Proud to be a contributor again to Baby London’s interiors pages. This season’s theme for your nursery or child’s bedroom is the circus – get a copy whilst you can!
Last week I spent a great day with interiors photographer Brett Charles, to capture some of the rooms I have completed over the last year. I met Brett on a shoot for GoodHomes, when he photographed the home of a client of mine, including Rosie’s nursery below. He has a great eye and is brilliant to work with. Watch this space for new rooms soon!
(images: brett charles photography)
This week is Child Safety Week, the Child Accident Prevention Trust’s annual community education campaign to raise awareness of serious childhood accidents and how to prevent them.
Every year babies and young children come to harm in the UK because of unrestrained blind chains and cords. To raise awareness about the risk of injury, I’ve teamed up with Interior Goods Direct, a company that specialises in window coverings. They are giving away four types of simple child safety devices which can be fitted on your window frame to keep blind cords and chains safely out of children’s reach. To request your free child safety device, click here.
Keep in mind when designing your child’s nursery or bedroom not to place the cot or bed in reach of cords near a window and keep cords as short as possible and away from the floor. After you’ve used the cord or chain, secure it with a blind safety device.
(photo: heidi lerkenfeldt)
Playtime Paris took place from 7-9 July – I wasn’t able to go, but my friend Amélie Joncquez from Petit Home was happy to step in. Today she reports on the kids interiors trends she spotted in Paris…
Hello, I’m Amélie. I spent last Monday at Playtime Paris looking for new items that give a fresh look to children’s spaces for my online shop petit home.
Playtime is a trade fair dedicated to high end children’s fashion, décor and maternity. It takes place twice a year in Paris and is one of the loveliest trade shows for children (and always a good excuse to go to Paris and visit friends!).
I was inspired by 3 main trends:
1. Vintage & romantic – Subtle, soft, muted tones of pink, green and orange (very Parisian I think) and floral prints. Look out for musical stars and clouds by Nini la duchesse, ultra soft bedding and funky prints from Jack n’a qu’un oeil, pretty patterns by ie boutique, and Tiny Tales story boxes from Tiphaine mangan.
2. Black & white – I loved the new cushions from Atsuyo et Akiko.
3. Modern & bright – Neon colours and bright dots everywhere! Great dolls and cushions from Atsuyo et Akiko again. This trend is very evident in kids fashion, for example Chat méchant shoes and Noé & Zoë Berlin.
(images: amélie joncquez, tiphaine mangan)
Yesterday was a good news day: Room to Bloom won a #WOW award!
The #WOW award was created by Jacqueline Gold, the hugely successful Chief Executive, entrepreneur and businesswoman behind the Ann Summers and Knickerbox brands, so that she could use her reach and influence to promote and champion other women in business. I was jumping up and down when I heard the news, it’s so nice to receive a bit of recognition and what she said just put the widest smile on my face: “I love your portfolio – the effort and attention to detail you put in is exquisite”. There is that smile again!
Three winners are announced on Twitter every Wednesday (WOW = Women On Wednesday). Congratulations to fellow winners My Travel Surprise (things to do for kids on the road!) and Fashion Bloodhound (hunting down pre-loved designer wear). If you’d like to enter the #WOW awards, there’s a great post by former winners Philosophy Flowers with lots of information about the award and an interview with Jacqueline over here. Fingers crossed!
x Ursula
On Monday I visited Bubble London, the bi-annual kids trade show here in London. Bubble concentrates on kids fashion, but fashion and interiors do influence each other so it was a good opportunity to sample the mood for spring/summer 2013. (If any of the Bubble London organisers are reading this: can we please have more interiors in future shows so we don’t have to travel to Paris and Amsterdam if we want to see both? Thank you!)
Here is an impression of my visit. My eye was drawn to candy and neon colours, combined with grey and white and raw materials such as scrap wood and cardboard.
1. New kids on the block Corby Tindersticks offer some awesome quirky toys and posters. And had a dino with an orange afro on their stand.
2. Little Creative Factory, founded by two architects from Barcelona, showed the most beautiful swimsuits and INCREDIBLE totes at what was easily my favourite stand.
3. Some nice geometric patterns in fresh colours from Kidscase.
4. Beautiful simple dresses from Little Troll.
5. Neon sandals from MAA.
6. Piet Hein Eek scrap wood wallpaper at the stand of Little Creative Factory.
7. Rockin’ wellies and jewel colours at I Love Gorgeous.
8. Love this print T-shirt from Red Urchin.
9. A cute cap from Little Creative Factory again – these girlfriends rock : )
For those wishing to read more about the trends for spring summer 2013, I recommend having a look at the trend reports over at Zoe & Drew, Little Scandinavian, and Smudgetikka. Enjoy!
(images: room to bloom)
I’m in love with these photos of the Lulu Cradle and Mokuba rocking horse from Danish design company Brdr. Krüger. Don’t you just love the colours?
