LOVE the round-up of kid workspaces over at remodelista. Here’s a taste:

image from Elle Interiors, via remodelista

Petunia Pickle Bottom co-founders DeNai and Braden share an incredible tour of their home and design style. Keep an eye out for the school map of the United States, the oversized Chinese ceremonial mask and the mushroom collection. Without question, I could live here and feel well traveled, educated and at peace. Beautiful job, guys! If you want to learn more about PPB, check out our designer interview. Enjoy!

Maybe it’s the fact that in my professional life vibrant color and pattern are my signature style at Petunia Pickle Bottom that make my personal life at home a monochromatic world.  My rule of thumb when putting together a room usually begins with one object.  I am a fan of flea markets or something with a little history.  So when I begin to style a room, it is usually a unique found object that sparks my imagination.

Our home was built in the 1920’s and still has a considerable amount of the original details.  Our family room is where we like to hang out by the fireplace, read books to the kids on our comfy couches, take a nap or set up train tracks to circumnavigate the room.  When I first saw this room, I was struck by the 8’ window and high exposed beam ceiling. It was light and bright so I chose colors that would naturally illuminate.

The focal point I designed around was the natural wood Roost buck head flanked by archival school charts (lobster and bird) that stem from my father’s days as a college biology professor. My recent obsession with mushrooms covers the fireplace mantle.

Friends joke our kids will have nightmares from the oversized Chinese ceremonial mask that hangs in our dining room. Found at an antique store in historic downtown Ventura, she’s become part of the family. We think it was used in the movies or carried in a Chinese parade.

The red lips of the mask were the perfect color to pair the walls, a vintage red wood telephone booth door filled with glass, and our custom table crafted by my husband.

My 3-year-old son Sutton’s room was recently converted to a “big boy” bedroom.  Years ago I found a stunning oversized school map of the United States (chalk printed so you can write on it) that I knew would be perfect for a child’s bedroom. We held onto over the years and it served as the perfect centerpiece for the “Traveler’s odyssey” theme for my son’s room.

Complete with a flying ship, globes, suitcase, guitar, army blanket, old books, and Read the rest of this entry »

This week, purchase any Boodalee Sheet set and receive a second set (same color-way) for FREE. Simply add the product to your shopping cart and the coordinating set will be notated automatically. Promotion ends this Sunday, 5/10/2009 — applicaple on all Boodalee sheet sets only. For example: this one, this one, this one, this one, this one, this one and by the way…this one too. Party on Wayne, party on Garth!

Not too long ago, in a land not too far away, the DP staff sat around and talked about the Eames Elephants.

We love them.

We love them so much we could spend (actually, have spent) hours watching this video by eamesdemetrios:

Hats off to Vitra for going into production with the elephants! Although we love the plywood originals, the new plastic version from Vitra will do just fine.

I think Niecy Nash is hilarious. Thus, I find myself getting sucked into the show she hosts, Clean House, all the time. This week they featured a couple who wanted a green nursery for their baby. After some soul-searching, the mother-to-be finally gave in and sold the nursery furniture at the garage sale in exchange for green nursery furniture by Oeuf. In these days of green-washing, I wanted to let you know what makes Oeuf furniture green. I will use the Oeuf Classic Crib to show you the considerations a designer takes into account when manufacturing an eco-friendly piece of furniture:

First of all, the crib can be transformed into a toddler bed with an additional kit. It’s able to transform to meet lifestyle needs and changes, thus making it a product you can use longer and in different ways. Oeuf furniture is designed to be used after a nursery is no longer necessary:

Second, The birch used in the base is from certified sustainable forests.

Third, the sides, footboard and headboard are all cut from single sheets of wood panel which is eco-friendly MDF made of recovered wood fibers – to eliminate the hazard of loosening joints.

Fourth, the lacquer used on the finished products is, of course, lead-free, non-toxic, and completely inert.In addition to being eco-friendly, non-toxic lacquer is what you want to have if your youngster decides to try to chomp his/her way out of the crib bars!

To check out the entire Oeuf line, click here.

