Honest To Nod

Things to Make - Cola Explosions/Bombs/Fountains

One 2L bottle of soda + 5 mentos (drop them in FAST) = Awesomeness = The perfect activity for the beginning of fall.

Post by Darcy : bedtimemonsters.blogspot.com

Shared Spaces: Oh, Brother

The best part about this shared space is that it works equally well for a 3 year old or a 13 year old. When creating any room, it’s important to think about how your needs and tastes might change as your children grow. That way you can invest in pieces that will transition from preschool to high school.

In this example, the simple pattern on the bedding is a great transitional element. It can be mixed with a variety of blankets and each child can personalize their bed with throw pillows or stuffed animals. It also has a lot of nice colors in it, which you can draw from to decorate the rest of the space.

And, let’s not ignore the obvious shared space solution, a bunk bed. This is a great space saver, and what kid doesn’t dream of having a bunk bed! Just remember that for safety reasons the top bunk needs to be reserved for kiddos that are 6 or older. The option shown here is a twin-over-full configuration. This would be great if you had two children of different ages. Your pre-teen can stretch out on the full size bottom bunk, while your elementary school kiddo can take the top bunk.

The use of a bunk saves floor space, which will allow for bookcases, desks and dressers that you need for the kids. You can also add a storage trundle under the bottom bunk for even more clothes and toy storage.  After all, have you ever met a parent that didn’t want more storage space?

By Danielle Kurtz

Danielle is the Creative Director at Nod and an over-protective mother of two. She’s also completely obsessed with Pinterest, Twitter and her Kindle, but not necessarily in that order. Danielle loves to craft, sew and crochet, but all her supplies have a layer of dust on them about 5-years-thick, wonder if it's just a coincidence that her oldest kiddo is 5 years old?

 

Try this: Sparkle Rainbow Animals

How do I make Sparkle Rainbow Animals?

Step 1: Spray paint each animal entirely. Wait for paint to dry. 

Step 2: Once spray paint dries, dip different sections into different colored paint. 

Step 3: Or, use the paintbrush to create a variety of paint effects like dribbling, dotting and more.

Step 4: Or, gently blend two colors and dip animals in for a swirl effect. 

The Girls’ Room

Back in June Courtney of the chirpingmoms.com posted about putting together a shared bedroom for her daughters. She was swooning over our painted Jenny Lind Beds, but wasn’t sure how she’d pull the whole room together.  So, last month she reached out to me and asked for some help. After gaining a little insight into her style, her girls’ personalities and the room she was working with, I put together a design for their room.

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For the room, I suggested doing two of the Jenny Lind Beds in Raspberry paired with our Please Plie Bedding. It’s a really punched up color palette with lots of options for mixing in vibrant pinks, yellows and blues. (Did I mention that Courtney loves yellow?)

I added in a lot of accent pieces, keeping many of the items in white since the furniture and bedding are so loud. Also, I paired the beds with the Monarch Nightstands rather than the Jenny Lind Nightstand. With two of these beds, it’s an awful lot of spindles for one room, so I thought a more streamlined piece for the nightstand would be a better option.

For the walls, I suggested a soothing icy blue. The furniture will pop next to this and it pairs nicely with the original wood floors in the space. I also proposed the idea of a book corner, using our book ledges to create a wall of storage/display. The girls can house a mix of books and art here and keep an ever-evolving installation of their current tastes.

In addition, I mixed in some a lot of throw pillows and our Krafty Kraft Letters. This will allow each of the girls to personalize her own space within the room. In any shared space, it’s important to carve out areas for each child to express herself.

To see more details on the room design, visit the Pinterest page I created for Courtney. http://pinterest.com/bynodforyou/the-girls-room-v2/

(As an aside, if you’re designing a room and aren’t already on Pinterest, I strongly urge you to join. It’s a really great way to gather and curate yours ideas for a space. It allows you to see all the items together and pull inspiration from all over the web, as well as draw on ideas from other pinners.)

By Danielle Kurtz

Danielle is the Creative Director at Nod and an over-protective mother of two. She’s also completely obsessed with Pinterest, Twitter and her Kindle, but not necessarily in that order. Danielle loves to craft, sew and crochet, but all her supplies have a layer of dust on them about 5-years-thick, wonder if it's just a coincidence that her oldest kiddo is 5 years old?

