Tiny Totem Children’s Room

Back in October I showed you the {Design Boards} for this room and I am so excited to finally share the end results!  You may remember my {gender neutral} nursery known best for its kelly green walls?  Well, this is the big girl room for the same home.  Actually, Little Miss G will be moving out from the green and modern forest into the new woodsy themed room complete with teepee and totem pole to share with her big sister. The third daughter for this family arrived just before Christmas and we completed the install and {photography} for this room in just the nick of time!

Images: Photo Designs by Odessa

I really wanted to carry a bit of the forest theme into this room but in a different way and in a more girly color scheme.  So why don’t we talk about the” starting point”…something I speak about all of the time on this blog.  Every room needs a starting point…something to work off of.  In this room, this small scaled zig zag fabric print in shades of amethyst, olive, black and plum was it. Sometimes I find an item for a room and it just speaks to me, and that zig zag was telling me “buy me…design away with me!”.  And that I did.  My next must have for this room was the teepee. Every kid needs a special little hideaway in which to read, play hide and seek…make memories in!  To make the teepee extra cush I added a mini fur rug as well as had custom pillows made.  A medallion pattern paired perfectly with the zig zag print that I trimmed with a black faux leather fringe.

Yellow star lanterns and a whimsical wall clock placed over the teepee were my way of insinuating sleeping under the moon and the stars.

My clients wanted the room to be able to sleep three girls if down the road they all ever wanted to bunk together.  We chose these twin beds that can also be stacked into bunk beds.  That would allow us to place an additional bed in ones place.  There is also a trundle under the left bed for sleepovers.

I wanted to have glimpses that catered to each girl so I had custom knit pillows made with each girls initial to sit on their own beds.

Over each bed also hung a bird cage with clothes pins to hang photos and mementos.  Since the girls are younger, we just clipped family photos up for now.  As they get older, and each of them gain their own preferences towards things, they can each customize their own to suit themselves.  In addition to the birdcages, I took inexpensive cork boards and re-covered them with a black and white tree-grain pattern from IKEA.  I also crafted each girl a yarn wrapped initial to add what {Brad Goreski calls a “POC” as in “Pop of Color”} Couldn’t agree more Brad!

I used some leftover fabric to wrap the clients existing lamp and styled the children’s toys and books at their level for easy play and clean up.

Now here is where the totem part comes in.  Back in July I gave some tips for {hanging your artwork} and one of the examples was the “totem hang”.  I thought it would be a fun way to hang artwork for their room which was a collection of some of the children’s art, their Daddy’s art when he was younger and a couple new purchases.

Whenever possible, I always try to include my clients personal mementos into their designs. It allows the space to become more personal and homey and makes it so a room doesn’t end up just being a bunch of meaningless stuff. The father of these girls made this spectacular string art as a child.  I was so excited when I saw it and realized it was just perfect and special for this room. I had it matted and framed to accentuate the medallion.  It really just creates the perfect mood as you enter the room.

The custom built chalkboard was made with reclaimed barn wood and hung at toddler height for easy access.  The pay telephone was added for imaginary play.  Although we did not hook it up, it is an actual working phone. And PLEASE note…the cord is not left in the room at this point when there is no adult supervision.  So no emails are necessary telling me I’ve left a hazard in their room…we’ve already covered that =)

And no children’s woodsy room would be complete without a deer-head all dolled up with feathered eyelashes and felted necklace!

I cannot wait to see these girls grow up making great memories in this room.  Although I love designing nurseries, a room for a child that is old enough to express excitement for their new space just takes the cake.  Even at a young age they already have their own tastes and dis-pleasures which really translates into–working with toddlers could be your best…or possibly worst client!  I’ll take my chances =)

A BIG thanks to Odessa of {Photo Designs by Odessa} I usually shoot my rooms by myself but decided it’s time to leave that up to the professionals.

