Color Schemes

 Photos by Carl Glassman

A Day at the Beach

Artist Yona Feinman created a peaceful environment for 1-year-old Nina Gerzema who left a Chinese orphanage for a spacious new home on Warren Street. "The baby spent her first year in crowded turmoil," says Nina's mom Mary, who hired Butter and Eggs to design the apartment. The floor-to-ceiling mural, spanning the four walls, includes a Chinese junk and kite and even the family dog. It is a perfect day at the beach. "What turns out to be very cool is that we later learned our baby is from a beach town in China," says Gerzema. "It was a beautiful coincidence."



The Lion Sleeps Tonight Jennifer Esposito went on safari eight years ago and what she bagged was the inspiration for a kids' room. Her son Luke sleeps beneath netting, romps on a zebra skin and loves to sit on his giant stuffed giraffe. With a baby on the way, the Espositos will be moving from Leonard Street to Hudson Street, giving this mom a chance at doing up three new rooms, including what she hopes will be a Jackson Pollock-inspired, paint splattered motif. "And we may do a disco theme so the kids can grow into it when they're older, with a disco ball on the wall. Kind of an '80s style thing.
Well Rounded "I call them bubbles," says Kaleb Callahan, bouncing at right with brother Lucian. In the boys' room, spherical objects of some sort seem to float all around. The wall painting was created by Steve Kursh, working with La Tessa Designs, who got free reign from parents Paul and Jackie. "We definitely wanted to do something that was colorful and fun," says Jackie. "We talked about dots and stripes but it was Steve who came up with the idea." "The best clients and the best end results come from those people who just let you go," said Kursh.


Candy Striper "I think candy is beautiful to look at," says Jennifer Nevins, who was inspired by candy dots and licorice for her baby Olivia's room. "I wanted colors that a kid would say, 'I love my room.' It's not an adult room, it's a kid room-but also not a baby room." That room and the Nevins' entire Duane Street apartment was designed by Judy Dunne of Butter and Eggs, who hired Yona Feinman to hand-paint the stripes. The job took two full days. Feinman, working from a ladder, slowly painted her way down from high ceiling to floor. "It was a Zen experience," she says.
A Shapely Design Danielle Russo-Slugh told artist Steve Kursh, working with La Tessa Designs, that she wanted stripes for son Nick's room. Kursh painted straight stripes on a canvas and held it against the wall. "Immediately we said that isn't right," recalls Kursh, a restaurant and club interior designer whose kids' room business, Electric Babyland, is growing rapidly. As he painted, Danielle says, "the wiggles became like figure eights and then they became like women's bodies. I said, 'Kursh, what were you thinking?"
A Shapely Design Danielle Russo-Slugh told artist Steve Kursh, working with La Tessa Designs, that she wanted stripes for son Nick's room. Kursh painted straight stripes on a canvas and held it against the wall. "Immediately we said that isn't right," recalls Kursh, a restaurant and club interior designer whose kids' room business, Electric Babyland, is growing rapidly. As he painted, Danielle says, "the wiggles became like figure eights and then they became like women's bodies. I said, 'Kursh, what were you thinking?" "We love it," she added.


Flower Power Samantha, 8, and Hannah, 3, share a room in the Vestry Street apartment of parents Ellen and Peter Gordon. Carol Blum designed the narrow room to accommodate both sisters by placing their beds, head to foot, on one side. On the other wall are two desks and storage cabinets up to the high ceiling. Blum softened the brick wall with large painted flowers. "I have so much fun working with children," says Blum. "Each room is different because it reflects how the child expresses herself to me. I try to design according to what I think they're thinking about."
Stripes for Annabelle Like the Gordon girls' room at left, Annabelle Sadoff's abode is the creation of Carol Blum. Says Annabelle's mother, Alyssa, "We wanted the room to be bright and fun, with plenty of room to play so she wasn't playing so much in the living room." On the wall opposite Annabelle's adjustable, long green desk is a curved platform running the length of the room. Tucked beneath it is an extra bed. The colors of the stripes were picked by mother and daughter. "Her favorite colors are green and yellow, and mine is orange," says Alyssa. "Annabelle's not a pink person, thankfully."