Archive for the ‘children’ Category

Habitat Animale acrylic animal mirror

Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

habitat-animale-mirror

This fun animal mirror is ideal for a child’s room (or a kid at a heart) and features lots of cut out animals around the outside of the mirror.

The piece is made from pink acrylic and children will have fun spotting and identifying each of the animals.

The Animale mirror is available from Habitat for £20.30.

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Belkiz Feedaway flatpack portable high chair

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

belkiz-feedaway1jpg              belkiz-feedaway3  belkiz-feedaway4jpg

This cardboard, flatpack chair may look fairly unassuming when you first see it, but it’s actually a very clever idea and a great design.

Called the Belkiz Feedaway chair, it was created by Australian designer Betul Madakbas and can offer portable and temporary seating for children.

It’s by no means meant to replace traditional high chairs, but would be really useful for anyone who’s having children to stay and needs a high chair temporarily (there’s only so much baby equipment people can bring with them on a short trip).

The eco-friendly chair is made from recycled cardboard and is suitable for use with toddlers up to 20 months old, or 20kg/44lbs. Estimates suggest the chair should last for about 30 times before it’s no longer safe. It’s compact to store and easy to put together and available in various different colourways.

You can currently buy the Belkiz Feedaway chair from Styled Baby for AUD $39.95. Keep an eye out on the Belkiz website for details of more stockists as they become available.

Related Post

Convertible baby furniture

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Junior polar bear bookshelf

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010
Stunning bookshelf

Stunning bookshelf

This clever animal bookshelf, called Junior, is in the shape of a polar bear and comes in brushed stainless steel, or shiny white.

It was designed by Benoit Convers and made by Ibride, and is available from Made in Design.

There are numerous shelves, so you can fill up the spaces with all your books. It would be great for a child’s room, but just as fun used by an adult too.

Junior the polar bear bookcase is available from Made In Design, where you can also find his big brother, Joe, too.

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Illustrated Living special discount offer

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

illustrated-living1

The lovely folks at Illustrated Living are offering readers of Fresh Design Blog 10% off all orders placed betweeen now and the end of December 2009.

To take advantage of the discount, all you need to do is enter the code ‘FRESHXMAS’ at the checkout, and 10% will be deducted from everything in your basket. Free shipping is available on all orders over £75.

The Now Panic and Freak Out tea towel, which we previously featured, is back in stock in their online shop, but there are plenty of other gorgeous home and interior goodies to get your hands on too, including stylish kitchen equipment, tableware, cushions and posters.

Here are some of our favourites:

Unusual cable and cotton lights

Unusual cable and cotton lights

These unusual cable and cotton lights look like a fun way of adding creative lighting into your home, especially as you can either hang or drape the cable and use it wherever you want in your home.

The box arrives with 35 colourful cotton spheres in it, which you can arrange onto a cable loop as you want. They provide a decorative focus point when not lit, but when they’re switched on, they offer an interesting glow.

The cable and cotton lights are £34.95 for a set of 35.

Retro phone

Retro phone

This purple trim phone is styled on the original 70s Trim Phone, but has a modern retro feel to it.

The twist dial has been replaced by an easy to use push button system and it’s in a gorgeous shade of purple, plus various other colours too. It’s priced at £34.95.

Red felt placemats

Red felt placemats

These fun red felt placemats in the Enchanted Forest design have butterflies, flowers and birds cut into them.

A set of six is available for £19.95 and they’ll add a touch of colour and interest to your dining table.

Gruffalo breakfast set

Gruffalo breakfast set

For the children in your life, Illustrated Living also have a great range of Gruffalo inspired items (the Gruffalo book, by Julia Donaldson, was recently voted the best children’s bedtime story book by listeners of Radio 2), including this four piece Gruffalo children’s breakfast set, £14.95.

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iCube storage cubes

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009
Set of two iCube storage sets

Set of two iCube storage sets

We spotted this iCube storage system on QVC.

Although it’s being sold there with crafters in mind, it’s a really functional form of storage that would work in a home office, study or bedroom and it’s very versatile and easy to put together.

