The Nursery Project

Wallpaper Games by 5.5 Designers

While toddlers who cannot read and write wouldn't probably appreaciate the idea, I do think the Wallpaper Games from French 5.5 Designers is a great product for older children's room, especially those who are into puzzles and word games. It's a simple idea of a wallpaper with grids of letters, like your usual word search game. You can find words and circle them with your writing implement of choice. In time, the room grows its own character by the amount of words found. Markers of various colours would look really nice, but plain black ink might give the wall different identity.

The nerdy side of me totally loves the idea. The images were copied from their official site and the example words are in French, but I did take some time to actually use the close up image to play a little bit to see if I can find words in English, and I certainly found plenty. I even found quite some number of words in Dutch as well.

Too bad there's no way I could find out where they sell this and how much it costs. As much as I love their products, I really can't say the same about their website.

By the way, for those of you with no toddlers/children in the house, this wallpaper is fabulous in the toilet. Imagine replacing the clutter of magazine stash with the wallpaper and a cup filled with coloured markers instead.

Found in Etsy: Little Papercuts - Print Set

Oh, the wonderful world of Etsy!

I could get lost for hours on ends browsing around that haven of crafters and the home of all things lovely. I'm especially enchanted by its Art sections. They're original, most are handmade, and so many to choose from. Best of all, I can afford them.

I might not mind filling in 3/4 of my house's furniture with IKEA stuffs, but what you put on the wall is a window of your soul, and IKEA art prints would definitely make a poor substitution to mine (or at least I'd like to think so).

But look what I found in Etsy! A print series of 8 cards, each 10 x 15cm, from collages depicting little girls in all kinds of funky outfits. It would make a loving contribution to any girl's nursery, aspiring fashionistas or not. The set costs $25, shipping from Australia, which may mean additional shipping charges, depending where you are.

Community #1 Offset print by Steven Harrington

I was browsing around some of my favourite blogs today when I spotted this beauty at The Style File. Apparently Danielle just bought this print made by Steven Harrington. I hurried over to his site and found that it's still available for only $25 plus shipping. I just had to get myself an order. I love the print, it's retro beautiful with a colour scheme that will go perfectly with Peanut's coming nursery. This print will go on the white wall portion of her room. I can't wait!

COMMUNITY #1 is a 24"x36" (approximately 60x90cm) offset print. $25.00 + shipping.

The Nursery is Taking Shape

A bit busy lately. We've got words from the contractors that our apartment might be delivered sooner than we expected, which means we have to seriously start thinking about what we're going to put into the place. It is quite overwhelming for us who never done decorate a house from scratch, and now we're confronted with this blank canvas of a space. The floorplan to the left shows Peanut's future nursery layout in the house.

It is 3.1 x 3.8 meter square, with one tall window (approximately 75 x 270cm, which is floor-to-ceiling). It's a decent size room for a growing child. My only disappointment was that it has brown window pane, in place of a more expected white.

As this is practically the only room in the house where I'm free to do whatever I like with it without having to resort to lengthy discussion with the hubby (he let me have the prerogatives for the nursery), it is in this room I spent most of my creative energy. I came to this colour palette for the room (image to the right):

You might think it's a rather harsh colour palette for a nursery, but I really wanted a colour scheme that is bold, girly yet gutsy, and something I would never dare trying with any other room in the house. I'm going to paint 2 walls in the brightest canary yellow, and the other two in white. The room's walls are not very perpendicular, so I thought I could balance this annoying asymmetry by camouflaging them with two tone coloured walls in diagonal opposites. The black will not be dominant at all, I put it along since I have plans of putting up my black-and-white Edward Gorey prints againts one of the yellow walls. As for the fuchsias, I found an old IKEA fabric in the linen cabinet with the colour which I think will look brilliant for the curtain of the room. I'm just hoping that I've got enough to cover the whole window, since it's a pattern IKEA doesn't do anymore, and I can't think of anywhere else I might find a thick cotton fabric with the same colours and pattern.

To give a better idea of how the room would look like, I put up a composite of things I'm going to put into the room (above image):

More to come soon, watch this space. Woohoo, we finally have a real nursery!

Zoolight from Illums Bolighus of Denmark

I like the Zoolight from the Royal Shopping of Denmark (I believe they don't really have anything to do with the Royal House of Denmark). Animal shaped, they give out a soft glow and shadows that illuminates the contour of the animal origami it's made of.

€81 each.

These Bins are Anything but Rubbish: John Brauer Binbin

Not exactly created with children in mind, but I love the ingenious design of John Brauer's wastepaper bin. It's an interesting twist to the usually boring looking bin, transferring it from a necessary evil into a visually pleasing piece of decoration item. It appeals to the sense of beauty-in-chaos in me, and I'm sure it looks fabulous in a child's study.

Made of strong, hardened polyethylene, it comes in three colours; black, white and red. It's not yet in the stores, but you can get it starting this summer, for €39.50 each.

Available from Design3000.de

Jonathan Adler's Ceramic Menagerie

The Menagerie, is a collection of ceramic animals designed by Jonathan Adler. They come in various sizes, from Low Bird at 9 x 6.5 inches (23 x 16 cm), Large Horse at 17.5 x 15 inches (45 x 38 cm), to the long but short Hippo at 18.5 x 7 inches (47 x 17 cm).

My favourite is the owl and the large horse for very different reasons. The owl because it looks so iconic yet reminds me of something prehistoric, and the horse for the beautifully rendered detailed texture.

I'm not sure if nursery and ceramic should even be mentioned in the same sentences, but they are definitely gorgeous, and provided you put them somewhere outside of their reach, I don't see why they can't make a lovely addtion to a nursery. I have a little trick I use for the wooden seagull I put on Peanut's nighttable: stick the base with Blu-tac so it doesn't topple even if she was shaking the table (without having it permanently glued to the surface).

Available at Babygeared.

Surrealism Also Comes in Small Packages: Zolo Playsculpture

Zolo looks so fun, I like to call it the Crazy Lego. They come in thingamabobs of shapes and patterns, and connect together with pegs-and-hole system (even the pegs are colourful!). I love the idea of a playsculptures, if children can pretend play to be doctors, builders and chemist, why not sculptors?

Zolo comes in several ranges, made either from plastic or wood. The playschooler range was made with larger pegs. When your child is no longer interested in them (if that's possible), you can take over, give the sculptor in you your best shot, and put them up as decoration on the child's room shelves.

Zolo Playsculpture official website.

Kikolina and Her Travelling Little Egg

I know it's too late for egg hunts, but I still think Kikolina is in time to be a cool spring toy. I love the fresh greens and yellow, and the little bell in the middle that 'tings' as the ball passes by. Simple concept, eye-pleasing design, and a good sense of humour with the cracked egg.

Made from wood, by Selecta Spielzeug, a German toy company famous in Europe for their good quality wooden toy.

€49.99 from the brand's official site.