Katy used to design celebrity nurseries, so if anyone can tell you what you need, it’s her! Highlights include nursery necessities, nursery splurges, and Katy’s favorite celeb nurseries to decorate.
Follow us on instagram!
@imthatmom_podcast
TRANSCRIPT:
Katy 0:00
[intro] Hey, welcome to I’m that mom the podcast about motherhood without the pressure of perfection. My name is Katie. I’m a self taught entrepreneur who started my baby company while pregnant and grew it to an eight figure business as a single mom of three. Join us as we discuss the fun, funny and messy parts of motherhood. We’re certainly not experts. We’re just here to support all the moms and hopefully, collectively, we don’t completely get up.
Katy 0:31
Okay, today’s topic is my personal favorite, because nursery design is, it’s where it all started. And it’s my favorite, like, deep down if I wasn’t doing this company, I would be doing interior design.
Casey 0:45
And you’re good at it. You’ve done some celebrity nurseries in addition to three of your own. So yeah, you know what you’re doing here.
Katy 0:53
I know. But now even when I look back at my own nurseries from, you know, 17, 14 and 10 years ago, I’m like, oh my god, did I have Chevron all over that wall? Do you remember when Chevron was huge everywhere, everywhere, like on every on everything, like you walk into Target and you know when like the grocery store has packaging and it has like prints on it after Chevron cactus I remember too was a huge trend. But now today, you know what I think the biggest trend is is just kind of neutral, soft, like green or white nurseries, which I love because it kind of works both ways.
Katy 1:03
That’s so funny because that is Grayson’s nursery, it’s green and white. We wanted a peaceful vibe. And so we started with the color. Yeah, for us that was green. And it’s like nice and neutral.
Katy 1:46
And I don’t even think it’s about gender, I think really kind of a neutral palette has extended into our home in general. Whereas 10 years ago, we’d paint dining rooms red, and we’d have stripes on the walls and and now if you get on like Pinterest or Instagram and you look up, you know all of our favorite home décor and everything is very kind of neutral and peaceful. And I think we’re just so desperate for calmness in our lives right now that if a couch or like a glider or a crib sheet makes us happy than we should just do it. Exactly. And that that’s my number one design tip for nursery design. Like if it makes you happy. You buy it. That’s perfect. Right?
Casey 2:25
Yeah.
Katy 2:26
Okay, so where does the new mom start? Design inspiration really? I mean, my there’s two kinds of looks, I would say color and theme. I started with color. It was always my favorite to pick which it sounds like you did too, with the green and the white and yeah, but I love like a boho nursery with the big like feathers and the palm fans and I love a good name over the crib. I mean, that’s like my go-to.
Casey 2:54
Who doesn’t love everything personalized for baby?
Katy 2:57
as well because you obsess over naming your baby. And then the second you finally pick a name like once you monogram something or you put it over the crib, like there’s no going back. There’s, you can’t.
Casey 3:08
you’re committed
Katy 3:08
you’re committed. Yeah, it’s done. Although I bet there’s people that are like, Oh, no, I wasn’t committed. I had all the things and then I still change the baby’s name.
Casey 3:17
Kylie Jenner style.
Katy 3:18
Yeah, yeah. I’m not that cool. Once I monogram something and like that’s it, it’s done. But for sure, like color or theme and, and really, if you don’t pick one, I mean, with all the choices out there, you’ll end up with nine nurseries after nine months of figuring it out. So start with one, pick it . And then I would kind I always recommend like bringing a swatch or having some kind of something in your bag so that when you’re out and you go to Target or home goods and you see something that might work for the room. It’s there to grab for you. But focal points on the wall. So usually a crib is the first piece you buy and there’s so many choices like now they’ve got metal cribs, wood cribs, I love the cribs that convert all the way to a full size bed.
Casey 4:04
Yes. I love a good three in one.
Katy 4:07
Yes. And with the toddler rail, so you can take the front off like that you kind of have a transitional period. And then it can grow all the way to a big kid. I happen to buy a crib that I just left and I use the same crib for each baby. So I think there’s like two plays on it.
