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.

Vintage Russian Fairy Tale Postcards, Found During Holiday in Former East Berlin

We're just back from a short vacation trip to Berlin. While there, we stayed in an apartment hotel in Berlin Mitte, the now trendy area in Berlin that used to be in the East side. Next door from the hotel is a used book store which one afternoon put boxes of books, postcards and old photographs, all for 1 euro each.

I rummaged around the boxes and found this pack of vintage postcards from 1972 Uni Soviet featuring lino cut of classic fairy tale scenes. Some are of Russian origins which are totally obscure to me, but I could recognise others like Cinderella (called 'Solushka' in Russian), Puss in Boots, and the Frog Prince.

Needless to say, I got the whole pack of 12 for 1 euro. Quite a bargain, and I'm going to frame these for Peanut's nursery for sure.

Menace Height Chart

This is a cool idea for a height chart. Every birthday you can make a mug shot of the child, making notes on how tall they are every year. You can also stick those mugshots on the sheet directly, making it a wall scrapbook of how the kid grows.

It even looks nice being left alone on the wall without children in front of it, especially if you've got a nice big empty wall in the nursery and don't know what to put on it. It's got laminated surface, so you can write on it  or reuse.

The Menace Height Chart is from Childhood Interior. It's 116 x 137 cm. £55.

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!

Good Idea or Not: One Alexander Girard Doll for Every Birthday?

I've heard of parents of girls giving their daughters charm bracelet, or pearl necklace, so they can give each charm or pearl every birthday ot other special milestones (graduations, etc). I want to give Peanut one Alexander Girard Wooden doll every birthday, so one day she'll have a complete (or near complete, since some are not reproduced anymore) collection.

The iconic Alexander Girard wooden dolls originated as his own personal collection which is now reproduced by Vitra Design Museum. Made from solid pinewood and hand painted. Each comes delivered with a brochure in a high-quality printed wooden box. Highly collectible, and since they're limited edition, I'm not sure any will still be affordably available by the time Peanut turns 18. Hmm, I'm wondering if I should embark on this journey or not.

Searching around the internet, I found that Babygeared has the most complete collection with 11 dolls, Each for $145.

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.

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.