mcheerio's Profile

Unstructured play isn't dead! Not if I can help it. Great daycares or camps with qualified early childhood educator staff will provide nice long chunks of unstructured play because it's the best way for young children to learn, socialize and blow off steam.

Yes, in a perfect world, we'd all raise our own children and not have to send them off to camp - however, a change of scenery, some trusted adults that aren't ones parents, and a whole whack of kids and play opportunities that you wouldn't have at home are a recipe for some pretty rad childhood memories.

Some people do not have the luxury of living in spacious apartments with infants. Especially if one parent is on a maternity/parental leave, income is tight, why add the stress of moving into a larger space to the mix?

GREAT use of space & I love the red dresser and rocket ship art

I'd much rather smell the odd dirty diaper (which honestly, I've worked in infant & toddler daycares and if you've got a good diaper trash bin, you really don't smell it that much) in a relatively un-used part of my apartment than smell it in my bedroom when I'm trying to sleep.

I finished my goal project yesterday. I had the day off so I spent most of it pulling everything out of my kitchen cabinets and re-organizing them to make everything more functional. I painted, put up shelving, put up our magnetic knife strip, and styled the tops of the cabinets with my Pyrex collection. It feels brand new.

http://antiqueshoppefl.com/articles/sept09/phyfe0909.htm
a great article on Duncan Phyfe furniture fyi.

The table legs don't look like Duncan Phyfe style to me as usually they are curved (similar to the chairs) and carved to some degree. Is it possible the chairs and table are from seperate sets? I'm of no help, but it's a wicked looking set and you're lucky to have it!

I would have painted out the wood in #1 as well but when it comes to the finishings of the room, it looks like they sucked all the colour out of that room - no personality at all.

Whole-heartedly agree! As an early childhood educator, I see this every day. I had an opportunity to see an amazing lecture on resiliencey in children and the speaker (cannot remember who it was now) used an observation of a parent telling her child that was up high on a climbing structure that she needed to come down because it was not safe. The message that parent was unknowingly sending that child was that the child should not trust her own instincts or body to keep her safe. It really hit home with me and changed the way I work with kids. Challenging children and allowing them to make mistakes, fall, get hurt, use their body and take risks, allows for greater and more enriched learning experiences. Great article!

I would love to cater my wedding as I love to cook and entertain, but we're already doing our own flowers (thanks for your APW post on that one Meg! I've had it bookmarked for a year), and I had to draw the line somewhere! Great tips though!

feeling the hate-on (and love!) for ikea with this one!
I love (love love love!) Ikea and have since I was a freakish 10 year old that memorized the names, prices, and pages of the ikea catalogue every year.

I don't judge people who spend 1000's of dollars on furniture or spend a great deal of time scouring thrift stores for great pieces (which I also do, and 90% of those pieces were once bought from a retail store as well), so I'd really appreciate not being judged for not wanting (or being able to) to do the same. Inspiration and creativity comes in many different packages.
To each their own!

I have a friend who's daughter is a very very active child (adhd and sensory processing issues). She put these rings in their living room and they've been amazing. Accidents do happen but kids are pretty capable and rarely physically do something they are not capable of doing, and a little supervision and safety precautions (no hard bed frame within falling distance!) go a long way. Love this idea!

I had a couch in almost the same colour (it had a very retro paisley pattern on it in light pink and aqua though) and my roomate and I painted our walls a pale but really fresh green.
Load up on paint colour chips and start taping them to the walls and see what you gravitate towards! Something will work