shared nursery tour on mother mag

I’m so excited to share that our girls’ shared room was featured in a home tour on MOTHER earlier this week! I’m chatting about my motherhood journey, our kids room decor, my work/life juggle, life raising two daughters, how I’m trying to stay engaged and active during such a challenging, important year (PSA — triple check to make sure you’re registered to vote! 🗳) and lots more! I’ve been reading MOTHER for years and always love their thoughtful interviews and I’m so grateful to be included in this one in partnership with Breathable Baby. It was so fun to style their mesh convertible crib and mini crib in Lucy and Winnie’s room and capture this sweet space for MOTHER!

here’s a few photos and a few of the Q+A!

Did you always plan for your children to share a room? 

Yes! When we bought our house, Lucy (our oldest, now 2.5) was about 9 months old and we immediately envisioned this room to be a space our kids could share. The house is a 3 bedroom, and we (well, at least pre-COVID) frequently have visitors. Having one room and private space for guests was always important to us, and this meant that our kids would share a room. In San Francisco, Lucy’s “nursery” was actually our walk-in closet, so we are pretty used to finding creative solutions when it comes to space!

What’s your advice for other moms looking to fit two cribs into one space?

Be open to tweaking and testing out different layouts and configurations! The rocker has moved around three times in this room since we moved in. Sometimes you just need to think a little strategically about how to make the space work and often, for me, that takes testing things out and rearranging quite a few times before it’s “just right.”

Tell us about your shared space and your vision there, aesthetically? (How large is the room?)

I wanted this space to be bright, colorful, whimsical, and a true reflection of the phase the girls are in. It’s a room for children so I didn’t want it to seem like a fussy, uptight grown-up place, but instead a fun and happy room that feels very much their own.

Honestly, most of the decor in here just transitioned from our SF closet nursery into this new bedroom! One element that inadvertently guided the color scheme in here was the bright and colorful pom pom mobile. I found this inexpensive, colorful shag rug that tied into the colors from the mobile perfectly — and then I tied in the additional rug colors with accent pieces like our throw pillows and art. I tend to gravitate towards bohemian touches, which I brought into this room with the fringe chandelier, floor cushions, and of course, lots of plants.

What excites you about motherhood right now?

It is so fun getting to see the world all over again through my daughters’  eyes. I’m often reminded of the Brandi Carlisle lyric “Oh, but all the wonders I have seen, I will see a second time from inside of the ages through your eyes.” Getting to experience the world all over again as a parent is truly like no other experience.

What makes you the most nervous?

Navigating tough conversations and uncomfortable moments as they get older.

My parenting strategy can really be summed up to “learning as I go.” I often remind myself of the importance of adjusting. I won’t ever have it all figured out, but I do have the power to manage my own expectations and adjust as I  go. Even when I feel nervous about what’s ahead, I try to remind myself that I  will figure it out as I  go. 

Tell us a little about your career and how it’s changed (if at all) with becoming a mother.

My entire career has been in digital marketing and about four years ago, I started my own business (luckycollective.com) to have more control over my client workload and ultimately, my time. I  knew we eventually wanted kids and I wanted to work for myself to have that freedom and flexibility. In my 2.5 years so far as a mom, I’ve worked the entire time — sometimes taking on more client work and other times, scaling back to have more time and energy dedicated to ‘mom life’. When Lucy was three months old, I started an online grad school program at Purdue University, as it’s been a long term professional goal of mine to get my Master’s degree and eventually teach at the collegiate level. I graduated with my Master’s degree in December 2019 when I was eight months pregnant with Winnie. Currently, I’m offering digital marketing consulting services, interior decor consulting (which I  started after many people asked for help / advice on integrating “kid stuff” into their home), and also have an online shop of travel-inspired textiles. I have been doing the “work from home mom” juggle for many years now! I hope that my sort of non-traditional career path eventually reminds and inspires my daughters to always be curious and know it’s okay to change your mind in your education, career, etc.

There is so much going on with the pandemic, racial inequity, climate change, and an upcoming election. How have you stayed engaged (while raising two littles!) and what are some of the topics that you are most passionate about right now?

Listening to BIPOC friends, leaders, content creators, educators, and artists. Continuing to educate myself more about racism and how to be an ally. Diversifying the types of content I consume. Having tough conversations with family members. Relearning things I once thought were accurate, but in fact, are not. Teaching my children about privilege, race and equality. Making intentional choices about how we spend our money and supporting diverse businesses. Having ongoing conversations with our daughters, whether about COVID or racism or the election — which often happens through reading children’s books. I believe children understand a lot more than we often give them credit for. Being intentional not just in our conversations, but in our experiences — investing in our community, surrounding our girls with people who are different from them, diversifying the foods they eat and activities they participate in, choosing to “stay” and send our girls to the local public elementary school rather than move to the suburbs or attend a private school.

I often share about motherhood on my blog and social media, so one very small way I’ve been trying to lift up Black small businesses and creatives is by highlighting shops and individuals in roundups like this one (50 Black-owned kids shops) and this one (15 Black-owned shops selling face masks). The Black community has encountered 400 years of systemic racism in this country and by the numbers, this has created a huge disparity in wealth. Intentionally supporting Black-owned businesses is one way we can engage in anti-racist efforts to fight this gap.

I’m passionate about many social justice issues, including racial inequality, gun violence and reform, and immigrant/refugee rights.

Read the full interview on MOTHER here.