The Nursery Project

The Midsummer Lights by Tord Boontje

Just because the nursery is (very close to) done, doesn't mean it's the end of The Nursery Projects. Peanut grows, the room will be too, and I will still be coveting nicely designed items for the room, of course. And in time, I will need to take Peanut's own tastes and style into account. She might want another colour, another look, and might not want to call her room 'nursery' anymore.

We have an IKEA Knappa lamp hanging in her nursery now. It used to hang in our old bedroom, but now it fits in nicely in hers. But look at these Midsummer Lights by Tord Boontje! What a delight to have one of these in a girl's room. I love the combination of prettiness, yet modern look to it. It's organic, and each one will unfold in their own individual way, which makes it somehow one-of-kind.

The Midsummer Lights are the creation of a Dutch born but French based designer, Tord Boontje. They are made of die-cut Tyvek (high-density polyethylene fibers) and high temperature polypropylene cone diffuser. Each one is made of cut sheet only, no gluing is involved. Available in several different colours from plain white, to silver, to two fading colours, at POAA, from €99.

Highschool Locker from Kids Factory

I love this highschool locker from Kids Factory. It's simple and stylish, and looks great either in a nursery or a teen's bedroom. Available in six different colours, you can even mix and match several colours together.

Highschool locker is € 365.00 a piece.

Also available as a three-door closet (no price indication on the site).

Ikea MANDAL: Bedside Table, or Retro School Desk?

Ikea MANDAL supposed to be bedside tables for grown up. What caught my eyes are the way it resembles classic school desk. I love the two toned finish and the metal legs. The drawer adds feel of authenticity. It's also great because it looks like it's a good size for a toddler. It's 45 x 49 cm in surface area, and 52 cm in heigth. It would look great with MÅLA blackboard.  What's missing is the perfect school bench or chair, of course.

Ikea MANDAL bedside table is € 49.95 a piece.

Related article: The Pilgrimage.

I Think I Found A Big Girl's Bed for Peanut

I'm still undecided whether to buy Peanut a junior bed or straight to a twin bed for her first 'big girl's bed'. A junior bed always looks so cute and they save space in a small room for more play area, but you do need to get rid of it in place of a proper twin bed probably before they're 7 (and then to a queen bed when they're a teen?).

I got a copy of a local kid's interior magazine the other day, called Ariadne At Home Kinderen. Why they have such a long title escapes me, except for the fact that it's a special children's edition of the magazine that usually goes as Ariadne At Home (who's Ariadne anyway?).

I love these local interior magazines because they always have great ideas that are not too over the top budget-wise, and they even tell you where to get them. They even sell some of the things they featured themselves, including this gorgeous four-poster bed. I'm not a four-poster-bed type of woman, but this one is so lovely in its simplicity and versatility for a little girl's room. It comes in wood grain finish, and you'd have to paint it yourself if you want colours. We have this dark vibrant yellow coloured wall in Peanut's room, and I bet a white washed version of this bed would look great against that wall. It even solves the junior/twin bed dilemma by being available in both sizes.

The only problem is, Peanut is not quite ready to move to a junior/twin bed. She's going to be 18 month by the end of this month, but she still loves her small spaces. By the time she's 2, I'm not sure this bed will still be on offer. What to do?

Hemelbed (70x150) is € 179,00
Hemelbed (90x200) is € 209,00    

Stone Age Chic: The Livingstones

Livingstones are designed by Stephanie Marin. They are pebble-like cushions of various sizes. Some are big enough to even pass as a lounger or replace your sofa. The upholstery is made of either wool, polar fleece, or neoprene for outdoor use. I love how they resemble real stones, and what fun it would be to have these in the nursery! They can be piled together or scattered around the room, to make a great reading corner. Or play with them, roll them around, throw them, throw yourself on them, the possibility is endless. I can think of a thousand games and pretend plays children can come up with these.

On the off side, I've searched around the internet to try to find how much they cost, and nobody seems to list them. I have the suspicion these are ridiculously expensive. In that case, forget the nursery, I want them for my living room!

I want a Fatboy for my Littlegirl

Fatboy is huge here in Holland (no pun intended). I saw it pretty much everywhere, but I was never impressed with the apparent bulkiness and lack of elegance of it. And it seems like a real space hoarder. I just changed my mind.

We took Peanut to the beach on Sunday. Our favourite beach is the coastal village of Wijk aan Zee. The beach is family friendly, not overly commercialised, yet close enough to the village center that it's convenient. There, we saw they set up a Strandbibliotheek (Beach Library) next to one of the cafe. Book loans are completely free, and they scattered several Fatboys on the sand for people to relax and read on. We tried one of them, and boy, it was comfy! I never thought I could fall in love with a huge bean bag in such an instance. Peanut loved it too, she rolled around and hopped on it, laughing heartily.

