Kids' room update: a desk for big brother & a kids' library

Sometimes, home projects just come together easily. You start with an idea and things just seem to fall into place from there. We recently did some re-arranging in the brother's rooms, reason being that big brother starts school in two weeks.

Wait, did I just say two weeks?

Yikes.

(Note to self: get organized for school. Urgent!)

Where was I?

Right. We needed a desk for big brother's room. Yes, I know, everyone keeps telling me they're going to end up doing their homework on the kitchen table anyway. That is fine with me, but I can't have all school material, papers, books and such on the kitchen table all the time. That would simply drive me insane. So, he needed a place to put things.

And perhaps a place to do homework should little brother start to bother him at the kitchen table. Not that the most charming 3-year-old ever would do that. Ha.

I knew we wouldn't have much space available, so the little pretend shop they have had to move to little brother's room, who is the one mostly playing with it these days anyway. Here's a before shot of that corner of the room:

So far, so good. But the part I kept struggling with was the desk itself. These days everything has to be ergonomic and adjustable in height and such. Might be a good idea, but... I just happen to dislike most of these desks. And the ones I do like are crazy expensive. Besides, I also refuse to buy a swivel chair. I don't even want to picture what little brother would do with that. Nope, no swivel chairs and adjustable desks for me.

One day I happened to look at the two Stokke chairs we have. Then it hit me. Of course! Who needs an adjustable desk when you can adjust the chair? And the best part: it doesn't swivel. No wheels. Perfect.

From there it just came together perfectly.

We ended up getting one Alex drawer unit and two legs as a base for the table. The drawers should provide plenty of storage for school supplies, at least for the next few years.  For the tabletop, I didn't want one of those white ones, or more precisely, I didn't want to be wiping off pencil marks every day. Because I know that they'd drive me crazy.

For my office I have a large white countertop as desktop, which is really easy to care for. But still white. Instead, we went with a solid wooden kitchen countertop for desk, and it just so happened that the smallest width sold fit perfectly without having to be trimmed. We have wooden countertops in the kitchen, and they are pretty indestructible. Perfect for big brother!

We hung two Ribba picture ledges over the desk for display and also to alleviate some of the differences in height between the desk and the dresser next to it. Now I have to resist the urge to go and put these ledges everywhere in my house, I love them so much. Even the smallest things look like treasures displayed here.

It took me well over a month to find a chair on eBay. Buying a new one was not in the budget, but we ended up really lucky with a blue one for 35 EUR - yes, it has lots of scratches, but I am sure it'll get a few more soon.

We set the rooms up when the kids were away with their grandparents for a week (a week!!! Oh, bliss...). Big brother was so so so excited to come back to his new room. He's been sitting down at his new desk, practicing letters every day.

Since we were moving things around anyway, we also ended up getting a library for the brothers. I keep losing track of who has which book and where it belongs, so we took all the books out of their rooms, except for the stash they have next to their beds. All others go into the hall between their rooms.

I've actually stolen the idea from one of my favorite bloggers, go see her schoolroom here.

Holding all the books are two narrow Stuva frames that are hung directly on the wall (no legs required, which makes cleaning in the narrow hall much easier).

On the wall so far are Laura Knight's International Phonetic Alphabet and an old alphabet poster from my husband's elementary school that my mother in law had bought a while ago. There is still some space left in between and I can't wait to add some more prints.

Now I only need to get organized for the first day of school!

Any advice?

Swenja

Swedish window shopping. Or is it phone shopping?

I took a little trip to Ikea last week. Nothing exciting, just getting some chairs for the porch and matching pillows. Black ones. Yeah, I know so cheerful, isn't it? But you see, we have a white house, and besides - I have two boys. And three cats. So black is good.

Anyhow. Apart from the oh so exciting black outdoor cushions, I did see a few cute things. And since this is a really, really busy week with an even busier weekend, I'm just going to show you some bad pics taken with my phone camera and call this a post today... (hey, at least it's got nothing to do with sewing!).

Unlike the black, this insulated bag here is quite bright. Maybe a little too bright for me, but it does look like summer.

This is baby bedding. So cute. Doubt that my boys would go crazy over it though.

