design | That La Kid

so glad that you asked!

by Wendy J. La

Okay, here’s my essay, I’ve been looking for an excuse to post this for a long time, anyway:

Sorry the pictures are so crappy. I was too excited to wait and take them in better lighting.

I am decorating my house as much like an Imagineer as I can. As it turns out, it’s kind of like a muggle attempting wizardry, but anyway…. I looooove Disney. Odds are you already know that. So, without offending the Mickey fanatic decorators in the audience, red, black and yellow and Mickey silhouettes don’t do anything for me. It’s kind of too obvious. Where’s the subtlety in that? The art? The true fandom? I love Mickey, don’t get me wrong. But that’s so one-dimensional.

You know what I love? Fort Wilderness. Tom and I went right after we got pregnant and it was magical.

My dining room is probably my favorite room in the house, themed around Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground. The previous owners of our house used sticks from their yard as curtain rods in the dining room, with burlap draperies. We didn’t notice until the day that we got the keys. We both looked at it, and at each other and thought, “Gee, what can we do with that?” Fort Wilderness. It was difficult to not include Frontierland, or even Wilderness Lodge, but to limit the room specifically to Fort Wilderness. I’m a stickler for authenticity. Fort Wilderness, to me, is Daniel Boone, and early east coast forts built around the Revolutionary War, just as we new Americans began to venture westward. Frontierland conveys more of a Wild Wild West theme to me, a post-Civil War/Gold Rush era, and Wilderness Lodge pays homage to the great lodges of the Northwest and in my opinion brings us basically into the 20th century. I could have done a lot with geysers, National Parks and totem poles, but I decided to stay true to Fort Wilderness, specifically.

There’s not much to go on in the world of Imagineering Fort Wilderness. So my design is based primarily on personal experience. For the record, I don’t have enough horse stuff. Let me just clear the air and get that out of the way right now. The Tri-Circle-D Ranch is a big part of the Fort. I need to incorporate the horses in some capacity at some point.

But for now…

The first installation in the Fort Wilderness dining room was the black Mickey icon chandelier. Didn’t I say I wasn’t into mouse-ear silhouettes everywhere? I did say that, didn’t I? Well, I’ve made and exception in the form of Mickey’s head over my dining room table. I bought the chandelier at a Disney Character Outlet (in Woodbridge, VA I think) before I even had a house because I knew I had to have it. It’s very versatile. It went with the house in Virginia, and it works here in the Fort. I want to get a Mickey Mouse cast iron trivet to go with it, but we’re still a work in progress.

The centerpiece of the room is the table. We found a gorgeous table at Nadeau. It’s huge! It seats at least 8.

We knew we wanted a bar to store wine and a buffet to store entertainment ware (punch bowl, chip/dip plates, etc.). I happened upon the Verona Bar and Verona Buffet at World Market. I did some research and discovered their annual dining room sale, so we waited several weeks and bought them at a discount. On top of that, we caught a store Grand Opening not too far from us for even deeper savings.

The table, bar and buffet were easy. We met and fell in love immediately. Seating has been difficult. We knew we wanted benches. Where do you eat when you’re camping? At a picnic table. We bought benches to match the bar and buffet, and would you believe it, they are exactly ONE INCH too long to fit under the table. We went ahead and set them up so we’d have something for Bruce’s party, but the search continues.

But I digress. I’m getting away from what I wanted to be the meat and potatoes here, Fort Wilderness.

It’s nice to be an artist. It’s not necessary to pull off a decently designed space, but it helps. I wanted something that deliberately brought my campsite into the dining room, so I created a casual charcoal sketch on newsprint and framed it in a rich wooden frame that I found at Michael’s.

Did you know in “The American Adventure” at Epcot, they only use the technology of the time to display various periods throughout American history? For example, we don’t see photographs until the Civil War era. Prior to that the story is told via paintings. (I guess Audio-Animatronics count as real people.) I tried to adhere to this rule in my post-Revolutionary War fort, but I broke my own rule with a photo that I took of Reception Outpost.

