Happy Halloween!

Parents don't let this be you tonight while taking your kids trick-or-treating...put those iphones and blackberries away for the night and go back old school style.

Put a beverage in that hand instead!

Happy Halloween!

(artwork by comic book artist Chris Ware)

Toy Storage Ideas For Your Living Room

As hard as we try to keep toys either in our children's rooms or in the playroom, those books, balls, cars, dolls, and squeaky toys still always end up in the living room. Here are a few options for living room storage for those pesky plastic, stuffed, and wooden toys which you always want close by but out of sight when not in use.

Woven Grass Baskets from Pottery Barn

(nice for holding logs, towels, blankets, or toys)

chic Bubbles Nua available at Red Edition

(it could be a small pet bed or a chic toy storage area) via coochicoos

Hapao Garden Seat from William Sonoma Home

(storage is even better with a lid!)

Stained Wicker Square Baskets from Target

(the most affordable, and perfect for sliding under a side table)

Now if you are looking for more of a toy chest/box these are some of my favorites by ModMom

The Gracie Toy Box

(available in Maple, Natural Birch, Walnut)

Owyn Toy Box

Great Bedding Deals! Denyse Schmidt

I don't usually make posts about internet sales but this one is too good to pass up. For those of you looking for a new high quality crib set at a GREAT price, check out the sale at One King's Lane on Denyse Schmidt bedding. Usually $420, the three piece set is selling for $109! The set includes the quilt, sham and bumper so you will need to purchase a skirt and fitted sheet separately.

Denyse Schmidt designs are known for creating heirloom quilts in modern designs. The craftsmanship is exquisite and the colors and designs are vibrant and energetic. The bumpers are thin (a nice safer alternative to the sometimes overstuffed puffy designs) and are made of 100% cotton. Purchasing a bedding set like this is a great place to start your room design.

Toy Storage

A friend of mine e-mailed me this week asking me for recommendations for toy storage units for her daughter's playroom. She was not interested in using lined or plastic baskets in a shelving unit and did not want anything that looked like it was from Pottery Barn or Ikea (not that there is anything wrong with those wonderful stores). But she is looking for a piece with more "character". Here are a few of the examples that I sent to her:

Stella Stackable storage cubes by Q Collection Junior

Little Twin Cub by Small Factory

(it can even hold 12" vinyl records for your use after the kids are done with it!)

Stackable Library by Duc Duc with felt seating

Andie Bookcase with storage bins by Newport Cottages

Chicken Coop Storage Units from Sundance Catalog

The Toy Store unit by Oeuf

Blu Cubbie in Wheat by Bratt Decor

Design your own stackable storage boxes from Via Toy Box

(as seen on Project Nursery)

Then for a truly customizable wall unit, Thea Segal Designs makes wonderful custom designed units that can be shipped anywhere in the US.

Little Crown Interiors

I first heard about the design company Little Crown Interiors on the Project Nursery blog and was very impressed with their design concepts. Their favorite lines of furniture and bedding seem to be some of the same ones that we carried at Sprout (Newport Cottages, Serena & Lily, Nurseryworks), yet they add their own twist to the design by offering custom designed furniture, bedding, and artwork to make each room unique. Below are some of my favorite interiors designed by this company:

Designer Tip: When decorating your nursery PLEASE do not forget to put artwork on the walls (paintings, framed pictures, murals, sticker decals, wooden letters). Do you notice how the walls in all these rooms are decorated with artwork or objects? Unless the nursery has an extremely minimal look, nothing looks worse than a nursery with bare walls or small artwork. Fill up those walls! It will make the room feel more cozy and complete!

Line Drawing Murals

Although the new trend in children's wall design is removable decals, if you can afford it, I would suggest having a mural painted. You don't need to completely cover all of the walls to achieve a playful and whimsical look. I recently found these photos of designs created by the Australian muralist Jane Reiseher (via Blog Hola Mama) and love their soft modern simplicity. Enjoy!

Neutral Bedding

Typically in a nursery the bedding or a piece of artwork is the focal point of the room. But in a neutral nursery the furniture, bedding, artwork, and accessories all blend in together to create a harmonious feeling. There does not need to be a focal point or a stand out piece. Therefore the bedding should be crisp and full of texture. As promised here are some examples of bedding styles for a neutral nursery. They can be one single color or a combination of neutral colors: tan, natural, cream, white, grey, or camel. (Papillon Linens shown above)

A monogrammed linen set from Maddie Boo Bedding above and a silk dupioni ruffled set below.