Let’s Start Fresh

Some know my story…some don’t. I’ll give those that don’t a re-cap.  2 1/2 years ago we had our beautiful baby girl Sydney.  You know how they say you’re never ready to be a parent…couldn’t be more true.  This little ball of fire entered our lives full force.  We loved her from the minute we saw her but she cried…cried a lot!  Turns out she had colic and continued to for the first 5 months of her life.  At the same time, the economy was  in the gutter and Brad, a bartender, kept having every place he worked close down on him.  Prior to knowing how upside down our lives would become, we decided that I would stay at work and he would watch Sydney during the day and still tend bar on the weekends.  Only weeks after we started down this new schedule, we knew it was not going to work.  The screaming all day was excruciating for him so we made the decision that Sydney needed her Mommy as much as possible.  No more working at the Showroom during the week for me.  Our finances took a hit and we then decided that it would be best for everyone to move in with my Mom.  It gave me the ability to stay home with her until she got a little older and we’d have the help from my Mom.  During that time I really worked my butt off trying to build my own business.  Late nights…whatever it took.  I wanted the best of both worlds. To be able to work in the design world as well as be with my daughter as much as possible.   This became grueling. But somehow, I managed to get The Bean to her toddler years while taking on bigger and more challenging design and event projects.  Brad and I  were also working hard to be able to get us back in our own place and that….we have now done!  After being on the waiting list for a brand new apartment our number came up.  We just moved a week ago, are living in a mountain of boxes, but are loving that we are finally our very own family again.  Something we hadn’t had since our daughter was 3 months old.  An apartment isn’t exactly where we thought we would be at this point but it’s a stepping stone and we are fine with it.

{Birth photography by Jennifer Skog}

The next big change is that Sydney just started Pre-School, the last puzzle piece to getting things back on track for us.  Juggling a business and staying home with a toddler is CRAZINESS!  I was counting the days until she could start school so that I would have a little relief.  We were on the waiting list for school too…guessing that her number wouldn’t come up until June and then…a week before we moved we got the call that she could start!  Hallelujah Momma was relieved.  Not only for myself but for her, who I knew was more than ready at this point to venture out from under her Mother’s wing.

Here she is on her first day…such a big girl I can’t believe it!  She ran off as soon as we walked in the door and Brad and I had to drag her back to get some goodbye kisses!  She could care less if we were there or not…our independent child.

And here she is after school…deliriously tired since it was a big day for her.  Messy little pigtails…I  LOVE her!

And not just a moment later full blown meltdown.  Nap time!

So why is all this taking place on my business blog and not The Bean Blog?  Well for one, I’m learning that I just can’t do it all.  Although it was a huge part of my life for so long and I enjoyed writing it so much, I have to let it go. It’s hard enough to keep up writing one blog let alone two.  I promise to keep the primary direction of this blog design…but I still might add some posts here and there of Miss Beans…hope you don’t mind =)

So let’s splash a little design into this post.  With all of these changes I decided why not change her room?  We lived in our old house for such a short time before we moved in with my Mom that she never actually slept or played in her old room!  My workroom had so generously gifted me custom drapery panels as a gift for her original nursery.  Well I just went to hang them up here and they were WAY too short.  The windows are very tall here and the old panels weren’t going to cut it.  Rather than try to add on to those panels I said “screw it let’s start fresh!”

I still wanted to use the artwork and I also had tons of black and white items I wanted to keep.  I was on the hunt for a fabric that I could wrap around an old canvas I had.  I found this print by Mirimekko and I fell in love.  Bold, colorful and modern…oh and would go with my black stuff!  It’s on it’s way and I can’t wait until it gets here. I’m thinking of pulling the black and white, wide stripes out of this and using that pattern on drapes.  I’ll post a progress photo when it’s up!  I’m really happy with all of these new changes in our lives.  Where some people hate change…I thrive on it!

Toddler Buffet…Smashing Internet Success

When I post the images of my parties, I suspect that the decor is what is going to get people excited.    Not in this case…an ice cube tray…yes a measly old ice cube tray is what knocked peoples socks off this time….COOL!  When my Matryoshka themed birthday was featured on On To Baby, people kept questioning what the food items were that I served in the tray.  I received an email from On To Baby asking for a list of the items and that is when she told me that my photos had become quite popular on the Internet.  She told me it was on Pinterest…ummmm what?!?!  A quick search and there it was Little Miss Sydney enjoying her ice cube tray lunch, row after row after row.  Why oh why did my child have to drench her clothing within minutes of the start time and end up spending the the rest of her party in her diaper when THIS is the image that would be splattered over and over again? Sigh…2 year olds!  But yay for pinners finding this idea helpful.  I sure love me some Pinterest!

As I clicked on a couple of the photos I saw that an Interior Designer I admire very much had re-pinned it and my search even brought me to other sites that blogged about it.   OhDeeDoh being one of them and that again…was exciting for me!

So hours and hours of hard work coming up with just the right elements to make fabulous event and interior designs…and an ice cube tray filled with snacks is how I make an impact in the design world?  Thank you Sydney Bean…your picky eating has made Mommy have her 15 minutes of blog fame =)

TRAY CONTENTS: Edamame – Strawberries – Cucumbers – Pretzels – Corn – Raspberries – Annie’s Cheddar Bunnies – Meatballs – Organic Cheese Puffs – Peas – Blueberries – Cheese Cubes – Raisins – Vanilla Bear Cookies

I had read about using ice cube trays for toddler lunches when googling “picky eaters”  so although I cannot take credit as this being my own idea, I can credit my BFF Jennifer Skog for capturing great images so I could share this fun and easy idea with everyone.