On the other side of my charcoal sketch is another work of art that I created. I thought pioneers venturing out into the wilderness might return with sketches and descriptions of newly discovered flora and fauna (and Merriweather! Wait…). Bearing that in mind, I drew a picture of the Dusky Seaside Sparrow. This tragic character is extinct as of 1987, and the last known living Dusky resided at Discovery Island on Bay Lake. His legacy lives on in my dining room.

When I was researching Fort Wilderness, I found one image.

So I was tickled to have received this for my birthday:

I’m sure it’s actually Frontierland, and I’m aware that rail travel came much later than my assumed Fort era, but I’m willing to let that slide because it’s so similar to the image of the Fort Wilderness train (which was decommissioned and turned into ticket booths at Pleasure Island). The lush greens could really go either way. It’s not like it’s a Big Thunder print.

Here are some other little touches from around the room:

I’m still on the hunt for a hand-woven Native American table runner, so if you know anybody…

And here’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for, the whole shebang, my pretty subtle Disney Dining Room:

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adventure is out there

by Wendy J. La

I’m so excited about this that I’m downright giddy.

I’ve been cooking it up since Bruce’s first trip to Disney World in December. I have no idea how many times I’ve been to Disney World. I wanted to commemorate and remember each of Bruce’s trips. When he’s 10, I want him to be able to say, “I’ve been exactly — times.”

Pictures are great, and we take a picture of Bruce on Gaston’s chair each time. But you know, pictures are hard to display in large quantities. It’ll be tough to have something cute but unfinished or not full. Not to mention, at any moment Disney could pull Gaston’s chair. It may be a while, but they could decide to refurbish Gaston’s Tavern anytime. What happens when we have 38 pictures of him in one spot then the spot disappears? Plus, we don’t make it to Magic Kingdom, or any one spot, every trip.

At any rate, here’s a shameless picture of the most adorable kid in the village sitting in Gaston’s chair. Awwww.

So, I need something that will never be inaccessible. I need something that will be as cute on his first trip as it is on his 50th trip. Whatever it is, one has to look as good as one hundred.

I started looking at creative guest books. I kept coming back to a tree with thumbprint leaves. How can I Disnify this idea?

BOOM BABY.

Pretty self-explanatory. I drew Carl and Ellie’s house. We add a balloon for each trip as soon as we get back, using Bruce’s fingerprint. Whether the trip is 1 day or 10, it gets one balloon. It’s been sitting on my desk in pieces since December, but last night I decided that I’m tired of having so many projects up in the air (HAAAAAA, no pun intended). I bought a frame and painted the background. The balloons and house are gingerly glued to the background so that if I do run out of space, eventually, I can pull it all apart and glue it onto a new bigger background.

I am so ecstatic! It’s so cute!

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two things

by Wendy J. La

First of all, relative to what I was saying yesterday, *HEADDESK!*

I feel like they must be trolling, and making that up.

AND WHOA! 145 PEOPLE LIKE IT?!

“Spelt.” It seems in this person’s world, everything is “spelt” uniquely. Nikki Davidson and I came up with a term for people like this, “Certified Moron.”

—

And second, a love story:

Baby Daddy promised me the best chair on God’s green Earth. That was his contribution to this whole baby thing (well, that and half the genes). We got a cheap crib, cheap furniture – but I wanted a really great chair for rocking our little fella. Those wooden gliders with padding don’t do it for me either. I wanted a real rocking chair.

Tom and I went to Buy Buy Baby and found a cute navy chair for about $600. The cushion on the back was high. It felt soft. I sank into it. Here’s the chair in some kid named Caden’s room.

It takes 8-16 weeks for delivery. Wow. Little Happy could be pretty old by the time that thing finds its way into his room sometime between November 8 and January 3. So, I went home and began frantically searching for the Little Castle Treasure from an online retailer. I found some things that were close. If we’re just getting a navy chair, maybe i can find something I like at a furniture store, a store without the word “baby” in the name. Fortunately for us, Charlotte is some kind of furniture epicenter.

We started at Good’s. I discovered that we aren’t shopping for a rocking chair. We are actually shopping for a rocker recliner or swivel rocker or swivel glider. Good’s had some good stuff, but good God! The chairs I liked were upwards of $800 – and same deal with delivery, about 8 weeks – and I’ll bet delivery’s not free. We weren’t hounded by employees, but someone did approach us after a while. Tom might have gone to get the guy. I forget.

