Sophisticated Nursery

I get lots of emails asking for boys' room/nursery inspiration. In case you didn't notice, we're sort of lacking in the little boys department at the Komenda household. But if I were to have a little guy, this nursery would definitely be in the inspiration file. I love how sophisticated it is! You can just tell this kid is going to be so cool when he grows up.

Check out the whole room on the great blog, Design Crisis.

Dear Jenny: Can I Use a Rug on my Wall-to-Wall Carpet?

Here's a question from a reader that I know many of you living in newer homes have asked yourself:

Hi Jenny,
I am helping with a friend on her house (just a few ideas for her girl's nursery) & I suggested that she put a rug on top of her carpet. She declined & I persisted. :) She finally said she thinks it looks tacky & cheap. Oh no! I have never thought that and I'm wondering if I'm way off-base. Does it just depend on the type of rug (weight of it) or do rugs on top of carpet always look tacky?

I'm going to open this one up to the comments section, because I think the vote is going to be pretty split. Also my answer is a pretty lame one: it depends. I think overall, I prefer no area rugs on top of wall-to-wall carpeting, at least carpeting that has a pile greater than 1/2". I feel like the area rug never sits right on top of shaggier carpet.

Here are some examples that I do like in kids rooms. Notice how low the pile is with all of these carpets:

Serena and Lily


House and Home Magazine


unknown


Marie Claire Maison


Coastal Living


Angie Hranowsky (thanks Vinyasa Mama for the source!)

And of course, I LOVE the look of an area rug layered on top of natural fiber rugs or flooring.

Lonny


O at Home


Country Living


Peter Dunham

When we rented a house in Delaware last year, our bedrooms upstairs had carpeting and I opted out of floor rugs. I actually felt like it was a bit of a bonus. Rugs are EXPENSIVE!! If you were counting on the rug to add some pattern or to define the space, use the hundreds of dollars you're saving to invest in a pair of benches with a great pattern. Or amazing window treatments.

What do you think, readers? Do any of you have area rugs layered on top of your carpet? How is it working for you?

P.S. If you have a very general question about home decor that you would like to see answered here, please email your submission to jenny @jennykomenda.com. Please keep the emails brief and remember that the question should be relevant to most LGN readers.

**PPS As I was waiting for the photos to upload for this post, I was lost in thought, staring at my desk. Suddenly I realized that what I was staring at was an area rug on top of high pile carpet on the cover of this month's Elle Decor! Looks great here:

Floral Play Chairs

I fell head over heals for these fabric-covered children's chairs in the kids section at ABC.

At $170 each though, I'm thinking this would be a good piece to DIY.

The backs are obviously different, but I'm pretty sure my favorite kids chairs from the Conran shop would work really well for this project. (On sale for $30.60 each, available in pink, blue and white). The legs and the seat are very similar to the inspiration chair.

EDIT: Thanks to your comments everyone! The IKEA Minnen chair is the exact same frame! $16.99 each!

I'd just use a two-inch brush to paint on some Mod Podge or watered down Elmers glue on top of pretty quilting cotton that was cut to fit generously. (PS my favorite cotton prints are available at Purl SOHO - including Liberty of London Tana Lawns and adorable Japanese fabrics). Once the fabric has dried (and fully shrunk) after a day or two, trim the edges with a razor blade and then seal it all up with Polycrylic.

Sounds fun and easy, right!? I think I'm going to order a pair of chairs today.

Good Design, Kids in Mind

I'd be a wealthy lady if I had a dime for all the times, when I was pregnant with my first, other moms told me to "Have fun now because your life will never be the same!"

Our three girls are the spice in life for me and Michael. They are adorable, sweet and endlessly witty. Some days I want a dozen more! (some days I want to hide in the closet) But it's naive to think life isn't different, for good or for bad, with our children in the mix.

Having kids often changes the way we think about our careers, how we spend our money, how and where we travel, how much we sleep, what we eat, what we wear, and (ahem) how our bodies look. It's an all-encompassing life change. And a part of adjusting our lives for children includes consideration when decorating our homes. We talked a little about that here.

This week, Kirsten from 6th Street Design School interviewed a few mommy bloggers in a series call Good Design, Kids in Mind. You should go check it out and see what we all have to say about being design-minded moms. Find out what I was like in junior high (poor Mom!) and how I keep this almost-walking 10 month-old from destroying every lamp, jar, vase, bowl, and accessory in our apartment.