I have to get one for Peanut's nursery!

The Fatboy original is 140 x 180 cm. It takes quite some space. They also have Fatboy Junior, which is 100 x 130 cm. A decent size for Peanut's future reading corner since you can also put it upright, so it doesn't really cover the full extent of its horizontal dimension. It's definitely something she can grow on past her toddler years.

Fatboy Original is €169, while the Junior sells for  €119. They also launched the new Fatboy Marimekko for €249 each, in original size only.

Foldschool: Free Furniture for the Crafty Ones!

I'm totally in love with this. Foldschool website listed awesome cardboard furniture, and put up their patterns for free, so you can have a hand in making them yourself. The patterns cost you nothing, but you do have to come up with your own materials and effort.

There is something about cardboard that always fascinates me. I love the natural-yet-iconic putty colour, the texture, and most of all its versatility. Cardboard is the mother of all things rustic beautiful (hence, the inspiration for Peanut's 1st Birthday Announcement card).

Anyway, what I love most about these patterns is the ingenious geometric design that builds the furniture in a robust and stable structure with nothing else but cleverly folded and glued cardboard. There are three choices of furniture can can build: a chair, a stool and a rocker. I'm hoping they're going to come up with new designs in the near future. This is a project that I would gladly take on when Peanut has her own room. I could love this so much (it appeals to both my artistic and geeky sides), I might make enough that Peanut's next birthday includes a chair in the goodie bags.

Magical Floating Book Shelf by Umbra

I juct picked one of these invisible shelves from a local shop around the corner. It's called the Conceal Book Shelf by Umbra. It's a very simple metal shelf that supports a hardcover book with the back cover slips into a a small clip that holds it in place.  Once you have that, you simply stack other books on top, until you can't see the metal part anymore and voila! it looks like tha books are floating on your wall. I originally bought it for my sister, but thinking about the amount of boardbooks Peanut has, which comes in all sort of irregular sizes and colour, this might be a fabulous idea to put into the nursery. Stacks of colourful books on the wall, which has no edges to babyproof, and it's also more difficult to climb onto than regular shelves (no visible, hence tempting planks). A dream for a toddler's nursery. Children would love the magical feeling of having floating books in the room.

It comes in two sizes, 5.25 x x 5.5" (13 x 13 x 14 cm), which costs €15 and 5.5 x 7 x 6.5" (14 x 18 x 17 cm), which costs €20. Might seems to be costly for a piece which goes invisible, but hey, it's the great idea that counts!

P'Kolino Klick: Table, Chair, Storage

I saw the P'Kolino Klick a while ago, and didn't quite get the idea. I don't see how the perfect fit of the table and chair would save any space at all since when you actually use it as a table AND chair, you would have to separate the two, and basically need to have the same amount of floor space available as for any table - chair set.

But that's just me being over analytical. Seeing how Peanut loves anything that clicks together, like a lid on a jar or my lipstick container, I can see how a child would think this piece of furniture-cum-puzzle awesome. And the more I observe it, the more I actually like the look of it.

The P'Kolino Klick set is $285, available in five colours (with orange as my favourite).

Multifunctional Toy Storage: Selection of 6

Peanut met her paternal grandparents again for the first time in 6 month last weekend. Witnessing the amount of new toys and books they brought her (and having to deal with storing them afterward), I realise I need a proper toy chest that will store even more toys she's going to accumulate. Living in a very small space also means I need the storage to be a bit multifunctional as well. There isn't any room for an idle box to sit in the middle of the apartment.

After wading through all kinds of toy boxes out there, here are my favourite 6 of multifunctional ones (ranked by design, functionality and affordability), from top left:

1. P'kolino Play Ottoman, $169. Comes in 6 different colours. It's a hollow cushy poof with enough room to store toys and the lid flips to make a table. Love it!
2. HEMNES from IKEA, € 79.90. It's the quintessential IKEA piece with its sensibility. The storage looks roomy enough, and would have no trouble fitting in any nursery.
3. Argington Fuji Toy Box, $420. Cushion is sold separately. It's a lovely piece of furniture that also look solid and durable. I can imagine it staying in the family for a long time. Available in 5 different finish (I love white and walnut the best).
4. Offi Roll-top Bench, $299. An interesting concept for both bench and toy box. I love the rolling mechanism. It gives the impression of closing up a shop when the day is over.
5. Offi Bench Box with pad and casters, $499. I find it rather overpriced for such a simple box shelf with cushion, but I still like the proportion and the simplicity itself. I wouldn't mind having one for my own room (if it wouldn't be so expensive).
6. HOL from IKEA, $69. With a bif of whitewash or coloured paint, it could look so much better. Add cushions to make proper bench. Lots of potentials for a pair of crafty hands.