I know it’s fall and the weather is encouraging us to stay indoors with our books and hot drinks. But maybe now is the time to plan our gardens and even playhouses for next spring.

I saw this elaborate Victorian mansion playhouse at the Children’s garden in Kingsbrae Gardens, St. Andrews, New Brunswick. More about this world renown public garden another time. But first the O’Neill Playhouse….

was built by a local ship builder around 1840 for Gladys Forster, aged five.

When I saw this beautiful nineteenth century playhouse I started thinking that there must be kits that you can purchase to build one of your own.

Lilliput

This playhouse sells for a mid range price of $5,500. Yes, there are more expensive ones. Well if you can’t afford a home of your own, maybe you can buy a scaled down version for a percentage of the cost.

Alternatively you can just buy the DIY plans and parts list for $200 that doesn’t include lumber, shingles or paint. So I clicked on the parts list to see what it did include: windows, trims, shutters, doors, hardware and a doorbell!

The one above is from Kidkraft for only $300 however it is quite a bit smaller at 56″ x 46″ as opposed to the one above that was 96″ x 72″.

Sometimes they can be quite hideous.

Fat Hutch

Fat Hutch

This one also runs at $2000 but it seems to include everything.

Lilliput

And just so the boys don’t feel left out.

There are barns, two-story mansions and sheds – your pocketbook is the limit.

I think they are a little sterile. Personally I like the idea of designing and building your own play (or tree) house.

Moving can be exciting, exhausting and an opening for spectacular creations like these life size paintings that my daughter did on her closets in her room in our new “old” house.

She wanted something special in her new room, something that would make it stand apart from other 12 year olds rooms.  The amazing artist that she is, she did these on her own in one evening.  If she can do it, so can you!

Closet Girl One

Detail

  Closet Girl Two

Detail

If  I must say so myself, these are simply amazing!

* All art images property of PBE, all rights reserved.

Carousella (warning – site doesn’t work on Chrome, grrrr) is an adorable rather insanely high end kids furniture shop in Tel Aviv. Some of their goods are imported, but the bulk of it is designed and manufactured in Israel.

While I love the whimsy of the circus pieces in the picture above I don’t think I would put them in my kids room. My own office, perhaps, but not a kids room. They kind of remind me of the things nightmares are made of.

Which makes me think of Coraline, the new movie. If you haven’t seen this film, you should – it’s amazing. These pieces remind me of that film – which is not for kids and rated PG (of course if my husband reads this I’m in the doghouse because I didn’t realize the rating of the film and we’ve already watched it with The Boys – who were scared absolutely out of their wits by the movie.)

The bedrooms in Carousella are like the other world bedrooms (Coraline reference), just perfect and everything a child could dream of. Granted, the prices reflect that, but if you think about the fact that this furniture needs to survive about 15 years of a child then the prices for well made goods don’t seem so bad anymore.

One of my favorite collections in the store was the bedding. Designed by local Israeli artists, the bedding was filled with color, whimsical design and fun details. The type of thing one would expect from a small run of exclusive bedding. Most of the fabrics were flat knit, which I’m not so mad about for bedding to be honest, but it’s comfortable and the detailing is lovely.

Boys were not left out of the design equation either, which is nice – because usually girls get all the good design. There were plenty of African animals and aliens to choose from.

Leather belt buckle tabs on the curtains. I want. I want. I want.

I want to meet the person who buys the gold lame-esque floor poof. I want to see their house. It’s just so junior drag queen.

Love the flowered bag, love love love the antique iron bed (and wish that they had it in a size Queen – I would be done looking for my new bed) love the cat-alien things on the bed and the flowered cushions. This whole thing just rocks actually. Now I just need to have a girl…

Even gray can be made into something fun for kids. For the uber-stylish urban child there’s this really soft chenille braided rug and the elephant pillows.

I want to like this, but I don’t. The guy at the bottom of the skate ramp looks like he’s wearing a baseball uniform. And the skateboard air spray on the closet doors would get old really quick. They would be better off plain.

Red. Baby. Crib.

Well, for the first 3 months when babies don’t see anything in color it’s probably fine – but what about after? “Here angel, we’re going to surround you in the most active color of the rainbow and we’re going to expect you to fall asleep in there and have nice dreams.” Um, no.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the color and think it looks fabulous – but there’s not a chance in Hades that I would put a baby in a bright colored crib. They need sleep. Sleep means calm colors. Unless you want mommy to have a nervous breakdown from sleep deprivation. Red playpen? Yes. Red crib? No.

My guess is that this designer doesn’t have kids? Or the crib is for the babies room while the baby actually sleeps with mommy and daddy (the most likely scenario from my own experience…)

Yael, the owner of Carousella – her store is amazing, she has good reason to be smiling.