In 1963, the Lulu Cradle was designed by prominent Danish designer Nanna Ditzel, and became a highly collectible example of modern Danish craftsmanship. All of Ditzel’s grandchildren slept in a Lulu Cradle, passing one cradle back and forth between family members over the years.
As part of the celebration of the 125th anniversary of Brdr. Krüger, the Lulu Cradle will be reproduced in a limited numbered edition of 200 pieces, in close cooperation with Nanna’s first daughter, Dennie.
Mokuba is the Japanese word for “rocking horse”, and the Japanese/Danish design duo O&M Design created this wooden playmate. In honor of their 125th anniversary, Brdr. Krüger will be producing Mokuba for the first time, also in a limited numbered edition of 200.
For enquiries contact Brdr Kruger directly. Thank you Toni at Skandivis for tipping me off!
Have a lovely week everyone!
x Ursula
A little while ago I received my copy of the long awaited The Homemade Home for Children by stylist, designer and author Sania Pell. Long awaited, because I pre-ordered it last year when I discovered Sania’s amazing blog At Home, and the book wasn’t published officially until last Thursday – but boy, was it worth the wait! I’m really excited to be able to show you some of the loveliness that’s inside.
Besides being absolutely gorgeous to look at, Sania’s book is full of entirely do-able creative ideas for crafty projects that you can make for or with your children. The book is aimed at creative parents mainly, but also at family and friends of people with children, as many of the ideas would make super sweet, personal gifts.
This is perhaps what I liked most about the book and Sania’s approach. Her homemade projects really do come from the heart and many of the objects have the potential to become treasured heirlooms, or at least much-loved possessions that will grow with your child through the years. It’s easy to imagine how much love you’ll pour into each and every one of these handmade projects, or how much fun you will have with your child making something together.
My favourite project is perhaps the bookcase dollhouse (pictured above) – though it’s hard to pick just one! I have a soft spot for dollhouses – as my website shows – and I adore the colours and simple beauty of this one. My parents made me and my sisters a dollhouse when we were little, and though it sadly hasn’t survived, some of the handmade furniture and quilts that furnished the place are still with us! I find it amazing to think how they must have crafted away in secret night after night after we’d gone to bed to build us the house and all that was in it. But I digress…
The Homemade Home for Children includes projects for different skill levels and covers things to make for your baby’s nursery, child’s bedroom or playroom, as well as things to wear and things to use outside. There are easy to follow instructions with each project, which you can follow step-by-step or use as a starting point for your own creativity. This is something I really liked about the book as well – Sania encourages you along the way with tips and ideas on how to make the project even more your own.
I know a ton of people I want to give this book to already, so before I buy all available copies, you can order your copy at Amazon now. I’m absolutely sure it will give you so much pleasure every time you work on one of Sania’s ideas and connect with your loved ones – or feel inspired to work on your own. Happy making!
PS. If you haven’t visited Sania’s blog At Home before, go take a look. You’ll find lots of inspirational ideas for your home and gorgeous colour inspiration. You can also read more about the inspiration behind Sania’s work and her love of flowers over at the fabulous Flowerona blog.
(images: room to bloom)
I popped into Little Liberty yesterday, the brand new children’s department at Liberty’s. The emphasis is on children’s wear with lots of covetable labels such as Iloveorgeous and Paul Smith, and a smaller selection of toys and decorative pieces for children’s rooms. Here is an impression of my visit and a selection of my favourite buys.
Look out for these lovely pieces:
1. miho birdhouse 2. anne-claire petit mushroom pouffe 3. miho deer trophy 4. froy & dind tin 5. white rabbit lamp 6. anne-claire petit notebook pouffe 7. kids on roof casa cabana
(images: room to bloom, product images from respective brands)
I have only just started blogging and am still trying to find my feet, but it’s nice to know that there’s a few people out there reading my posts and appreciating them (I love reading your comments!). So, when I found out this morning that my lovely fellow blogger Heather over at Canal Notes in Holland passed on the Liebster Blog award to me, my day was kind of made. How sweet! Thank you Heather.
The Liebster Blog award (which means ‘favourite’ or ‘beloved’ in German) is passed from blogger to blogger to spread the blog love and support smaller blogs. The award is given to blogs with less than 200 followers. The lucky winner is supposed to thank the award giver, choose five other blogs and let them know about the award, hoping that the Liebster Blog award will be passed on by the other winners. So, without further ado, here are five blogs I’d like to highlight:
I hope you’ll find a new favourite blog amongst these!
Ursula x
PS – if you like the letterpress card on the left, do check out US designers dutch door press and their stationary shop, which includes some lovely birth announcement cards. I love their folk art inspired work, the Dutch connection is coincidental – I think.
(images: dutch door press, liebster blog award)
