Category Archives: Designer Kids

Sun Dresses and Little Girls

May 7, 2013 By in Designer Kids Tags: , , , Leave a comment
Kids Room Furniture, Funky Kids Furniture, Kids Room Design, Kids Rooms, Kids Design

Giving away a dress today to a sweet baby girl!

Sun dresses and Little Girls remind me of a time very long ago.  My little girl is now 23 years old.  There was a time, when she would throw open her closet and pull down a handful of dresses.  I allowed it. I allowed her to wear every dress throughout the day.  Summer time is a fun time for cute little dresses.  What is in your little girl’s closet?  What is she throwing all over the floor begging to wear?

Today, this little dress is what I would be putting on Emily if she were little all over again.  Now, I will just buy for my customers and hold one back to give as a gift. Now a days, those little girls that once played with Emily are having their own babies.  And today, Jessica P. I would love to give one to you and your little girl. Why?  You, being one of those little girls that grew up coming into my home, bouncing around the jungle gym, sleep overs and dolls.  Now a mama to your own precious girl.  Blessings to you sweet mama and I know this sun dress will look darling on your little girl.

Funky Fun & Fabulous Kids Room

April 25, 2013 By in Bedroom, Designer Kids, KIds Room Leave a comment

  Kids Room Furniture, Funky Kids Furniture, Kids Room Design, Kids Rooms, Kids Design

Here is the reality of this Funky Fun & Fabulous piece of furniture for a Kids Room. I did not paint this.  As a matter of fact, if I had painted it, it might have never made it to this post.  With the decline in the quality of furniture I find myself searching garage sales, estate sales and thrift stores for old tossed furniture.  The compromise in quality comes with making furniture fast, cheap and easy.  I do not have the confidence I once had in selling furniture that once carried solid craftsmanship.  Selling solid wood pieces, glides that could withstand the torment of a child.  Instead I will often find a timeless solid piece and will paint it, restore it and sell it.  Kids Room Furniture, Funky Kids Furniture, Kids Room Design, Kids Rooms, Kids Design

This Funky Fun was painted by two high school girls named Julie & Rachel.  I hired these two girl to help around the warehouse with projects like this.  Giving them the resources to take this old drab piece of white furniture and have some fun with it.  As you can see they had a lot of fun.  I have to admit, I had to look the other way when the paint started flying. Kids Room Furniture, Funky Kids Furniture, Kids Room Design, Kids Rooms, Kids Design

I have since hung onto this piece.  I am thinking I might want to design a room for a show home around this funky fun dresser. My husband would prefer it leave  now.  Perhaps… in the next few months. Until now, I get to write, post pictures and share the fun of these high school girls.  Take a moment to watch these girls having fun in video. You can now see why they would have so much fun painting Funky Fun & Fabulous Kids Room Furniture.

Night Lights & Kids Room Shopping

December 2, 2012 By in Design, Designer Kids, Kids Decorations Tags: , , , , 2 Comments

 

Cupcakes, Cupcake Night Light, Girls Room, Kids Room

Cupcake Night Light $18.50

Click here to BUY

I have been in this business long enough to know that very few spend their disposable income on Kids Room  Shopping, so why talk about Night Lights? It is no fun for a little person to open a package with a beautiful sham, a fancy pillow,  or a peg rack for the wall.  Unless you have permission to use that peg rack for heavy artillery, which my ten year old did once, it’s just not fun.  Rather than write on the features and products sold here on my website pages I want to temp you with only one product.  Night Lights.  Every year I order Night Lights by the dozens.  Even before I had all the Night Lights priced and put away in my showroom in Portland, they were selling right out of the box.  Why?  Why Night Lights?  Why not a cute stuffed toy, or darling key-chain, or a sock monkey?

Rocket , Rocket Night Light, Boys Room, Kids Room

Rocket Night Light $18.50

Click HERE to BUY

There is a shopper out there that is practical and price savvy.  Parent, Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents and Gunkals who want something to give that will outlive the next trend.   Night Lights are a darling way to accent a room.  They are very practical, and a price point that is under $20.00 allowing one stop shopping for all the kids in your life.  I was excited over the rocket night light. My ten year old saw that and he asked for it for Christmas.  Always brightens my buying heart when my own kids want the products I invest in.  I am a seasoned buyer and know just the designs and styles that will work in most kid’s rooms.  If this sounds like a sales pitch, guess what it is.  I would love to light up the night for that special little person in your life.  If you are not able to make into the home of that little person I can even wrap as a gift and ship to the front door, ready to be placed under a tree.  Night Lights, indeed for Kids’ Room Shopping.  Here is the link to the page, if you’d like to consider purchasing. http://hungouttobuy.com/room-decor/lamps/night-lights/

