Rounded edges, smooth lines, chic finishes, longevity and absolute
functionality characterise the Shortstop range from Australian
furniture company
In Your Room. All of the products
by In Your Room are designed and made in Australia and aim to be a part of the family home long after the kids have grown up.
After many years serving as a kiddy art and dining table, it can
be used as a stool or side table, and the little seats can be used as
mini tables, foot stools or step ups
anywhere in the house. In the mean time children can sit comfortably at furniture designed for rambunctiousness.
I can't see a single corner that might cause an inury.
Another piece that caught my eye is the
Tablebox.
I've seen this in action
in a local baby boutique, proving it can be used for many applications.
Invest just once - it will see many years, from nursery storage
to sporting gear receptacle, right through to lounge room coffee table
in university years!
I love that it hides all the clutter that
can accumulate so easily. I can imagine just sweeping it all off the
surface and into the handy box below
and the room looking instantly sparse as though it were like that all
the time.
In Your Room offers three finish choices of hoop-pine, European
beech or laminate in 8 standard colours. Made from sustainable bent
ply,
the design beautifully embraces the character of the wood, yet remains
contemporary in style. The table setting is for children from
18 months to 5 years.
In Your Room offers easy peasy online purchasing facilities with clearly
stated and very reasonable delivery fees. Who knew buying furniture could be done from your lounge chair?!
Alternatively, check the website for local stockists. The Shortstop set (table and two stools) sells for $695 and the Tablebox is a bit of a slurge at $935.
A 250-year-old farmhouse in Quebec is the headquarters for AGE Design, an industrial design husband and wife partnership. Patrice Guillemin and Geneviève Grenier’s first contribution to infant furnishings is their HiLo highchair. If the appertising colours of raspberry, carrot, asparagus and portobello don’t get you licking your lips, perhaps some of the features that distinguish it from other premium highchairs will.
The key feature is probably the molded seat which is the result of intensive study of anthropometric (body shape) data of infants. Not only impressively secure looking, the molded feature eliminates the need for a cushion and extra cleaning. For ease of mobility the back-legs have sturdy wheels which are timber-floor friendly and these legs are also fully foldable for ease of storage, however I doubt if you’d ever want to store away such a stylish piece.
The HiLo will keep your little one happily seated from six months of age (with its ‘Hi’ chair function) to six years (with its ‘Lo’ chair function) and modifying the chair to cater for these stages of life looks very easy. I can already picture a HiLo in portobello (think of a creamy-beige mushroom sauce colour) at my dining table.
HiLo is US$395 from Modern Tots who will happily ship to Australia.
Most adults I know grew up on Lego, while a lot of us have slowly abandoned our passion for the small building blocks, I’m sure there’s still quite a few of us that still hold a secret flame for the game.
Take the Swedish design team Smånsk for example. So inspired by the childhood building blocks, they designed the Skew Bookcase in a form much like good ole traditional giant Lego pieces. The Skew Bookcase is made of a few giant Lego-type pieces that stack on top of each other and interlock. The look is way of centre andn is not your traditional book shelf but it definitely looks great filled with books - adding colour to a creative little room. The bookcase isn’t in production yet but Smånsk has already created a full-scale prototype and it looks hot. Sources say it was a big hit at the Stockholm Furniture Fair; hopefully it won’t be too long before it hits the market.
Would you scoff if told there is a bed that can last your child from babyhood to university? I would have until I saw this lush
bedroom furniture by
Casa Kids. Invest just once when you purchase from the new Ola
range, which features rounded edges and subdued tones from nature for a softer look.
The Ola collection comprises a convertible cot, changetable that
converts to drawers, and an armoire - all made from MDF and
plantation-grown Lyptus. It's sustainable product design every step of
the way, from the materials used right through to function,
and lasting your offspring well beyond childhood.
Have a look at the images below to see how the cot transforms into
a toddler bed, then a full-sized
single bed! It's incredible how it looks like a completely different
bed in each configuration - it'd never get boring that's for sure.
It does, however, retain recognisable features in each transformation -
handy for pointing out if your child feels unsettled about
changing beds.
The furniture is flatpacked, so seek out a reshipper for a quote. From
Casa Kids.
My one-year old has just worked out how to wiggle out of the straps in her high chair and she now enjoys standing up on the seat, and alarmingly, leaning back and dangling her food from her crows-nest perch.
Why children’s high chairs are so high is a question I’ve never quite understood. Okay granted we’d like kids to sit comfortably at our table height, but we do we have to forgo basic safety instincts?
Frank & Stanimira Rafaschieri has finally designed a high chair that not only looks good, but accommodates for the adapting needs of parents and babies.
Components of the evolutionary chair can be piled on top of each other and manipulated to make eight different combinations – including a high chair, small chair and low table. It is intended for use between the ages of six months all the way to six years.
They have also designed a very practical walled diaper change table which can be used for the entire duration that your child wears nappies. There’s even a place for the adult to sit while changing the baby, and the walled section can later be reversed to fit into the seat. Later the whole unit can be used as a table or seating. Now that's comfort.
