With some compromise and some creativity you can make even the biggest "night and day" differences between two kids sharing a space feel celebrated.

I have two stepdaughters. They don't live with us full time. And this summer they drove me absolutely INSANE. They fought all summer due to lack of personal space & feeling like people view them as a solid unit as opposed to individuals. They're in that place, developmentally, where they REALLY need to have their own individual identity. And in my fit of insanity I decided we could give that to them. Here's how we managed to turn one room into two decided separate spaces for two decided separate young women…

Continue reading "Conquering Shared Space for Teenagers" →

The illustrious blogger, soon-to-be mama and previously Offbeat Bride-featured Steampunk Bride,  The Pregonaut, did an AMAZING job with her little Bot's room and was stoked to share it with us. Bask in the pop art glory awesomeness of these new digs! – Offbeat Shrie

We’re at 38 weeks and the room is finally complete! Now for the rundown of everything I did!

Anyone who knows me knows I love big bold pop art graphics. You can see just how much I love painting them from my umbrellas over at Nohwear. So I knew that whatever I did for the little bot’s room would be big, bold and fun. But what? At first, yes, I wanted to do a Discworld themed room, but it seemed too old for her. It seems something a 6 or 7 year old could appreciate more than a 2 or 3 year old and I’m thinking we’re going to be here for a while.

Continue reading "The Bot's Room" →

My son loves animals. Since he was three he has wanted to be one of three things: A dolphin trainer, a shark trainer, or a zoo keeper.

At one point he even wanted to marry a T-Rex.

Me: So when you get older what do you think your wife will be like?
Him: She will be huge with little arms and sharp teeth.
Me: Wow! She sounds pretty scary.
Him: Oh she is! She's a T-Rex, mom. She could eat you.
Me: Well, I hope not!

Anyway a few months ago I wanted to change up his room — do something fun, but not too expensive. So I decided to paint an underwater scene, something from one of our favorite books "Way Down Deep in the Deep Blue Sea."

I penciled in the characters and then started to paint…

Continue reading "How I turned my kid's room into an undersea dream for less than $100" →

Last month I shared our process of transforming our walk-in closet into a baby nook. Well, we finally (almost) finished the process, and I figured I'd share pictures.

The only thing missing is this poster, which is on its way from London.

Now, I'm not delusional here: despite the wide-angle lens, this is a small space. But I'm already envisioning how, once our baby is walking, we can unhinge the door, add a baby gate, and basically turn the little room into a padded toddler asylum filled with foam mattress flooring with pillows and blankets everywhere. And once he's a little bigger, a tiny bunk bed with a cubby space underneath. We'll see if we can milk this room 'til pre-school!

But for now, it's a perfect place to change a diaper, do a quick feeding (this isn't my nursing station, to be sure!), and store our impending son's clothing and supplies.

The first time I laid eyes on this nursery it brought back memories of my first trip to the Tomorrowland section of Disneyland. The sheer wonder of possibility laid out in impossibly futuristic colors and tableaus, what could be a better theme for a nursery?!

illuminatedmama shared these photos in the Offbeat Flickr pool and we've been ogling them ever since.

Check out the rest of the this post for more pics (including more simply FABULOUS Tomorrowland posters!)

Continue reading "Retro space nursery" →

This nursery is so dreamy. It's so tranquil, but with a touch of whimsy that makes me want to scour each picture looking for one more thing to love because I know I'll find it.

Taylor and Leah (some of you may remember Leah from over here) spent a lot of time designing a nursery that was warm and perfect for either sex. As Leah said, "Neither of us have ever been under the impression that girl means pink and boy means blue."

Continue reading "Tree and Royal Tenenbaums-inspired nursery" →