After Good’s, we went to Thomasville. We did a lap around the store. Didn’t see anything that swiveled or glided or rocked AND we didn’t see a single employee. It was just us, so we were in and out in about 3 minutes. Moving on!

The next stop on the road of furniture stores was La-Z-Boy. I don’t really want a La-Z-Boy. They are generally unattractive, but isn’t what’s her name… ugh… dated Michael jackson way back… shoot… BROOKE SHIELDS! Isn’t Brooke Shields on their commercials talking about how stylish they are? Okay. We can take a look. We were approached right away – no me gusta. I like to just have the freedom to look around.

“Can I help you find anything?”

“Gliders, or rockers?” The lady looked right at my stomach, “Oh, OHHH! Yes! Let me show you what we have!”

The sales pitch actually wasn’t bad at all. It was nice to have a tour guide because each rocker/glider/swiveler is in a different model living room in the store. We learned the difference between glide and rock – and learned that I’m a rocker girl, myself. We learned any glider or rocker can be made into a swiveler, and because it’s La-Z-Boy, they ALL recline. We looked at some very pretty designy chairs, but as it turned out the softest and most comfy was another plain navy blue chair like the Buy Buy Baby chair. It was $649.98 (the tag said, “was $850” but you and I both know no one has ever paid that), and it was huge – significantly bigger than the BBB chair. We told her we needed to sleep on it before we made a decision and we also needed to measure. She mentioned “the chair sale” started tomorrow (which is now today) but couldn’t elaborate. It’s two great chairs for one great price – but no idea what the price would be. She also dropped a hint about a “private sale” in passing. Later in the conversation, Tom asked about that and she said she was allowed to give out 3 passes to her personal customers, but she had someone drop out. You either get 10%, 15% or 20% off based on how much you spend, and while she has existing customers that she could invite, we have a whooooole house to furnish, so she was thinking that’d be a solid investment on her part.

The sales lady challenged us to compare La-Z-Boy’s stand-by-their-product ethic to other stores. I told her we were pretty much done shopping, that I loved the chair. But then when we left, we saw that Rooms To Go was right next door. My parents bought at Rooms To Go when we lived in Florida. (Actually, saw Mom’s current couch and super stylish giant round chair thing when we walked in.) The rooms at Rooms To Go are awfully pretty.

An employee approached us right away. “Can I help you find anything?”

I expected her to have the same insight as the La-Z-Boy lady. “Rockers?” Cue hand on my giant stomach.

“Oh,” she said, “Like for a baby’s room? We don’t have those we only have the rocker-recliners like in a living room set. Maybe try Target or Babies ‘R’ Us down the street.” I was so irritated at being dismissed that I didn’t press the issue. If I had tried, it would have been too late. She was walking away, back to the cluster of employees just chillin’ in some model living room, but Tom and I had an awkward look around anyway. Didn’t see much that we liked as far as rockers, actually we didn’t see anything. Geez, if only an employee had been on hand to show us the rocker-recliners… Their loss. As we did our lap I said, “Wow. She basically just sold the La-Z-Boy chair.” Look, maybe that wooden job with the pad is okay for YOU and your baby, or maybe that’s the only thing that will fit in YOUR nursery, but I’m in the market for serious comfort.

We have a rule in our little family, if it’s over $100, we have to sleep on the decision. (Thank you, Pastor Lon Solomon.) Take yourself out of the showroom. Get away from the salesman. Relax. Take a step back and try to avoid Toad’s Motorcar Fever.

: This is me in the store sitting in my Recliner-Swivel-Rocker.

Well, as far as sleeping on it, it is the most comfortable. I mean, not that we slept on it… although we could. But as far as making a list of pros and cons:

It’s more expensive.
It’s bigger. (For better or worse.)
It not only rocks and swivels, but also reclines. I keep forgetting that part.
La-Z-Boy is THE relaxing chair. They are basically the gold standard of recliners, and I think we can trust the integrity of a rocker from La-Z-Boy more than some baby furniture company.
It was supremely comfortable. I said I wanted THE BEST chair and this is THE BEST. My favorite, if that counts for anything, and the one I found most comfortable – which was what Tom said he was going to buy in the first place.
Lots of warranties, although IMHO warranties are complete bullsh*t.

