Fairy Tale Fabrics for Kids' Rooms

When I was little, my parents gave me a book called Clever Gretchen. It was a collection of traditional folk and fairy tales in which the girls saved the prince/saved themselves/outsmarted the villain/fought the dragon. I loved it dearly, but I can't help but love non-girl-power fairy tales, too. If nothing else, they're great for inspiring a discussion, and for inspiring charming fabrics. This modern, independent 32-year old woman needs a pillow made of that Sleeping Beauty fabric, stat.

• Heather Ross created a Princess & The Pea print that I adore, and she has designed some pretty adorable fabrics as well. This Sleeping Beauty fabric is my favorite- the colors are perfection, and the illustration is daintily delightful. She's dreaming sweetly under lilies-of-the-valley!

• Her Snow White fabric is quite charming as well, with little vignettes such as the dwarves chopping wood, Snow White sleeping, and little laundry out to dry.

• Speaking of the seven dwarves and their laundry, Heather has created an entire fabric around that motif, with union suits and plaid shirts out to dry- and a mischievous owl stealing their polka dot underwear!

• Cean Irminger designed The Black Forest fabric at Spoonflower. It appears to be a mash-up of Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel & Gretel, and a story I don't recognize involving a girl riding a bear.

• Wendy G's Little Red Riding Hood fabric at Spoonflower is intended to be used to make a L.R.R.H. costume, but I think it's too good not to use for other projects, too. It also might be a bit scary for some kids, but it is definitely stylin'.

• I'm not sure if Heather Ross's Under Water Sisters pattern for Free Spirit Fabrics is based on The Little Mermaid, but for our purposes I'm going to say that it is. It is definitely cute.

• Lisa H.E. sells this Little Red Riding Hood linen from Japan in her Etsy shop. It comes in a few different colorways, and I appreciate that it's a less ominous take on the story- and Little Red is absolutely darling.

• There are lots of fairy tale fabrics from Japan available on Etsy, and the Hansel & Gretel versions are particularly kawaii. This one is from Matatabi's shop, and features pretzels in trees, cygnets, hedgehogs with parasols, and other delights.

(Images: As credited above.)

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Print Power: Modern Flowers in Kids Rooms

Flowers are generally not thought of as modern or particularly cool. They're a throwback to a Victorian Era of inhibiting dicta and rules, right? Well, I love 'em, always have. It's not always easy to embrace the "girly" when writing for a forward-thinking design site. So when I drummed up the idea to do a roundup of floral rooms, I feared how it might get received. Evidently rightly so. "There are few things that I hate more than floral print and/or ruffles," wrote a commenter on yesterday's shower curtain roundup. Yikes.

And then I searched our archives. How wrong was my perception. These flowers have serious power, y'all. The use of this classic motif here is fresh and free. One room even belongs to a sole boy, who, yes, has forward-thinking parents. Flowers in children's rooms are modern again.

Enjoy.

TOP ROW:
1. Junie's Scandi-Style Room
2. My Room: Felicity
3. My Room: Sullivan
4. My Room: Uggie
5. Maya's Room

BOTTOM ROW:
6. My Room: Baby Z
7. My Room: Bunny
8. Meg's Room for Three
9. Remy's Fantastic Floral Nursery
10. My Room: Jane Elizabeth

(Images credited in original posts)

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Private Screening Rooms: Since the Wall Street Journal has...

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Friday, March 2, 2012, by Sarah Firshein

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? Previous: Flipping Judy Garland

? Next: Inside Kim Kardashian's Rumored New $40K/Month Rental

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The Printed Page: 25 of the Greatest Rooms That Veranda's Ever Published

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Wednesday, February 29, 2012, by Sarah Firshein

In honor of its silver anniversary, the March/April issue of Veranda features 25 of the magazine's best rooms, all pulled from the archives by the designers who completed them. Above: an end-of-day, moment of Zen slideshow. Browse the gallery for spaces done up by Mary McDonald, Windsor Smith, Miles Redd, Carolyne Roehm, Thomas O'Brien, and a whole bunch more.