Discussion Topic: Can you have children AND nice things?

You all know Liz from Say Yes to Hoboken. Well she tweeted the other day that her two year-old broke her beautiful lamp (seen below, available at Overstock) and she wanted to know if she should replace it. Would it just get broken again, and end up being a waste of money?

I told her that I would replace the lamp if I were her (and affix it to her table with industrial-strength velcro). But I'm a decorator and probably care more about this sort of stuff than the normal person might. Plus, I have girls (and girly girls, at that), and I have a feeling they are much easier on my house than little boys might be.

Anyway, the situation made me start thinking about the old saying "You can't have kids AND nice stuff."

image from Cottage Living - the LEE Industries sofa shown here was upholstered in an outdoor fabric by Duralee.

Recently a woman introduced herself to me and said she loves reading my blog for the pretty pictures. Then she said she doesn't actually decorate her house now because she still has young kids at home. Her pretty things were boxed up for "someday" and her floors and walls were bare. She told me her story all matter-of-fact - like, of course my walls would be bare, I have kids.

Should we just give in and face the fact that our houses are going to be dirty and trashed and undecorated until the kids are in college? Or do we decorate with Raoul and Spitzmiller and then freak on the kids when the inevitable happens?

Do we buy the lamp a second time?

In our house, I try to shoot for a balance between kid-friendly and inexpensive things (that I don't care about it they get ruined) and then a few special things that I talk to my girls about and set rules for. And then I take a chill pill when those things get messed with on occasion.

What do you think, readers? I'd really love your opinion here for something I've got brewing on my back burner. We'll call it market research.

Rain Gutter Bookshelves

I have been on the hunt for some bookshelves for our girls' room that are wall-mounted and display the fronts of their books. Thanks to this blog (that graciously awarded me some prizes recently), I discovered that you can use rain gutters to make front-facing bookshelves! The tutorial is here.

via

I looked into it a little further and it looks like the cost is about $3 per 10 linear feet! Can't beat that. I think this project is perfect for a play room or nursery. Check out a few of the google images results:

via

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Silhouette Murals

Last week, my DIY shades post was featured on Apartment Therapy New York, which was fun. Leah, a writer for Apartment Therapy DC, emailed me about the post and about our oddly similar bios - both wives of law students (well, her husband is graduated), part-time decorators, mothers of two little girls, etc.

If you haven't checked out her awesome blog, you really should. One of my favorite posts was about her bathroom mural. She painted the walls Benjamin Moore's South Beach and then hand-painted a silhouette of her two daughters.



In her post, Leah explains that she was inspired by some silhouette decals for sale at Harmonie-Interieure. Leah drew out a design for the girls' figures on large paper, cut the figures out and traced the outlines on the wall in pencil. Then she went back and carefully painted the images with black craft paint using a very thin paint brush for nice, crisp edges. She drew the tree free-hand on the wall in pencil then painted that in, too.

If you're not as artistic as Leah, but love the look of silhouette murals, these decals (above) are a good option for you. Here are a couple more options, below.

This little girl blowing bubbles silhouette is really cute, but I wish the scale was smaller (like Leah's images).


This one's only 5x7


Birds on a wire via Etsy seller Dali Decals


Elephants in a row also via Dali Decals on Etsy


Cute tree via EllyNelly


I like these butterfly decals via Pottery Barn Kids. And have you seen the white butterfly mobile in person? So awesome and a fun project to recreate.


Leah was also really creative in her bathroom's wall art. She found this napkin on sale at Anthropologie and framed it.


I think the framed art and the mural are just perfect together.


Great job, Leah!

Kids' Rooms Organization

Lindsay was hoping to get some quick advice from me about organizing kids' rooms. I'm sure she would love to get your input, too. Here's her email:

Hi Jenny,

I am new to your website and I have to say love it! I too am a mom (of 3) and married to a law student. With a limited budget its always fun to get creative, and inexpensive decor ideas (like the paper alphabet in the nursery! That is my project today).

My kids ages are 4 yrs., 1.5 yrs., and 4 mo. With the youngest two's ages, I still have a ways to go before they are out of that destruction mode. I'd like some ideas on how I can decorate my house with child friendly accessories, but still have the feel of an adult space with class. Another thing is we currently live in a small apt. and, as much as I'd like my girls to have a playroom, we can't. Therefore all the toys are in their room, and it is always a mess. I feel like it is a full-time job just cleaning and reorganizing their toys. I am tempted to buy tubs and put the toys in there, put them out of reach and only pull one or two tubs out at a time. That way I can limit the amount of mess, and they can learn to pick up their toys themselves. What do you think of this idea?