If you have completed an eco-friendly home project, please leave a comment and tell us about it!

top two photos from the style network

We had a special visit from Ashley of DwellStudio on Monday…boy is it a treat when our designer friends stop by! Something spreads through the air and we all get even more excited about the products on our site…a fervor-esque excitement some might say. Ashley gave us the lowdown on all of the new 2009 DwellStudio Baby and DwellStudio Home products which James launched on our site last week…we learned a TON about the new pieces but there are a few highlights I’m just itching to share:

1.) The new geometry print is amazing. It is a classic pattern that totally has a lasting quality to it (good for adults and kids and babies alike). Their color choices are spot on and the shapes are Read the rest of this entry »

So I started to tell you about the Modern Atlanta Home Tour yesterday but I didn’t get very far! I wanted to show you more from my favorite home that I saw on the tour (stairs described yesterday are pictured above). By the way, I only made it to five. I’d say five to six is the maximum you can really see when driving from place to place in a five hour time limit. It’s exhilarating but also exhausting. Also, once in Decatur my car automatically drove me to Victory Vintage, and I stopped by my house for a snack before visiting the house down the street. That’s how I roll.

O.K. So first, the architects who live in the house with a soul also designed this house around the corner (photos immediately above and below). It’s absolutely gorgeous, and the inhabitants have a smart mix of high end items and art and IKEA. I just found myself wondering if all the stuff they usually keep out was smushed in the “not part of the tour” closed door rooms, or if they are really this strictly minimal. That’s cool if they are, I just know that I could not accomplish such discipline in a million years:

Read the rest of this entry »

As some of you know, I lived in Charlottesville Virginia for eleven years. Every time someone came to visit, we went to Monticello. Then when I went to graduate school for landscape architecture there, it seemed like I was either walking what was then the future site of my Roads teacher Will Reilly’s walkway up to Monticello or doing a historic preservation class and studying Mulberry Row, or exploring the roundabouts starting way below at his father-in-law’s estate property. Once my friend Chad even got me access to the Dome Room. I think I could give the Monticello tour with my eyes closed.

Last night I went to bed thinking a lot about old T.J. and how he had his foyer arranged. Is my life racy or what??? Anyway, it was meant to be a museum, full of artifacts from the territory in the Louisiana Purchase, maps, Natural History and American History. This is how one hangs antlers Louis-and-Clark-style,* under the auspices of a Natural History Museum:

Don’t you feel like designers today are still emulating this composition? It’s so interesting! Maybe this will bring real antlers back in, who knows.

I just received my copy of Amy Butler’s Midwest Modern (yes, I wait until books get a little cheaper sometimes, thus I’m a bit behind). I loved the way Amy and her husband David have created what they call “the nature study.” Amy describes it as “a kinetic environment where we can study and display our finds. We really have a ‘catch and release’ program with rocks, leaves, shells, plants, and branches. In order to keep it from cluttering up, we’ll study a piece for a while, and then take it back outside.” I love it! It’s so Jeffersonian! This idea also translates well for families with kids – what better idea than to provide them with their own mini-musuem.** Check out Amy and David’s Nature Study:

Read the rest of this entry »

Looking to coordinate your bedding and your Fatboy? The long wait is over! The new Fatboy’s by Dwell are live on the site!

This is Dwell’s first licensing deal, and we hold the worldwide exclusive for a limited time.

Check out the complete collection here.

OK, I admit it. I don’t have any children. In fact, nobody who works here has any children, so what do we know? That is why we invited all the fabulous parents who blog to Baby Blogapalooza – they actually know what they are talking about, and we didn’t want to fake it! However, we like to think we are ok at sniffing out fantastic furniture, and we’ve been choosing a lot based on what we’d want for our hypothetical children.

Enter ducduc. Seriously, I want some of this stuff for me, and I’m 33 years old. I don’t know if this means they are great at designing furniture meant for children that is universal, or if I have some serious inner child issues. I’d like a graphic on my own bed like the one on the Alex crib, with an arrow that says “girl” (well, technically, I guess it should say “woman,” that’s not as fun). I’d also like orange Alex dresser and a PJ play table. In fact, I noticed that one of my favorite stores, Delaware River Trading Company, has a table in the window where their in-house designer has scribbled all over the top in pencil. I think I prefer the chalk version on the PJ table. By the way, once you and/or your children are tired of the chalkboard, you can flip it over to the lacquered paint side and bring it on down to the living room.

So whether you are shopping for your child or your inner child, you are good to go with ducduc. Finally, the Austin Credenza has holes in the back for all of your electronics if you do not need the toy storage capabilities!

View the ducduc collection of children’s furniture.