Parentables is Now Live!

Hello neglected blog readers! I wish I could say I've been neglecting the Chateau & Bungalow blog because I was lounging somewhere on a sunny beach, but alas I've been doing something much less glamorous, although equally as exciting in many ways. You may recall my mentioning that I was going to be writing for TLC's new blog Parentables. Well, we are officially live! I really encourage any of you who are parents, ever want to be parents or just plain wonder what all the fuss is about to check it out. Because it's an all encompassing blog there are posts on just about every topic under the sun from fashion and food to discipline and health, and of course great design and products for kids. In design-land I've done posts on the coolest cribs, baby gear that will accent your decor instead of being an eyesore, and some super creative ways to display your children's art work. Please check them out! Other topics that I've covered include teaching kids about healthy body image, my son's diagnosis of Pyloric Stenosis, Rent the Runway, how to save big bucks at the grocery store, and more. Become a Facebook fan of Parentables here to follow all the latest stories. And now that I'm getting into the swing of things, C & B's regular posts will be back on schedule. I've got my daughter's 2nd birthday party this weekend with a full array of fun party decor ideas to share. Remember her 1st birthday? There's a lot more where that came from!

DIY Chalkboard Easel From Old Crib

There are few things that make me happier than seeing something transformed from it's no longer useful self into a completely new and fabulous product. Katie from Notes From a Very Red Kitchen has really killed it with this one, particularly because there are thousands and thousands of cribs out there that are no longer deemed safe because they have drop sides, my daughter's included. Katie has taken an old crib and transformed it into a two sided easel and chalkboard, something that just about every kid enjoys. Not only is it a great re-purposing of a no longer useful item, but it's actually better looking than most kids easels on the market too. Bravo! You can create your very own by following her detailed crib to easel directions and pictorial.

Image via
Notes From a Very Red Kitchen

Books on Display

File this under "Why didn't I think of that?" This wall of books on display in a nursery means you'll never forget what titles you have in the house and is sure to instill a love of reading. Plus, it's fun to look at. While it works great in a nursery it would also be fabulous in a living room. Why hide all those beautiful book covers? And all you need is a few pieces of wood to get the look of an incredible feature wall.

Image via Blabla on Facebook

Etsy Pick of the Week: Rock the Boat

This adorable tender rocking cradle by Beaver Boatworks is almost reason enough to have another baby...at least for those of us that adore boating and seaside living. (I can just see my husband shaking his head no as he reads that.) I have quite a few friends who it would be perfect for. This accurate replica of a ship's tender is cyprus planked on a mahogany backbone with a lacewood transom. The company sells bedding to fit the unusual shape.

And just in case you thought it couldn't get any cuter, it does. After you are done using it as a cradle, you can get the conversion kit and turn it into a wagon. This has me written all over it, unfortunately the price tag doesn't, but hey, if you can swing it, I say go for it!

Brightening Up Beige

The folks over at Ohdeedoh, Apartment Therapy's kids blog, always have great posts of people's before & after's in their homes. I came across this nursery this week, and was very impressed. On the surface, it looks like a cute well designed nursery, but what's so impressive about it is that upon a closer look, you can see that it is a room with beige painted walls and beige carpet. This is a rental that looks like anything but! So many people get stumped by what to do with a rental and how to infuse their own personality into them. Here, the homeowner put a bright colorful area rug over the beige wall to wall carpet, and added a scalloped wallpaper border that she made from contact paper. To find out how, you can check her blog, IS*LY. While this was done for a child's room, you can easily use these ideas for an adult's room too. So go on, and brighten up those beige rentals.

New York Gift Show Roundup: Jonathan Adler

I couldn't have been any happier than to see the Jonathan Adler booth meet me at the top of the first escalator I went up as I entered the New York International Gift Fair on Monday. If I haven't made it clear before, I am OBSESSED with his products. His designs are the epitome of smile inducing objects. They are just the perfect mix of preppy, modern, and fun. I don't know if I am suddenly loving turquoise because it's the Pantone color of the year, but the Mrs. Godfrey Chair (above) is awesome and comes with an equally fabulous name. I'm also totally digging the Talitha Rug under it.

I love the combination of the chunky wood and lucite in the Bond Collection Tables. And the gold side tables are an amazing piece of functional art.

One of my favorite Jonathan Adler pieces are his fish platters, but I think all of his tableware adds a nice splash of color to every day.

Hollywood Lamps, British Flag and Anchor Rugs, and pillows galore. Yes please!

I love a splash of fucshia lacquer mixed in with all the white. And the Ropes Wallpaper will make its way into my house some day.

The only thing that could be better than his products, are his products in miniature. The Jonathan Adler Junior Collection is to DIE for. I seriously can't decide what my favorite piece is, but I'm pretty fond of both the Junior Lampert Sofa and the ultra chic Junior Templeton Chair.