Tom came home for lunch today and we went back to the La-Z-Boy store. The chair sale actually brought the price down to $629.98. The private sale took off another 10%. Adding a swivel costs $150, and there is delivery and fabric protection… the only thing I think we really could have gone without is the fabric protection, but whatever… baby’s going to throw up who knows what on the chair, so we might as well go for it.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet my new La-Z-Boy.

It’s actually darker blue in person. More navy blue… but anyway. We are the proud owners of a La-Z-Boy to be delivered on SEPTEMBER 20. It’s nice the chair will be delivered before baby boy.

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overwhelmed

by Wendy J. La

There are so many one-liners that I keep thinking up as facebook statuses, but then I’m like, “No, I really need to just write a blog post.” At the same time, I am totally speechless. They don’t make big enough words to describe how special I feel. It’s amazing that so many people can love someone so much when they haven’t met him yet. He is one fantastically lucky little boy to be entering a family that’s this incredible.

My baby shower was the shower that I have fantasized about since Tom and I started thinking about making babies.

It started on Saturday morning. Tom and I were up at 6:30 to continue cleaning after having been up until 2 (me) and 3 (Tom) the night before. At about 10:30, the doorbell rang and we were pretty far from being ready for company. Tom answered it, I freaked out about still being in my pajamas. I crossed my fingers and hoped it was a neighbor. I said, “Is it people?” Tom looked out the window by the door and said something to the effect of, “Oh, it’s people alright!” He opened the door and it was Lindsay Kaye and Sarah. All the way from Florida, a whole day early! They were hungry, so the first thing that they did after hugging and hugging and hugging and touring the house was run out and try to find something to eat. They found Five Guys and brought back lunch for everybody.

Since they picked Five Guys, we had to show them this:

After we ate, they helped us clean up and put a whooooole bunch of boxes in the attic. Since I want to live here forever and never move again, there’s nothing in the attic that we have to ever get to unless we are moving out. I have a crapload of Disney collectibles that each came in a box with styrofoam and whatnot, so we put all of those in the attic and that’s it. Tom doesn’t like going up there, so he’s putting all the holiday decorations in the garage. Anyway – in 3 minutes, Lindsay, Sarah and Tom took care of a job that Tom and I have put off for 3 weeks.

Kayce showed up sometime in the early afternoon. Kayce – drove all the way from Northern VA, stopping in Cville, just to go shopping at Ikea with me and watch me open a bunch of presents. I mean, basically that’s the only reason everyone was there. Amazing. AMAZING. Amazing that all these people would come all this way for that.

Later in the afternoon, Trudy, Sunny and Haley showed up WITH MOM! Mom! …or, well, Grandma – I guess… who tried to tell me all week that she was going to the UVA game and coming after that surprised me and showed up with the Herolds + Hay Nick. First Lindsay and Sarah, then Mom.. that’s TWO awesome surprises.

We went to Ikea. Tom was versus me. He’s always versus me. I sat a bunch of stuff by the door to go to Goodwill on Friday night and asked him to load it up and take it. Wouldn’t you know it, not only was the truck (that we needed to fill with baby furniture) full of stuff, but it was also out of gas – which we had ALSO talked about waaaay before everyone was walking out the door to go to Ikea. Try Thursday night. Between Thursday night and Saturday evening he didn’t have a second to put gas in the truck – get outta here.

I didn’t want to be held up any more from getting the gang to the meatballs. I told Tom to drop the stuff off at Goodwill, go to South Carolina to get gas, and then meet us at Ikea… instead of napping, which was our original plan for him.

Trudy drove Grandma, Kayce and me. Lindsay drove Sarah, Haley and Sunny. Tom came by himself after doing his chores, ate with us and then napped in the parking lot. We needed the truck… and on the way home it would only seat two anyway, so we needed to take that many cars.

