czg's Profile

Honestly, I don't think that it looks very 2012. While the paint color/wallpaper border removal is a tremendous improvement, I think that the sideboard and faux black wrought iron chandelier look very 2001. Brass is actually very on trend right now.

We have a cutesy Crane one shaped like a frog for our kids' room, but I find it doesn't work all that well and it's much more difficult to refill than the freebie Kaz humidifier that we got from the hospital when our daughter was born almost 4 years ago. While not anything to look at, it works great you can fill it up while in use thanks to a hole in the lid and the main opening is really large, so you can fill it with ice and water for cold mist which is very helpful if a child has croupe and you are alternating steamy bathroom w/ cool mist.

Love it- love that she stained the drawer fronts.

I would hope they add pictures- perhaps they left it empty for the internet privacy factor?
Frankly I find the whole "empty frame" trend a little odd.

I think it's one thing to swap out a shower head or put one of those little swivel sprayer head things on the end of the kitchen faucet, but switching the actual faucet itself is pretty major. Also hanging stuff and putting up shelves is a lot easier than painting, especially if you have to paint twice. I can't imagine having to deal with packing and moving and then painting a place you are leaving.
It's one thing to put up a medicine cabinet or some other form of bathroom storage if there isn't one there, but for the most part I would make do with the fixtures/cabinets, etc. that are provided (and you are paying for) especially if you will only be there a year. Little things add up, I know everyone says painting is cheap, but good paint isn't cheap and you have to buy all of the "stuff" needed to paint and you have to store all of that "stuff."

I am not a fan of the inspiration piece, so I don't find the after all that exciting. The piece has nice lines to it- and still does, when the novelty of the numbers on the drawers wears off, it can be re-painted or stained.

I love the Ikea potties! @ $4 a piece I tell all my parent-friends to buy 3 or 4 of them. We keep one in the car, one in each bathroom, one in the playroom, the kids' room, etc.
When my now 3.5 yr old was learning out to use the potty last summer we put a little potty in whatever room she was in, asked her to point out the potty, etc. Dressed her in short dresses w/ no underwear if we were home, since we made it relatively easy for her, she got it down quickly and was very proud of herself. I know some people hate the little potties, but in reality you should be putting ALL solid waste in the toilet anyway- poop doesn't belong in the trash, so it's not much different.
Good luck!

Cute- BUT something no one ever addresses w/ all of this chalkboard business is how messy chalk dust can be. That rug would be full of chalk dust in no time flat at my house. Do they make dustless chalk now?

also Consumer Reports is not a safety institute. It's a magazine.

I guess I am not afraid of a little pee. We throw this thing in a designated re-usable shopping bag and keep it in the bottom basket of our stroller when we travel. We cloth diaper, so if I can't dump the pee into grass or a toilet I just use an extra cloth diaper to sop it up, and throw it in a wet bag.