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Genius storage solutions for an organised room
The biggest design dilemma we have when creating kids and even adult spaces is to add enough and stylish storage to a space. Good storage solutions can make or break a room design so I’m always on the hunt for fun and stylish ways to add storage to spaces. Today I’m sharing some of my go-to storage solutions that can be used in nurseries, kid rooms as well as the playroom. Storage Bags Teddy bears and soft toys seems to have babies in my house and I have recently done a major purge of unused soft toys, I still have loads that are still loved by me and the kids,…
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Woodlands Nursery
When you imagine a woodlands nursery theme you’d think of earthy tones, foxes, bears and all the other cute and friendly creatures that we find in the woods. Our next The Collaborative woodlands nursery room reveal has all of that and more. Instead of going too rustic we opted for a more modern look by adding more greys to the forest greens and browns and of course a pop of mustard is a must. Taxidermy soft toys has become a huge trend and La Fede will be launching a whole range or taxidermy cuties at Kamers Makers this summer. Catch them and some amazing brands on The Collaborative stand at…
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Floral Posh Nursery
Floral nursery by The Collaborative. Some combinations are just winners…. and florals, dusty pinks and a touches of greenery will without doubt always make a good design combo. This girly girl floral nursery nook can be replicated in a small area or a bigger room design with ease. The elements used in this setup can be easily transferred into an older bedroom setup as well as other parts of the house. We love the vintage feel of this room. We also like the fact that although it’s a girly room design, we have only used touches of pinks in the room. And can we just take a minute to adore…
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Llama Llove nursery
Llama nursery design by The Collaborative SA! This Llama themed nursery is the perfect inspiration if you want to create a peaceful, neutral nursery and of course Llamas are sooo adorable! We used soft neutrals, layered with texture and natural elements and certainly the gorgeous Llama’s steals the show. Get The Llama Nursery Look: La Fede Designs: Llama soft toys, soft toys, Llama Rattle, Llama blanket, Door stop. LittleME by Little Interiors: High Contrast Dangles, Play Gym Ami & Me: Muslin Blankets The Curious Kitten: Llama Mobile Oumaz handmade: Crochet Blankets, Rug Stonecamp Leather: Laura Shoes Ko-coon: Baby Changing basket Tiger Lily: Tiger Lily Gift Set, Nesting dolls We would love…
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Decorex 2018 #rhythmoflife
Decorex 2018 Decorex JHB, the leading décor, design and lifestyle exhibition, will be celebrating 25 years of connecting people with the latest trends, styles, textiles and furniture at this year’s #rhythmoflife show. “It has been an incredible year for décor and design and we are so excited to be celebrating these beautiful trends – while looking forward to 2018’s inspiration – with the 25th Decorex Joburg,” Sian Cullingworth, Portfolio Director: Design, Lifestyle and Retail Exhibitions at Reed Exhibitions. “This show is a culmination of both regionally and globally-inspired designs that draw on more than two decades of industry knowledge fused into the best that current décor trends have to offer.…
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Monochrome Nursery
A monochrome nursery is always a winner and currently one of the most popular schemes for nurseries and even toddler rooms. It has become the go to scheme for gender neutral nursery themes for parents, and it is a great way of incorporating high contrast stimulation for promoting that teeny baby’s visual development. LittleME dangles are perfect for this. How do you create a monochrome nursery or monochromatic room scheme? Firstly you need to understand what monochrome schemes are all about. Monochromatic colours are all the colours (tones, tints and shades ) of a single hue. Monochromatic color schemes are derived from a single base hue and extended using its…
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Furniture sizes for kids
I’m currently busy doing a playroom that will need to accomodate a 4 year old, a 7 year old and occasionally older as well as younger kids. This huge age group has definite changes in furniture needs so I opted to look at bigger furniture than the average toddler furniture available as this sized furniture is not suitable for older kids. Here are some guidelines for choosing chair and table sizes for your kids: The easiest way to check if a chair is the correct hight for your child is for them to sit on it. Their feet should touch the floor with their knees bent at 90 degrees. A…
- Baby Interiors, Decor News, DIY Ideas, Kids Interiors, LittleME, Mood Board, Nursery, sourcing service, Trends