IKEA was, well… it was IKEA, which is always awesome. We had dinner, then went shopping. Oh! I just remembered one of my would-be facebook statuses. We had a shopping list that totaled over $800 and through savvy shopping, endless generosity from my Mom and sisters and aunts and cousins, and pure dumb luck – we walked out of there spending $175 out of pocket. I was flabbergasted. So flabbergasted in fact that I just used the word “flabbergasted.”

I was adamant about making Tom come in and pay with his debit card so we could get 1%, or what I thought would be $8, in cash back… but after all that we made less than $2. Ha. AND there was no coupon on the bottom of the receipt… so who knows if they even do that anymore.

I told Tom on the way home from Ikea that I felt like all the molecules that make me up were buzzing. I felt electric. There was so much happiness in me that my cells were unable to contain it all.

When we got home, Aunt Lindsay and Aunt Haley put Little Happy’s crib together. Tom took Grandma and the Great Aunts to WalMart and Krispy Kreme.

It was a late night. Everybody was exhausted. We had a huge slumber party.

It was awesome. Can you believe all this people went through all this for me?! Well, for one lucky little boy, anyway.

The next morning was a frenzy of activity. Dad and Lindsay went to the grocery store. Then Dad and Debbie went to the grocery store. Then Dad said he needed some wires to hang up the chandelier and had to go to Lowe’s, and before I knew he was gone, he was back and the chandelier was hung. Our menu was based on the invitations. We had Mexican dip, Chinese wontons, Hawaiian pineapple, American (although not Native American) mac n’ cheese, Italian caprese skewers, and ham and cheese croissants from France. Each dish had a little small world kid on a toothpick stuck in it. I wish I had taken pictures. It was so cute. I found a tube of toy buildings from around the world at Michael’s, so the Pyramids, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Parthenon, Empire State Building, Taj Mahal, and Eiffel Tower were scattered around the food as well. The cake also matched the invitations PERFECTLY.

I made a pennant banner out of card stock and hung it over the fireplace. It was a quick and dirty project, but in hindsight I like it so much that I think I’m going to hang it in the baby’s room. I wrote “baby” in a different language on each flag. It looked so good.

We played a lot of fun games that I’ve never played at a shower before. Haley and I had each bought a bunch of prizes. It’s funny, because I picked some of my favorite things, fancy soaps, and Haley picked her favorite things, wild animals on stickers, magnets and notepads. There was a worksheet with a list of features (eyes, hair, smile, toes, etc.) and you had to check off whether you thought that I wanted the baby to get each feature from Tom or from me. We put paper plate on top of our heads and had to draw a baby without looking. Everyone tried to guess how big around I was and cut a piece of yarn that length. My cousin Erika came within about ONE INCH!

Speaking of Erika! She and my Great Aunt Jean left Rockville, MD at 5:30 AM to surprise me at the shower. I was totally blown away! Flabbergasted again! I still can’t believe Erika was there. Amazing. Surprise number 3! And Jean! Surprise number 4!

I really want to go into detail about all the incredible stuff that I got, but don’t want to bore you. It was really just… I don’t know. I already used “amazing” and “incredible.” Did I use “awesome?” It was awesome. It was epic. I cannot understand how people love me so much, I just don’t have the brain power to comprehend it. I’ve been unpacking Lil’ Happy’s gifts this morning and it just moves me to tears. I don’t think it’s pregnancy hormones, I think it’s just being so full of joy that it leaks out of my face.

The things that stand out most in my mind are the handmade things. I wanted to buy a stool at Ikea for his room. Ikea was out of the yellow ones. But that’s okay, because Great Aunt Trudy MADE him a stool with Mickey and the gang on it. Anyone can wrap up some onesies and socks and blankets and things, but his Great Aunt Debbie made a platter of onesie cupcakes. It was so adorable that I didn’t want to take it apart. I still don’t. Great Great Aunt Sara Beth made him a blankey and a hat. I am so excited about those that they’re going to the hospital with us. They smell like her house. Love, love, love it. Kayce and Erika are BOTH in the process of stitching something up. Kayce’s sneaky. She surprised me. I didn’t know she did all that. Erika said, “Yeah, she does… and she knits all the time. She’s very crafty.”