I'm also really keen on the Anchor Blanket, Zebra Rugs, and those adorable animal puzzles on the shelf. The Dinosaur Lamp is also in the running to replace the Giraffe Lamp as my favorite. I could probably change the name of this blog to the "Jonathan Adler's Biggest Fan Blog" so I better stop now before I go too far!

Etsy Pick of the Week: Mod Mom Furniture Toy Boxes

Owyn Toy Box
Perhaps you recall previous posts about how I long to be organized, but can't seem to get a grip on corralling all of my children's toys. In my defense, I do have to say that since I declared my ultimate goal of having "a place for everything and everything in it's place" this past January, I have made some progress, albeit minimal. Baby steps.

Riley Paige Toy Box
But how cute are these toy boxes from Etsy shop Mod Mom Furniture?! I wouldn't even mind having one of them in my living room, although the patchwork flower one is calling to me and I'm pretty sure it's saying "Please put me in your daughter's room!" I particularly love how the lids are cutouts and not on hinges so there is no risk of them crashing down on kiddie fingers (my worst nightmare about toy boxes).

Noah Owl Box
And if you don't have a lot of space (all the more reason for needing a place to store things), there are smaller sizes available like this ridiculously cute owl box. These might even earn my exclusive distinction as a "smile inducing object". Now pick up those toys!

Mini French Chairs

What could possibly be better than a comfy French salon chair? A comfy French salon chair in miniature! Restoration Hardware's child sized chairs in classic French styles are just about the most adorable things I've ever laid eye on for a kids room, or even a living room that you don't want to look like a kids room even though your kids have taken over your house. I'm just dying to get the Mini French Salon Chair for my daughter's room.
The Mini French Vintage Chair would be just perfect for a little girl's vanity. And the Mini French Wing Chair would be fabulous for the little boy in your life. I think I would have the camera out every time my son sat in this to read a book. Wouldn't it just be adorable? This one would definitely be great in pairs too. Oh, it's going to be hard not to click the "buy now" button on these.

Customize Your Play Set

For my son's birthday last month, we got him a slide set, but I hated the standard issue cover that came for the tower part and decided to have my husband, who works for a sailmaker, make a sailcloth cover. I originally envisioned a more modern white sail with blue numbers on it, but he found an old blue canvas sail and decided to use that which works well too. But it got me to thinking about why we settle for the same old thing that maybe works, but isn't the most attractive thing we've seen instead of really making this otherwise not very exciting, but very large item in our yard really fun visually. There are so many fabulous outdoor fabrics out there, why not use them on our play sets! Here are a few that I think would look pretty phenomenal.

Trina Turk Trellis in Pool
Donghia Lifeguard
Seacloth Boardwalk Scalamandre St. Barth's Stripe
Scalamandre Antiqua

Keep in mind that these covers will only last a few years so you will have to replace them every once in a while, but I think if you bring them in during the winter, you could probably extend the life by quite a bit. I think the bigger and brighter the print, the better on these so don't settle for standard issue boring. Customize your play set!

Firetruck Birthday Party

Wow, I can hardly believe it, but this is my 100th post! Thank you all so much for your support in this new venture. And lucky for me, I didn't have to search endlessly for the perfect topic for this post because my son's 4th birthday party was yesterday, and as promised last week here are the photos of his firetruck themed party. So clearly, I am no Amy Atlas, but I think my dessert table turned out pretty well. I made the same 3D firetruck cake that I made last year (with some decorating modifications), and despite the fact that I was certain my cake decorating skills had improved, it looked almost identical. Oh well. I did find one thing that made it easier though and that is the new Cake Graffiti by Duff from the Food Network show Ace of Cakes which I found at Michaels. Last year I used red food coloring and it was a mess so this was much easier. However, I used buttercream frosting and it was really humid so next time (if there is one) I might have to try fondant.
Something funny happens when you live on an island (even one with 3 bridges to get off of it) which is that you think it's a huge deal to leave the island to get something you need. Last week my son requested that we have a pinata for his party, but there isn't a store on the island that sells them so instead of driving half an hour off island, I decided I would spend hours making one. Luckily, I found some pretty easy directions online to make a firetruck pinata. The only issues I ran into were that it took a long time to dry and even though I tried to make it thin since the kids were young, it would NOT break open so I ended up having to tear it open, but the kids still had a great time with it.
And lastly, the goody bags. I used the personalized firetruck image that I created and showed you last week and just printed them out 10 to a page and cut and pasted them onto the goody bags. Between the cake and the candy, my husband thought we might not have any friends left today with everyone having to get their kids down off the sugar high. Lucky for us, ours crashed at 6:30 last night. And hey, you only turn 4 once, right? Happy Birthday T!