Last week I wrote about LEGO’s new Architecture Series featuring Frank Lloyd Wright, which led me to look for other LEGO inspired items. Check out some of these truly unique finds:

Make lunchtime fun with this utensil set from Fred Flare:

These salt and pepper shakers will add flavor to any kitchen! Available at Toys.Brando.com.hk:

Certainly to make any happy hour happier, are these LEGO ice cube trays available at an LEGO store:

Everything’s in focus with this LEGO camera, available in Fall 2009 from Digital Blue:

Store your food or time your cooking with these LEGO kitchen containers and egg timer, also available at LEGO stores:

Play with life-size LEGO blocks and even build your own furniture, perfect for any playroom. Modular pieces are available at Lunablocks:

These items are sure to please anyone’s inner child and sure to be a great conversation starter at your next party!

On the first day of Houses From Within I went to lunch at the very cool Cafe Bialik and sat at the bar. I’m bored so I start chatting with a guy sitting a few stools down. He was a real character, asking me if I was religious and such (I guess I kind of looked it from the way I was dressed) and I found him thoroughly entertaining. We eventually discussed Tchochkes and family and kids (what can I say? I’m chatty.)

That day I ordered the BLT and it was really good.

I liked the BLT so much the next day I went back for another one (because they made the bacon crispy – which for some reason is really hard to find in Israel.) This time I sat at a table.

Looking around the restaurant I thought to myself, ‘I bet the owner has a fabulous apartment. There are just too many really cool elements of design in this place.’ So I saw the owner and asked her if I could take pictures of her flat.

Turns out that she already knew about me. The guy I was chatting with the previous day was her brother and he had mentioned me.  So she said yes, and walked me to her flat after I finished my meal. I love it when that happens.

What a wonderful warm family apartment. You can feel the love of children before you even get to the front door. Actually, you can see it as their daughters art decorates the hallway.

The very first thing you notice is the incredible floor. Every room has ‘carpets’ of gorgeous tile.

I love the tile carpet under the dining area table. The decorative metal table and chairs are pretty nice too.

They took an old flat and renovated it, updating certain areas like the kitchen.

I love the colorful tiles and the well loved look of the space.

Open shelving seems to be a big theme in Tel Aviv these days, as most of the houses I went into had them. The decorative dishes are also fab.

The whole house has a casual comfortable air. Even the lighting is mellow. Couldn’t you just imagine napping on that hammock in the corner?

There’s essentially one grand main room for living, separated by the bookshelf. One resting side has the sofas and hammock and the other is side has a piano and computer table for work and play. Keeping the room open instead of installing a wall keeps the flat light and airy for most of the day.

I love this portrait of her daughter.

Keep in mind – Michal brought me to see her flat right after I asked her. Considering that – I think that the place is pretty darn tidy – and funny enough, this was one of the better bed covers I saw that day. It’s colorful and pretty. (I probably should have taken the t-shirt off the edge of the bed and straightened the cover – but I love the lived in look – I mean really, this is how most of our places look day to day).

And check out that tile. **Sigh**

But my absolute favorite tile was in her daughters room. This is just gorgeous and I would love having it in my house. When we finally add the second floor to my house I think I’ll do tile carpets just like they did. I love how it brings so much personality to a space before you even put a single piece of furniture in.

I probably would have painted the closet to a pink closer to the floor color (although it would be hard to match to be honest) or an orange that contrasted, but this pink preppy closet is still absolutely adorable.

There were so many wonderful details in this apartment I took 48 pictures. I loved Michal’s flat and wouldn’t mind living somewhere like that myself. What do you think?

How cute is this?  Generally speaking, I have a real problem when it comes to painted motifs on furniture, but I think that this line of  “Green” furniture from Lilipad Studios  is “all the rave”.  These intricately painted tables, chairs and step stools are expensive, the table & chair set costing $1,100.00 (not recession worthy) with extra chairs priced at $300.00 a piece: but from an artisans view they are magnificent and if I had a small child and a bag full of cash I would definitely be a taker.

Focus on the pattern work and the edeucated use of color, that’s what got me hooked.  Just looking at this collection makes me want to “paint on”.

*All the furniture seen here is made out of FSC certified wood and painted with low to no VOC paints.

Modern design in a babies quilt, handmade, cool colors, graphically appealing made by someone in Billings Montana. Yes, you read correctly – Billings.

I did an Etsy search for bed quilts after writing about Lisa’s cool window covering (look at the post below) and found Shelece’s amazing baby quilts.

The work put into these quilts is mind boggling, and I can understand why she is asking for $275 for the urban baby (left) and $250 for the dotty baby (below). She ships worldwide for $15.

These would also look good hanging on a wall, sans baby stains.