TheLittlestChicken's Profile

I think CB2 is trying to go head to head with West Elm, hence the further organic elements. I heart Land of Nod, though--lots of colorful, fun stuff. Glad to see that maybe the personality will spread a bit to C&B...I don't even go in there anymore, it's such a snooze.

Live there a while. Observe the light. Start clipping rooms you like in magazines, looking for commonalities--maybe not the literal wall colors in rooms you like, but moods. Since you have almost no furniture it's not that big a deal to paint later. Or maybe when you make a couple of purchases one of them will inspire your color scheme...

I could read houseguest-from-hell stories ALL DAY. Thank you, sincerely, for sharing--your misery has some redeeming value! And may I atone for being a less-than-stellar houseguest in college by being a good one now...I was never awful, but I could have bought more groceries and left more gifts.

I would like to add, also, that I detest people bringing food without running it by me, especially store-bought crappy food, and alcohol (we don't drink for religious reasons, which people seem to "forget"). Do not volunteer to pick up bagels for my son's first birthday and then be an hour late. And if I ask you to put your jackets and purses in the bedroom, please do so! I worked hard to decorate my small living room and it's prettier and more comfortable without your polar fleece all over my sofa.

Thanks to my wonderful mom friends who try to clean up the toys their kids played with--I love that you are conscientious, but it will take me 2 minutes at naptime, no worries.

And to the guy who brought artisan rum raisin ice cream, damn you for turning me onto something that I didn't know I love and now crave all the time :)

Have you had a handyman come in to see if there's a way to hang them? Or did you mean stylistic weight rather than poundage? Our handyman can hang anything anywhere with his collection of bits and bobs.

Otherwise, another vote for horizontal with stuff on top. Candles and whatnot?

Nicely done!

Our guy is only 2, but for us we make big toys out of cardboard, like a playhouse or a fire station/parking garage, and then recycle them when we're bored with them. Also, just having lots of storage items (Tub Trugs, IKEA cardboard storage boxes, IKEA fabric boxes that are meant to go in Hemnes bureau drawers but zip shut) handy means we can rethink our arrangements every few months as our guy gets interested in different toys, we have more or less hand-me-downs waiting to be grown into, etc.

How about those Kartell Componibili Round Towers? Very modern to go with your sink. Not a built-in but at least you can customize the height via the number of pieces...

Wow, I haven't been on AT in a long time, but the superior tone of some of the commenters is not very welcoming! No crib, no changing table, no diaper pail? Congratulations! We all need to make the best choices for our families, no one needs to have a contest.

Anyway, here's what worked for us:
--Ikea Hemnes dresses with a changing pad on top--lots of storage and nice and tall
--twin bed in addition to a crib--gave me a place to nurse and co-sleep as desired without disturbing Dada
--Serena & Lily glider and ottoman--a big splurge, but we have spent endless hours nursing, reading, rocking in utter comfort, and just as much at 2.25 years as at birth
--I couldn't find blackout curtains but we kind of made our own out of brown cotton curtains...I love that Pottery Barn has them now.
--A very loud Blueair HEPA filter--clean air and white noise...our house is old and creaky, we definitely need white noise.
--A dimmer switch on the overhead light and a little lamp next to the glider.
--A side table for the glider (which we had to ditch when our guy started crawling) was a great place for my food and phone when I nursed.
--Hooks on the wall near the changing table (but out of reach for little hands) for towels, wet clothes, etc.

What we didn't have that I wish we did:
--A really soft rug for playing on the ground in the first year. Our rug is very thin and not much improvement over the hardwood floor, so we couldn't lay him down and play there. That was frustrating.

And in the not essential but very nice category:
--A few nice fleecy "sherpa" covers for the changing pad
--Organic cotton crib mattress with wool waterproof covers--we only had a few leaks ever with disposable diapers, but I found the wool waterproof covers to be 100% effective and make sooo much more sense than putting plastic over the organic mattress...then your baby is breathing plastic fumes.
--Tub Trugs in all colors and sizes as versatile toy and book storage
--A kid-sized chair (we have that Pottery Barn form one)...our guy really sits and looks at books and toys there
--A small laundry basket (doubles as a toy)
--A ton of those cardboard IKEA clothing storage boxes...I always have one in the closet to throw outgrown clothes into...when it gets full I label it and put it in the garage for baby #2.

I WANT I WANT I WANT

The Demco and the Smith System are both pretty great...

I have a very long time to think over the colors while I save my pennies...

What a feat! Beautiful execution.

I would have kept it to 1-2 walls, though--the barn feels a little preschool rather than residential.