Adore August 2020

I n a light-filled cottage in Gentilly near the lake, interior designer Casi St. Julian, has created a charming nursery for the arrival of her first child, Oliver. As owners of Eclectic Home, an award-winning home furnishings shop and design firm, she and her mother Penny Francis are well-versed in how to make a space high functioning and beautiful. But when it comes time to do it for the very first grandbaby in the family (on both sides!) during such unprecedented times...well, you can say that this has been an especially meaningful experience for the family. As Casi explains, "This pandemic has put so many things into perspective for everyone. This wasn't the pregnancy I expected, but I've made the best of it. In a way, the nursery is the heart of our home now. The arrival of our baby Oliver has been the only thing we've been looking forward to in 2020, so to have such a joyful sanctuary to spend time in during quarantine makes it even more tolerable. We are blessed and super excited." When Casi was developing the design scheme for the room, she kept a few key priorities in mind. "I wanted a room that my son could grow into over time and I love spaces that are unisex, so a gender-neutral palette was a given. I fell in love with the whimsical wallpaper with adorable

French-inspired hot air balloons and that was the starting point for everything." She painted the room Benjamin Moore's Whipple Blue and selected a sunshine-drenched awning stripe indoor-outdoor fabric from Schumacher for the windows. As Casi pointed out, the décor will work fine as Oliver becomes a young boy and if down the line there is a daughter, she can pull the pretty pink out of the wallpaper to change things up a bit. I love how smart this is: the wallpaper and drapery are the investment and the paint color is always easy to change. She kept furnishings to a minimum and focused on function. "For us, making the nursery functional with not a lot of clutter is important. When you live in a New Orleans house, there is often limited storage space, so we wanted to plan the space carefully to incorporate the necessities as opposed to just pretty things and toys." The clean, modern lines of the crib she selected, the Gelato Convertible Crib from Babyletto, pairs well with the calm, muted hues of the bedding and quilted blanket from Land Of Nod. All together, it's a splendid nursery filled with everything a new mother needs. And the fanciful imagery of exciting balloon rides to faraway places is exactly what magical dreams are made of.

details

Casi's Smocked Dress and Earrings H&M AND PIED NU | hm.com | piednunola.com

Wall Art ARTFULLY WALLS | artfullywalls.com

Rug, Furnishings, and Décor ECLECTIC HOME | eclectichome.net

Drapery | NEIL PEYROUX | neilpeyroux@gmail.com

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ADORE • AUGUST 2020