OMG, I still can’t believe Erika and Kayce were here for the shower. Totally awesome.

Grandma, Grandpa and Lil’ Happy’s Aunts kept giving us presents filled with more presents. You know? Not just a bathtub, but a bathtub stuffed with shampoo, towels, lotion, etc. We didn’t just get a diaper bag with a giraffe on it, it was stuffed with diapers, bottles, bibs, diaper cream, etc. I LOOOOVE those types of presents.

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I really wanted to decorate onesies at the party, but we didn’t get around to it. It worked out alright, though. Lindsay, Sarah, Tom and I decorated a few after everyone left. I had such a good time doing that. It was fun with out intimate little group. I think the one that Tom made is probably my favorite, but he doesn’t want you to see it until you see it on the baby. Sarah’s are hysterical. Lindsay’s are PERFECT for MY kid. Mine were kind of anti-climactic compared to everyone else’s.

Looks like this post has gotten long enough. I’m going to go reopen some more presents for a while.

Kirk out.

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room to grow

by Wendy J. La

I don’t usually like to overwhelm you with two posts in one day, and odds are I won’t be able to think of anything to write about tomorrow because I talked your ear (eyes) off today.

I worked on the nursery before we left for Charlottesville on Friday and just can’t wait to show you how it’s going, although a smart Wendy would wait for the big TA-DA in a week or so when it’s done.

It was a big help for me psychologically to get something going. I feel less depressed. I’ve been complaining this whole time, “geez, if only I had a dresser!” But now, I’m all, “Well, there’s nothing wrong with his outfits hanging up in the closet…” So we have an adorable, practically empty, dresser.

BUT I STILL LIKE HAVING IT!

I can’t wait to pick up the matching one and the toy box. And the crib. And, hey, I need to finish sanding and repainting the changing table that we bought waaaay the heck back in February.

But back to my little success story… most people buy a set of stuff that’s beautifully coordinated and create nurseries that look like catalog pages. (I’m talking about you Kinsey Parham! …not that you’ll read this.) I’ve always had trouble with this. Let’s say I pick out that adorable Baby Simba jungle motif that’s out right now. Well, then where do Mickey and Goofy go? Most toys are brilliant primary colors, and I want them to look like they have a home in Mr. Happy’s room. I’ve tried really hard not to be all matchy-matchy, but to keep it coordinated. Let’s see how things are going…

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baby shower invitations

by Wendy J. La

Lindsay and I, well, mostly Lindsay finished the baby shower invitations over the weekend. They look outstanding.

Neat, huh? My only regret is that it doesn’t say, “it’s a small world” on the invitation anywhere. I think people get it, though.

The basis for this idea is this invitation that I designed for my cousin’s wedding. But how much better is this – using the double doors AS DOORS and opening the exterior of the it’s a small world attraction to the symbolic inside of the ride. It’s like being there… in invitation form. I wish I could make it play the song.

So… here’s the play by play. I drew all the little kids, drew the exterior of the attraction, and drew the clock face. Tom scanned all of my pencil drawings and since my computer DIED on my terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day… I told Lindsay all of my ideas and she colored everything in.

I sketched them, Tom scanned them, and Lindsay colored them in.

Original Sketch – This is my original drawing of the ride exterior.

Lindsay emailed me printable .pdf files that I could print from my lesser laptop. I bought photo paper and printed the invite interior. On a second sheet, I printed 2 sets of doors. The dimensions of the door invitations are the same as an 8.5″ x 11″ sheet folded in half, so the inside is borderless… the one thing I don’t hate about my evil printer is that it does print borderless when you can get it to print. Instead of folding it in half, you fold the left and right quarters in. Anyway, it makes measuring and designing pretty easy.

Here are the door pieces that I printed, cut, and glued to the outside of the invitation doors.

Putting it all together.

Shutting the doors.

AND VOILA!

Piles of finished product.

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even more design!

by Wendy J. La

We’re making progress on Lil’ Happy’s post-uterine habitat. We could just buy a normal dresser for about $200… but since when have we been normal? We went to Ikea tonight and each had a quarter of a roasted chicken for $3, then perused the children’s department so I could show Tom what I’ve been thinking about.