Llama drama nursery
Do you love llama’s? No prob-llama!! So do I! {can you tell?} This llama mama have picked some of the most llama-licious inspired interiors and products to share with you… There might be an Alpaca seen here or there but hey, let’s go on an adventure… alpaca my bag! One of the main reasons that love the Llama themed look is that you can go either for a very bright and cheery look, opt for the more neutral and natural look and it even works very well with a monochrome black and white look. So save you drama for ya…
- Baby Interiors, Decor News, Gifting Ideas, LittleME, New Product Alert, sourcing service, Things I love, Trends
Pregnancy keepsakes
I love gorgeous keepsakes and special ways of keeping a memory alive especially when it comes to my kids. I love making and keeping imprints and prints of my kids hands and feet, just because they will never be that little again and the kids also love seeing how small they were. Although there are many ways of keeping these memories alive, there are a few that stand out quite a bit. I just had to share my current two keepsake crushes with you. Ultra Sound Embroidery You do get lovely frames, books and boxes to put your precious ultrasound or 3d Sonar pictures in but to have this embroidered…
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Sweet baby girl nursery
On the theme of neutral nurseries we created a spinoff from our neutral nursery; a sweet girly nursery fit for a princess but that does not scream pink from every corner of the room. A gorgeous room elegantly styled in soft pinks, natural wood and hints of metallics. A cozy retreat for mom and baby! Suppliers used in this style session: La Fede Designs: Heirloom soft toys LittleME by Little Interiors: Print clip frames Lotters Pine Harties: Cot, Compactum, Rocking chair Pure Sweet Joy : Bear shelf decor Onyx & Fair: Diamond garland Ami & Me: Muslin blanket Cherry dot Studio: Knot Pillows Amavi: Moses Basket, Linen Cot Bedding That Kid…
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We heart South Africa nursery
We heart South Africa In the next nursery reveal we want to share how we love and experience South Africa. This country, located on the most southern tip of Africa has the ability to offer the best of everything this continent has to offer. South Africa offers an amazing canvas rich with colour and texture. With the use of natural raw materials like wood and concrete and colours mimicking the African landscape against this very white background we were able to create a modern minimaslist look into the beauty of this land. We ❤ South Africa…..This is our local! Suppliers used in this style session: La Fede Designs: Heirloom…
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How can you use your high contrast dangles?
Our LittleME high contrast dangles are amazing when using them with our frames, but they bring out very creatives sides of moms when they are one the move or just do not have the tools necessary!! As a standard we recommend using the high contrast dangles on the steel frame that fits over the changing table as well as the wooden baby gyms. They also work great on the move when attached to the car seat handle or the headrest of the car. Chenel from Life with James & Jaxson shared how Jaxson rolls when they are out and about. We often receive images from happy mommies showing us how…
- Baby Interiors, Decor News, Kids Interiors, New Product Alert, Nursery, The Collaborative, Toddler Room, Trends
Contemporary nook
We’ve created a little nook as a wee bit of a teaser for the next few The Collaborative reveals. We are leading up to the Kamers|Makers Autumn show at St David’s Marist Inanda and we have an amazing product range lined up and have included some of the brands in the next few reveals. “The definition of a nook is a part of a room which is separate from the rest of the room, or a secluded spot.” We all have a spot in the house or even a room that is dedicated to a single activity or person. We have created a reading nook and a baby nook. This…
- Gifting Ideas, Kids Educational Toys, Kids Interiors, New Product Alert, Product Reviews, Shop @ Little Interiors, sourcing service, Things I love
We are starting stories…
We have very exciting news! We have teamed up with Popsiebelle as their official South African online retailer. The Popsiebelle brand aims to create products to get your kids to explore their imagination and create creative stories that they imagine up. A few of my personal favourite products from their range are: The monster pillow and spray: My little boy old had terrible nightmares and fears of monsters so I grabbed the monster spray bottle that came with the monster pillow and we sprayed all of the monsters out of the house. So no more monsters live here, and it was such an easy way to get him to not be…
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Ultra violet interiors
