Manolo for the Home

Going overboard when you’re decorating a nursery is so easy. You naturally want what’s best for baby, and there’s a societal expectation that says that what is expensive is usually the best. While smart people like you and me know that’s true in the logical part of our brains, there’s also the part of the brain that slyly suggests that budgets don’t matter when it comes to buying for baby.

I’m thinking about this specifically because The Beard and I recently went crib shopping at a store that carries higher end baby gear in addition to more moderately priced offerings. We dropped a wad on a convertible crib because our own crib might have been part of that giant Storkcraft crib recall, but we were still shocked by some of the prices on things like strollers and crib sets and nursery decorations. With that in mind, I was wondering how much you think these nursery sets cost.

Here’s a hint: The price I’m looking for is for the four-piece set that includes a quilt (which according to baby safety experts you can’t even use), a crib sheet, a crib bumper, and a dust ruffle. What’s not included is the diaper holder, the mobile, the wall art, the lamps, and all the other accessories. So just the nursery bedding.

Give me your guesses in the comments and, after a bit, I’ll share the answer. You could cheat by clicking on the pics to see compatible nursery bedding sets, but I want to know what you think is a reasonable price for a crib set off the top of your head. If you’re wondering how much I think one should spend on nursery bedding, the best answer would probably be “Not all that much.” It’s not something you’re going to be using for a very long time, so why go overboard?

“Little Joseph is a hand-painted, porcelain candle holder.” Okay, I can handle that. “We can’t decide if he’s sinister or sweet.” Uh huh, sure. Basically I’m pretty good until Generate Design starts talking about how you can use candles to give Maxim Velčovský’s freaky-deaky doll heads something approximating hair.

That sure don’t look like hair to me. Am I the only one who thinks there’s just something seriously wrong with these?

One thing I’m very thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day is all of the readers who stop by to check out what’s new at Manolo for the home and to share their thoughts with me. It’s a privilege to write for all of you, so thanks! And happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the states!

(Photo by Lane & Anne)

I’ve never imagined a hamster’s life to be anything but repetitive and a tad dull, but I could be wrong. Maybe human beings are truly missing out by not stuffing our cheeks with food for later or munching on pellets? The truly curious can now find out, for $150 per night plus plane fare to France because a hotel in the French city of Nantes is offering the chance for people to become hamsters. You read that right. People. Becoming. Hamsters.

Or something like a hybrid human-hamster with a flat furnished with a bed of straw and an exercise wheel.

It is the latest venture from owners Frederic Tabary and Yann Falquerho, who run a company which rents out unusual venues to adventure-seekers. Both architects, the men designed the room in an 18th century building to resemble the inside of a hamster’s cage.

“The hamster in the world of children is that little cuddly animal. Often, the adults who come here have wanted or did have hamsters when they were small,” said Mr Falquerho, who was dressed as a hamster.

I think that last bit says it all, but since a picture is worth a thousand words and a moving picture a thousand more, here is a video.

Unfortunately, the Hamster Villa video is in French, but you can probably get the gist. There are cedar shavings here and there. The big wheel exerciser, of course. One drinks not from a glass, but from what the gentleman who created the Hamster Villa envisions a giant hamster bottle tap to look like. The things that stand out as missing to me are those tubes hamsters enjoy running through and flavored wood to chew.

Manolo for the Home would like to offer up a big congrats to kt who is the winner — finally — of our vintage-print nursery cards giveaway! Stay tuned for more contests in the not-too-distant future!

I wanted to let everyone know that I’ll be announcing the winner of the recent contest a bit later today — things have been kind of nuts here (work / baby / blogs / etc.) and I’ve gotten a little behind. Sorry for the delay, and thank you for your patience!

Anyone who’s ever tried to and/or succeeded at completing a sewing projects know that the use of pins frequently leads to dropped pins and lost pins and pricked fingers. Sewing is a dangerous game, best attempted with all the right tools. Tools like magnets for retrieving dropped pins from slippery floors that don’t allow for purchase and, naturally, the classic pincushion, which keeps pins corralled as well now as it did forever ago.

I’ve been told that making one’s own pincushion is easy-peasy, but not many people actually have time to sit down and whip up their own homemade pincushions *before* starting the sewing projects building up on their to-do lists. At least that’s how I feel! So for all the sewers like me, here’s a roundup of some totally gorgeous and not at all lame pincushions I found on Etsy.

