February 12, 2008
…and now, the reality check. How much can you realistically spend? Having a baby is an expensive exercise, so it’s important to start saving as soon as possible and create a budget.
Justine Davis, author of “How to Afford a Baby” estimates that Australian parents spend $6000 - $8000 to set up a nursery. Spend wisely, and you could successfully trim the excess whilst still creating a beautiful room.
Start saving and prepare your budget.
Photo by ^Vanessa^
More on Planning a Nursery
Part One: Your Style
Part Two: Desired Ambiance
Part Three: Your Budget
February 8, 2008
Lea, mother of one — soon to be two — an avid gardener and crafter, made a tree motif for the feature wall in her nursery. Nothing says life and growth like a tree; best of luck Lea!
Photos by house-n-baby
February 5, 2008
Apologies for the lack of transmission last week, I was on a east coast road trip in Tasmania. It was a much needed holiday… from facing a computer during the working week to facing a group of kangaroos on a bush walk! I also saw a lot of wallabies, echidnas, rabbits and a variety of native birds. Tasmania has a very temperate climate, fantastic produce and a beautiful yet rugged landscape. If you’re into camping and showing your kids nature, Tasmania would make a perfect holiday destination.
Photo by Tim Parkinson
January 25, 2008
Celebrate the Year of the Rat with the Chinese New Year Parade.
For the first time the Parade will be divided into themes and colours representing key elements within Sydney’s Chinese community. New floats, more performers with beautiful costumes and the huge Chinese New Year lanterns, will make this an event to remember.
Where: Starting at Park and George Streets and finishing at Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour
When: Sunday, 10 February 2008, 11:00am to 1:30pm
More info: Official Site
January 24, 2008
If pinning paint swatches to a corkboard seems a little messy, COLOURlovers is a no-fuss way for you to create your colour palette for your nursery decor.
Become a member and join the modern baby nursery group to discuss your boy, girl or gender-neutral schemes.
We’ve also suggested some nursery colour schemes to match our debut art series, In the Woods.
January 21, 2008
Andri and his partner are fans of colour (can you tell)? As they were aiming for a gender-neutral nursery, they chose yellow for the feature wall, with a graphic decal illustrated by Undoboy. What I most enjoy is the hot air balloon lightshade with finger puppet passengers. It looks like it has literally popped off the wall! With this detail, they have created a three-dimensional whimsical wonderland for their baby.
Photos by Fake Plastic Dreams
January 17, 2008
Even the most patient parent will be, by now, desperately seeking kid’s holiday entertainment ideas. Pack a picnic and join Rat, Mole, Badger and Mr Toad.
Where: Royal Botanic Gardens
When: Until the 26th of Janurary. 11am & 6pm Tues – Sat, NB: no shows Sundays or Mondays
More info: Official Site
Entry fee: All tickets $25 or groups of four $85
January 16, 2008
An important factor is to aim for a general ambience you want your baby’s nursery decor to evoke. Do you want your nursery to seem peaceful? Feel optimistic? Or playful?
One way for you to achieve this is through the creation of a mood board. It’s a helpful tool to construct a design and keep you focussed on your original thoughts, colours or textures for your room. Save clippings from books, magazines and images from websites of beautiful things that catch your eye to help convey your adjectives. The clippings needn’t be objects to buy or photographs of rooms, they can be anything you desire. They may include patterns in fabric, some paint samples or a flower or two.
Stick your images onto paper or pin them to a corkboard to create your mood board. Better still, create two boards to describe different ways you could approach your nursery decorating idea.
Spend time during this stage — it’s best you live with your inspiration sources for a while as ideas take time to mature. Display them so you can see them every day. As time goes by, edit your mood board as ideas lose favour.
Lobster and Swan’s inspiration for the above mood board came from an apple and almond tart and its description “slivers of cherry red apple look like delicate petals have floated down onto sweet, crisp pastry.”
This, combined with the indulgence of Marie Antoinette makes for a perfect imaginary ladies’ own entertaining room. Can you hear the clinking of teacups and clattering of conversation?
Create your mood board to illustrate your desired ambiance.
Photo by Lobster and Swan
More on Planning a Nursery
Part One: Your Style
Part Two: Desired Ambiance
Part Three: Your Budget
January 9, 2008
Children drawing technology is not a new thing, after all, some of us did grow up with the Commodore 64. Regardless, it still astound me. Instead of drawings of popular stories, I have seen the visualisation of game levels complete with interface design and complicated explanations of how the games work — from four-year-olds!
The laptop club is a collection of laptops designed by seven- to nine-year-olds.
“Even with relatively little exposure to computers, these children have absorbed ideas about shopping online, interacting socially with virtual pets and real friends, and even media convergence with their favorite movies and songs loaded on the laptops,” says Amy Tiemann.
January 7, 2008
Evan, aged ten, has a blog to encourage children to read.
