Tag: toys

Star Wars Guys in Bathtub

Eleanor has created an art installation. She has titled it: Star Wars Guys in Bathtub. They’re taking a bubble bath, just so you know. I’m so proud of my little conceptual artist!

OK, for real though… The dollhouse? It’s slow-going. E is enjoying playing with all of the furniture, and I’m enjoying the idea of the dollhouse, but construction has yet to begin. The dollhouse kit (sanded and primed, thanks to my mother-in-law) is currently living on my dining room table.

Have you all been following along with the “I’m a Giant!” Challenge? Some of the people playing along on twitter are rocking it, but I’ve noticed a lack of activity from everyone else lately. Perhaps I’m not the only one preparing to make a mad dash toward the finish line.

December 6, 2011
Bake Shoppe Play Kitchen

I had planned to get a play kitchen for Eleanor’s second birthday, which is not until April. I thought I would go with something gender-neutral and made of wood, and I even considered making one myself. Then I happened to see this one in an FAO Schwarz store that was closing, marked down to $80. It is made of wood at least, and I can always paint it if I choose to (though the pink isn’t as bright as it looks in the photo).

Plus the bake shoppe section can be detached, and it would be really cute as a puppet theater with just a few slight alterations, yes?

• FAO Schwarz Wooden Bake Shoppe

January 3, 2011
Ride it Out

Brandon and I tend to gravitate toward very different toys for Eleanor. Take this for example…

I thought this little wooden walker (A) was so cute. I imagined Eleanor toddling around with it, blocks and stuffed animals in the compartment. I even bought one and painted it pink! Adorable.

A few days ago, Brandon brought this Lil’ Princess Ride On (B) home. All plastic, with flashing lights and various sounds at the push of a button.

Guess which one the baby prefers.

April 23, 2010
Pretty Toy Storage

Thank you for all of your cute basket suggestions! I went with plastic lace baskets for toy storage. I had completely forgotten about them, but they were all over the design blogs when they first came out as the Carrie bike baskets. Victoria uses one for file storage, Joy has one for scraps in her studio, and now I can tell you that they also make excellent little toy bins.

p.s. Have I ever mentioned how much I love my vintage side tables? They’re the best. They hold remotes in the drawers, magazines and the new toy baskets underneath, and they have ample surface space up top. And they were only $10 each.

December 19, 2009
Have a Seat (or Two, or Three)

Brandon gave me a new Eames chair for my birthday! And a Panton. And a few more by Arne Jacobsen, Eero Saarinen, and Mies van der Rohe. And then some additional Eames chairs for good measure. They’re miniature sized (but they’re big on cute).

I picked up a miniature zen garden that came with a cute little chair about a month ago, and I thought it was pretty adorable. I had no idea at the time that Brandon had seen a whole slew of mini designer chairs and that he was already planning to give them to me for my birthday. Eleanor is going to have a really awesome dollhouse someday.

September 24, 2009
Toy Storage / Play Area

The nursery has very strange little alcoves at each end. One side is setup as a closet, but the other side is just open. It looked like this when we moved in:

I had painted the woodwork white and sewn white curtains to close the space off when we had the room setup as a guest room. It looked much better, but there was still no purpose.

When we talked to the girl that grew up in this house, she mentioned that she had kept her bed down there. We thought that was a good idea for a kid’s room (what kid doesn’t like sleeping in a fort?), but we still wouldn’t be able to use it for several years. Then I started thinking about how well the TROFAST system from IKEA would fit, and I realized that the area would be great for toy storage.

I was lucky enough to have a toy closet as a kid for a few years, and I remember spending hours in there playing. It would get hot and stuffy, but I didn’t care because it was my secret little world.

I carpeted with FLOR tiles, but I could see adding a fluffy little rug and a bean bag chair down there for comfort. I had planned to close off the left half of the opening and build shallow shelves for books, similar to the Catalina Magazine Rack.

Now that we’ve built the crib though, it blocks that whole side. Maybe we should still do it and just leave the shelves empty for now?

I know we won’t be able to use it much at first and we’ll have to put up a child safety gate, but I hope our daughter will eventually love her little play area.

January 15, 2009