Together, we created this:

I think this might be overkill for a nursery, a baby doesn’t need all that, but there’s no sense in redoing it for a little kid in 2-3 years. We might as well set it up now, right?

The piece in the center is that toy chest/bench/desk that I’ve been talking about since, well, forever.

I also love, love, LOVE this idea that I saw on Pinterest. I LOVE children’s books! We have a whole bookshelf full, and this way I can display the covers of my favorites. And wouldn’t you know it… these shelves are Ikea!

Designing for our little guy is already a challenge… just because it’s not what I’ve had in mind all this time. I need to take the quilt into the store and make sure I love it with the lime green – jury’s still out on that. If I hate it, green can easily be replaced with blue:

or birch!

The green is obviously my favorite, and it works with the under-crib storage that I love so much, and I like it with red.

I can’t wait to see it all come together. Part of me thinks I should just keep it a secret until it’s all put together and awesome… but I’m assuming that you, like Tom, can’t grasp my final vision. So, you’ll still be happily surprised to see it all come together AND I can do something with this excess nesting energy, since I can’t actually nest yet.

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really! i wanna know!

by Wendy J. La

Can someone please tell me why the cribs at Land of Nod are worth ten times as much as the cribs at Ikea?

Here’s the thing: when I was getting married, and debating about where to register, Target seemed to fit the bill. We picked out a china pattern at Bed, Bath & Beyond. I also found some really luxurious towels at Kohl’s that I fell in love with. Basically, if you asked me where we were registered, I’d have answered “Target.” We never got the china. I’m not sure whether I registered for it or not. I picked some functional, replaceable, everyday stuff from Ikea that I really loved. (Side note, it’s the same stuff as Barb’s house on “Big Love,” but we picked ours first.)

Anyway, anyway, anyway… when it was all said and done, I was like, “why am I so dumb?” I thought about Lindsay and Trudy taking lunch breaks from Compass instead of what I really like. I really like Crate and Barrel! I REALLY like it! Crate and Barrel, and Ikea. I should have registered at Crate and Barrel! Why was I stupid?!

Fast forward to Little Happy here. Not gonna make the same mistake twice… that’s for sure. I love Crate and Barrel, so by golly that’s where we’ll register. They kiddie branch of Crate and Barrel is called Land of Nod. All the stuff is really mod and designy and just awesome.

What’s that? Huh? They don’t sell car seats at Land of Nod? Oh. Come again? (That’s what she said…) They also don’t sell strollers? Shoot. Excuse me? Their cribs are TEN TIMES the price of a crib from Ikea?! W… T… F… So, the bedding and designs and stuff are neat, but I already have a crib quilt. So, what are we looking at? High chair? Crib? Dresser? Storage?

Explain this to me:

: $349.99 – Whyyy?!

: 89.99

: $749.99 + $99 conversion kit

: $69.99

Look, I’ll pay more money for a better item. Is it solid wood? I bet it’s solid wood – is that it? Actually, cribs have to be solid nowadays, don’t they?

Okay, fine, alright, swell… I’ll give you that they’re better. Are they TEN TIMES better? Because, they cost like they’re TEN TIMES better. They’re better looking. Two or three times better looking than Ikea cribs, but are they ten times better looking? I’m not so sure about that.

Notice in my opening sentence I said, “why are they worth more?” I’m not saying they’re not… I’m just saying that I don’t see it.

So. Anyway. We registered at Target. Everything that I loved at Land of Nod (the Puj tub, the Skip Hop Tubby bath toy organizer, the grass drying rack, the Skip Hop Hare comb and brush set… you name it) was all also available at Target, often for way less. (The Skip Hop Moby Bath Spout Cover is actually $ .09 more at Target.) Plus, Target happens to have a plethora of strollers, car seats, and Pack n’ Plays.

Since I can get a crib from Ikea for 1/2 to 1/10 of the price of a crib from Target or Land of Nod, I don’t know how not to go with Ikea. The little booger’s going to destroy it anyway… gnawing on the railings and stuff. I might as well not invest a crap-ton of dough in the thing.

EXPLAIN YOURSELF, LAND OF NOD.

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