Dito for this one. Or maybe I could get away with it, since it has all sorts of paw prints on it. Love it!

Don't you just love those birds?

These little guys I actually got, a set of three tins. I have the previous model and was quite bummed the last time I was there to get more of them and they were sold out. I have to say I like the new ones even better.

I also liked these ones. There are enough cushions on my sofa though. Sigh.

I didn't realize they had started selling that bucket in other colors than cream. Love it.

That planter would look so cool with the black cushions on my porch... But almost 40 EUR for one? I don't think so.

What are your favorite products currently?

Cheers,
Swenja

DIY vintage magnets

My fridge needed something to make it ready for Spring. And no, I'm not talking cleaning here (although it could probably use that, too). More like something pretty to hold those flyers, pictures and all the other stuff that gets put on the fridge door. My fridge door, at least.

Then I found this one day. A vintage memory game.

Way too cute to let my kids play with it. I mean, look at this one.

Or this one. I love the way he looks at you. Oh hello there.

There were birds, too.

And my favorites.

Some vintage girls, flowers and a boat.

Simple graphic ones.

Some rather famous ones.

Look at those colors!

There were even Christmas ones.

And some rather, uhm, interesting ones.

I picked my favorites, gave them a quick coat of modge podge and stuck a magnet on the back. Finally snapped a few (bad) pictures in between chopping bell peppers for dinner. All in five minutes here, ten minutes there. It didn't take long, but it felt like forever to get it done and be able to post it.

Those owls just crack me up.

My fridge isn't any more organized or clean, but it sure looks prettier now.

I also made that pen holder out of an old spice tin. So it's a little bit more organized. Maybe.

Here's to vintage toys and finding those tiny bits of time in between daily life to do tiny projects!

Swenja

{the simple things} my new favorite necklace

This pretty little thing came from one my favorite stores, the Dutch chain hema. I love their kids clothes, and sometimes Mommy gets lucky and finds something pretty for herself. Really lucky when it's on clearance and less than a cup of coffee.

It goes with pretty much everything I own and, what can I say, simple little pretty things like that make me happy!

Happy Sunday,

Swenja

Quick question

I need your help here. You see, the other day, while having my brain turned off to auto-pilot and therefore mindlessly surfing the net and catching up with blog reading, I came across this post from TheKitchn, featuring ceramic storage containers.

I don't usually read the marketplace posts since most stores are US only anyway, but here I couldn't resist the image. Clicking through I found out these beauties here were from Sagaform. Quick research revealed there are also available in Germany.

Normally I would have added them to my wish list.

But in this case I just ordered them (told ya my brain was on auto-pilot).

Now, problem is, where do I put them? Originally I thought I'd put my tea in them and keep them next to the stove, where I usually keep my teapot.

But then they would also be perfect for flour. And sugar. And homemade vanilla sugar.

And they would look really, really nice next to my beloved stand mixer.

See what I mean?

Now, I could ask my husband. But we all know he'll just look at me like I'm crazy and that there are probably more important things I should be thinking about (he might just be right).

So I'm asking you guys. Next to the stove in plain sight whenever I walk into my kitchen or next to the mixer for keeping easy access to baking staples because I do bake a lot?

Of course I could just get another one. Although this time it will really have to be waiting on my wish list.

Hmmm....

Happy weekend,
Swenja

Little brother's new coffeemaker

It'll be little brother's birthday soon. Well, in March actually, but to me that's soon. So I've been looking for gifts. He loves his play kitchen and makes coffee in it for me every day. It's a great way to keep him busy when you need those last five minutes to finish cooking dinner or talk on the phone: "Sweetie, could you make mommy a cup of coffee, please?". He runs off and makes all sorts of noises in his kitchen, then comes back with one of those ugly blue plastic cups from a sandbox play set.

So look what I got:

Isn't it gorgeous? I'm so excited. Crazy, I know. I thought he could use a coffeemaker. Not one of those traditional ones though, he wouldn't know what it is.

He needs something more like an espresso machine. Of course those are available in children's sizes, too.

Modeled after the leading brands. Of course.

And they blink and beep and make all sorts of noises. Of course.

