Bianca’s Brooklyn Playroom — Sweetened!

This week, we’re taking a break from our standard fare of NYC kitchen and bath renovations to stop by a sweet and sunny playroom. The head of this (now) cute kingdom is Bianca, a toddler in Brooklyn’s Columbia Waterfront District. Bianca’s folks came to Sweeten to find a contractor team to deal with total disrepair throughout their newly purchased two-bedroom condo. We introduced the family to Sweeten Experts Paulina and Albert who came out swinging with a modern industrial kitchen renovation and beautiful tile layering in the bathroom. No structural changes were planned for the second bedroom, but the room was due for real work if a little one would be running around in there. The wood floors needed to be repaired, re-stained, and re-finished, the walls needed plastering and painting, and new doors and a storage set-up were planned for the closet.

Bianca’s mom partnered with Paulina to find simple, bright finishes that would keep this space open and clean. Starting from the bottom, Paulina’s team re-surfaced and re-stained the apartment’s worn oak floors, using a light stain with a hint of gray to neutralize the space and complement the cool color palette happening in other rooms. The walls were coated in Farrow and Ball’s Calamine – yup: intended to invoke the soothing elements of its namesake lotion without going overly sugary or pink. Up top, the family picked a sparkly ceiling fan from Rejuvenation and went with mirrored sliding doors for the closet, both elements that play up the natural light from the room’s central window. Behind the new closet doors, Paulina’s team outfitted the closet with a double-wide storage system that now helps Bianca’s family keep furniture in the nursery pretty minimal. Over those barefoot-friendly floors, a Pottery Barn rug unifies the room and provides a happy home for a slew of fun toys and sophisticated occasional seating like that very adorable fluffy lamb rocking chair thing!

Bianca’s new playroom confirms for us one of those happy renovation truths: refinishing floors and professionally painting a room really is the path of least resistance to an updated home. For a peek at another Brooklyn kiddo’s new digs, head on over to Luciano’s Boerum Hill Nursery!