Ultra violet is the Pantone colour of 2018, a deep and vibrant colour, you can either love it or hate it, I for one love it. It can be quite a daunting colour to bring into a space but luckily there is no need to go all Prince on a space to stay up to date with the latest colour trend. Here are some tips to incorporate Ultra violet into your home: Accessories, Accessories, Accessories. This is the easiest way to bring any colour, especially daring colours like Ultra Violet, into your interiors. It is also the most economical way. If you’ve always dreamt about having that velvet couch or…
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The Collaborative – Summer inspiration
Holiday season is coming to a close and we most of us are back at work and schools are about to start. We’d like to cling to this amazing season for a little longer before long summer days draws to an end. We did a mini shoot with our makers from Kamers Summer 2017 which captured the essence of summer perfectly with the following summer inspiration designs. Tropical paradise: Teepee, picnic blanket: Migi Designs Knot pillow, leather slouchy: Cherry dot studio Znot Bot: Vintage Living designs High contrast dangles: LittleME by Little Interiors Larry the Snail, wooden camera: La Fede Designs Yellow leather backpack: Stonecamp Leather Wood potted cacti plants:…
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The Collaborative – Kalahari nursery
When you think of the Kalahari, a baby nursery is not the first thing that comes to mind. But with the rising trend of not having a full nursery, we could not resist the temptation to create a nook that will be able to fit into any grown up space but that can still function as a functional space for mom and baby. Our mood board showed off a slight industrial look with elements that you would find in the African Kalahari region. The overall look of this Kalahari Nursery was very subdued by all the natural colours but the pops of green brought the room to life. We were completely…
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Decorex 2017
This year Decorex SA has introduced the Milk Jug cafe to the Decorex shows, an area specifically dedicated to kids, surrounded by kids decor and interior inspiration. Little Interiors was honoured to have teamed up with an amazing group of kids decor brands to design a drool-worthy nursery space. My aim was to create a nursery design that will catch the eye of not just the expecting parent, and for the design to be a talking point by stepping out of the normal box of what a nursery should look like. I wanted to create an industrial Scandinavian look with pops of steampunk and an adventure theme combined. Concrete, steel…
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What to expect from an Interior Design Consultation
You’ve got the budget but you do not know where to start, it’s normal for anyone to feel overwhelmed by the choices and deadlines when doing an interior space. Sometimes it helps getting a professional in to help you in the form of an interior consultation to help with some small decisions or to take over the whole project. So what exactly can you expect when you hire an interior designer? Firstly I will need to know what kind of room you would like to do and what your own or child’s ideas and needs are in this room. You will then need to supply me with a budget for…
- Baby Interiors, DIY Ideas, Kids Interiors, LittleME, New Product Alert, Nursery, On a Budget, Product Reviews, sourcing service
No Fuss Nursery
Sometimes less is more and sometimes more is more. The brief for this nursery was to create a gender neutral, stylish and clutter free area form mom and baby. I did not use a specific theme in the room but the LittleME Cacti crib sheeting inspired a more tribal feel but I did not want the theme to overpower the room. The Umthi Meyer von Wielligh lamp is made from solid Ash wood and an amazing feature in this room. I added in pops of colour with the shelving, bedding and ottoman but I kept the rest of the colours and finishes very natural and neutral. The room is not…
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Celebrating friendship with My Little Pony
In My Little Pony – Friendship is Magic, every pony represents an element of harmony to help teach children important friendship values. Each pony has a trait that is key in building strong, caring and empathetic young people – and boy do we need some more people like that in this world. See all the characters here. My daughter, Alexia turned 6 in June and all she wanted to do is have a tea party with her besties, and what better way to do it than with My Little Pony. I had loads of fun planning the snacks and the decor with the Friendship Is Magic party pack that we received.…
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How to incorporate high contrast stimulation decor in a nursery
