Kiddo Rooms – Modern Kiddo

Like a Teenage Dream // Vintage Bedroom

Alix — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 08:24:41 +0000

My sweet friend @virginiejolie posted this vintage bedroom set on Instagram a while back. It was in a thrift store she was shopping at and she (and I!) about DIED. This super bright and colorful fun house of a room was made by popular furniture company Drexel back in the 70s. The “Plus One” collection is insane….daisy drawer pulls, kooky cut outs, flower petal pedestals. It’s amazing. And even better? Many of the pieces are labeled, “Desk”, “Bed”, “Telephone” (YES! a phone nook!). And the colors are fun too, of course: “Green With Envy” and “Hello Yellow!”

{THE WALLPAPER!!!}

{THE PHONE BOOTH!}

{THE RECORD PLAYER AND LOVE RUG!}

Apparently the set was “designed” by teens (readers of Seventeen magazine who were consulted throughout the process!).

That a-frame vanity??? Oh yes.

{Thanks to Gold Country Girls for scanning those amazing images!}

Hooper’s Room Tour {It’s a good one!}

Alix — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 07:45:21 +0000

Hey friends! I have a super fun room tour for you guys today. It’s a little bit vintage, a little bit modern and a whole lotta cute. The adorable Ashely (of The Stork & The Beanstalk) has an equally adorable son named Hooper (so cute, right??). You might remember him as one of our fabulous Weekly Kiddos. Well check out the sweet room where he lays his little head!

SO cute huh! I chatted with Hooper’s mama Ashley and she told me a little bit about the room:

“Most everything in the room is used! The crib, made byÂ Oeuf, was purchased on craigslist for a fraction of the price. The chair and danish style dresser were also purchased on craiglist (yay craigslist!). The wooden crates were found at a flea market.”

Many of the toys were Ashley’s own from when she was a child and the old cars were her dadâ€s. So sweet!

“The Spanish posters were Â purchased while we were in Cuba and I love them! They were the first thing we bought for the room and I love that they came from such a dreamy place. ” {You can check out more of her Cuban adventure overÂ here.}

Fabulous job, Miss Ashley! Hooper’s room is the perfect mix of nostalgia and mid-century.I’m pleased to report Hooper is expecting a little brother verrrrry soon.I can’t wait to see what Ashley dreams up for the new bebe’s room!

Sydney’s Nursery Tour // Vintage Meets Modern

Alix — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:45:00 +0000

The other day I received the sweetest email from our lovely reader Camila. Besides saying the nicest things, she included a photo of her little girl Sydney’s sweetÂ nurseryâ€”and I KNEW I had to see more! Camila did not disappoint. It’s utterly adorable. Very modern and hip, but lots of darling little vintage touches that make it uniquely their own.

Camila and her husband Matt live in sunny Concord, CA… about 30 miles East of San Francisco. We chatted a bit about the inspirations behind their super cute room and all the goodies inside.Â Let’s take a look!

ALIX: Hey Camila! Thanks so much for sharing Sydney’s room with us. I love it so much! Can you tell us a little bit about the vibe you were looking for when putting this together?

CAMILA: Thank you! We really wanted colors that would take advantage of the wonderful natural light that shines through our atrium.Â We talked about a variety of themes, starting with an undersea concept and evolving from there. As we found more and more cute pieces that didn’t fit any of our themes, we decided to let the room come together organically. There were so many cool decorations out there, and when we found something we loved, we didn’t want to pass on it because we were holding stringently to a specific theme.

ALIX: Very smart. The walls are actually very similar to the color we painted Wolfie’s room. It was so bold and pretty, it became a driving factor in the things we put in his room. Was color a main influencer?

CAMILA: Yes, but I’d say the best example of this would probably be the wall decals. We found this set of tree decals on Etsy and just fell in love. The creators of the decal set allowed us to customize the colors to better match the room which was key. We loved the stock colors the decals came in, but many of the circles that made up the trees were the same shade of turquoise as the room so we changed those to orange. We loved the birds (especially the owl!) in the tree decals so that pretty much put an end to the undersea theme!

CAMILA:Â From there we added on a few simple pieces, like an Ikea shelf, light fixture and mod dot curtains, and a vintage orangey red Kroehler chair.

ALIX: These little touches are my favorite. So playful and fun! The tiny fiberglass lamp is adorable and I LOVE the bullit planter as toy binâ€”very clever!