Pillow Fun For Your Kids Room

September 30, 2012 By in Bedroom, Designer Kids, Kids Decorations, KIds Room, Kids Topics Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Pillow Fun for your Kids Room

It’s easy to change or spruce up your kids room with fun pillows. I had a mama in my showroom last week doing just that.  She had invested in some lovely bedding, and as most of us do, she got bored with the look. She did not want to start over, as the entire room was designed around  her bedding.  I have learned, through many years of experience, that “bored” often equates to needing just a few more design elements, not yet thought of.

I asked her what colors she had in her room, the colors and print in her bedspread and why she might be bored with it.  “Dull” was her answer.  Dull is not what you want after investing in colors you live in and around your room.  A small investment in a few pillows turns “Dull” into fashionable and fun.  Here are some examples.

This is a darling bed, darling colorful bedding set for a boy’s room.  You can choose your theme, or mix and match themes for transitioning your child’s interests.  Alone without the accents of pillows it looks okay. In my fashion and fun designer style it looks dull.  Now add in some fun pillows and you add a theme to build around, more colors allowing a green accent lamp to work, and fun pillows for your child to toss around.  Accent pillows help bring in colors, that may not be in the bedding, expanding choices for future accents.

Nice but a little dull

Pillows Bring Fun & Color

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This next bed has a lot going for it.  It has lots of color, pretty amazing headboard, and then one flat, stand-alone pillowcase. Sure we can go over the top in having a custom make ruffled, and piped sham.  However, in this case there is no time for that. Company is coming and you want to take this “dull” look to quick fabulous designer fun.  By adding three different pieces, a print with texture, a solid with texture and a cute little blanket, you’ve had some fun for the same price as a custom sham and in record time. Sometimes, our dull is not really dull it just lacks the finishing touches.

Nice Perhaps a bit plain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pops of Pillow Color

 

This darling set, actually has a cute ruffled pillowcase. Alone it is very cute.  Sometimes for no reason we get that bug to do more .  Pop some of the colors by simple adding a bright pillow.  Stuffed friends, in the same color scheme, and a custom-made pillow take this from cute and darling to fabulous and fun.  Dull never has to be the only excuse for sprucing.  It’s just fun to decorate and your groove on.

Darling But Dull? You Decide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mixing and Matching lots of fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These pictures were all taken from my showroom in Portland, OR. If you live in the area stop by and say hi. I would love to help  you spruce up some of your dull. As you can see, it’s quite easy to change or spruce up your kids room with pillows.Happy Decorating from your kids room designer,

Your Kids Room Designer, Elizabeth Traub

Trending Tuesday Chalk Boards

August 21, 2012 By in Bedroom, Designer Kids, Kids Decorations, KIds Room Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Today Elliot asked me if I have noticed decorative chalk boards lately and if they are “trending“?  He is new to the other side of the kids room design business. It’s very fun to see him take notice of what is trending.  As a matter of fact, chalk boards have been trending, more so in the past six months, that ever before.  Chalk boards are just about everywhere we go.

What a terrific way to get your kids excited about writing and drawing. Imagine long car rides with a little chalk board, and pretty colors.  Notes to the family as mom or dad are running out the door to work.  Place settings with mini chalk boards, and menus in cafe’s with the special of the day written on chalk boards.  It is safe to say that we’ve gone from painting walls to painting anything that can be framed, painted and hung with a chalk like paint.  I love that even in our store we have this precious pink chalkboard accented with pretty pink bookends.   Once a vintage old mirror, now a restored frame, painted pretty and a chalk board insert.  What little messages, notes, and teaching words might you write on such a pretty chalkboard.

Chalkboards, chalkboards, chalkboards….what designer fancy  way for you to write all those fun notes and scribbles.  Tuesday is Trending in chalkboard fun.  If you have a favorite, visit our Face Fan Page and share some of your favorites. Maybe you’ve seen some amazing Pinterest ideas, or pictures.  You are welcome to join and connect on facebook.  I like this picture I found of a quick paint idea.  So easy!

Feel free to add your comments and ideas here about Tuesday Trending in Chalk Board Fun!