The picture doesn’t really do it justice, but it’s being sold as a set of two cubes, each measuring 13.8″ by 13.8″ by 13.8″. They come flat-packed, but easily clip together to form a sturdy cube.

The cubes have two fabric drawers and a shelf area and they’d be perfect for storing childen’s toys or books, CDs, DVDs or other items in.

With their simple black and white colours, they’re very on trend and would work well as a storage solution in many parts of the home.

To get a better idea of how they look and how they’re put together, there’s a short video clip to watch on the QVC website.

The set of two iCube storage cubes are priced at £32.42 from QVC.

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Making Your House Into A Fabulous Modern Home

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

space2logo

Sponsored post by Space2

There is something special about the experience of furnishing a home, from choosing the bedroom furniture, to working out where all the kid’s toys are going to be stored.  Not forgetting the teenagers with their endless studies and the ever-growing need nowadays for a home office.

Bedroom Furniture

space2-bedroom-furniture

One of the main areas of a house, which can create the perfect space to relax in, is the bedroom and it is one of the easiest to produce an instant effect in. The recent design trends of smooth sleek surfaces in black, red and white gloss can create chic and modern bedrooms. One of the ways of getting the balance right within a bedroom is offsetting the colours with your chosen wallpaper or paint and enhancing them with the furniture.

If we look at the design trend of bold print wallpaper, the visual impact on a focus wall is impressive, however if you combine the colour of the wallpaper with key bedroom furniture pieces, the impact is breathtaking.

Choosing the correct furniture to balance the bedroom design is of great importance, as nothing looks worse than mismatched pieces in a modern room; this look is fine for an eclectic feel, but not for the individual who wants sleek lines, high gloss and statement style.
 
A great solution to combine all these requirements is modular bedroom furniture.  The Belgian architect De Koninck invented this fantastic idea back in 1932, the idea was to have furniture that could be added to or changed, dependant on the individuals needs. De Koninck started using wire frames, but luckily, with today’s manufacturing process, we have moved beyond this to create ideal bedroom storage, with interchangeable doors to suit the latest style.

Children’s Bedrooms

jesper-kids-pink-and-white

Staying with bedrooms, children’s bedrooms can be stylish too. The modular style can be used to great advantage here, especially if you like to buy furniture that grows with the child.  However, stand-alone units can add instant appeal to a child’s room, with striking pink for the little princesses or for the little princes, boyish blue.

These styles of furniture work very well to create a child’s room instantly, and adding soft furnishings such as curtains and bed linen with aspects of this colouring can benefit the feel of the whole room, giving the child a space to play and sleep which is designed perfectly for their visual needs and relaxation time.

Teenage Bedrooms

florian-kids-bedroom-lime-silver1

As children reach their teens, they may have grown out of the pink and blue phase and as they aspire for their independence, the decoration of their room will be of importance, especially when they have their friends over.

However, regardless of what they put on the walls or the choice of colour they want, using modular bedroom furniture with its large range of fascias, can ensure you match teenage ideals. 
 
Another area for the teenager’s bedroom is the computer, a focal point of many of their lives. Even if their bedroom does not have a computer in it and you use space elsewhere, there are great home office ranges available to suit every space in your home. 

Home Office

calgary-black-gloss

There are many desk designs available to suit whatever space you have and your individual taste. For those going for the modern edge, for example, the gloss ranges help create a workspace with functionality and sleek lines.

For those who are fortunate to have a room dedicated as a home office, the decoration and the furniture can be designed to meet your needs perfectly.  The wall colouring needs to be subtle, so as not to distract from the work in progress. 

A good way of choosing the colour for your office is to purchase your desk, filing cabinet, and shelving first - in fact, all your home office furniture requirements. Then by using the colouration of the wood grain, go a few shades lighter on the wall if you’ve got dark wood, or a few shades darker for the wall colouring if you’ve got light wood. 

If you’re choosing a modern gloss theme, opposite shades work very well, enhancing the office furniture and making working within your home a joy.
 