Try this: Wintery Woods Jar

Whattya need?

• Bleach
• Metal bowl
• Jar
• Mini trees
• Hot glue gun
• Hot glue
• Fake snow

How do I make a Wintery Woods Jar?

Step 1: Grownups only. In a well-ventilated area, pour bleach into metal bowl. Make sure to keep kids and pets at a safe distance.

Step 2: Dip each tree into bleach to give it a pale, vintage look. Leave trees in longer to achieve a paler shade or a pure white effect. 

Step 3: Remove the trees from bleach and let them dry. Then, use the hot glue gun to adhere each tree to the inside of the jar lid. 

Step 4: Once the glue dries, fill the jar with fake snow, screw the lid on and turn the jar upside down. 

For this and more arts & crafts, check out Eye Candy - our exclusive holiday decor online catalog.

 

Try this: Magazine Forest Décor

Whattya need?

• Magazines
• Glue
• Glitter
• Box cutter
• Tape

How do I make a Magazine Forest Décor? 

Step 1: Carefully remove magazine’s cover. 

Step 2: Draw three, dashed rectangles of different sizes on the magazine. Then, draw a solid diagonal line through each rectangle. 

Step 3: Grownups only. Using the box cutter, cut along the dashed lines through the entire magazine. 

Step 4: Fold each page along the solid diagonal line until every page is folded. 

Step 5: Fan out the corners to create a tree-like effect. Decorate using glue and glitter.

 For this and more arts & crafts, check out Eye Candy - our exclusive holiday decor online catalog.

Try this: Magnetic Car Mural

Whattya need?

• Wall-mounted magnetic strip
• Screws
• Screwdriver
• Metal toy cars* (toy driver’s license not needed) 

How do I make a Magnetic Car Mural?

Step 1: Screw the mounting plate for the magnetic strip to wall.

Step 2: Lock magnetic strip onto mounting plate.

Step 3: Attach metal cars to magnetic strip, arranging them by color if desired.

 *We used very old cars, the new ones aren't really made of metal that's magnetic

Shared Spaces: Sharing with the new baby

Many children share rooms, and putting a baby and preschooler into one bedroom is a common challenge for many of our customers. So how do you make a nursery that’s sweet enough for baby, but also works for big sister? There are certainly a lot of ways to go about doing this, but I think the key is to edit, edit, edit. Functionally you need a lot of stuff in this room, so the simpler the design elements the better.

Start with the textiles. If you like the idea of a themed bedding set (Princess, Zoo, Solar System) that’s definitely an option. But, choose a themed set for ONLY the crib or the bed, but not both. For example, if big sis wants a Princess & the Pea Quilt, go with that, then choose a simpler textile for the crib that pulls some of the colors from the Princess Quilt but doesn’t have a theme of its own. Conversely, if you want a circus crib set, then choose a more classic pattern for the big kid bed, like plaids or dots.

For the room shown above, we opted to stick with a common color and not incorporate a theme into the bedding. The aqua is serene enough for baby, but still packs enough punch to be a playful choice for big sis. Also, it would work nicely for a boy/girl version of this room as well.

Choose one element in the space that has a lot of color, then you can pull from that for the other pieces in the room. In this case, the rug is the focal point. I recommend a plush wool rug that baby can play on and will hold up to a lot of abuse. The design of this rug will definitely grow with the children. Down the road you can incorporate more bits of navy and purple or even red, so it gives a lot of flexibility.

Also, it’s important to make the space flexible. One afternoon it might be a place for baby to learn to crawl. The next, big sis may transform it into a tea party for her dolls. So, think about options like poufs or a Nod Chair that can be easily dragged around by the kids to transform the space.

And to decorate the space, decals are a really nice option. Again, they’re flexible so you can change them as your kids’ tastes evolve and change. Another option would be a gallery wall where you can incorporate a mix of photographs, art and creations made by your children. This can be flexible and change over time as well. Also, it’ll give both kids a place to express themselves in the room.

