I have been trying to carve out a little time for nesting projects, but with a 6 month old and 2 apps in production at Duck Duck Moose, there never seems to be enough time. Here are a few recent projects I have worked on around the house.

“I love you because”
I saw this idea on Pinterest and figured everyone can use a little bit of love and positive energy.

Lamp Makeover
An old lamp gets a new life courtesy of some paper and a scrap booking element.

Painting a painting
I love this painting from Urban Outfitters, but when I got it, I was disappointed with the colors. I decided to add some color of my own and now it brightens up my daughter’s playroom.

Tree and Hearth
A metal tree from Urban Outfitters hangs over our fireplace right next to a hand built, pit-fired pot – one of the many I have collected on trips to the South West.

Colorful Reading
A while ago an interior designer friend of mine suggested I arrange the books in my living room by color. What a difference it made! After I did the arranging, I found that I often remembered my books by color anyway which made them easier to find.

Faux animal heads
I know these have had their day and then quite a few days after that, but I confess, I still love them. This was another great find from Urban Outfitters. The paper and frame were my additions. I feel like there are endless possibilities for adornment come the holidays.

Welcome home
My little lantern from Flora Grubb has seen better days, but paired with some mini pine cones and a bright ribbon, it is kind of a sweet welcome for guests.

Wall statement
On the wall of my office. It is hanging above a settee I found in the trash that *some day* I *will* recover.

More for the walls
I finally put up some photos of our travels. I found great instructions on Ballard Designs website on how to hang these without making swiss cheese out of my walls.

Plants that don’t die
Believe me, that’s saying a lot because I work hard to kill them.

Product Manager
We added a new PM to our team!

In case you haven’t gleaned from the previous post (and the silence) we have a new product manager on board at Duck Duck Moose! In all my abundant free time I have been fully absorbed in sleeping (turns out nothing sounds more attractive to me than an extra 5 minutes of sleep these days) and decorating spaces for kids (if anyone would like to volunteer their kid’s space for a make-over I am your woman). A few months ago I saw these cute posters for kids from Land of Nod. They aren’t exactly my style, so I decided to make some of my own for little G’s bathroom.




I am going to endeavor to blog a little more often now that I have finally caught my breath, but in the meantime be on the lookout for another app from Duck Duck Moose (coming soon) and check out our pins on Pinterest

Our new little soon-to-be product manager’s nursery was featured on the Dwell blog this morning featuring their new Thompson Glider in the Chocolate Dot fabric. With 3-4 more weeks until her arrival, this little one is DDM’s longest development cycle to-date.

his past weekend was action packed. Not only did I see The Zac Brown Band (!!!) at the first ever West Coast Country Concert in San Francisco, but I also did the tour of the Barney’s Warehouse sale (which was crap) and the Renegade Craft Fair (if you have never gone, you should. It is replete with awesomeness and urban hipsters galore).

As my husband likes to point out, I have an inner hippy which I try to embrace whenever possible (usually in the form of clothes which inevitably elicits the ever-charming response of “you’re wearing that?“). As a result, urban hipster events are pretty much the only time my collection of patchwork empire-waisted tent dresses are allowed to come out of hiding, which means these events are etched in stone on my calendar.

Whatever. Anyway, here are some of my favorites from this year’s crop of crafters:

Catia Chien:
I love these hand-painted images from Catia Chien. They almost have a dreamy quality about them.

Sora Designs:
Handmade vintage jewelry. Reminds me a bit of Elva Fields

Erin Zam:
I love these beautiful, graphic wall hangings by Erin Zam. I bought the one pictured below.

Meryl Munches Macaroni:
Colorful hand-drawn shoes for tykes

Sycamore Street Press:
Beautiful letter pressed number and letter posters for children

Fernworks:
Mixed media creations under resin. After spending an entire summer in my studio inhaling the fumes of resin and cursing my inability to make anything better than decoration for my trash can, I have a new found respect for resin art.

Little Bit:
Handmade dino stuffed animals <3 <3 <3

Mama’s Little Babies:
Victorian Illustration Jewelry

Old Tom Foolery:
I have a soft spot for good, letter pressed type, plus who can resist typestaches?

A Little Birdie Told Moi:
Super adorableness.

Colette Kids:
Graphic tees for infants and children.

Calliope:
Cute tops and headbands for little girls

Paz Sintes:
Unique textile jewelry. Pricey, but beautiful.

Petite Collage:
Cute stuff for Kids’ walls

Sara Paloma Pottery:
Perfectly hand-thrown porcelain.

Hello Hanna:
A one-of-a-kind book kit with buildable stickers and place mats with sticker kits.

Some of the most rewarding moments of the work we do at Duck Duck Moose comes from the feedback we get from other parents and from the connections we make with other artists, app developers and educators. As a creative person, I just love meeting other creative types and hearing more about their creative process and inspiration. One such person is Maggy of Red Ted Art. We just love her sweet, colorful Pop Art style. Its bright colors and clean contours are appealing to young children.

Maggy tells us that although she has never been formally trained, she loves modern art and is inspired by Pop Art in particular. Her first inspiration for painting was her son and from there she went wild, drawing inspiration from every day objects.

In addition to her work, Maggy hosts a forum for craft projects to do with your children.

