What do architects do when they have kids? Talia Braude was determined to steer clear of the classic baby paraphernalia when she was designing a nursery for her son, Rian, now 8 months old. Braude, of Brooklyn-based Braude Pankiewicz Architects, wanted the room to reflect both her as a designer and as a mom — and for it to be a place where she’d enjoy hanging out and playing with Rian.
Braude chose a small room (6 feet, 8 inches by 13 feet) over the building’s vestibule and off the living room of the two-bedroom Bedford-Stuyvesant brownstone she has owned for seven years. It had previously been a craft room, a dining room and a bedroom.
She started with the carpet, choosing a soft Angela Adams rug and a happy green color (Hudson Chalkboard Paint’s Bakery Green) on one of the walls. “I felt green, brown and blue was a nice combination. It all kind of came together,” she says of the green wall, rug and matching crib sheets.
The furnishings are kept simple: an Ouef crib, classic rocker and white shelving she already owned to store Rian’s toys. “It’s all baby, but the space is mine because of the many objects I brought to make it ours. I fleshed it out with a lot of stuff I made. It’s kind of DIY meets high-end modern design.”
She chose pieces that tell stories, including framed posters that were a gift from a friend who knew how much Braude loved the curmudgeonly author Maurice Sendak. There are crafts like an embroidered wall hanging made for Rian by his grandmother. Braude splurged on a clock she had been eyeing for years, a George Nelson. It’s an item that Rian can have when he’s 20, notes the architect, who was born in Johannesburg but has lived in Brooklyn for the past 12 years.
“A lot of my work, I don’t get to do all the interiors,” Braude says. “It was fun to be able to do everything and to mix very special pieces with expensive things and make a space that is not too precious.”