· Looking Back: Veranda's Most Memorable Rooms [Veranda]

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Linkage: Dining Rooms; Lego's Next Conquest; Mansard Roofs; More!

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Video Interlude: Watch a Modest 450-Sq-Ft Studio Unfold Into Four Rooms

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Monday, November 14, 2011, by Sarah Firshein

Sustainable-design site Fair Companies—they who brought you the 16-year-old who built a 130-square-foot house and the 78-square-foot apartment—is at it again, this time with a 450-square-foot Manhattan studio that was worked up by Normal Projects architects Michael Chen and Kari Andersen, who turned a basic white box into an unfolding, origami-like creation. The duo constructed a blue multi-purpose closet that seemingly eats space but instead affords it, serving as a bedrooms, office, closet, entertaining area, and more. "I spent my first year out of college reaching in Japan, so I think Japanese sensibilities influenced my sense of space a little bit," explains Eric Schneider, the third-grade teacher who lives here. "This kind of works, this compact way—this is very comfortable for me." In total, Schneider spent $70K on renovating the apartment (including an overhaul of the bathroom and kitchen). "How do you get more out of something smaller without having to make big sacrifices?" he muses. "You'd hope that something like this enhances someone's life—that it doesn't just make things less better." Watch the full video tour below.

The Video:

· Tiny origami apartment in Manhattan unfolds into 4 rooms [Fair Companies]

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Outdoors Week: Twenty-Two Rooms, Coming Soon to a Presidio Near You

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Friday, June 24, 2011, by Philip Ferrato

Pershing Hall gets a makeover. [Photo Credit: Curbed SF]

The Presidio has no lack of venues to throw a good party, but aside from overnight camping, no options for spending the night after all the heavy lifting. That will change in the Spring of 2012 when the twenty-two room Inn at The Presidio opens. Currently undergoing seismic retrofitting, the historic Pershing Hall will become a bed-and-breakfast operated by Waterford Hotels and Inns, the same people who brought us Cavallo Point at Fort Baker at the other end of the Golden Gate Bridge. Although there's no catering or restaurant planned for the c.1904 red-brick classic, they're looking forward to some future wedding business with the non-denominational Chapel of Our Lady next door and the Officer's Club in the same block. Also a great place to crash after an exhausting day at that triumph of the anthropomorphized mouse, the Walt Disney Family Museum. With The Presidio's broad roster of tenants, there's an opportunity for business travelers along with the usual suspects- history buffs and tourists. Just no brunch.
· Event Spaces at The Presidio [The Presidio Trust]
· Waterford Hotels & Inns [Waterford]
· Walt Disney Family Museum [Disney]

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Rooms with a Pouf from Our House Tours

I really wanted to title this post "An Ode to the Pouf" due to the extreme love I have towards this versatile home accessory. Please excuse the over-the-top adoration as I list the ways this functional piece can add value to any home.

In this roundup the pouf can be spotted being used as extra seating for house guests or as a foot stool for tired feet. They can be used to bring a pop of color to any room, without replacing the main furniture items, or as an impromptu coffee or side table. In image 5 the vintage pouf, placed in just the right spot, creates an adorable vignette and can even be, as the main image shows, an upscale perch for man's best friend.

1. Carrie's Glamorous Bungalow
2. Martha's Stunning Fireplace
3. Rhiannon and Victor's First "Grown-Up" Home
4. Tailored Sofas for Elegance & Sophistication
5. Robert & Michelena's Modern-Bohemian Fusion

Images: as linked above

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That's Rather Hideous: Random Selection of Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Rooms

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Thursday, January 6, 2011, by Sarah

Thanks, Dwellers Without Decorators, for filling in while our usual Thursday contributor James Swan plots his next column. Above: a litany of decorating tactics one should never, ever use. Have a look.

· Top Ten Big Decorating Mistakes You Can Make Part 1 [Dwellers Without Decorators]
· All James Swan on Curbed [Curbed National]

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