There’s nothing like having a baby, toddler, or child to make one long for extremely simple and basic. It seems like no matter how dedicated is to the notion of buying plain wooden toys hand carved by old men in the Netherlands out of sustainable, non-toxic wood using patterns hundreds of years old blah blah blah, for the infant or the child, cheap plastic crap with thousands of breakable parts keeps being vomited into one’s house.

Maybe that’s why I’m absolutely in love with these simple cork toy boats designed by the Swiss-French-Belgian designer trio BIG-GAME?

Toy boats for mama?

Two pieces, not much to lose

Supposedly the Portuguese company Materia released these in April, but I have not seen them for sale as of yet. Boooo. Do you have a favorite simple toy that you loved as a child and maybe even still love to this day?

I am so loving these amazing dinosaur planters from Plaid Pigeon… they’re made of repurposed dinosaur toys, hand painted and sealed (complete with drainage holes), and the succulents inside are hardy enough to survive life with everyone from the green thumb set to the black thumb set.

If these came to live at my house...

both the cats and my darling daughter...

would go absolutely out of their minds!

How much space is necessary to raise a child? I would never claim to be an expert, even with a child of my own. Some days, I feel like we could happily roam the country in an RV. Other days, my little Cape Cod house feels almost too small to contain the twister that is a tantruming toddler. If you’ve ever wondered how someone could possible cope with raising a child in a small home, it may surprise you to learn that I’ve known a few people who’ve shared studio apartments with partners and toddlers. And successfully, too. Could I do it? Sure, Do I want to? Nope! With a baby, maybe, but not with a toddler. Sometimes – very occasionally, promise – it’s that cheap hollow door between her and me that keeps La Paloma on this earth.

IF I was going to move into a studio loft apartment with my family, I think I would at least need something, anything to differentiate my space from kid space. Maybe that space would be a corner for a grownup bedroom or a built in reading nook or even a biggish closet with the doors taken off that’s just big enough to hold a desk. But whatever it was, there would be curtain room dividers. Nice heavy, drapey ones that you couldn’t see through. DIY drop cloth curtains, perhaps. If you think hospital curtains when you think curtain room dividers, don’t! Curtain room dividers for the studio apartment family, even the single gal or guy, can look pretty darn good!

Super small spaces can benefit from a couple of curtains

Even if all that's blocked off is the bed...

You could SO DIY this one

What else is great about curtain room dividers in small spaces? In addition to looking good, they provide you with another degree of flexibility when it comes to how you utilize the available space. And they’re a lot less expensive than bookshelves and standing room dividers. Installation can be super easy, too, and there’s the fact that there are a bunch of different ways to hang a curtain in a rented space that won’t make it so you lose your deposit.

While a curtain room divider may not be as good as a wall when it comes to putting yourself in time out so you don’t FedEx your kids to Dubai, they’re still better than nothing!

Now that my daughter is getting older, I’m starting to understand the kid’s artwork conundrum. I remember when this NY Times article and this post in the San Francisco Chronicle’s Mommy Files attracted a lot of attention, both supportive and derisive, because the authors admitted to throwing out the majority of their kids’ artwork. Where do I stand? On the one hand, there’s a part of me that would like to save every little everything that La Paloma does so I have a perfect picture of her childhood. On the other hand, our house is only so big and like all kids, she tends to draw two lines on the paper before demanding a fresh piece.

If nothing else, it's the cheapest art around!

I think if you’re going to toss your precious creation’s precious creations – and I am not ashamed to admit I’ve recycled a few early masterpieces myself – why not highlight the best of the best of your kid’s artwork by actually framing it and then hanging it somewhere prominent in your home? Admittedly, it’s not a look that will please the aesthete in everyone, but parents tend to look at kid’s artwork through rosy glasses and if it happens that your little darling puts out a few pieces that coordinate with your decor, all the better!

What do you do with your kid’s artwork? Save it all? Snap digital pics and then stealth it out to the recycling bin? Or maybe save the best and toss the rest?

A little something for everyone

It’s more common to read about gender neutral decor in the context of nurseries and kids’ rooms, but what about for grownups? It’s probably a question that cohabitating heterosexual adults should ask themselves at least once: How can one create a space that’s appealing to both women and men? (Which, for the gay couple or roommate pair, can become: How can one create a space that’s appealing to both people living in it.) In the spirit of that question, here are five tips for creating gender neutral spaces in various areas of your home:

1. Go for balance. Mix furniture and accessories that have clean, strong lines with more delicate stuff. Think antique silver filigree on a parsons table, traditional feminine touches paired with modern art, and mix vivid colors with softer neutrals.

Branch out to include her or him

2. Ditch the florals, and replace them with botanicals, because there’s nothing quite like bringing the outdoors in. Branch patterns are beautiful, as are stylized leaf patterns. Just show some restraint, and don’t turn your bedroom or living room or bathroom into a forest.

3. Don’t make gender neutrality the focus of the room. Let’s say a hetero couple is decorating a bedroom – his nightstand might have a different lamp than hers, or they may simply have different nightstands. In the living room, the chair she uses most might be somewhat girlier than the other furniture in the room, which he has a favorite footstool that’s decidedly more manly.

It's the little touches we all add

4. Go for greens. It’s the color that so many parents gravitate toward (along with yellow) when creating gender neutral nurseries, but green is great for grownups, too. There are so many different shades of green and greens coordinate with so many other colors, that you’re sure to find a color palette you both like.

5. Keep it classic, because classic decor is less likely to start to get on one of your nerves. The more trendy your decorating choices, the more quickly it’s going to happen that someone in a couple will start to hate the colors or the accessories or the pictures hanging on the walls.

I’m loving these super cute hand screen printed pillows, cushion covers, stockings, and cozies from Robin & Mould! Everything they sell is printed using water-based inks on natural linens and cottons at their little shop in the UK. Yellow and teal seem to be the colors they favor, but they’ve taken custom orders in the past!

Okay, okay, I swear this will be my last ceiling post in a while. It’s just, have you even gotten sort of stuck or obsessed with one facet of a room and so it feels like every time you go looking for inspiration you end up focused on that one facet? Maybe it’s painted floors… maybe it’s wainscoting… or copper fixtures. In my case, at this point in time, it’s ceilings. So what ceiling got my mind racing today?

This one, from the Danforth Inn cupola, as taken by Zombie37. Now, I’m usually not much into the whole stars and moon faux nighttime sky thing – except in kids’ rooms – but I really like the look and feel of this one. One thing that appeals to me is that it’s making no effort to look authentic. And another is the beams painted in the somewhat lighter blue. It’s just fun and unpretentious and cute. Sometimes cute is just what’s needed to finish up a space.

For Friday, how about this cute and lighthearted furniture by Helena Bueno and Heinz Muller of Brazil for Renata?

I would LOVE this for my own bedroom!