It was a pleasure to meet you Maggy and keep up the great work!

have been thinking a lot about nurseries this week since my BFF asked me to participate the in design of the nursery for her newest addition — a boy (a request I am sure her husband will come to regret once he sees what expensive taste I have). So this week’s Weekend Round-up is for you, Cheryl.

via: Nursery Project

via: Ella and Elliott

via: Oh Dee Doh

via: Design Sponge

via: Coochicoos

Creative Inspiration for Nurseries

Even the best designers need a little creative inspiration now and then. Here are some of our favs for jogging your creative spark:

Oh Dee Doh
Land of Nod
Coochicoo Flickr Group
Project Nursery
Ella and Elliot
Serena and Lily

have decided to add a new feature to our blog called “Weekend Round-up” where I can post all the items/design I have been drooling over during the week. This week’s focus is design for children.

Little Animals:
I am a sucker for sustainable handmade dolls — the more character they have, the more I love them. This week I am crunching on these little handmade animals from Stitchface.

Stripes and Polk Dots Nursery Design:
I just love the feel of this nursery! The crib is my favorite part — it has such lovely curves and a small storage space underneath. I searched online to find this exact crib and ended up finding a similar one by PBKids. The lines aren’t quite as elegant, but still very pretty.

Posters and Totes:
Ollie and Lime Poster art & Thomas Paul totes, available at Designpublic.com

Modern Twist Place mats:
Yeah, yeah, I know. These have done the rounds a bit, but I still want some (grown-up) ones of my own, so I am posting for those who have not yet seen them. I can’t tell you how many cloth place mats I have thrown away because I just can’t seem to eat without food flying everywhere. I love these adorable ones for kids that encourage kids to color within the lines (and hopefully not on your table).

Happy weekend!

Nicci

From the look of the polished exterior, expansive gardens and painstakingly perfect interior design of 3450 Washington Street, one would never guess that a mere few months ago the 8,368 foot mansion was just a shell of a house. The Beaux Arts-style Presidio Heights mansion is now on sale for a pittance of 19 million dollars (chump change, my friends). Built in 1929 and designed by noted architect Albert Farr, the house is a maze of small cubbyholes and secret nooks adorned with design ranging from the bare minimalist to the fanciful.

The mansion is divided into 33 spaces of varying size featuring 28 different designers, each intent on expressing his or her own unique vision. Some of the rooms are over-the-top strange and in one particular instance, even creepy. For example, the “Quiet Room” by Lushart Decorative has rather nice, subtle murals of organic shapes on the walls, but also features a light fixture covered with what appears to be bug eggs and the bugs that presumably hatched from them. It reminded me a little bit of my last vacation to Mexico where I lay awake all night inside of a mosquito netting covered with large and hungry-looking bugs clinging to the outside. I managed to keep myself (barely) calm by softly repeating the mantra — “this is an embrace bugs vacation”. Definitely not a room that invites “quiet contemplation” or a “transformative act of introspection” unless your idea of quiet contemplation involves communion with insects.

Another bizarre addition is the room decorated entirely in black and white gingham (even the walls) with bright green and yellow accents and a bathroom entitled “Modernism Talks Back” with dizzying black and white glass tile reminiscent of pixel art; the coup de grace being the reminder to wash behind your ears.

There are also incredibly beautiful rooms like a small dressing room entitled “Le Suite” by Sagrerabrazil Design, which despite its small space is a room that captivates with its hand-cut lampshades and gorgeous graphic wallpaper by Harlequin. You could almost imagine yourself lingering over the beautiful vanity, combing through an extended palette of colors, planning your wardrobe for a night out while the scent of Chanel wafts through the summer air — almost.

Another notable favorite is the Guest Quarters at Mongibello by Wick Design. There is no way to do this room justice by description. The room boasts a very clean minimalist design with a neutral color palette complete with a hanging seat in which to lounge or read or just stare idly out the window.

One of the main highlights of the tour was the spaces designed for children. The Triplets Nursery room by Marsh and Clark design had some lovely elements, including the Hightower Stingray chair (which I am currently obsessed with), the Hannspree Polar bear photo frame (so cute) and some lovely custom light fixtures. Outside the children’s playroom is a small balcony space entitled “Sacred Space to Grow” designed especially for small gardeners in mind.

Other notable rooms are the kitchen — an incredible space for any cook and the living room designed by David Kensington which features a collection of beautiful antiques from around the world and manages to feel both sophisticated and comfortable at the same time.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the artwork in the hallways — an exhibition entitled “The Secret Lives of Teachers” created by the Visual Arts department at University High School.

All in all, this years Decorator Showcase was certainly worth seeing.

am *finally* getting around to blogging about some of the beautiful things I saw at the Renegade Craft Fair last month. We have been flat out crazed the past month finishing up our new Old MacDonald iPhone app for kids and that’s my excuse (or at least that’s what I am going with anyway).

So, back to the Renegade Craft Fair — it was a great turn out this year with loads of beautiful stuff and more vendors than ever. I bought lots of lovely little items — a knitted neck cozy with pom poms (an item that I felt I would surely whither up and die if I did not own) and a butterfly necklace (which I am wearing as I type this entry). There was a lot of great stuff for little ones, but one of my favs was the Dee&Lala letterpress wall art for nurseries. The illustration is fresh and modern and she has lots of different designs (more than what is on her site).

She also has some lovely letterpressed clocks for sale.

Happy Friday!

Nicci

have a mild obsession with all things hippo-shaped. Dieline recently featured these adorable animals from Zuny for their beautiful packaging, but when I visited the site and saw these hippo bookends, I was truly in love. There are a plethora of different animals to choose from and they come in a variety of colors. These animals would look cute on any nursery bookshelf, although I have to admit I sort of want some for myself and I am not sure I want to share.