Casey 4:23
Yeah, I mean, if you know you’re gonna have multiple kids, and maybe you just have one nursery and that’s just the nursery.
Katy 4:29
I love that. Yes. And then like the big kids could move to the next to the guest bedroom or you kind of transition but but then you don’t get to decorate another nursery. And that’s kind of like the really fun part of being pregnant. Right?
Casey 4:43
Yeah, picking everything out and adding to your home.
Katy 4:48
Yes. Okay, so let’s talk about the big pieces. So crib would be first purchase and, you know, definitely shop it. I mean, you’ve got there’s def- there’s friends you only use a crib for two years. offers. So I always recommend like reaching out to friends. You might be able to buy one that there. It’s like unused. Yeah,
Casey 5:07
I mean, especially with the shipping time on some furniture lately.
Katy 5:09
Oh my god, can you imagine?
Casey 5:11
Like, go find some friends? Yeah, it’s fine. Yeah.
Katy 5:17
And then a glider. I think it’s always great to have some kind of sitting spot in the nursery for reading a book at bedtime. But, you know, breastfeeding in the middle of the night, bottles, kind of creating that routine for babies. So they know it’s like bath time. Then they sit in the chair, you know, read a book, have a bottle, and then go to bed.
Casey 5:40
Make sure that chairs comfortable because you will spend so much time in there. Like I know we do a lot of things for aesthetics. But that is one thing I think you need to have comfort in.
Katy 5:50
I had a glider that reclined.
Casey 5:52
Yes, same!
Katy 5:53
it was amazing, because I could just crank it back and then baby fall asleep on me although I’m pretty sure I fell asleep a couple of times and baby be like in my armpit like, awkwardly crammed down. But it did help and especially in the middle of the night,
Casey 6:09
like falling asleep in the chair with the baby. Yeah. And okay, so I know your kids are a little older. But so our glider that we got last year has a little button so you plug it into the wall.
Katy 6:22
Oh, wow.
Casey 6:22
And it comes with a phone charger.
Katy 6:25
Oh, I have to stop it.
Casey 6:26
So you can just park yourself there all night.
Katy 6:28
Does it feed the baby too?
Casey 6:30
I mean, it might as well.
Katy 6:31
With a back massager in the back?
Casey 6:33
There is a little back pillow!
Katy 6:34
Yeah, I would keep that, that’s something I would not pass on. But did you pick like a neutral color or something you can use a second way.
Casey 6:41
Yeah! It’s white. And like the stains come out easy. Yeah, it’s baby furniture. They’re prepared for that. And it’ll match. Like no matter how many kids we have.
Katy 6:51
Yep, I love that. And even changing tables have come a long way. It used to be that you’d have a dresser and a changing table separately. But now, these dressers you can put a changing pad on top which is great because you have more space so you can kind of have like a changing station and keep diapers and a basket and wipe so it’s all convenient. Maybe have your sound machine on one side, a wipe warmer. Why don’t us as adults have like wipe warmers.
Casey 7:17
My husband uses Grayson’s now
Katy 7:19
we won’t tell him that you’re telling everybody that
Casey 7:24
I think he’s actually like pretty proud of the fact that like he reclaimed it he’s like, this is genius. Yeah, she doesn’t need it anymore. So I’m going to take advantage of it. somebody gifted it to us we need to use this gift
Katy 7:38
amazing. Yeah, that’s amazing. I don’t have a white warmer, I highly recommend you add it to your baby registry like right now. Although if you get baby used to having warm wipes, and then you’re out and about and you get a cold wipe out that I had the same like theory with bottles, I’d always give my baby like room temperature bottles because I was like I’ll be damned if I’m out in Target and I have to go find a microwave to heat up my bottle. So I was like the bad mom didn’t do warm bottles. but it totally worked in my favor on all the other days because I never because I was like oh yeah, room temperature water. It’s perfect.
Casey 8:14
Alright, so here’s another difference between the ages of our kids. Yeah, they have portable bottle warmers.
Katy 8:20
Okay.