We get asked often to do the LittleME high contrast stimulation dangles in softer colours to fit into a specific nursery colour scheme, which we can do {and it has it’s place} but it defies the object of high contrast stimulation. Read more here about the benefits of high contrasting colours for infants. If you are doing a popular black and white themed nursery then you have no problem incorporating these kind of items in the nursery, but when your colour scheme is more neutrals or pastels you might feel that the black,white and red might be to harsh for the room. This is where functionality is very important in…
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Home Renovations by Prominent Paints
We live in a house built in the 70’s, so home renovations were inevitable for us and we have been prolonging it for way to long. A few months ago we woke up one morning and decided to actually just start the renovations. Our plan for the first leg of the home renovations were to plaster the face brick walls, paint all the walls, remove the standard brown (ugly) skirting and replace it with a nice wide white skirting as well as paint all the door frames white. One thing that has always bugged me in this house was the brown veneer doors and cupboard doors, you know the really old…
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The Collaborative: Winter Wonderland
Winter Wonderland The first chills of winter came creeping in this weekend and this means it is the best time to share our WINTER WONDERLAND room with you. This is one room that exceeded our expectations by miles. We used shades of blue and mint and played with pops of pink and green and loads of textures to create this tranquil, dreamy and light room design. We wanted to imitate a fairly tale like design, yet still sophisticated enough for older kids. The headboard is framed by fairy light filled stars hanging right above it, turning the room into a magical space when the lights go out and naturally doubles as a night…
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Guest Post: Come into My Room, My Small Playground
Come into My Room, My Small Playground Designing a child’s room is no child’s play. It must be a place where the little ones can have fun and indulge their sense of exploration and imagination. Another priority parents must not lose sight of is safety. And when you want to accomplish all of that in a small space, challenges will pop out and easily put you at your wit’s end. Well, there is no need to fret: Here are some fun playroom ideas for all budgets, styles and configurations. Start small, think big A large open-plan layout is preferable because it provides ample and flexible floor space for all sorts…
- Gifting Ideas, New Product Alert, Nursery, Shop @ Little Interiors, sourcing service, Things I love, Trends
New Product Alert: LittleME cot sheets
The LittleME by Little Interiors decor brand is launching an amazing, ONE OF A KIND range of cot sheets at KAMERS|Makers Autumn shows in Johannesburg and Cape Town. It is a beautiful range of illustrated fitted sheets in collaboration with illustrator extraordinaire Tracey Preston from Ten Eleven Twelve (#sectretcollab).The range is designed for the large sized cot mattress and is digitally printed locally on Bamboo fabric and packaged in a custom made fabric bag for easy gifting and storage. Apart from being an Eco-friendly resource, bamboo fabric has some brilliant qualities: The fabric is super soft, the more you wash it the softer it gets. Naturally anti-bacterial properties. Bamboo fabric regulates body…
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The Collaborative – Swoon
The hottest buzzword in the new season is “Swoon”. Not only because we’ve been anticipating the reveal of the new Swoon range by La Fede but also because it so perfectly describes the look and the feel of the next room reveal by The Collaborative. Think florals, dusty pinks, golds, greys, luxury and style! This swoon nursery was inspired by giant flowers and the lavish colour scheme and is right on the mark with current interior trends and style. Although very trendy, this is a style that is timeless. We created a more modern version of this look but it will look super stylish with more traditional furniture pieces. A…
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The Collaborative – Retro Games Room
We decided to take a little step away from the super trendy toddler rooms and we had a bit of nostalgic fun by creating a quirky, retro gaming inspired room for boys. We wanted recreate some memories from our own childhood in a very simplistic design. We used some vintage furniture pieces that was sent through from Re-Trend and mixed it up with more modern decor pieces and versions of our favourite tv-games as well as a A-frame play tent by Little Slumber. We asked little Max to test the room out to see if he’ll enjoy it as much as us. We hit the nail on the head, it took some…
- Baby Interiors, Decor News, DIY Ideas, Kids Interiors, Nursery, On a Budget, Play Rooms, sourcing service, The Collaborative, Trends
The Collaborative – Boho Chic Room
