modern day dad

Jennifer Lopez's Nursery and Other Recent Posts On Babble

Casablanca Cribs in Jennifer Lopez's Nursery
Jennifer Lopez has a (typically) ostentatious nursery and published pictures of them in People Magazine. But the crib is actually quite nice if that kind of decor is up your alley.

Audible Launches New Kids Site
Download audio books for your kids and stop putting Spongebob on their iPods.

7 Days of BPA-Free Plastics: CamelBak Water Bottles
Something to check out when you reach post-sippy cup nirvana.

Jessica Alba Gives Tastybaby
Jessica Alba gives baby food as a party favor for her shower. Seriously.

Mariah Carey Has a Hello Kitty Boo-Boo on American Idol
Mariah Carey is obsessed with Helo Kitty apparently. And she wears the same Band-Aids on American Idol that my kids wear.

Big Deal: FLOR Carpet Tiles for Kids On Sale
FLOR has a couple of child themed carpets on sale now.

Ikea Hacker

So I was looking at the Twitter Public Timeline today and I saw a post that caught my eye - Ikea Hacker. Maybe I'm late to the party, but this is a pretty sweet idea for a blog. Anyway, the top post was about how to hack together a pretty cool girl's bed (pictured).

I've always loved how Ikea keeps good design affordable, but you kind of have to use it in small doses. Making adjustments so things will fit your life is just smart. And if you screw it up don't worry, it probably didn't cost you much in the first place.

Kid's Bed With A Little Cupola [Ikea Hacker]

Also, check out all the posts tagged with "children" on Ikea Hacker.

Baby number two bassinet breakdown.

I've spent (some would say ridiculous amounts of) money on baby furniture in the past, like the crib we got from the Netto Collection. Sure it was expensive, but the nursery is still my favorite room in the house, and we've got at least another three years to enjoy it. I've also in the past decided to go with the more frugal option too. For a while I was really in love with the Nest high chairs from England, but with those Ikea chairs looking good (and a full decimal place and a half cheaper) I couldn't justify it.

But now this new baby is coming and I've got to figure out a place for him or her to sleep. When Madame was a newborn we just kept her in the Bugaboo bassinet and wheeled her around the house for her many naps. But she's still using her stroller, which means I need a new bassinet solution.

There are some really beautiful ones out there (two years ago all we had was Netto...), the newest being the Ooba "Nest Collection" bassinet (pictured). Sure, it's modern and will look great in my bedroom, but $500 for a piece that will only be used for two months? Not even I,  the king of conspicuous consumption, can justify it.

But everything else that I've found are these frilly, lace-laden monstrosities. Look at the bassinet page from Target.com here. Even at $70, I just can't honestly bring myself to buy something that looks like it came out of some ten year old girl's Barbie Dream Nursery fantasy.

So what's the solution? I think what I'm going to do is borrow a frilly bassinet from a friend for a couple of months. That way the baby will have a place to sleep that's comfortable and nearby, Madame will get to keep riding in the Bugaboo and I won't have to spend money on something ugly.

And we'll keep the bedroom door closed.

Also on MDD: High (chair) decisions.

Modern design baby blog-a-palooza.

See? I told you the kid's modern furniture revolution is taking place. To celebrate two new categories of products ("kids" and "baby"), modern furniture store Design Public is now in the second week of what they're calling their "Baby Blog-a-palooza!" It's a great idea actually - they've asked product and textile designers as well as popular parenting bloggers to write an entry about design as it pertains to children. (Apparently I wasn't popular enough to be among the "popular parenting bloggers" - even though I've been preaching the modern kid's stuff revolution for almost a year now. *tear*).

Anyway, it's definitely worth checking out. I like the posts by the designers, particularly Sophie Demenge from Oeuf, and I have to admit some of the posts by the other bloggers are really good too. It's great that people are talking about good design for kids, and it's even better that now there are more and more places to get it.

(I was going to include a list of all the the cool kid's stuff I've writen about in the past, like Blik wall decals (with a picture of part of our nursery), or my search for the perfect high chair, but then I realized I should probably just link to my Furniture/Decor category.)

Check out more modern kid's furniture and decor on Modern Day Dad.

Toy solution.

