A small modern nursery becomes a happy place for our firstborn baby girl. My husband and I had so much fun putting our daughter’s nursery together. We wanted it to be fresh, modern, and feminine, yet not over-the-top girly. I’ve had many sources of inspiration, but it took finding the peach/orange fabric in the bargain bin at Jo-Ann’s and the vintage Vera Neumann scarf on Etsy for the room concept to finally begin taking shape. I would say I have a modern/transitional style that is colorful, playful, and fun. One major difficulty for us was the size and layout of the 7x13 room, which includes a radiator and three large windows, thus limiting our floor plan options. It also lacks a closet, so finding the right storage solution took some effort. I wanted a dresser with modern lines to complement the crib, that wasn’t too deep yet had ample storage. We ended up having one custom-made at a local furniture store in Somerville, MA called Sunshine Lucy’s. We are thrilled with the result and the price couldn’t be beat!
We saved in spades by purchasing our low bookshelf, picture ledges, and rocker at Ikea. Our chevron rug was a steal at $69 from Urban Outfitters and our modern crib (now discontinued) was on sale at Babies R Us. The aforementioned dresser turned out to be an ideal solution that was far cheaper than anything from Pottery Barn, Land of Nod, etc. We decided against purchasing a bedding set and instead used the fabric I found for $4/yd to make a crib skirt with the no-sew tutorial I saw on Young House Love (which seems to be popping up on nursery blogs everywhere — and with good reason!). We also had changing pad covers and throw pillows made using the same fabric. In addition to the Vera scarf, I fell in love with the Darling Clementine artwork featured on Ohdeedoh earlier this year. I love how graphic and mod the prints are — I hope she enjoys looking at them as much as I do! I’ve also known for some time that I would display her books in one form or another; I’m a preschool teacher and I’ve witnessed firsthand how often children gravitate toward books when they can see them!
Lastly, I commissioned my friend, Carrie Harvey of Brooklyn Twinkle, to design a special gift for Father’s Day using a favorite scene from the film, It’s A Wonderful Life as inspiration. (The movie has special meaning for my husband’s family and we’ve always said we’d call our little Zoe “Zuzu” as a loving sort of nickname.) I’m thrilled with the finished product and now we have a unique work of art that is truly close to our hearts. On the whole, we’re very pleased with the way her room turned out. Every time I enter it makes me happy. It’s so hard for me to choose, but I’d have to say that my favorite elements are the dresser, artwork, picture ledges, custom pillows, and pink/orange Jonathan Adler lamp. All it needed was our sweet baby girl! I think it's important to take your time designing the space, so start early if you can. Decide how you want your room to function and go from there. Also, don't be afraid to pursue custom options -- you might be surprised by the affordability!
You can find just about anything on my favorite resource, Etsy. Above all, choose items that make you happy and help to create a space that you'll enjoy for years to come. The classic bookcase debuted in 1979 around the world, and was part of IKEA’s first offerings when the company debuted in 1985. Its functional and simple design makes it such a popular product, that as of 2014 more than 60 million have been sold. And although it looks almost the same as it did 30 years ago, IKEA has made a few tweaks here and there, including making the edges more rounded and minimizing the size of the holes in the panels to hide them. The lightweight and sturdy table was introduced in 1980 and over the years the material of the legs had changed from solid wood to plastic to board-on-frame (which means that it’s made of wood-based framed filled with recycled, honeycombed paper). Now, it has screw-on, board-on-frame legs, which lowered the cost from $25 in 1985 to $10 in 2015. Known for its space-saving design, the sofa is easy to transport in tight spots like a walk-up.
The loveseat was originally sold with a choice of two covers, but now the slipcover is sold separately and you can use the sofa without one, which lowered the price from $395 in 1985 to $299 in 2015. Originally called POEM, the chair was renamed POÄNG after a few design changes and additions, including new frame options and removable covers. Now IKEA offers a chair, rocking chair, and footstools in the series.The iconic Billy bookcase from Ikea helped transform the Swedish retailer into a global giant, cemented its reputation as the go-to source for stylish, inexpensive knock-down furniture, and made Ikea’s Scandinavian founder Ingvar Kamprad a billionaire.In the Jysk Bed Bath Home store in Surrey, B.C., the Danny bookcase stands amid oddly familiar looking futons, desks and chairs. Never heard of Jysk (pronounced Yisk)? It’s a Danish retailer that’s emerged as a global giant, is known for inexpensive knock-down furniture, and has made its Scandinavian founder Lars Larsen a billionaire.
