A nursery often becomes the first space a family designs entirely around a new chapter. Known for her love of hosting and her knack for creating beautiful, inviting spaces, Rhode Island-based lifestyle influencer Mary Klein shared her three-step process that made her nursery feel intentional, collected, and entirely her own. Here's how she brought it all together featuring our Darlington 4-in-1 Convertible Crib, Darlington 6-Drawer Wide Assembled Dresser, and the Crawford Pillowback Comfort Swivel Glider.

Designing a nursery was one of my favorite parts of pregnancy. I really wanted to create a space that felt layered, personal, and magical. If you're not sure where to start, grounding yourself in a few thoughtful steps can make the process feel both intentional and inspiring.

1. Begin with your anchor pieces

Every nursery needs a foundation. Start by selecting the pieces that will define both the function and the feeling of the room. Your crib, dresser, and chair. I had so much fun finding these pieces from Namesake because I knew that the quality would be incredible and regardless of which collection I chose from, the pieces would be timeliness. These bigger items are the ones you’ll live with daily, so I found it really important to prioritize quality, comfort, and a style that could grow with our baby or be used for future children. When you are designing your nursery, think of them as the bones of the space: neutral, grounding, and the main structure to anchor your styling elements.

2. Introduce statement-making moments

Once the foundation was set, I really wanted to layer in pieces that brought personality and a bit of boldness. For me, this was the green wallpaper, large blue floating ottoman in the middle of the room and the blue lamp on the dresser. If you’re not sure which direction to go, this could be a patterned wallpaper, a large scale piece of art, a contrasting lamp shade or a rug with a pop of color or pattern. These “louder” elements add depth and visual interest, creating that collected, designed-over-time feeling rather than something overly matched.

3. Finish with collected treasures

The final layer is where the nursery becomes truly special. Style shelves with meaningful books, incorporate heirloom objects, frame personal photos, or add small decorative pieces gathered over time. Throughout my pregnancy I spent hours in antique stores and home decor shops looking for the “finishing touches” of little wall art, the zebra tissue box cover, decorative storage boxes and throw blankets to make the room feel more lived in and cozy. These details don’t need to be perfect, they just need to be things that make YOU happy when you go into your baby's room. It’s in these quiet touches that the room begins to feel warm, lived-in, and deeply personal.

I truly feel like this approach made our nursery feel like such a happy place and not stressful to create. Our baby’s room became our favorite place to hang out in my final weeks of pregnancy and somewhere that we now love to spend time with our baby and enjoy the fruits of our labor!

Shop the Namesake pieces that anchored Mary's nursery HERE.