Is there a better way to have a stylish childrens' room that can be clean, organized, and free of destruction?

Lindsay


Well, Lindsay, there are a lot of toy organization systems available, but not all of them are functional and stylish.

Just like you, we don't have room in our townhouse for a playroom. Some of our toys are in the girls room, stored in painted baskets under the crib and under the play table, but many of the toys are downstairs in the living room. I found a solid wood toy chest at Ross two years ago that had a sailboat painted on it (not cute). But the shape was classic, the hardware was nice and the price was $20. I painted glossy black and added some gold accents. It looks great in the living room and is super functional, though some days I hate having toys in that space. The toy box looks sort of like this one (but ours is painted):


Here's a pretty toy box for sale on your city's Craig's List for $20.


Or here for $30.


Or here.


I'm pretty sure one of my first purchases post-graduation will be a few of these Land of Nod bins ($150 each). They look well-made and sturdy, and I think the functionality is obvious. Toy organization and clean-up would be a breeze, even for the kiddies. (Seleta loves these, too)


IKEA's Expedit system ($159) is a really good option for storing a lot of toys without making a huge footprint in the room. I would fill some of the shelves with soft canvas baskets from HomeGoods, Target or IKEA. Virtually any store with home furnishings will sell these bins.

You could also use galvanized buckets from Home Depot in some of the shelves. These look great in their original finish, but can be painted any color you want to match your nursery. They are perfect for blocks, Barbie clothes, flashcards, really any smallish toys that need corralling.

And the Expidit shelves are obviously good for book storage too.

You could paint or paper the insides of the shelves to make things more interesting.

via flickr

This Ohdeedoh reader painted her Expedit shelves with chalkboard paint.

via Ohdeedoh

Here are a few Expedit shelves from your city's Craig's List:

here, $50 (comes with the two baskets, which you could paint)


here, $40

and here, make your best offer.

Another option that's worth looking into is Target's version of the Expedit system, called the itso system.

If you're looking to go another route, I like the idea of refurbishing the inside of an armoire.

The great benefit being that you can shut the doors and not see any toys in the room.


This is a great armoire from your local Craig's List. I like that it's lower and wider, so the kids can easily reach their toys.

You could put this antique wooden case on top for extra storage.


And/or these mail slots. These look straight out of Anthropologie.


These wooden shelves are really narrow and would take up very little floor space. They could look really great with a few coats of paint and some pretty paper on the backs and sides of the shelves.


I know it's not exactly an armoire, but this antique cabinet could be gorgeous with a little TLC (including a new base made from MDF). Only $20.


This armoire is another good option.


Storage ottomans are also great for hiding away toys. These below are new from Target and cost $130 each. One of my clients is considering buying a pair of the brown trellis printed ones for under her small entry console. There are lots of other great color and print options to check out, as well.

As an alternative to the above, you could buy this leather ottoman and reupholster it in a fun, youthful outdoor print for the nursery or in something more sophisticated for the living area.


A whole different direction would be this canvas and chrome rolling laundry basket. Toys could be tossed inside and pushed into the closet when not in use.This Ohdeedoh reader shared her idea for hanging galvenized buckets on the wall for small toy storage. Love it.


Library-style book display shelves can be really pricey, but I think so worth the cost and space. I coveted the Pottery Barn Kids Schoolhouse book shelf ($$$) for a long time before they discontinued it. This $22 bookshelf could really do the trick. {Isn't it just screaming for a paint job?} And, to save space, you could mount the shelves on your wall.

Here is one of my favorite ideas that I can't wait to try. We all have seen (or used) these cheap plastic crates that are available at most home stores, like Target and Walmart. I have never used them because they're pretty ugly and small items always fall out through the holes. Frustrating.
This genius woman is sharing her easy tutorial for making cute and functional crate liners. These now-adorable crates would be perfect inside an Expedit shelf or just stacked, like below. She used Amy Butler and Heather Bailey prints here.


Do any of you space-savvy mothers have some additional tips for Lindsay? What is the best trick you have for keeping toys off the floors when not in use?