Sneak Peak: Firetruck Birthday Party

This Sunday is my son's 4th birthday party, and much to my dismay he has requested a repeat of all things fireman, firetruck, firehouse like we did last year. Last year I set the bar a little too high by building a 3D firetruck cake and so it looks like I am going to be tackling the same project again this year. Of course, I actually believe that my cake decorating skills have gotten a lot better (because of the one other cake I baked for my daughter's first birthday party) so I am now expecting this year's firetruck cake to be lightyears better than last year's cake. Oh, and he wants cupcakes too, of course. I've also starting following some blogs of event planners and dessert tables seem to be the big thing right now so since we've just invited everyone for cake and ice cream, I thought I'd give one a try. So far, I've created the little firetruck logo (above) that I'm going to use on the displays and favors. Yup, that's as far as I've gotten and the party is a mere 3 days away....so I thought I'd look for a little more inspiration.

There is little doubt that the queen or master or designer extraordinaire of dessert tables is Manhattan based designer Amy Atlas of Amy Atlas Events. I love the bright colors of her candy shop themed table above.

Another event planner who is making waves in the dessert table arena is Kim Stoegbauer of TomKat Studio who also happens to have an Etsy shop where she sells downloadable invitations, cupcake picks, and more. Above is her Fairy Garden Theme table.

And lastly, but certainly not least, is the adorable Pink Tricycle theme party by Stephanie Frazier Grimm of Couture Parties. Stephanie also gives you a head start by selling Get the Party Started Packs in 14 different themes which include plates, cups, silverware, favor bags and cupcake picks in whatever theme you choose.

Since I always insist on making things as difficult as possible for myself, I will be starting from scratch in coming up with a way to make my dessert table presentable. There is a pretty good chance that it won't hold a candle to any of these ones, but my son will still think it's pretty cool. Check back Monday to see how it comes out.

Jonathan Adler Junior

Back at the beginning of 2010 I just about jumped out of my own skin with excitement when I heard about the new Jonathan Adler Junior Collection. Well at last it is starting to become available. I mean a junior version of the Lampert Sofa? Yes please! I might actually start to look forward to seeing my kids' stuff scattered about the house if it looked like this.

This Junior Letter Pillow would be just perfect for my little Carolina's room. And here are a few of my other favorites too. Lion Rug

Sun Wallpaper



Giraffe Wall Sconce

Some of the items have actually been in his collection for a while, but they are perfect for kids and that's what makes his stuff so wonderful. You can buy it now and they can still use it for years and years to come. A perfect balance of modern and traditional. I say these are my favorites, but really I'd like one of everything. Actually, better make it two!

Etsy Pick of the Week: Sleeping with the Fishes

These ocean critter pillowcases by Royal Kane on Etsy are a perfect way to add a little splash of the ocean to a room without overdoing it and they add a great pop of color too. I think they are perfect against all white or would be great with a solid colored bedspread to match. Each one is silk screened with an original piece of artwork and there are dozens of images to choose from.

They come in standard pillowcase size and are a mere $11.99. Talk about bang for your buck!


My faves are the lobster and crab, but of course I couldn't resist throwing in the whale too. It seems a little more appropriate for a kid's room while the others are a bit more sophisticated looking, but whichever one you fancy, you'll enjoy sleeping with these sea creatures.

Serena & Lily: Not Just Kid Stuff Anymore

Throw Pillows

Many of us who are moms are already familiar with the fabulous nursery and children's bedding designs of Serena & Lily. The company launched their first line in 2004 with bedding and added upholstered furniture such as gliders and headboards as well as lighting, rugs and custom paint colors to match their fabrics, but always a bit more geared towards chidren.

Tess Bedding
But over the past year, I've noticed that they have started adding more home decor that isn't baby or kid oriented, and I must say they are doing a spectacular job at it.

Custom Upholstered Furniture
In addition to their fabulous bedding, you can now get custom upholstered furniture for your bedroom, living room or dining room using the fabulous Serena & Lily fabrics. Whether you are looking for something calm and traditional or bold and modern, they have something for you.

Lucky Lacquered Table
Plus, they have added unique pieces to add that pop of color or eclectic feel to your home.

Greek Key Lamp

Their lighting selections have always been great, but now they have more sophistacated offerings.

Navy Deco Frame Rug

And the Serena & Lily rugs are simple but still make a statement.

Leaf Diamond Fabric

You can also buy the Serena & Lily fabrics by the yard to add coordinating curtains or to reupholster an existing piece of furniture.

Punch Paint

And of course, the Serena & Lily paint ties it all together. Whether you are a design diva or design challenged, Serena & Lily couldn't make it any easier to create a beautiful room for yourself or the kids.

Etsy Pick of the Week: Scarlet Fig Fabrics

While many of the artists on Etsy are very talented hobbyists you can also find some special editions by very successful professional artists. These fabrics by Scarlet Fig are an example of that. Artist Laurie Wisbrun has her first collection for Robert Kaufman called Tufted Tweets coming out next month, but you can find other original limited edition designs available only on Etsy.
She has these adorable and colorful prints digitally printed at Spoonflower which I've featured in a previous post. I love her use of color and the animal prints are perfect for a kids room.
So if you can't find what you're looking for in a fabric store or if you want something truly original, don't forget to take a look on Etsy and you will likely be pleasantly surprised.