studio nommo - decorate in style

www.studionommo.com

i've got a confession to make: i have design envy. right after i make a design decision, i'll see something cool somewhere else and wish i had that instead. it's this envy that kept me from fully decorating my son's room until he was six months old.

i took forever choosing just the right shade of blue for his walls. i spent ages finding the perfect storage, a sturdy-but-cute carpet and just the right bedding. i thought i was done, but now i have one more thing to envy: studio nommo's wallpaper and stickers.

studio nommo is a turkish company that designs clever wallpaper and innovative wall stickers for you to beautify your home. they have a number of products you'll want for yourself, but a special section just for baby. wallpaper patterns have everything from pink candy-colored stripes with alphabet letters to dancing creatures to keep baby company (shown right). their "landscape" wallpaper (shown bottom left), supposedly for adventurous adults, would make a great addition in any playroom.

our favorites? the wall stickers are a simple and easy way to dress up any environment. choose from designs including underwater (shown above) for your deep-sea diver, faux brocade embellishments for your little princess and plump flying birdies for your outdoor enthusiast.

wallpaper designs are scalable to your wall sizes (no awkward edges to work around) and are made of sturdy cleanable fleece vinyl. some designs come with multiple color options for you to work with. still can't find anything you like? although i might think that's impossible, studio nommo will customize wallpaper for you with a design of your choice. you can't lose!

studio nommo offers the best solutions for parents looking for something cool enough for them but still whimsical enough for their little ones. the hardest part? deciding which one of the many designs you'll love to put in your child's room.

pottery barn chamois crib sheets - on sale!

www.potterybarnkids.com

you've already heard about my search for the perfect crib bedding, which fortunately ended happily. for the most part. the bedding came with this super cute polka-dotted crib sheet, which looked fabulous but felt like sandpaper.

by the time my son was six months old, we, at the urging of our sleep consultant, decided that maybe it was time for our baby boy to stop sleeping in his car seat/the co-sleeper/our bedroom. (don't judge me. i was sleep-deprived.) yet i wasn't quite ready for the transition - his crib didn't seem quite snuggly soft enough.

i embarked on an extensive snuggly sheet hunt, looking everywhere i could think of for something cuddly that wouldn't break the bank. eureka! pottery barn kids makes the most delicious chamois bedding for your baby to snooze on.

pottery barn kids' chamois bedding has a soft, velvety feel that will help caress your baby to sleep. the sheets come in a multitude of sherbet colors, have a snug fit and keep their wonderful texture even after multiple washings. better yet - they're now on sale! this is your perfect opportunity to snatch up a rainbow of luxurious bedding for your pampered prince or princess.

now if only the sheets were available for grown ups. then again, if they did, i'd never want to leave my bed!

the blanket lady

www.blanketlady.com

more baby showers = more baby shower presents. but what to get for that someone special? when it's your good friend having a baby, buying them a diaper genie just won't do.

from my friend talia comes "the blanket lady"! don't let her - ahem - "rudimentary" website fool you. the blanket lady makes beautiful personalized gifts for your little one or someone else's lucky baby. the blanket lady will create a luxurious customized blanket using your baby's name as a pattern. want more? you can choose from over 50 colors to mix n' match for your own personal touch.

customized blankets from the blanket lady are double sided, super soft and generously sized at approximately 25” x 46”. not only is the pattern made up of baby's name, but you can put baby's full name and birth date on the bottom. as an added bonus, blankets are machine washable and dryer safe – no shrinking or fading. perfect for those new moms who don't have time to hand wash or drip dry!

believe me when i say the picture does not do these blankets justice - i've seen one of them in person and can attest that they're a really nice quality - soft, but still with a good heft to them. perfect for carrying around in the car, to the park and especially on playdates - you'll always know which one is yours!

via toy box sale - ends sunday 5/18!

www.viatoybox.com

you may remember how much i love via toy boxes from one of my very first posts, and now, they're having a sale!

you can save up to 30% off AND get free shipping from via toy box if you order by tomorrow.

via toy boxes are beautifully constructed, well made storage for your little one's room with mix n'match fronts in different colors and shapes. they can be arranged in any way you like. want shelves for books? more shelves? how about round openings for stuffed animals? perhaps more boxes with doors so you can hide miscellaneous toys or the ones that make endless noise? done!

we never fail to get compliments on the via toy boxes we have in cole's room. they're cute, easy to put together and best of all, made of renewable materials. so really, you're doing wonderful things for the earth when you purchase via toy boxes for your child.

alphabet 'n numbers foam puzzle mat

www.rightstart.org

dear alphabet 'n numbers foam puzzle mat,

i owe you a serious apology. i'm so sorry i knocked you in that post i put up last week. i may have mentioned you weren't as cute as some other foam mats. i also may have said something about never wanting you in my house. i'll admit it out loud for everyone to hear: i was wrong.

forgive me, baby. i didn't realize how affordable you were. i didn't appreciate your a-z alphabet letters and 0-9 multicolored numbers. i didn't realize that you were so soft and squishy. you proved me wrong.

you're generously sized and cover up to 36 square feet. you fit perfectly in my living room, much to my simultaneous delight and chagrin. your bright colors are endearing. my husband likes you better than "that other one - why is it so expensive, anyway?" and my dog is oddly drawn to you.

so why don't you let me make it up to you and take you out to a nice dinner, alphabet'n numbers foam puzzle mat. you know i love you.