Lastly, any of the above could also work for a nursery/guest room. We see the need for these spaces quite frequently. Using the above ideas and healthy dose of editing, you can make a space that works equally well for the daily routine of a nursery and holiday visits from Grandma.

By Danielle Kurtz

Danielle is the Creative Director at Nod and an over-protective mother of two. She’s also completely obsessed with Pinterest, Twitter and her Kindle, but not necessarily in that order. Danielle loves to craft, sew and crochet, but all her supplies have a layer of dust on them about 5-years-thick, wonder if it's just a coincidence that her oldest kiddo is 5 years old?

Teaching Location DIY

We have this amazing parent at the school where I work who volunteers in one of our kindergarten classrooms on her days off.  And she doesn’t just volunteer in the sense that she’ll make copies, record scores, sort papers, or help run centers…..she’ll create incredible learning activities for kids on her own time and bring them in and donate them to the classroom.

When I saw the set of Russian nesting dolls that she made last spring to help teach kids general location I knew I had to make my own set to use with Georgia and share with all of you.  General location is a tricky thing to understand for young kids.  The idea that we live in a city that is inside a state that is inside a country that is part of a continent that is part of the world is tough.  And kids older than kindergartners have a tough time with this too.

These nesting dolls are a perfect illustration of how this concept works and helps students ‘see’ that a city is smaller than a state.  Here’s what you need to get started:

First:  Paint each of your dolls a different color.  I let Georgia help me with this part.  And it wasn’t the neatest thing to do together–but she loved it.

Second:  Let your dolls dry completely.  I let mine sit for about 24 hours.

Third:  Paint your dolls with the appropriate locations.  I painted Georgia, our house, our city, our state, our country, and the world on mine…..from smallest to largest. I had to employ the help of my very talented mom to paint a few things.

When they’re all done, spray them with a shiny acryllic spray and let them dry.  It won’t take more than an hour for the dolls to dry.

Then, show your kiddo how the dolls fit together and explain to them why each one goes into the next one.  Georgia loves the little one that I painted to look like her and thinks it’s great how perfectly it fits inside her “house.”

And once we went through it a few times it was amazing how a three year old could tell me when I asked her, “We live in Michigan and it’s in the United States, and it’s part of the world.”  She loved telling it to me while she placed each doll inside the next one.  Hands-on learning is fantastic at any age, but especially for the pre-school set who learn best by doing.

Do this!  It’s so much fun and the gratifying feeling that comes with watching your child grasp a tricky concept is a pay-off you deserve as a parent.  Location, location, location…….it’s important!

Post by Maggie Terryn : Mom Colored Glasses

Shared Spaces: Sisterly Love

I love this room! It absolutely takes me back to my own childhood. My big sister is definitely my best friend, and though we do occasionally disagree, we’ve been close our whole lives. In fact, when I was about 9 we moved into a larger house and I got my own bedroom (yeah!), but most nights you could still find me sleeping in my sister’s room, we were (and still are) a bit inseparable.

When designing a bedroom for twins (or siblings very close in age), I think the most important thing to remember is, don’t make them compromise on everything. Even though most nights they may want to push their beds together and gossip all night, it’s likely sometimes they’ll want something just for them.

From a design perspective, see if you can get them to agree on a pretty simple color palette, then let loose a bit and allow them each to bring in elements they enjoy within the confines of that palette. In this example, the bedding set is the inspiration for the color scheme in the space. So, if you can settle on one bedding set that works for both kids, that’s a great place to start.

You’ll notice here that there are two rugs pushed together. Each with a very different aesthetic, but both working because of the golden hues. So, the girls can each express their tastes. Having something like the shelving ledge or bulletin boards allows the girls a space to decorate themselves. We also painted the walls in a soft ombre horizontal stripe, this helps pull together the tonal effect in the room.

By Danielle Kurtz

Danielle is the Creative Director at Nod and an over-protective mother of two. She’s also completely obsessed with Pinterest, Twitter and her Kindle, but not necessarily in that order. Danielle loves to craft, sew and crochet, but all her supplies have a layer of dust on them about 5-years-thick, wonder if it's just a coincidence that her oldest kiddo is 5 years old?