Kids Room Accents & Contact Paper

August 13, 2012 By in Bedroom, Design, Designer Kids, Kids Decorations, KIds Room Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

You don’t have to spend very much to get amazing Kids Room Accents using just Contact Paper.  I find that when I find cute contact paper I have to buy it.  Not sure where I might use it but nice to keep on my shelves I also sell contact paper in my store.   Then one day a client  wants to have her child’s toy-box embellished with color. She wanted it to be embellished in a way that could transition from one child to the next, so no painting or permanent design accents.  Thar’s when it hit me.  Why not use contact paper.  I found a cute print that matched the color and design of her daughter’s room and cut out a triangle pennant to shape along  the top and sides of the box.  What a surprise to my client on both her toy-box and her budget.

If you have a cute frame, and not yet ready to put a picture in it, you can add a little contact paper to add design and color.

You can also use the contact paper to pop more of the colors you are using in your child’s room in many different ways.  Here I have covered a cork boars, and then added contact paper to the aqua blue frame. 

 

You can cut out shapes of animals, flowers, geometric shapes and stick on to a chair, a wall, or even a mirror.  So  easy and cost-effective to add Kids Room Design with just contact paper.  What might you consider covering?

The Laughing & Crying Kids Room Designer

August 8, 2012 By in Design, Designer Kids, Fashion, KIds Room Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

A collision of laughing and crying in one day by me, the kids room designer.  Typically I take a few clients at a time.  Recently I have been working long hours setting up a showroom. Basically designing 12 rooms within four weeks. Getting products ordered, in, and displayed.  Typically with those few clients it can take up to 12 weeks to complete the one kid’s room, which is quite normal.  My normal is not 12 room designs in four weeks.  Then add the halting of an office make-over at home in progress to scratching that and starting over.  Moving my office out of my home and downtown Portland.  There is bound to  be a collision, and many mistakes along the way.

Yesterday was that day. Paint finally dried, now the hanging of a funky mirror above a painted chest. Orange fun. Yummy summer orange as in bright and cheery.  I was to hang the mirror, pat myself on the back, and then run off to meet two friends for a fabulous afternoon on the waterfront. I even had on my favorite summer skirt.  With the mirror hung, and dangling on one screw, I step back for a split second to see that it was positioned correctly.  Just a quick second, not even a half second and it crashed.  It landed and broke into what seemed like thousands of pieces. Only to realize that the glass top on the chest also had been shattered.  The fright of this must have expanded my belly, because my favorite skirt’s zipper exploded too.  Designer Fail!!!!

Jane, Elizabeth, Paul
Whew skirt fixed!
Portland, OR waterfront

I quickly ran across the street to a dress shop.  I started crying over the emotions of the past 3 minutes. Then I started laughing.  The owner of the shop quickly jumped into the details of fixing my skirt and found a cute scarf to wrap around the skirt if the zipper failed me.  I ended up hanging the frame with no mirror and ran off to a wonderful afternoon with friends.

Life can be challenging and hard.  Sometimes, the precise plans we have end in broken glass, and a split zipper.  Then there is a choice that must be made.  For some it’s simple, for others a bit more of a challenge.  The choice is to find joy in the moment, or to hold onto the frustrations.  I let it go.  I chose to skip off into the afternoon.  Enjoying the day in the sunshine and laughing with friends.  Embracing the laughing and the crying of a kids room designer.

And for the time this did not look so bad.  It has since been replaced by a painting and frame is being repaired with a new mirror.  What are you laughing and crying moments?  How do you choose to work through them?

Kids Room Crazy

July 30, 2012 By in Designer Kids, Kids Decorations, KIds Room Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

It’s one thing to decorate and plan a kids room. It’s another thing to lay out a showroom. It’s actually crazy.  I watch HGTV and many other design shows. You know how they always show the cute little design boutique that a designer is working out of.  I have news, the camera’s only capture the staged areas. The areas that the cameras will sweep are sensational and magnificent.  Then there is the other story. HGTV please tell me there is another story?  The new showroom is looking lovely and camera ready.  The behind the scenes stuff, not so true.  Trying to put together a very small boutique, not more than the size of three bedroom has had me going kids room crazy.  I admit that each time I finish a little area I have to instagram that finished little area.  How about instagramming the mess before.  The hours of looking for bunk bed hardware, or that one twisty thing on a lamp that I twisted the wrong way and it rolled away.  I am only showing the sensational and magnificent parts of my daily projects.  I think I am the one slowly going kids room crazy. Now scouring all my vendors for more cute things to bring into the showroom and then the project of updating this website too.    We have a huge warehouse we will be opening up in the next six months.  I am glad we did not put that project into this month or next month, because it really has been a busy challenge that I admit I love.  If you don’t have instagram, the pictures through this post are what I have been posting this past month.  I guess it is safe to say that I am Kids Room Crazy.

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