Two new neutral cotton sets from Annette Tatum's new signature line

(check out all the new styles on the link above at Layla Grace)

A pale celadon green, tan and cream floral pattern from House Inc

Bella Notte Linens was one of the first companies to mix and match textures for crib bedding. They have a wonderful assortment of colors, fabrics, and styles to mix and match. I also like the fact that you can get adult bedding to match.

Matteo Bedding is one of my new favorites, basically an edgy version of Bella Notte. Their linens and cottons are unbeliveably soft. Can't wait to get some for my bed!

Cameron by Serena and Lily: clean, classic, perfect

Lulla Smith is more reknown for her silk bedding collection but I really like the texture of the all white seersucker Hampton set (pictured above) and the washed linen of the Athenia set below.

Neutral Nurseries

Although I am a big fan of modern and bright nurseries, a neutral pallet is both calming and sophisticated. The key with using neutral colors of beige, grey, white, and cream in a nursery is to mix textures and bring in interesting accessories. Try to use matelasse, piquet, linen, chenille, silk, and high quality cotton for fabrics. For accessories bring in a textured rug, wood accents, or even some mirrored pieces. If you are dying for some color in the room to denote the gender of your child, I suggest using pale shades of green, pink or blue in your crib sheets or blankets. The following are some examples of elegant neutral nurseries:

via Decor Pad

Brooke Sheild's nursery designed by Wendy Bellisimo

An Atlanta home featured on the blog Things that Inspire, designed by Liz Williams Interior Design

Jennifer Lopez's nursery for her twins, as featured in People Magazine

Art for Kids

My next post will include some bedding and accessory suggestions to get these looks!

PicPads

This post has nothing to do with nurseries but I came across these notepads at a friend's house in North Carolina a few weeks ago and thought that they made perfect holiday gifts for the grandparents. The company is called PicPads and they create custom note pads from a photo that you send them. Sounds pretty basic but they come out adorable because they crop out the background so that you just see the main image in the photo on the paper. I like the black and white versions the best. My suggestions for photos are some beach, snow, or bath shots. (The one I saw was of all the grandkids at the beach and the title was "My Grandchildren". The more expressive the shot the better. Get creative!

Avery's Retreat

Jennifer is a talented interior designer in Houston, TX and came to us at Sprout with her vision and fabrics already chosen. We were there to just help her find the finishing touches. I loved the unique sophisticated fabrics and elegant color scheme that she chose for the room and was so excited to receive her e-mail with the photos. The combination of grey and yellow was so unique for a nursery and it turned out beautifully.

Avery's Retreat

Location: Houston, TX

What was the inspiration for your room?

The color inspiration for Avery’s room was a fabric that I found from Galbraith and Paul

The color that I like is not pictured, but was in yellow and grey. It is so sweet and I love the color combination. In the meantime I ended up finding the art that is over her bed and the color went from there.

What was the first piece that you purchased for the room?

So the first thing that we purchased for the room was the bird art over her bed. It just helped to reinforce the color scheme of pale yellow and grey.

What is your favorite aspect of the room?

I would say my favorite thing about her room is just the feeling that you get when you are in there. It is so calming and peaceful! It is my favorite room in the house.

Now that your room is complete, what would you change or do differently if you could?

I am still looking to add some drapery panels in addition to the roman shade. I have not found the perfect thing yet, but I would like something that is a tone on tone pattern, maybe grey?

Items used in Avery's room:

The bed and changing table are from Newport Cottages

The glider is the Cottage Recliner from Little Castle

The fabric on the glider is from Pollack

The bedding is from Bella Notte Linens

The art over her bed is from Diana Stetson

The rug is from Pottery Barn, but I don’t believe they are selling it anymore.

The light fixture is from Jubilee Lighting

The other items in room we already had…. Nightstand was mine from college, Pottery Barn. The twin bed was mine from my childhood. The bedding on it is a mix of Pottery Barn and West Elm. The etagere is actually from my husband's parents first dining room set, we just repainted it to match the changing table. The roman shade I had made. The art over the changing table was something that my mom had and I just had it framed. The map of Paris over the twin bed, I found at an antique store and I thought the colors went well with the room.

-Jennifer (Avery's Mom)