CAMILA: Thank you! It’s something we had for a while and seemed to be perfect. As for some of the other pieces, the cloud pillow is from Mod Cloth. The robot pillows are from Branch. Other toys were giftsâ€”and the kewpie doll belonged to my mother-in-law. One of our best scores was the vintage, child-size Bertoia chair. It was an Etsy find at a very reasonable price. Luckily the seller was local and we were able to pick it up and save on shipping.

ALIX: It’s so cute. I swear, I have a weakness for tiny chairs.

ALIX: Let’s talk about the more modern touches. Where did you find them?

CAMILA: We were very fortunate to find a gently used version of the Nurseryworks Aerial crib and matching dresser set, because they fit perfectly into our mid-century look. Of course, like most cool modern looking baby furniture, they retail for a lot and were way out of our price range. As luck would have it, however, a friend of ours was just getting ready to sell this set on Craig’s List. It seemed like fate that the entire nursery set came together for a fraction of the price we’d expect to pay retail!

ALIX: Nice! I have to say this is a great tip. Most people take really good care of their baby furniture and sourcing gently-used pieces can be a great way to go. Especially if you want something a little more spendy. That dresser/changing table it pretty gorgeous.

ALIX: And speaking of gorgeous, not nursery tour would be complete without a peek at the little lady who occupies this grand room! Look at this little cutie!

Camila, thank you SO MUCH for sharing this room (and baby Sydney) with us!

Too Cool For School // Modern Kindergarten

Alix — Fri, 13 May 2011 07:06:14 +0000

When Wolfie was a baby, I had this fantasy of what his little school would look like. And in my mind, it looked like that image above….I can’t lie, I think I envisioned it a little bit like an IKEA showroom. Sun drenched windows! Cool wooden play structures! Meatballs for all!! Wellllll, reality isn’t quite like what you imagine. I have yet to find a school that looks like the one I daydreamed about….until now. Check out this utterly amazing school in Israel.

Sure, it looks modern/sleek from the outside, but wait til we go INSIDE…

I mean….wow.

Um, my own personal reading mushroom? Yes please.Â Tel Aviv-basedÂ Lev-Gargir Architects designed this fantastic FANTASTIC kindergarten space. Creating a space plan that was safe, flexible, and had great lighting was needed in addition to being a fun and creative space for children to spend the day in:

“For this project, Lev-Gargir Architects worked with the well-known local childrenâ€s interior, furniture and toy designer,Â Sarit Shani Hay, whose details and playful touches in furniture, materials, colors and accessories express an understated respect for children. Nothing is in your face, aggressively demanding attention. Shani Hay is a graduate of Londonâ€s Chelsea College of Art and Design.” Â –Â Coolhunter

I’m in loooooove. It’s so lovely, isn’t it? Now before you think I’m utterly superficial, I will say Â that beautiful design does not necessarily a great school make. It’s the teachers and community that are the corner stone of a Cool School. So while Wolfie’sÂ little preschool (and subsequent elementary school ) DIDN’T look like a Swedish masterpiece, they have both been fantastic! We feel really lucky. But hey, a girl can still dream about a whimsical mushroom reading nook, no?

Found via thecoolhunter but also spied in Babiekins Magazine.

Guest Post // The Bleubird Nursery Tour

Alix — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 20:00:44 +0000

Aloha friends! Our hawaii vacation has been amazing so far. Yesterday we traveled the Road to Hana and hit the beautiful black sand beach….it was truly incredible! We already have had some amazing Guest Posts including the Vintage Master Class with my stylish mama, a fantastic edition of Alix’s Vintage Bookshelf with Jenny ofÂ Frecklewonder and some tasty snack action from Shutterbean! This afternoon I am super thrilled to have my amazing friend James guesting. James has two stunning kiddos and an adorable little baby. She’s also the stylish proprietress of Bleubird Vintage! I loved her little bebe’s nursery space and was Â delighted when she offered to share it with you guys. I just know you’ll love this sweet space too!

hello modern kiddo readers! this is “miss” james kicinski fromÂ bleubird andÂ i’m a lean mean vintage lovin’ machine from texas! i am the owner and stylist of bleubird vintage and a proud mama of three adorable little kiddos. i am so excited to share with you photos of my little birdies nursery. i adore the way it turned out (shh! don’t tell the older kiddos but it’s my favorite room in the house right now. hee!). the room wasÂ originallyÂ my sewing room but once we found out we had a new little birdie on the way it was time to move the fabric and machines downstairs and transform it into a tiny girls room. the space is quite small. i’m not sure what the square footage is but trust me it’s teeny tiny, but perfect for a small child. there is also no closet so i had to get creative when it came to storing her clothes. it was a challenge to make everything fit and not look cluttered, but one that i was excited to take on. so here you have it…baby gemma bird’s nursery!