Casey 8:21
so you just screw the bottle in and press the button and you pick whether you want the breast milk temperature or the formula temperature.
Katy 8:28
that’s amazing.
Casey 8:29
And it’s on the go. You just keep it charged at home and just throw it in the diaper bag. I was a Bougie mom, I made sure her bottles were warm.
Katy 8:38
And I guarantee you it was a mom that invented that product because she like me probably trying to figure out how you take baby out and warm up the bottle at the same time. And she’s like, well, if I just have a portable one, it’s brilliant. I love it.
Casey 8:51
The best money we ever spent. That’s perfect. And it helps Kevin a lot too because the temperatures already preset so that
Katy 8:58
Oh I thought you were gonna say because when he has to use the bathroom. Like are we talking about bottle warmers or wipe warmers? Which one?
Casey 9:08
No, it helps the Dads because it’s literally just one button. They don’t have to do the wrist thing. Yeah. And like test it out. So it’s like convenient for everybody.
Katy 9:17
That’s amazing. I love it. Okay, so what else for your nursery? So even if you have carpet in the room, I believe in some kind of a rug for multiple reasons. I like because how many times do you change baby’s clothes on the floor?
Casey 9:32
A lot.
Katy 9:32
A lot, right? But I feel like a rug kind of grounds the space because you have so many big pieces of furniture in the nursery and they’re always around the perimeter of the walls. And so even having a small accent rug I always had like kind of a soft shaggy one so that I could lay Baby on it to change them and kept it just barely under the crib and I liked how it like created, it like grounded that space. Does that make sense?
Casey 9:58
Yeah.
Katy 9:58
a little bit and stuff having like every thing kind of spaced out.
Casey 10:01
So like out like what size rug like, that’s my struggle is like – How big do you make it like relative to the crib or the room? Do you want it covering the whole room?
Katy 10:12
Yeah, well, I mean, I guess you could, if you have wood floors, for sure I do a larger like eight by 10. Or if you have a really big room and 11 by 14. But I think if you’re just if it’s a normal sized bedroom, and most bedrooms have carpet in it, I would go for either three by five or four by six. Because after you use it just right at like, angled by the crib, you could even put it in the corner later on, like a reading nook and do like throw pillows or I don’t know, I love like parts of the nursery that you can use later on. Like I’m all for, if you’re gonna spend the money on it, like make sure you get more than 24 months use out of it.
Casey 10:49
Yes.
Katy 10:50
Right. Yeah, so but any size, make any size work. The bigger ones you can’t move around as much. But it’s also a great way to add color or pattern to the room. So maybe if you’re renting a home and you can’t paint the walls, but you want to bring color in, you use it for the floor. Or if you want a neutral crib sheet on the you know crib but you have a white glider like you had and you just want a pop of color. It’s I don’t know, I feel like rugs are a great way to kind of make a statement without it being so permanent. Right?
Casey 11:21
Yeah, no, I agree. And you can take cute baby photos on them.
Katy 11:25
And you can take cute baby pics on it. Yes. Yes, make sure your nursery you have a spot to do monthly photos so that you can do the one month, two month, three months. I love him in the chair on the floor, the whole thing. But you know I really thinking about like what makes a great nursery I kind of going back to that point about a statement wall. And my go to was the name of course I love all these arches people are painting. There’s sticker decals you can buy now that are temporary. So if you want to do like a large floral pattern on the wall, they’re like vinyl stickers in there peel and stick. It’s amazing. Etsy’s my go to I mean, there’s so much cool stuff there. I love the digital prints you can print online, and then just frame them so you’ve just go to your local like craft store and buy just a inexpensive frame and print. You know, maybe it’s a theme like if you’re doing a woodland nursery, you could do mountains and Little Foxes or animals. What did you put over your crib?
Casey 12:26
We had we have her name like on the wall and then that was our accent wall. We did like the one wall green. And then her other pop of color was her curtains because that was something that like I had just read about constantly was you need good blackout curtains.
Katy 12:43
blackout curtains. That’s the, that is what I was waiting for you to say is black out curtains.