In essence, creating a house into home which is beautiful, relaxing and above all else functional is all about enhancing your space with colours that balance and complement each other. By designing your home in such a way, you are making the choices which suit you and therefore, making your house your home.

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Plumo pink Sari bench

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009
Plumo pink sari bench

Plumo pink sari bench

The new Autumn range from Plumo has recently launched and we couldn’t help spotting the Pink Sari Bench - not least as it’s the same design as the infamous Kimono Bench that we’ve featured before.

This time it’s available in a pink patchwork fabric, which is made from an Indian sari, and it has the same red lacquered legs and handy little storage area under the seat. Plumo has it priced at £159.

After a little bit of digging around, we’ve discovered it’s made by a Dutch company called Colorique. It’s part of a range called Piece of Cake, that is really aimed at children, and they also do it in a sea blue colour too.

Colorique Pink Treasure Chest Sofa

Colorique Pink Treasure Chest Sofa

The only difference with the bench Plumo are selling is that the Colorique  pink and blue benches have white wooden legs instead of red.  Instead of a bench, they describe it as a ’sofa treasure chest.’

We’ve yet to find any other UK retailers selling it, but will be looking out carefully as, like before, we suspect it may be cheaper to purchase elsewhere.

As nice as the sari fabric is, we personally prefer the original Kimono one, with its vibrant shades of red and blue.

What do you think? Is a pink bench your cup of tea? Or what colours would you prefer?

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Contemporary penguin print

Friday, July 31st, 2009
Cute penguin print

Cute penguin print

Isn’t this little fella cute?

Sold unframed, the print features a contemporary style penguin image, with ‘P is for Penguin’ at the top and letters of the alphabet running along the bottom.

It would be great for the wall of a children’s room or nursery, but we might be tempted to sneak it into an adult room too!

Printed in the UK on recycled paper, and using vegetable inks, the penguin print measures 310mm x 420mm and it costs £20 from Hunkydory Home.

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Convertible baby furniture

Friday, June 12th, 2009
The YiAhn baby crib

The YiAhn baby crib

We saw this featured on Dornob and were so impressed that we had to check it out for ourselves.

My Baby’s First Furniture was lovingly created by the designer Min Kang for his baby, YiAhn.

It starts off as a practical bassinet, or crib, that can be used by a baby to sleep in from birth to three months. Unlike other cribs, that a baby outgrows, this clever version can be subsequently transformed and converted into other forms of functional furniture.

yiahn-bassinet2

From four months to four years you can use the furniture as a toy bin and bookshelf, storing all the essential toys and books for your child.

When they reach the age of four years old, the furniture can be converted again, this time to form a chair and table. In this incarnation, the furniture should be fully usable to the age of about eight years old.

Of course, if you have another baby, then the crib can be put back into action again and the cycle continues.  

In an age where people are far more environmentally conscious and keen to recycle and reuse as much as possible, it’s fantastic to find a furniture product that allows you to do just that.

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Decorate children’s rooms easily with wall stickers

Friday, May 29th, 2009
Bird Tree

Bird Tree

Decorating children’s rooms is often a bit of a conundrum, as no sooner have you painted or wall papered their room with their favourite cartoon character or colour, then they change their mind and like something different. And as much as children may love to have pink or train-themed when they’re seven, it’s not so much fun when they’re 14.

If you’re faced with children’s bedroom decorating dilemmas, then these wall stickers could solve your problem. Ferm LIVING  have produced some great sets of wall stickers that can be stuck on children’s bedroom walls, but easily removed when they’re bored with the design or simply fancy having them up elsewhere.

The stickers are easy to use and come complete with everything you need to successfully stick them in place. What’s more, they don’t cause damage to the surface they’re stuck on and can be used on walls, ceilings, windows or any other form of flat surface. Some even look good enough to be used in adult rooms too!

The Bird Tree Wall Stickers cost £65. Also available for children’s rooms are the Animal Tower  wall stickers, which depicts a variety of animals all stacked up in a pile and  doubles up as a height chart (£55) and the Butterflies, which are £31 for a set of 12. You can find them all - and more - online at Cloudberry Living.

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