caden lane - bedding and more

www.cadenlaneco.com

i was so excited when i found out i was having a boy! i ran out and bought a pair of tiny baby vans sneakers immediately.

then the quest began to decorate the baby room.

i found a lot of cute girl bedding - and i mean a lot. there was hello kitty as far as the eye could see, pink polka dots and flowers everywhere, but nothing for a boy. i searched, literally, for months. i didn't want anything that had a sports logo on it or looked like the de rigueur navy-and-hunter-green-plaid college boy bedspread.

then i found it: caden lane bedding. caden lane makes upscale baby bedding and accessories. no, it's not cheap, but it's extremely well made, with beautiful bright colors and patterns for both boys and girls. everything is machine washable and the bedding has a lot of attention to detail.

caden lane also makes matching burp cloths, sassy bibs, diaper bags, loveys and blankets to fulfill your inner stepford wife. word to the wise: a little bit of internet searching (cough ebay cough) may yield a better price for this luxurious product.

skip hop playspot: interlocking foam tiles

www.skiphop.com

now that cole is crawling, i realize all furniture in my house might as well be made of barbed wire. things i never realized were hazardous before i suddenly realize are Really! Dangerous! for Babies!

even our hardwood floor doesn't seem as innocuous as it did last week. baby trying to pull himself up on furniture = baby almost guaranteed to fall down and bonk his head on the ground.

i'd seen a few of these foam playmats around in stores and at friends' houses, but boy, were they ugly. nothing i'd want in my living room, that was for sure. then i discovered skip hop playspot - interlocking foam tiles.

skip hop playspot comes in three different colors to match your decor - brown & pink (shown), blue & gold and brights. easy to put together, attractive AND affordable? sign me up!

offi my pet lamp dachshund

www.designpublic.com

i may have mentioned that i have a dachshund. she was the first child, and now is slightly resentful but fortunately mostly tolerant that there's an actual human baby in the house.

naturally, to make her feel more at home, we put a million dachshund-related items in cole's bedroom. or to satisfy our own dachshund obsession. either way.

but the truth is we did need some additional lighting for his room, and the minute i saw offi's my pet lamp dachshund, i knew it had to come home.

the dachshund lamp comes in six different colors, is made of non-toxic, odorless plastic and it stays cool to the touch in case your little one decides to pet it. woof!

wallcandy arts - wall decals for tiny tykes

www.wallcandyarts.com/

it took us no less than 3 weeks and $200 in paint samples to figure out a color for cole's room, so it's no wonder we had a hard time trying to decide what to put on the walls. family photos? too grown up. chalkboard? too messy. mural? too permanent. then one day, we discovered wallcandy.

wallcandy arts are "stickers" that are movable - and removable - art. the decals can be applied to almost any surface and moved or taken down leaving no trace behind. we used the dottilicious kit (see left) for cole's room, and let's just say it's a good thing they can be moved around so much, because we couldn't make up our minds.

wallcandy comes in lots of fun shapes and colors, including "grazeland" (comes with grass, sheep, farmhouse and peeps), "seasons" (trees with movable limbs, flowers and leaves, shown right), "pilot's planes" (planes and fluffy white clouds) and movable chalkboard circles, among many others. their matte design means they end up looking more like stencils than stickers.

wallcandy is the perfect solution for fickle parental designers such as myself. since they're completely removable, if you ever tire of them, you can pull them down and replace them with your second favorite design!

via toy boxes

http://viatoybox.com/

we looked FOREVER to find bookshelves for cole's room. and i mean forever. everything was either ugly, ridiculously expensive, or weighed ten thousand pounds and would come crashing down on our tiny baby boy's head.

via toy boxes fit all our requirements. low enough not to topple over and smush baby? check. reasonably priced? check. well-made? check. most importantly..... cute? double check.

you can mix n' match the box fronts and arrange them to suit your style, with 4 different shapes and 12 different colors to choose from. you can set up the boxes as a bookshelf, table, nightstand, storage unit, even as part of a bed. the possibilities are endless!

the photo here really doesn't do via toy box justice - in person, the colors pop and we never fail to get compliments on the boxes. they can store everything from books (when you add the bookshelf option) to ten million stuffed dachshunds to puzzles to blocks to any number of toys your child doesn't need. they've also proven sturdy enough for cruising tots to pull themselves up on and reach in.

via toy box even does custom colors, so if you really want to create storage that matches your child's eye color, you can! and i won't judge you... much.

flor modular carpet tiles

www.flor.com

okay, so your little one is too young to spill grape juice on the carpet, but it's only a matter of time. and until then, you can expect spit-up, sticky fingers, drool and scores of other wondrous messes, all courtesy of your adorable baby.

time to get rid of that soft fluffy shag carpet you had in mind. too hard to clean and too easy to lose miscellaneous lego pieces that you will later find with your bare feet. turn instead to flor.

flor carpet tiles are great for baby and kid's rooms. they're easy to install and come in a wide variety of kid- and parent-friendly colors, textures and patterns. want a sassy jigsaw pattern? soft pink cloud-like texture? rough-and-tumble wool blends? go to flor. and since they come in tiles, if you spill on one you can just lift it up, rinse it off and put it back! (or in case of emergencies, completely replaced.)

flor carpet tiles are thick enough to withstand foot traffic (both big and small) and soft enough for crawling babies to roll around on. they're also sturdy enough to support a myriad of toy trucks driving around, a weiner dog running all over them and a few falling almost-walkers. the best part about these tiles? once put together, they look like one big carpet and no one will know your secret but me.