Oh, and with the exact same dimensions and style as Billy, Danny just happens to be 15 per cent cheaper, too. Jysk: the poor man’s Ikea. Over the past 15 years, Jysk has plotted one of the stealthiest, albeit quirky, retail invasions in Canada. From its Canadian head office near Vancouver, the discount chain operates 40 stores from coast to coast, yet has almost no national brand recognition. Now, while the retail world is abuzz over Target’s impending arrival from the U.S. in 2013, the Danes are plotting a hyper-expansion of their own here. Jysk is set to open at least 20 new stores a year over the next three years in a bid to make Jysk a household name. “We’ve survived and thrived for 15 years by offering Canadians quality for the lowest price,” says Ludvik Kristjansson, the CEO of Jysk’s Canadian operations. “I see no limit to how much we can grow.” Jysk may not have anything like the profile Ikea enjoys, but its rise has been ambitious nonetheless. From his first store in the Danish port city of Aarhus in 1979, Larsen quickly rolled out the chain across the region.
With an early focus on bedding, Larsen soon became known as the “King of Duvets” in Europe. (The company says it sources more duvets and pillows than any other retailer in the world.) Today the company boasts 1,750 home furnishing stores in 34 countries, with three new stores opening each week. Jysk’s first foray into Canada came in 1996, in Coquitlam, B.C., of all places. The store was set up by Jakup Jacobsen, an Icelander-Dane who had bought the franchise rights for North America and Eastern Europe from Larsen. Kristjansson, a native of Iceland who’d been working in Montreal at the time at a grocery chain, joined the company the following year. He recalls a tough few years at first, as Jysk struggled to open additional stores throughout B.C.’s Lower Mainland. But gradually, Jysk spread out across Western Canada. Then, five years ago, the first Ontario store popped up in another unlikely location—Windsor. The chain now has 16 stores east of Winnipeg and plans to eventually boost that number to 80.
Kristjansson sees a three-year window of relative peace for Canadian retailers to strengthen themselves before Target’s arrival, so in addition to opening new stores, Jysk is investing heavily to revamp its existing outlets. By 2015, Kristjansson predicts a brutal price war unlike anything Canada has ever seen will break out—and it’s one he intends to win. Those who visit Jysk stores will no doubt be struck by the Ikea-ness of many of its products. The Poäng rocking chair, another famous standby at the Swedish retailer, has a doppelgänger at Jysk named the Kastrup that can be had for 30 per cent less. In online consumer forums, shoppers regularly compare items from the two stores and debate their merits. Some see no difference, while others claim Jysk products are less sturdy, though both chains import most of their goods from China anyway. Jysk makes no effort to conceal the similarities between itself and Ikea. “There is room for two or three Scandinavian partners in Canada as long as you stay in your quality and price range,” says Kristjansson.
“The strategy is not to go around Ikea or on top of them, it’s just to go with them, and has been from day one.” It helps that Jysk stores, at around 20,000 square feet, are tiny by comparison. The Ikea store in Coquitlam could fit seven hockey rinks. As such, Jysk is able to target smaller markets like Kamloops, B.C., Lethbridge, Alta., and, later this year, Kitchener and Barrie in Ontario. “There might be room for 20 Ikeas in Canada, but there’s room for 200 Jysks,” he says. All’s fair in love and knock-down furniture, it seems. In a statement, Ikea spokeswoman Madeleine Löwenborg-Frick said the company welcomes the competition. “While other retailers may have products that compete with parts of the Ikea offer, our clear point of difference is the width and depth of our range with over 8,500 products,” she said, adding Ikea will soon open a new store in Winnipeg and replace stores in Ottawa and Richmond, B.C., with ones twice the size. Well, that, and the Swedish meatballs.