Boho chic is top of the current trend lists, the style is influenced by both bohemian and hippy styles. We used florals, pastels and macrame as key elements in making this boho theme work well. We used more pastel colours which makes an amazing nursery theme but can also be ideal for an older child by adding more jewel tones. We love using natural wood with this room. Macrame has made such a huge comeback and this art of knotting cords and ropes has been stepped up a notch since it was popular in the 70’s and the more modern updated look even pops out in jewellery. See some Macrame projects here. Supplier list for…
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Holiday 2016 lust-haves {Win}
Whether we like it or not, Christmas holidays are around the corner and that means Jingle Bells, beach days, cocktails, and loads of fun in the sun. Here are my holiday season lust-haves for summer 2016. 1. Benbat OLY mirror: The drive to the beach is far for some of us, especially when you have a baby. I got this for my baby as his first Christmas gift. He was only 2 months old as I would have like him to remain rear facing in his car seat for as long as possible this was perfect. My little boy is now 2 and still asks me to switch on his “friend” as the mirror has…
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Room Tour – Peyton’s nursery
Peyton’s mom, Hesan, did a pretty awesome job with her nursery and I’m very excited to share her nursery reveal here. She had a very clear vision about the nursery design and with very little input from me, executed it very well. I must add that baby Peyton will be the first girl after 3 boys, so mom wanted something very special. Hesan’s not a big fan of pink so we decided that coral will work well with the grey, gold and rose gold that she already picked. It makes the room girly but not overly pink. She brought in a little mint with the…
- Baby Interiors, Decor News, DIY Ideas, Kids Interiors, Nursery, On a Budget, The Collaborative, Trends
The Collaborative – African inspired nursery
African inspired nursery This theme has always been my favourite nursery theme. Both my kids had a version of an African inspired nurseries. All our fellow South African suppliers had some awesome contributions for this room. The colour scheme was a wash of white and natural colours with pops of green coming from the Lielies kids nest, the Madiba doll from Fox and Moon and the pillows in the crib. Animals have been a very big feature in the nursery trends and nothing beats some of South Africa’s most loved animals. The Drakensberg shelf made an appearance again, and was a perfect fit for this room. By utilising items like the…
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The Collaborative – Tribal Woodlands Nursery
The Collaborative is the brain child of Chantelle {La Fede designs} and Mariette {Little Interiors} with the goal get mostly South African small businesses to collaborate to create beautiful room settings with locally designed and manufactured items. Each Collaborative shoot includes 3 room designs. Collaborative 1 included a Girl’s Playroom, a Monochrome Boy’s Room and the last a Tribal Woodlands Nursery. Tribal Woodlands Nursery We added a little South African flair to the room with the “Drakensberg” shelf. Although we mostly stuck with the monochrome theme again, we used a combination of greys, blues and natural wood to soften the design. If you would like to learn more about the benefits of high contrast colours…
- Brain Develpment, Choosing colour, Kids Educational Toys, LittleME, Mobiles, Nursery, Product Reviews, Things I love
High contrast colours for newborn babies
Your newborn baby is a perfect little human that can feel you, hear you, smell you, taste what your feed him but can’t see you all that clear yet. This is one of the last and arguably the most important sense to develop after birth. You hear a lot of talk about high contrast colours, but why you might ask. Your baby’s retina is not fully developed yet and can only really see the difference between black and white or very high contrasting colours. By stimulating this sense you are helping the brain make sense of different shades, shapes and colours. This article from Dr Sears sums up how important…
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New York – New York
New York City has always been my favourite city to visit, and I still fantasize about living in this concrete jungle that never sleeps. And the shopping,……OH the shopping! This vibrant city has influenced my design style from early on and I’ve created mood boards using furniture and decor from some of the top kids decor and design shops in NYC to share a little bit of that design inspiration. Furniture & Decor from: www.oeufnyc.com, www.babesta.com, www.allmodern.com Share some of your best shopping spots in New York City, bellow. If you would like to win a trip to the city that never sleeps then make sure you do not miss the competition that…
- Baby Interiors, Decor News, Kids Interiors, New Product Alert, Nursery, Shop @ Little Interiors, sourcing service, Storage, Things I love, Toddler Room, Trends
Introducing LittleME!
