Brooke Williams, this is authentic

I first encountered the inspirationally industrious crafter Abby Glassenburg via her blog which is aptly named "While She Naps." Any new mother knows how precious (and often rare!) that naptime can be... Abby uses hers to create fabulous soft toys (as well as collage and now mobiles) for her children and anyone who cares to visit her online store is lucky enough to go to one of her gallery exhibits. The toys (which are really more like soft mosaic sculptures) are so immaculately put together, I just knew her home would be worth checking out. So I wrote to her, and when she sent me photographs of the house she shares with her husband Charles and two daughters Roxanne (5) and Stella (3).

What a great looking house! How'd you find the place?

Oh it's a long story, actually. When I was pregnant with Roxanne, we were living in a fourth floor walk up in Brookline [another Boston suburb], that we loved. But we had no parking and weren't too excited about carrying all the baby stuff up four flights of stairs, so we started looking around for a new place. We really wanted to stay in the same town, but we had a few requirements (4 bedrooms all on the same level for easy kid/parent access, single family house with a small garden and a garage, walking distance to town, good schools...) that made our search a little harder. We randomly saw this place listed in Wellesley and decided to take a look, even though we'd never considered living there before. We really lucked out! It takes five minutes to walk to the post office, a gourmet fish store, a great grocery store, a gourmet meat market, a whole strip of really nice shopping plus we're right by the college campus, which is beautiful. It's very American dream-ish, with all the daddies walking up the hill from the train station in the evenings... But I like it anyway. Ha!

Your place has a very mid-century modern feel. Did both you and your husband come to the table with the same love for this period of design?

Interestingly, we both grew up in modern homes. Charles's family has a ranch that his parents lovingly added to and transformed into an absolutely gorgeous place. My parent's house is on 4 levels and is part of a modern community designed in the early 70's. It’s got all sorts of great details--exterior materials used indoors, huge walls of windows... and they both had fabulous collections of mid-century furniture. So when we got together it wasn't even a question. We both like what we both like. We have the same vision. It's great.

Tell me a bit about the furniture--each piece looks like it could be in a museum of contemporary design!

The black chair was originally canary yellow and filthy dirty. We found it in the clearance room of a store called Machine Age in Boston that specializes in vintage and mid-century furniture. We had it recovered at the poetically named Freddy Farkel's Fabric Warehouse in Watertown, Massachusetts and they told us that the chair was a popular style made in Massachusetts by several manufacturers and widely sold in the 1960s. The wooden rocker is a Conoid Rocker in walnut by the great American furniture maker George Nakashima (1905-1990). This chair was in my house growing up--my mother nursed me in it--and my parents gave it to us as a wedding gift. By odd coincidence, my husband grew up with a nearly identical non-rocking version of this chair in his home! The coffee table is a unique "Clothespin Coffee Table" in black walnut and maple, made for us by my husband's uncle in 1999.

How cool! I love how each piece in your house has a story. I also notice that in every room the walls are covered with amazing pieces of original art--you have quite an eclectic collection! Do you have any particular philosophies when it comes to acquiring work?

Both of our parents were collectors, so we have always been surrounded by original artwork. Most of our collection is by local artists and students. We just buy what we like--there’s no real theme to it. In fact, one of the earliest commitments we made to each other was a $250 painting by a local artist that we bought together at a holiday sale. Now we drag our children to art events all the time. I think they are really stimulated by what they see--they always ask all sorts of questions about the work. They are very aware that you can make things yourself and that those things have value. A lot of our paintings hang pretty low but the girls know that you don’t touch artwork. And that goes for the drawings that they make as well. It's all about respecting the artist.

Tell me about some of the pieces hanging here in the dining room.

Sure! From left to right: the first is a mixed media piece by Justin Flaunce that my husband bought before we were together. The next one is by Jill Weber and was purchased at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston annual sale as a Chanukah present to each other in 2001. We buy a piece of artwork as a Chanukah gift for ourselves every year. The next one is by Maggi Brown and aptly titled "Yellow Square." This was yet another School of the Museum of Fine Arts Chanukah present, 2005. We almost came to blows with good friends over who would get this piece. The last is by Randolfo Rocha purchased at a silent auction at our temple in 2007. We were the only bidders and got this and another piece by Rocha for an excellent price!

Wow. Very cool. And while we're in the dining room, where did you get that brilliant dining set?

We found it on Craigslist, believe it or not! Right when we bought the house. It's Haywood Wakefield, which is relatively easy to find and honestly not as expensive as buying something new of comparable quality. Plus it's a lot more fun to hunt around for things than to just go to some big place like Jordan's Furniture and buy everything at once.

Not to be left out, your daughters have their own dining area, complete with beautiful artwork as well!