But then I saw this one. It doesn't make a sound. It has no blinking buttons to press. No water tank. No plastic.

You see, little brother loves pretending. He can pretend there's a coffeemaker where there is nothing. So I'm sure he can pretend this one makes noises, too. And I don't want him to lose that ability.


Besides, it just looks cool. It's all solid wood (even the cup and spoon). And it just fits perfectly in their play kitchen:

Oh, and did I mention it was not even 6 EUR? (pssst, it's on sale at here)

Now I want a cup of coffee!

Cheers,
Swenja

Get your kids real books. Beautiful books.

In a world where even a classic like A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh gets turned into an all smiley-faced Disney version, I love books that take kids seriously and dare to be a little different. So here's a list of books my kids will be getting for Christmas.

Well, actually they already got one of them for Nikolaus. Nikolaus, or St. Nicholas or whatever he is called in the English-speaking world, comes December 6. As a kid, you clean your boots and put them out the front door, and if you're lucky, the next morning they're filled with chocolate, tangerines, nuts and maybe a small gift or two. It's sort of like your Christmas stockings I guess, just earlier. It's the perfect time to give Christmas books, because really, who needs Christmas books for Christmas when all the fun is already over? So this year my kids got two Pettson & Findus Christmas books. And this one:

It's called The Lion, The Unicorn and Me (obviously I have the German version, "Der Löwe, das Einhorn und ich") and it's by Jeanette Winterson. The story is told by the donkey and it starts with an angel coming to earth trying to find the one animal that can carry Jesus and his mother in the night that he is born.

The angel talks to every animal (using the list that was left over from Noah's arch), and ends up choosing the donkey.  Love the so very pregnant belly in this picture.

The donkey tells the whole story, including the holy night, and how he sings along with the angels and how an angel's foot touches his nose. The story is very calm and quiet but also full of funny details. I loved it and big broher also liked it, but little brother was a little too fussy the last few days to really listen at night. But that's ok because this book will be with us for quite a while.

Then I have a pile waiting for Christmas, and I want to show you three of them. I love Children's books with real illustrations. Not your standard, cutesy children's books that seem to think kids don't deserve better. Books that are different.

Like this one. It's called Die große Rallye by Jochen Stuhrmann, and I haven't found it in English.It's about a big animal race. They all gather at the start, ready to go and race.

 On every page, something happens to one of them that forces them to quit the race.

They get stuck on the side of the road.

Or, and this is my favorite, Sir Henry Hanover. He's taken his convertible and his six cousins are travelling with him. Unfortunately, all their hats get lost.

So Sir Henry has to stop his car and get them all back.

In the end, only one of them makes it to the finish line. But surprise - he has picked up all the other animals along the way and so they all win.

In the non-fiction category (yes, we always have non-fiction books for Christmas, too) my favorite is Wo geht's lang? (Where do we go?) by Heekyoung Kim. The book's original edition is Korean. It's a book about how maps explain the world. Even if you can't find it in English, it's still worth it because the maps really do most of the talking.

At the beginning it explains the basic concept of maps and how they are used to depict a town for example.

Then it talks about the history of maps and of cities, like how in many large cities there is a big river running right through it. It's not a lot of text but the great illustrations are very well done.

It shows the same cities and how today the subway maps reflect what has changed.

I love this page, where it explains how navigation systems work. Because come to think of it, kids will still need to know about maps in school and all that, but in their daily life, navigation systems are much more common.

Here's another fictional one. And another one I love for it's illustrations and for the sheer craziness of the story. My kids love crazy stories. The ones that just tell a story, without the author trying to lecture them about something. Just a good story. Preferably one where even mommy and daddy can't tell how it's going to end. Enter Oops! by Jean-Luc Fromental (it's called Oups! in Germany, btw). The title basically sums up the storyline.

Don't you just love the inner lining of the book?

 
A family is ready to go on vacation and on their way to the airport, when something goes wrong.

And then, everything goes wrong. Really everything. And they go from one mess to the next.

In the end, they miss their flight. But they still make it to their destination... 

So these are my current favorites. Would love to hear about yours, because, really, one can never have too many (good) children's books.

Swenja