Casey 12:47
and they need to go like all the way around. Because we even found some gaps now like nine months later where I’m like,
Katy 12:54
you’re like every ounce of light that comes through is 30 minutes less sleep that we’re going to get.
Casey 13:00
it really is!
Katy 13:01
You have to make sure it’s duct taped the whole way around. Yeah, it’s true. And and putting in a white noisemaker I think helps or having a fan something that’s like kind of that ambient noise that helps baby one get used to not having to sleep in pure silence because the reality is, is that when is your house ever like truly completely silent and you don’t want to be tiptoeing like baby should learn how to sleep with noise and things going on. Because life happens. So yeah,
Casey 13:29
and like in the five minutes that my house is quiet. That’s when somebody rings the doorbell
Katy 13:33
every time Yeah,
Casey 13:35
I need her to sleep through that. That’s right,
Katy 13:37
so and then baby monitors. Oh my God, have you seen these new monitors where they hang? You probably have it I would. I’m gonna tell you in this This isn’t fair, because this is really aging me. But with my first we didn’t even have video monitors. It was a sound – like one of the boxes where the red line would like go do-do-do-do. And that’s how the noise factor was up. And then it was I think my second one I could actually connect it to a phone. No, I think it was a video on the monitor. And then it wasn’t until Lila my youngest, that I could actually watch on the phone and I thought it was like the smartest thing in the whole world.
Casey 14:11
Oh my gosh
Katy 14:12
and now it’s like 3d projections like in like real time that like show you everything and
Casey 14:18
well and I’m not gonna lie we have the one that like you can tell if she’s asleep or awake. It tracks her heart rate her breathing because I’m psycho first time mom and I was like, I need all the peace of mind I can get.
Katy 14:31
we’re literally, with every new product taking the parenting out of parenting.
Casey 14:35
I know.
Katy 14:36
I had to actually go check on the baby to make sure that they were breathing.
Casey 14:40
I know. Now we’re like why isn’t the internet loading this fast enough? Yeah, what’s going on? Oh my god. We could probably just run over there faster.
Katy 14:48
Yes, but that’s so cool. I mean, there really is some really cool cameras that will watch them now and because as new moms and even as second and third time and fourth time moms you still obsess like – Every, I saw tick tock recently where it was like a mom and a dad and the tiktok recently and like it made the baby makes the sound and everyone’s like, what you know, and then and because everything stops around it and so if you have a little baby that is like a squeaker, you knw how some baby sleep, and they’re like, squeak squeak squeak, you do not sleep as a mom because you’re constantly checking on baby. And that’s when those babies should move to their cribs earlier and
Casey 15:24
that’s yeah, that’s why we moved Grayson so early and we had to make sure that her nursery was ready to go
Katy 15:31
yep, I know. Okay, let me think what else…
Casey 15:34
what other storage because so for Grayson, we got a ton of hats and bows and socks and shoes and she doesn’t even wear shoes. And she has just as many shoes as I do.
Katy 15:44
Yes. And so always like the extra room has the smallest closet. Yeah.
Casey 15:47
So what do you do when, I mean, you’re trying to save space so that the baby has room to play? I mean, yeah, bedrooms are all different sizes. Like what can we do?
Katy 15:58
So I always used like a dresser. So we talked about having it not having a changing table, but actually using a dresser, which usually gives you about six more drawers, which is great for like folding onesies and putting in their little socks and their leggings. And they’re easy stuff. But even just using there’s so many cool organizational systems now for your closet. And if you just walk into a normal closet, there’s two racks, right, and the baby’s clothes hang like this far. Yeah, and especially if you only have one rack, you can go buy those, like rod extensions that will drop down, give you a secondary. And, you know, I love um, Oh my gosh, they were closet dividers. So you know how when you’re pregnant, and you don’t want to buy too much newborn, because you know, they’re gonna grow into the next size and three months. And I mean, that first year, you’re cycling out clothes, like, all the time. And it was so nice to have a closet divider, because then I could see which outfits because the worst thing that could happen is that because your baby will grow literally like by 10 pounds overnight, and then you go and you’ve been saving your most favorite outfit. And it has the tags on it and it doesn’t fit. So I think a closet divider is a great way to kind of keep you organized as baby grows out of it, you can pull items out, when you’re storing them for a second baby, make sure you label Don’t be, I highly recommend you don’t keep a basket in the corner where you’re just throwing stuff in. Because then when second baby comes, that’s you – you’re pointing to yourself
Casey 17:26
I literally have that right now, like it’s a tub, like I intend on labeling it but it’s a pile right now.
