblush). “It’s just such a beautiful paper and I had it in mind when I first saw this room,” Fish says. “It creates its own theme, because it’s quite natural, so the textures in the room work with it.”
The earthy corals, mustards and pinks informed the colors for the rest of the design, not least in the soft rug. “As the little girl grows, that [palette] will grow with her — even to 7 or 8 — as it’s not too babyish,” she says.
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