Room of the Day: Felt Creates a Happy Feeling in a Boston Nursery
A designer couple’s modern nursery features clean white surfaces with a surprising material on a statement wall
Chris Grimley and Kelly Smith know what it’s like to change remodeling plans. “When Kelly and I moved in here, we had no idea that we would have a family,” Grimley says of their Boston apartment. They welcomed their first daughter a few years after painting nearly every surface of their two-bedroom apartment white and tearing out many of its walls and doors. While the architect husband and designer wife reworked the apartment to accommodate their new baby, they definitely didn’t dilute or lose sight of their modern vision. Today their daughter shares the nursery they created with her younger sister.
When their daughter was ready to start sleeping in her own bedroom full-time, Grimley transformed the second bedroom, which they had been using as a den, back into a bedroom. He reintroduced walls and doors and added noise-reducing features to create a secluded, quiet space. “The renovation happened over several years, and it kind of evolved as our needs changed,” Smith says.
They also converted the bedroom’s two large closets into functional storage walls, shelves and cabinets. “We wanted to make it a little more integral to how the kids live,” Grimley says. This way, the kids can reach their own toys and clothes.
They also converted the bedroom’s two large closets into functional storage walls, shelves and cabinets. “We wanted to make it a little more integral to how the kids live,” Grimley says. This way, the kids can reach their own toys and clothes.
Grays, taupes and black make up the nursery’s expansive felt wall, with the composition transitioning from light to dark as it moves toward the center of the house. A few orange and gold triangles accent the neutral colors. “We really designed it how we were feeling that day,” Smith says. New sliding doors have an acoustic substrate, to reduce sound, and are covered with felt on both sides.
The couple knew from the start they would incorporate felt into the nursery in a big way. It’s natural, 100 percent biodegradable and VOC-free. “It’s something that the kids can play with,” Grimley says. Additionally, as a cofounder of FilzFelt, a company that specializes in felt wall coverings and floor products, Smith works with the material on a daily basis. “It’s something I feel very connected to,” she says.
Table and chairs: Jens Risom for Knoll
The couple knew from the start they would incorporate felt into the nursery in a big way. It’s natural, 100 percent biodegradable and VOC-free. “It’s something that the kids can play with,” Grimley says. Additionally, as a cofounder of FilzFelt, a company that specializes in felt wall coverings and floor products, Smith works with the material on a daily basis. “It’s something I feel very connected to,” she says.
Table and chairs: Jens Risom for Knoll
The individual felt triangles are attached to the wall with an adhesive that allows for repositioning, so that the design can evolve or pieces can be replaced. “The idea would be you could manipulate the wall and have it be something you could change over time,” Grimley says.
Beyond its decorative benefits, the felt wall also absorbs sound, a benefit for a nursery in a house that echoes. “At night we can still be in the living room. We can talk to each other, eat dinner and not worry that the kids are going to be woken up,” Grimley says.
The nursery continues to evolve. After these photos were taken, Smith and Grimley welcomed their second daughter, and now there are two cribs in the nursery. “The biggest challenge is trying to fit two of them in there,” Grimley says, but they have no plans of relocating out of the city. “We’re very excited to kind of figure out how they both will live with each other until they’re 18.”
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Beyond its decorative benefits, the felt wall also absorbs sound, a benefit for a nursery in a house that echoes. “At night we can still be in the living room. We can talk to each other, eat dinner and not worry that the kids are going to be woken up,” Grimley says.
The nursery continues to evolve. After these photos were taken, Smith and Grimley welcomed their second daughter, and now there are two cribs in the nursery. “The biggest challenge is trying to fit two of them in there,” Grimley says, but they have no plans of relocating out of the city. “We’re very excited to kind of figure out how they both will live with each other until they’re 18.”
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Nursery at a Glance
Location: South End neighborhood of Boston
Size: 250 square feet (23.2 square meters)
Designer: over,under
One nursery wall projects into the open, nearly monochromatic space of the couple’s modern Boston apartment, introducing color and pattern. Color softens the space, and the wall softens the acoustics, Grimley says.
When the couple bought the two-bedroom apartment, they basically turned it into a one-bedroom space. They had lived in an open, one-room loft before they moved into this two-bedroom apartment and preferred its open layout. They immediately removed many of the doors, including the ones to the second bedroom, to recapture some of the loft feel. The apartment’s carpet, in varying shades of beige, went as well. “It killed light,” Grimley says. Glossy white garage paint replaced it.