Katy 17:32
I had one basket that I’d make, kind of like a laundry hamper, you know, and I would put all the clothes in it. And then when he or she grew out of that size, I’d make sure I closed it. I take it up to the attic, and I labeled it. And that way I knew you know, with my next daughter, I could pull down the buckets by size and that was super helpful. But make sure you’re washing clothes. I don’t know how many times I pulled out clothes that had like yellow breasts, and they were washed. I’m saying wash but I washed these things, make sure if it has any stain, like for some reason the attic makes them come out even more. It was crazy. But okay, so we talked about blackout curtains, we talked about the crib, the paint colors, the focal point on the wall. And then I mean, I wrote down here buying pieces that your baby will outgrow quickly and it really comes back to that, like even with the swings and gliders and all the baby toys like try to be intentional with your purchases, and talk to moms that have had babies recently because they’re the best source for information like it’s just what I use. Go check out there’s yeah, see what they’re getting ready to transition to, what did they use? You know, what could be used differently? What was their favorite mattress? So admitting that once my baby was out of her swaddle, all my babies, I was mom that put like a small pillow in their crib. I did, how are they supposed to sleep like when it’s like hard in the whole thing. And I’m gonna remind people out there that are moms but us on our stomach to sleep and we did just fine and now it’s the opposite. But I waited until they were probably six months old and old enough to you know, make sure they weren’t doing anything crazy. But I had all the pacifiers and a pillow and crib bumpers and all the things but it was fine.
Casey 19:28
I think that goes back to like basic like momming and parenting like do what works for you
Katy 19:33
and check on your baby and don’t maybe rely on some of these like really cool products and make sure that –
Casey 19:39
that’s what we have instincts for.
Katy 19:41
That’s right. Yeah, there’s so much cool stuff out there. I mean, it’s it’s crazy when you think about what was available even 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago and what is available now. But the nurseries have come so far. I mean, gone are the days of like the wallpaper with the border. I mean, wallpapers cool, I shouldn’t dog wallpaper, because there’s actually some really cool wallpapers out there. But the borders and the like giraffes and the yes and the cheesiness like now the nursery can be as gorgeous as any room in your house. And I am here for that. Like, show it off, post the pictures. Be proud of it. This is a huge moment. And really when we say it, like the nursery should be your favorite room in the house.
Casey 20:27
Absolutely. I love it. So some of the very first nurseries you did besides your own were for celebrities, too. So what were some of your favorite details that they requested or had done in there?
Katy 20:41
Oh my gosh. Okay, so my I will start it out with my very favorite celebrity nursery I did was the one where and it was Samantha Harris. She was the host of Dancing with the Stars. And she did this gorgeous pink and brown nursery and we painted this huge tree. Actually, we did both of our girls nurseries. My favorite one was this big tree we painted behind the crib and put the little girl’s name in it. And it was just sweet and classic and timeless. But the best thing she did was trust us to do whatever we wanted. And I love that because even like working in the store and back in the day when I would just really help moms design nurseries. I was always like, let me just, you tell me what you want with your colors. And then I wanted to be like the mom and the reality show where I’m like, Okay, now you can know nothing. And I’m gonna come in and you’re gonna walk in and like surprise, and it’s the whole thing
Casey 21:33
You’re going to love everything.