Photography | Jennifer Skog

Featured | On To Baby

I’m so very excited to have back to back features up the On To Baby website.  Both my Winnie the Pooh Baby Shower and Sydney’s Matryoshka Doll Birthday Party have been posted the last two weeks!

On To Baby | Winnie the Pooh Baby Shower

On To Baby | Matryoshka Doll Birthday Party

A Subtle Themed Nursery

I’m not huge on themed rooms but what the client wants, the client gets…with my spin!  This time, the clients were very near and dear to my heart and I would be re-visiting this room for many years to come.  If the little guy who was going to occupy this space turned out anything like his Auntie (a stickler for detail) I had better do a good job or I’d never hear the end of it!  Yes, my brother Josh and Sister in Law Teri were expecting their first baby and enlisted me to make a special home for him.  Now back to that theme I was talking about.  Teri had grown up with a Winnie the Pooh themed room and although she did not want an entire Pooh theme, she did want to use a few of the Winnie the Pooh mementos she had in her room as a child.  Her only other request was that the room have orange, blue and grey as the primary colors.  I used color as my focus and accessorized with Pooh in mere glimpses as to not create a “theme”.  Pooh would still become a special part of my nephew’s memory, just like it did for his Mom.

Before we take a look at how to carry out a theme subtly, you can take a look at another example of how I did just this at the baby shower I designed for Teri (HERE).

Bedding can sometimes be the trickiest part of a design.  There are only so many ready made options available and if they don’t suit your idea for your room…then you have to go custom.  Luckily, in this case, we had free labor in the sewing department because my Mom is an excellent seamstress as well as she does anything for her beloved grand-babies!  She sewed all of the bedding for Sydney’s nursery.  You really need to see some more of her fantastic work.  I need to dig out a photo to share with you all.  I promise it will at least make you smile if not completely laugh out loud.  More of that to come.

Since my Mom didn’t want to deal with sewing a crib sheet, I told Teri to find a sheet she liked and then I’d design the rest of the bedding around it. I loved this grey chevron print and knew that it would make a great bumper being it’s so graphic…babies just love that!  The flannel striped print was another way to tie in all of the colors I was using in the room.

We are a Boston terrier family.  I have one Gabby Girl and Josh & Teri have two, Mynga and Roscoe.  I found this Boston terrier in their family room downstairs so I confiscated it for the nursery.  It’s a piggy bank and every kid needs a piggy bank.  I could not think of a better one for my nephew to save all his pennies in!

Another way I was able to incorporate a subtle Winnie the Pooh theme was by using a honeycomb wall treatment.  Pooh likes “honey, honey and MORE honey” so it was my way of referencing Pooh.  I used a very thick matte board to cut each hexagon.  Then, I wrapped each piece with a contrasting, patterned fabric.  After determining my layout, I used double-stick foam tape to adhere them to the wall.  And let’s talk about the walls.  White is not normally a color I’d use in a nursery.  My brother thought Teri and I were crazy for wanting to do so.  But, I knew how much color and pattern I was going to use and I just really needed a blank canvas to layer all of it on.  Once the room was finished, he was fine with the white and realized why we had done so.

I had the amazing opportunity to be at the birth of my nephew.  I photographed his his arrival and incorporated a few into his nursery.  I love birth photography in black and white and these just look great with the contrasting colors of some of Teri’s Winnie the Pooh mementos.

To break up the closet wall from being so stark white, we painted the closet doors a shade of blue I pulled from the sheet pattern.

An inset window gave me the opportunity to do something fun for the window treatment.  An awning style gave the space more depth.  It also let the chevron print stay in the room once he ends up in his big boy bed and the crib bumper goes bye-bye.

I didn’t want to use any cartoon looking Winnie the Pooh for art so I found these coloring book images that I re-printed out onto white paper then framed with orange mattes. I think these are one of my favorite parts of the room.

Spice racks painted orange became a space within arms reach of the glider to house books and small toys.

The shelves and crib sandwich these scrabble-esque floor pillows.  I envision him lounging around reading or having pillow fights with his cousin Sydney. If he actually chooses to nap on them down the road…hey…all the better!  Anything I can do to help my rooms occupant sleep, means happy parents and happy parents mean another job well done at Jennifer Bishop Design.

But until then…I’ll just have to settle for them snuggling on the couch.  =)

Jackson 2 1/2 months ~ Sydney Bean 2 years