Tag: Baby & Kids

  • We All Scream for Teepees!

    As if there weren’t already ten million other things camped out on your parental to-do list, here’s another one to break that ballerina-thin straw barely holding it (and you) together (and we’re talking do or die here).  Do you…for the love of all things keeping up with the Joneses…have the right teepee for your child?!  If you don’t, look no further than Leelee Sobieski’s (aka Leelee Jones’) playroom that has my son already asking to be adopted at the tender young age of two. 

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    I’m not sure whether to be nostalgic for the old days of yore when kids built their own haphazard forts from pillows, mom & dad’s comforter, the dining room chair, and other things that happened to be in optimal grabbing range…or to count my lucky stars that there is now an abundance of pre-fab versions that are decidedly easier on the eyes from an obsessive design perspective.

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    But after seeing these contemporary nods to the Old West pop up with increasing frequency in both shelter mags and my friends’ playrooms (and living rooms and other ostensibly grown-up spaces to boot), I decided to be a good little sheep and get one myself before my son found his way to Leelee’s front doorstep.  Best $130 I ever spent.  There’s nothing like a luxurious fifteen minutes of quiet time to oneself in the morning to brush one’s hair and maybe throw on a little makeup while listening to “Hi, I’m Cad…and you can count on me,” emanating for the 538th time from the bedroom corner where our teepee now holds court.  And when I recently had four kids under the age of two clamoring to claim space in there, I decided that I would become a mini expert on all things teepees in order to share this very open secret with the rest of the world.  So if you would like to join the rest of us arriving late to the party, read on for a few more ideas to get you started.

    Inspiration

    If you find yourself frantically starting to scratch your arms (are those hives?!) while contemplating the above two examples, below are a few more palates that might be decidedly more in the realm of mother earth for the vast majority of us.

    Nothing like going neutral and mixing it up with some fun, eclectic pieces:

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    Ditto here:

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    And a fun pop of color and a nice contrast to the not-so-kid-obvious furniture and rug: 

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    And while this could technically be characterized as a “tent,” it’s kind of hard not to include since it’s of yet another “Jones” family (also frequently referred to as the Herrera family)…and since thinking outside of the box is the name of the game here, I think we can all conjure the below with a little bunching of sticks at the top…and voila, there’s our teepee:

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    Execution

    So how to bring the Joneses into your very own home?  Here are some of my favorite picks to get you started.

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    And of course, don’t forget that the sky is the limit and you can ALWAYS come up with your own design and DIY (or find someone else who will!).

    Happy tee-peeing…and please do share with the rest of us any other fabulous finds that I may have missed in my mad scramble to keep up with the latest and greatest…

    Pictures from here, here, here, here, here, and here.

    Update 12/13/13:  Just found this gem from Indoek, check it out! 

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  • Kelly Behun is My Friend

    Okay, well not really (I wish).  But did anyone here see this New York based designer’s spread in the July/August 2013 issue of Elle Décor?  Even if you did, it bears re-sharing here for one very important reason – without uttering a single word, her living room perfectly defines what it is to engage in “highlow” design.

    Kelly Behun

    Absolutely and totally gorgeous, right?  Must have cost a fortune.  Okay, yes.  But guess where those stools came from?  Yup, Ikea.  Yes, that’s right, Ikea. You heard correctly, I’m not joking.  This architectural and design wonder of a home’s living room is tied together by none other than stools from the largest furniture retailer on the planet, whose products most decidedly come nowhere close to breaking the bank.  How exciting is that?!  We could all share in a little bit of Kelly Behun’s fabulousness in our very own homes if we just got thee down to our nearest Ikea store/hangar.

    This got me thinking about other swoony interiors I’ve encountered that have also managed to incorporate a little Ikea love into their design.  I’ve giddily conjured up two more off the top of my head.

    Poppy Store (purveyor of luxe children’s clothing) in the Marin Country Mart in Larkspur, CA:

    Poppy Store, Marin County

    Not only are those storage bins under the birdcage sourced from our favorite Swedish megastore, but so are the chairs and table off to the right.

    And then there’s el restaurante Compartir de Cadaqués in Cadaques, Spain:

    El restaurante Compartir de Cadaqués in Cadaques, Spain

    As we settled in for our meal from el Bulli trained chefs last year, I remember feeling right at home as I recognized these wicker chandeliers as having the same provenance as the one hanging over my dining table at home.  (I also applaud Christopher Salon & Home in Tiburon for having similarly fine taste in lighting.)

    Looking at these pictures got me wondering what new cool stuff Ikea has up their sleeves these days.  As always, they didn’t disappoint.  Herewith are a few items that can hold their own in any room:

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    And there you have it. There is truly nothing more exciting, thrilling, and satisfying than celebrating both “high” and “low” design in all its brilliant forms. Even more exciting is when you get to combine the two to create something wholly unique and no one can tell which piece came across on that container from Europe and which one you found on eBay for $12 from the random guy in Saskatoon.

    So what I’d like to do here is share things that might be way out of your price range, but provide great inspiration for something a little more financially palatable…as well as things that might be entirely too far below your generous (and envious) budget, but that I’m sure you can always find a more expensive version of! Wherever there is inspiring design to be found, it will be shared here.

    Here’s to taking the highlow design plunge together, hope you enjoy…

    Photos from here, here, and here.