Katy 21:34
yes, you’re gonna love all of it. Which really that’s usually like how it works out perfectly because the more opinions then it starts to get, you know, crazy, but she was my favorite. She was amazing. One of the craziest nurseries we did was for Ashley Simpson. And it was back when she was married to Pete Wentz. And so they their house was incredible. And remember, she’s kind of like rocker style, which I thought, oh my god, like we’re gonna do like this guitar themed nursery like, it’s gonna be so amazing. And so we had our first consult and her mom was part of it, of course, because she’s like, I think the like matriarch of that whole family. But when she was like, Okay, well, I have this vision. And I’m like, what, like, I’m right, still thinking like guitars and like crazy. And she’s like, I want Winnie the Pooh. And like, the whole reason I started my company was because I didn’t like Winnie the Pooh. I was like, oh my god, that’s amazing. Like, I love it. And so we had to pull together this whole room, I’ll have to find pictures that we can like feed in for our YouTube channel so y’all can see, but it literally had a life size Lego bee, like a bumblebee because Winnie the Pooh and like honey, and they had an artist from Disney come in and paint a mural on the back wall where the crib went. And she she did pick modern furniture. So that was super cool. We did the bathroom. I mean, it was the it was the coolest Winnie the Pooh nursery I’ve ever seen. I will say that. But it was crazy.
Casey 23:03
If you’re gonna have to do Winnie the Pooh, we will do it in Katy’s style.
Katy 23:06
Yes. Who else? Oh my god, Tori Spelling. We did her nursery forever ago. And it was for her first – and we did two of hers too. But she was one of my favorite. And it was actually her nursery was very similar to my son’s the first time and she just did like stripes, and it was blue and green. And it was just classic. And it was lovely. And she was wonderful. Brooke Burke, we did her nursery she was had her babies like 10 months apart, or it was less than a year. So they were like what’s that called?
Casey 23:41
Irish twins!
Katy 23:42
Irish twins. Yes. And so she had two cribs in the room. And we one was boy and one was girl and we made them kind of like parallel from each other. Super cool.
Casey 23:52
Fun.
Katy 23:53
And a little funny story about that is when I went to do her nursery, she was like eight months pregnant. And I also was eight months pregnant. And we were install – they were building a home it was in Malibu and the house wasn’t complete yet. So the staircase wasn’t done and we had to climb up through a ladder. And remember my belly is as big as hers as although I look like a house like and she looks like she just ate like a couple of bean and cheese tacos. Yes. And I had to climb up that ladder in the room to do the entire nursery. And so I’m sure you can. Oh, yeah. I know. And I kept remembering like, Oh my God, please don’t go into labor. Please don’t go into labor. But we finished the room and it was perfect. And those the pictures were posted in the magazine. They were gorgeous. Nobody would have ever known that the whole house was not done. Wow, it was crazy.
Casey 24:45
Wait so that was a twin room. So for twin rooms are we getting double of everything here? I mean, not two gliders, but two cribs one table but probably two dressers.
Katy 24:57
Yeah. And you know that the birth rate of twins is like hugely rising but it’s also I think just IVF in general, you know with advanced maternal age and women just waiting in general to have kids is probably a lot to do with it. But yeah, there’s I mean, it’s a great point. No, there’s not two of everything. I’ve two cribs Yes. I mean, I guess when they’re little bitty but you’re gonna want them to be two cribs and and I think sharing a room is wonderful, you know they’re in the womb together right, it’s natural for them to go into the room together and the whole thing but and don’t be afraid of having you don’t need to have a living room size room to put twins in. I think there’s a lot of cribs out there where they’re adorable just side by side I’ve seen like the cutest reels on Instagram that you know of twins like throwing pacis at each other and like having conversations at night. You know, I think one glider one dresser, storage, for sure. Especially if you have boy girl twins because there’s no sharing of clothes, at that point. You’ve got twice the, twice the fun. So yeah, no, but yeah, I’d say just I think two cribs is important that there’s no reason to have to have everything else.
Katy 26:14
[outro] That was so fun. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. And I hope you found a little nugget of something helpful in there. If you’re curious about our brand and what we’ve been up to you can check us out at Caden lane.com. Or join us on social where we’ve got several exciting projects that we can’t wait to get you involved in. See you soon.
0 comments