These adorable pumpkin styled pincushions from Bondgirl Quilter are made from high quality cotton retro print fabrics and ultra suede trim. The final touch is the antique button that marks the center.

Isn’t this clever? Wonderful vintage 70s cappuccino cups turn into pincushions when paired with bright, cheerful fabrics. Available at Ants Accessories.

Here we have a sweet pottery dog egg cup with a pouf top for your pins from Sweet Scarlett. Yes, it’s cute, which is why I included it, but does it not look just a bit like the pins are sticking out of his exposed brain?

A delightful bird pin embellishes this pretty shabby chic pincushion created and sold by Sew Creatively Sweet. At just $4, you can’t beat the price, and if you were thinking of making your own pincushion, isn’t your time worth $4?

Coordinating ribbons and buttons turn tiny tin buckets into super itty-bitty pincushions. Chocolate Cupcake made this one using gorgeous red and white polka dot fabric for the pincushion, with safety filling inside.

A pincushion pair from Retro Mama is the perfect addition to the sewing room, table display, or play kitchen. With a classic retro shape, this plush pear features a gorgeous royal blue daisy bunch print by Denyse Schmidt, paired with a super retro orange Pez print by American Jane.

Finally, though they might be a tad dorkalicious, these prickly pear pincushions from Pretty Little Things are just too stupid cute not to include. They’re perfect for those of us whose black thumb kills everything from spider plants to the hardiest of succulents.

Agonizing over what colors to paint your house or apartment? I’ll be honest and say that I winged it, choosing colors for the various rooms in our home when we hadn’t walked through it more than twice. I may not have many innate skills, but playing with color is one thing I can do reasonably well. I’m not at all surprised, as a result, that the Pratt & Lambert Color Personality Quiz spewed out a result that features colors (both on the walls and elsewhere) so similar to my own living room.

It’s not an exact science, of course, but it can’t hurt if you’re searching for a palette of colors for your home or you’re trying to choose between two different shades of purple. And it only takes a minute to complete — with brief questions about the qualities and colors you like — so you’re not committing to anything.

(Found via How About Orange, a blog I love)

Those of us with babies, who are expecting babies, or just have a baby-like sensibility when it comes to decorating have probably spent at least some time contemplating what exactly makes a beautiful nursery. Is it chic and modern nursery furniture? Adorable themes, like circus animals or life under the sea? Or is it the decorations themselves? I like to think you can do a lot with accent decor in the nursery, particularly seeing as how in five or seven or nine year’s time that bouncing baby is going to think of themselves as way too mature for cartoon representations of marine life.

What can you do, right? I suppose you can try to lean as much as possible toward timelessness by choosing nursery decor that isn’t too babyish. Think vintage drawings rather than modern cartoon characters. Right now I’m loving nursery cards from Traditional Toys — they’re perfect for baby’s room but classic enough to make it easy to find a place for them when Little Johnny and Jenny decide they’re just too grown up for that sort of thing.

The cards, which come ready to hang with coordinating organza ribbons feature the artwork of Jessie Willcox Smith, who enlarged the appreciation of children in American popular culture by her enormously sympathetic representations, Maud Humphrey, one of the most popular Victorian illustrators in America and an early suffragette, and Johnny Gruelle, creator of Raggedy Ann.

Like them? They could be yours! To win a set of these very pretty cards for your nursery (or hallway or bathroom or bedroom) leave a comment on this post describing either 1) the origins of your name and why your parents chose it or 2) the origins of your child’s name and why you chose it. On Monday, November 23 at noon EST, I’ll use the trusty random number generator to pick a winner. Good luck!

Lawn lovers who haven’t yet joined the landed gentry take heart! You, too, can care for and cry over your own little patch of green — or brown — like those of us who battle blight and bugs and the mysterious creeping death that comes a’calling every dang fall. Haffsteinn Juliusson’s Growing Ring lets you experience the trials and tribulations of lawn ownership in a tiny little take-it-with-you package.

Silver and soil, a little TLC, and some water are all it takes… a green thumb doesn’t hurt, though. And $179, which is how much your personal plot will cost you. Hey, it’s cheaper than real estate!