I’m so exited to be launching the LittleME range of hangers and organizers. Our LittleME hand painted wooden hangers are the perfect addition to a children’s/baby room. The hangers are designed to display a special piece of clothing, accessories or just used as a decor item in a room. They are made from quality European birch plywood and hand painted to create a special feature in your child’s room. Due to the fact each hanger is individually hand painted, there might be slight imperfections in the hangers that makes your hanger one of a kind. Use the LittleME hanging organisers to keep your baby’s clothing organised by size from newborn (0) until 18 months. Flip…
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How important a budget is when you design a room
When you get to redo a child’s room or do a brand new nursery you can get overwhelmed by what you find, and spending too much can be a reality. This is why planning and budgeting form such a crucial part of a room design. Impulse purchases can be detrimental to a budget, so try and steer clear of those. Start with a design and then price all the items and extras like labour and tools in a spreadsheet. Then you can see what you need to bargain hunt for or completely remove. It is key to have it on paper (or pc) in one place. Keep track of your spending,…
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DIY TeePee
I LOVE teepees and I love a good DIY even more!! They look so cute in a room and the kids can have fun indoors and outdoors. I’ve had this project in my to-do folder for some time. The pattern, instructions and fabric has been lying nicely next to my sewing machine for MONTHS but finally I got to do it this weekend and it is so darn cute!! Alexia is already planning her first camping trip in the playroom. I used the tutorial from Pink Toes & Powertools, and it cost me the price of dowel sticks (around R10 for a pole). I used old bull denim curtains that I was not using anymore,…
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Design your nursery with Mamas & Papas
I told you a few weeks back about the wonderful products that Mamas & Papas has on offer here, and the one thing that was the most striking to me about the store was the beautiful colours of the fabrics and accessories. This inspired me to do a full design board using their beautiful colours and awesome products to create a beautiful Mamas & Papas nursery. I used the Harbour collection in the ivory colour and some accents from the Timbuktales nursery range. This delightful nursery collection is fresh and modern. Charming curves and soft lines create this idyllic look and feel. The 3 piece Harbour collection boasts a full sized wardrobe, changer that converts…
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Baby to toddler room
Realizing that your baby is now a toddler is a shocking thing! It feels like you had a tiny helpless baby 5 minutes ago and now they are exploring and climbing on to things and all of a sudden their needs become a lot different to a baby’s need. It is now time to look at what you need to change to make the nursery more safe and suitable for their current needs. At this stage you can still keep your nursery theme the same. First look at what you can keep: 1. Can you use your cot as a toddler bed if they are ready for it? If not…
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DIY: Baby and Toddler beanbag
I wanted to create a custom bean bag for my baby and 3 year old for our holiday house. I found this pattern and tutorial from Straight Grain (see also fabric toy barrel post) very helpful and easy to use. I made 2 (one toddler and one baby one) in one day. I used a durable bull denim that I found at a local fabric store. Bellow find the links to the pattern and tutorial. Here is little Demetri sleeping in his custom bean bag. It was such a lifesaver to have the beanbag during summer at our beach house with a baby, and the bigger kids love to…
- Baby Interiors, Choosing colour, DIY Ideas, Kids Interiors, Mood Board, Nursery, On a Budget, Storage, Things I love, Trends
African inspired nursery
African Inspired Nursery Finally the nursery reveal that I’ve been dying to share. I had so much fun doing this nursery, it definitely came with its share of challenges for such a tiny room. I did not have a massive budget, so a lot of the items were DIY projects and it was a teeny-tiny space so I had to be very creative with the space layout. I will be sharing some of the DIY projects in the coming weeks. This was the initial moodboard I did for the room I made changes to the location of the crib and the type of changing station I was using. This was due to some…
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How to make a small nursery work
You really do not need a massive space for a nursery, a baby’s spacial needs are pretty basic, but what you do need a lot of is STORAGE! Here are some tips on how to make a small space work well for a nursery: * PLANNING: This is probably the most crucial part of using a small space. You need to make sure that your furniture will fit in the space BEFORE you buy and that you can add everything that you need. You can do the following: 1. Start by measuring the room and drawing it out, do the same with your furniture and cupboards and cut them out. Now you…
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What do your really need in a nursery?
You’re pregnant and a you just can’t wait to start the nursery for your little bundle of joy arriving shortly. When do you start? What do you need? It can all become a little bit overwhelming at some point. I’ve done this already but early on in my new pregnancy I am also a bit flustered about the task ahead. Here are some my guidelines for the basic necessities in a baby’s nursery. A baby has very basic needs; Sleep, eat, bath & play; so as long as you tend to those needs they will be happy in their nursery. SLEEP For the first couple of weeks you will probably have…
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