i drew inspiration from everywhere i could. it’s a little bit vintage, a little bit mid century and a little bit shabby chic, i suppose. i also wanted to add a lot of color with accessories, knit toys, stuffed & handmade dolls. i read a lot of the design blogs that featured other nurserys to collect inspiration. most came from european homes, they love color and had some really great ideas which i incorporated into the room.

i really wanted this fiberglassÂ mid century rocker and had put it on my baby wish list way back when i was gathering inspiration for the space and was so pleasantlyÂ surprised whenÂ modernica gifted it to me for baby gemma’s nursery. that was the happiest day!Â both julian and milla plum have chalkboard walls in their rooms so of course i wanted to give the bird her own little wall to doodle on.

i used a lot of antique store finds for storage. wooden crates, wire planters and baskets to store toys, books and blankies.

as i said earlier the room had no closet so i had to create one. there was a built in dresser in the wall with a cubby hole above for a television (i’m assuming) so we bought a rod and hung it inside… voila instant tiny closet.

the drawers beneath are packed with clothes as well as on the wall above her crib. i hung some of her vintage dresses there and it not only gave me a bit more closet space but also looks pretty cute. i have quite the collection of little vintage dresses for her. many are in our closet as well because i ran out of room.

many of these dresses & clothes were sweet gifts from blog readers and friends. i love them all so much!

her little crib is full of lots of hand crafted knit toys. i made her sheets from vintage linens and a little pillow out of doilies fromÂ my friend rachel’s diy.

we picked up this tiny formica table and chairs set at an antique shop here in texas on one of our summer road trips. i imagine her having cute little tea parties there one day.

her changing table top and dresser were actually her big sister milla plum’s when she was a baby. she was happy to pass it along to her baby sister because she got a new bigger and taller dresser. i hung wire planters above the changing table/dresser and filled them with handmade dolls by mama,Â sleepy king,Â warm sugar and aÂ peppe doll from luckyboy sunday. a cute idea that i found from a design blog. i love the way it turned out.

a few more cute little things in the room that i just love…

there’s lots of love in this room and i am so so smitten with how it turned out. thanks for taking a look, modern kiddo readers! XO!

Thank you so much James! This is such a sweet little nursery…I love the mixture of quirky vintage and warm modern. It’s so cozy! But my favorite part of the nursery? That sweet little baby gemma!

Ship Ahoy! This Pirate Room is Bootyful.

Alix — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 08:19:37 +0000

Get ready to batten down the hatches, mateys, because this little boy’s room is OUT. OF. CONTROL.

The main feature is an incredible floating pirate shipâ€”you climb across a hanging rope bridge to get inside. BRILLIANT.

Designer Steve Kuhl created this room for a sweet little 6 year old boy in Minnesota. The boy’s father wanted to make sure his son had a much more whimsical, playful childhood than he himself did, and commissioned this fabulous space! Apparently the designer sketched up aÂ space ship, a race car, a castle, and pirate shipâ€”and of course the pirate ship won out. Honestly I don’t know which I’d choose. Seeing how cool this looks, I just might want the space ship!!

Hmmm, those are some awfully thick books on that shelf up there. Methinks Cap’n Papa is using junior’s book case for his overflow, the scurvy knave! Oh wait….he tricked out this whole room. He can stash as many books as he wants…

Alice, over at MyModernMet, spoke with Steve Kuhl and got even more info on this rad room.

“The room is also decked out with a rope bridge that connects the pirate ship to the top of a jail cell, and a rope suspended from the ship’s hull provides drop-in access to the closet. There’s even a completely hidden slide, that lets you travel downstairs in a more adventurous way.”

“The rope bridge is connected to the top of the jail cell, built to accommodate evil doers, thieves…and little sisters.” Or should I say, “Sistarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrghs!”

“The response from the six year old was predictably awesome and sincere. Really there aren’t many moments in my career where I have seen such glee from a client.”

How terrific is this space?? Be sure to go on over to MyModernMet to see more photos. There is a hidden spiral staircase/slide entrance to the room that lies off the upstairs “mud room”Â that is crrrrrazy cool!

PSÂ Special thanks to my friend Toria ofÂ TinyReads for tipping me to this cute space!