Recently I've been trying to figure out where I can keep Madame's toys so that they are:

1. In their own place and in a place only for toys.
2. Accessible and in a place where she can get them without hurting herself.
3. In a place or receptacle that isn't ugly.

So far I've found one good place, a flower storage basket from Ikea kids (pictured). It's good because not only does it look kind of cool, it's made of cloth and a big spring. This allows it to keep it's shape and be soft enough so that if the baby pulls it down she can't hurt herself. Plus at only $9.99 it was a bargain.

PYRE storage basket. For girls (pink flower) and boys (blue monster). $9.99 from Ikea.

Pop up photo ball.

One of my most favorite stores, Organized Living, is going out of business. This bums me out in a huge way, but I suppose they couldn't make it selling drawer organizers and modular shelving. Anyway, life goes on, so I went to the liquidation sale yesterday to see what I couldn't live without. I got some sweet stuff, among which was the Melannco Photo Pop Up Ball.

Like all brand new toddlers I'm guessing, Madame has been really into pictures lately so we've been trying to find a way she can play with them and not destroy them (or the frames). The pop up ball is a plastic 14-sided "ball" with clear pockets on each side that you slide photos into. It's, light enough for her to play with, keeps the pictures safe, and even collapses and pops up as a bonus. If you ask me it's kind of ugly for real life, but for her it's perfect.

Pink, Blue or Black Pop Up Photo Frame only $2.74 on clearance at Amazon.com. Sweet! (If they marketed it to kids maybe it wouldn't be on clearance.)

Pink art.

I went to an art show last weekend which was (unfortunately) rather uneventful, but I did see a couple of cool things. One of which was this artist called Fanok who makes these illustrations around a theme of a little girl. Aptly titled "Just A Little Girl," the prints show his character tackling all kinds of bizarre circumstances, in a pink dress. Kind of like a Shepard Fairey/Obey thing except with a completely different motif. I thought they were interesting, and though I didn't buy one for Madame's room, I considered it. It might be something worth checking out if you're looking for something cool to hang on the walls of your daughter's room.

Just A Little Girl website.

Teutonic rocking.

Sometimes all you have to do is ask. After getting an email shout-out from MDD reader and Berlin native Bettina, I asked her if she had any cool modern baby stuff from Germany to share, and she sent me this link to the RH-tire and the RH-babe. German wasn't one of the languages I opted to take in high school, but from what I can tell (with some help from the Google translation and Bettina's email) it's a combination rocking chair (RH-tire) and crib/cradle (RH-babe).

Even though I don't know anyone who has actually used a rocking cradle, it's a pretty interesting idea that I'm surprised I haven't seen before. Personally, I think it kind of looks like something Ikea should have thought of (maybe it's the wicker), but it's got nice clean lines and certainly would be a conversation starter with guests.

I can't figure out how many Euros it is, but here's the re-tire website (in German).

Got an idea? Call a handy Grandpa.

MDD reader Anna saw my post about the sling bookshelf that faces books outward so kids can see the book covers and loved the idea for her impending arrival. She didn't however love the design, so she enlisted her handy father to make one. Using the picture of a similar one from Pottery Barn Kids (I don't think they sell one anymore), her father made the one pictured. She said it cost about $20 in materials from Home Depot (most of the cost was paint) and the only tools used were a rotary saw, drill and maybe a hammer. Lucky for Anna the carpentry skills were free.

Nice job (soon-to-be) Grandpa. I'm thinking it looks like a project Home Depot should use for one of their Home Depot Clinics.

Nelson clocks for kids.

A while ago I was thinking about getting a clock for Madame's room - something she could enjoy when she got older but would look great too. Staying with the big dot theme of her nursery, originally I was thinking about one of the George Nelson ball clocks. They look great, but a clock without numbers doesn't seem like a good idea for a child's room (You see sweetie? When the big hand is on the red ball and the little hand is on the orange ball it's time for dinner). Then I saw these the other day.

Vitra is now reissuing three animal themed clocks designed by George Nelson - the "Zoo Timers." There is Omar the Owl, Fernando the Fish, and Talulah the Toucan (pictured). Besides having great names (I think I need a friend named Omar), they're colorful, fun and have big numbers. As is far too often, great design (especially from a big-name designer) doesn't come cheap, but they sure are cool.

Zoo Timer clocks $115 at Unicahome