Their mini dining set is in the kitchen at the entrance to the dining room. It is Anka mini furniture by Svan and we purchased it at Magic Beans in Brookline. The collage is by William Ashby McCloy (1913-2000,) a very talented artist from my husband's native eastern Connecticut. His parents actually have quite a beautiful collection of artwork from that area.

And now to the meat of the story: your daughters' rooms. Did you take their personalities into account when you were first decorating them? How much have they changed from the original nurseries to now?

Well... both of their rooms were planned before they were born, but it's been fascinating to watch the development as they grow. Five-and-a-half years ago, when we were buying a crib and all that stuff for Roxanne's room there was almost no modern children's furniture available. All we wanted was to have a modern nursery but there was nothing out there. It was so frustrating! We just tried to find the crib with the least amount of corny woodwork on it. It was even hard to find things in orange and yellow which were the colors we'd chosen. Now it’s so much better. I mean, you can buy Dwell at Target! It’s much easier to shop for their rooms now.

Where'd you get that great poster?

It’s an alphabet poster from Binth. I just thought that it was really graphic and interesting, plus it has a lot of orange which is now her favorite color. She's fascinated by the drawings and spends lots of time looking at the images and trying to figure out what some of the animals are and how they are connected to the letters that they represent. I don't know about you, but I certainly remember what was hanging in my room as a child. It's important to have artwork in your children's rooms--they spend so much time looking at it that it really becomes part of their sensibility as they grow.

What a great dresser. It looks like Roxanne is on her way to having a complete Haywood Wakefield bedroom set!

Yep. We bought that at this amazing warehouse of mid century furniture in Dorchester called Modhaus. We've gotten a lot of things from them. Now we're looking for a matching desk as Roxanne will be starting kindergarten next year!

I see quite a few books reflected in the mirror. Any particular favorites you'd recommend?

Roxanne really devours books... we have so many and she’s read them all countless times! We're really into the new Hansel and Gretel with beautiful illustrations by Jen Corace. Also Ox Cart Man by Donald Hall is a great one. These days, reading is especially exciting because she’s beginning to be able to read to herself.

Your younger daughter, Stella's, room has a completely different color scheme.

When we were thinking about Stella's nursery we decided to do a black and white theme, with a little red thrown in. All the people in my playgroup thought I was crazy, but it made sense to us--newborns only see in black and white anyway! Even 3 years ago, good modern furnishings were hard to find, so I took matters into my own hands. I covered the crib bumper with fabric I had bought and then filled the room with non "baby" things wherever possible. For one, the rocking chair is by George Nakashima and was the same chair that my mother rocked me to sleep on. There was NO WAY I was going to buy one of those horrible gliders, no matter what people said about how great they are. The children's rooms are part of the house so they should look like they are part of our house!

Now that Stella is out of her crib, she gets a full sized bed as well!

Yes and we've kept the black and white theme going with a white bed frame and graphic bedding. One exception is the little bed we bought at Lakeshore Learning in Newton, MA. She likes to play baby night night.

It feels as though your philosophy of child rearing is very much tied into your family's physical surroundings.

Yes. I believe that surroundings are a huge influence on a child. The artwork really does affect what they think about when they are alone. In the mornings, it's the first thing they see when they open their eyes. I guess I just believe in having a home that is full of handcrafted, beautiful furniture, tons of books to stimulate the imagination, handmade soft toys to cuddle and original art that a real person actually created. We talk often about the significance of the artist's hand with the girls and take them to all sorts of gallery openings and artist studios. It is so important for kids to realize that they really can create anything if they put their mind to it.

Speaking of the artist's hand, I would be remiss if I didn't ask you to speak a bit about your own work! Here are some of the incredible birds that you make in your "spare" time. How did you get into soft sculpture in the first place?

I've always been crafty. I learned to sew in 8th grade Home-Ec and have been making things ever since-- but I was always busy with school or work. About 9 months after Roxanne was born, I had a little time on my hands so I started making and decorating cakes. I was making so many (and giving them away!) that my husband actually get concerned! So I changed course and started sewing more seriously, modifying patterns from old sewing books and eventually making my own. The online craft community was an important discovery--I was really inspired by all of these women who were doing the same thing as I was. Eventually I started my own blog and called it While She Naps because I wanted it to be about everything I did while Roxanne napped. That was 4 years ago. It's hard to believe how much this little project has grown! For me, the work is really sustaining. I really do love making something out of nothing, and the blog is like my homework assignment. It is vital to my productivity because I always need new things to show.

Well, the world is a far better place with your beautiful creations flying around in it. Thanks for sharing your home with us!

Check out Abby's blog, etsy shop and flickr page to learn more about her and her work! And see all our house tours.