Pacifica's Profile

Hi Thorndale

This article might be of some use: A Look at Waldorf and Montessori Education

..though it is a discussion of pedagogy, not decorating :)

What about a full bed where the dresser is and use the dresser at the foot of the bed? The Ikea full options are about 60" wide.
Whichever option you choose, I'm sure your parents and other guests will appreciate the care and planning you are putting into their stay. Enjoy the visit :)

I was very clear while I was pregnant with my daughter that there would be no pink, no princess-y business and no made to match pieces. Then my daughter arrived and made it clear almost as soon as she could talk that she wanted pink of every hue, princesses preferably with unicorns and all the better if it matched. So our only guiding design principle now is that there must be no characters, marketing or plastic. Other than that (which is, I concede, a big deal), her room is a free for all and surprisingly (to me, not her) super cool. It is authentically eclectic and reflective of her vibrant personality, not mine.

Darn. I was hoping there would be a plethora of suggestions like this one: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/an-eco-friendly-and-safe-way-to-repel-flies-170971
I too have no screens partly because they were ugly and partly because one of my dog's hobbies is to scratch the slider door screens all to smithereens.
We use box fans when we are cooking but we mostly just suffer and think unkind thoughts about the bugs. It's kinda nice when a lizard wanders in though.

Whatever you decide to do (bookshelves, stern lectures, gates...all of the above) you might want to add in one more idea that leans toward silly. Put a gnome or an elf (a la elf on a shelf) on the ledge and make up a story for your toddler about how the elf is there to watch and make sure nobody climbs on his ledge and that he's a really terrible tattle tale. Have the elf sitting there right when you move in. It might just inspire your toddler when temptation strikes as we know it will :)
Oh, and if elves and gnomes are a little to scary (though I think that adds to the overall effect) or clash with your decor, you could always do an elephant sculpture or something...

We had the same color scheme going on in our bathroom but our floor was vinyl in poor shape. We covered the floor in an inexpensive light neutral vinyl tile, hung a tropical shower curtain (with greens, browns and oranges) and painted the walls a light avocado green. The shower curtain and wall color moved the green and pink somehow magically towards avocado and salmon and I should have just stuck with it. But, I went ahead and eventually had the tiles professionally sprayed to white. I've been disappointed in how it's holding up only a year later. We did lots of research on both the company and the product (no VOC) but there are chips on the floor, mostly because I'm clumsy with the shampoo bottle. As for the towel bar, if it looks like you can get it off with just screw holes left behind, I'd do it.

If it matches your decor, what about a barrister bookcase? Extra dice and pieces could be displayed on top in glass jars as well. More expensive than billy or expedit but you can find one on craigslist for less than $100 and it would be a lovely conversation piece.
Also, when our childhood game boxes started falling apart, my mother covered the boxes in matching contact paper. It doesn't solve the size issue but might mitigate visual clutter if that's a concern.
Good luck...there are lots of neat ideas here :)

Wonderful piece!
I'm a GenXer with a toddler and a house. As many before me have pointed out, this seems to be two key factors in GenXer non-gardeners becoming gardeners. I've gone from not gardening at all to gardening every weekend - Yay for Southern California weather. In fact, my daughter's third birthday party in a few weeks will be at a local biodynamic farm. Her birthday present from us this year is a set of gardening tools and seeds (shhh, don't tell). My hope is that this shift back toward gardening is multi-generational; that the children of GenXers will have more exposure to, and therefore more connection with, the practice of gardening.

A very cost effective idea is to stretch a patterned piece of fabric or table cloth over a frame. My husband built me a huge frame on the cheap and I stretched a tree of life table cloth over it and it makes me smile every time I walk past...it doesn't hurt that the whole thing was about $40. Also, I wanted something big that didn't weigh a lot since I do live in earthquake country; it's surprisingly lightweight. Here's a less than spectacular picture (second from the top) but you get the idea...

Before we put our house on the market I painted over my crazy plum accent walls so that the house was painted in a totally neutral color palate. When we took it off the market, I found that I liked it so much more without the darker color. I really liked the color when it was up but I am apparently much more bland that I previously suspected...