Goodies from the new IKEA catalog

I really like IKEA. I mean, yeah, it's not heirloom quality but there have been many, many times in my life when "saving up for an investment piece" was really not advice I could take.

And I like the design. Not everything (hate their florals) but many things. I like IKEA green! I like that the children's toys are cheap and conform to EU standards for chemicals.














I also secretly wish an IKEA room planning person would come to my house and show me how to fit a family of sixteen into my living room.

What's on telly dear?

Saw this decal in one of those flash sales - by RoomMates. I like the idea of putting it right over a table.

Tea time

Tea on sale! Kids' clothes, but the kind you half-wish came in your size.

Tea is known for great prints, but I love these, too.

Instruit en amusant

My friend Anna pointed me to this great image blog, agence eureka.

Don't you want to play alphabo? Educational and fun!

Specious

I totally covet all the kids clothes by speeses. The colors! The graphics! (Oh, yeah, and they have a nice message.)





And I just noticed they're having a 20% off sale. Go snabble something!

Roomtogrow

In some of the stores around me I've seen, recently, some great kids' backpacks and lunchboxes. I kept trying to remember the name of the brand so I could blog about it; finally, I did. (Also I remembered how to spell 'maintenance', which has always outfoxed me.)

So. It's called roomitup. Which, honestly, is not a good name. And it turns out they are marketing this to college students, not the very smalls. But still, this is preschool chic:

Cookin'

I've been in an uncoveting rut recently, I think. I spend too much time in Trader Joe's, where the packaging is awful.

But check this out - IKEA getting into the stove biz. Kid stove, that is.



This is important because most fridges either look like this, or cost a lot. The IKEA one has burners that glow, man. At least that's what I think they were doing. And all for $99.

Of course you could put this together yourself out of bits and pieces from the as-is section.

A tub with wheels

So I saw the MADSEN cargo bikes over on Junior Society, run by the guy behind Mahar Dry Goods, which I've blogged about enough times that linking the posts would be tiresome, so just use the search.

Anyway.

Check these out.



You can put kids in it! You can put dog food in it! I want one! (Also she has cute shoes.)

Whoosh

Okay, some stuff I've been meaning to post for a while.

First is the IKEA slide, which of course Greg at Daddytypes beat me to - but hey, that dude has ads.

Our local IKEA (aka my daughter's favorite restaurant) recently remodeled and the tunnel/slide play combo through the wall in the kid furniture section has been replaced by this mysterious small chamber with changing lights. I better post a picture because that sounds weird, but it basically looks like a child-size teleport device that will take you straight to Sweden.

However, there is still a slide at IKEA. It's pretty great, actually, especially compared to the bright plastic, static-inducing kind. Not cheap, though.

Ticket to ride

You have to live around here to get the awesomeness of this shirt. I just wish it came in grown-up sizes.



It's made by a local company, of course.

Inch by inch

I like the little photos on the Etsy site of feaverish. Some of these would be great for art in a kid's room.

Robots obey what the children say

Okay, actually having to play this would drive me crazy (it's something about not touching the wires) but I find the box itself appallingly cute.

You. Roll.

Modernseed has some stuff on sale. I like this Uroll scooter - it's obviously still crazy much even on sale, but then again you can use it as a night table when the kid is done with it. Or as a stand for your Tivoli radio.

Kot-kot-kot-kodacs!

I'm pretty sure I've seen Jaime Hayón's green chicken before, but I can't remember where. This time Anna sent it to me.

Of course, it would fall right over. But it's gorgeous anyway.

Pedal power

I've posted about tricycles before, but recently I had to actually buy one after my daughter's Radio Flyer with Pushbar (not interesting, nor well made, but cheaper than a Kettler) fell apart for the umpteenth time. She's getting bigger anyway, and we could have gone to a tiny two-wheeler, but she's not a speed demon and we thought she'd be better with a trike still.

We went head to head with these two.



This is a Schwinn. I had a Schwinn when I was a kid, and though I think they've been bought since then, I have a smidge of brand nostalgia.


This is a Giant. (A Li'l Giant, which is a silly name. But whatever. It still says Giant on the deck.)



We went with the Giant (in pink, naturally), because it's a crazy good bike. It's not heavy, for one thing. It goes very speedily on the sidewalk, it looks great, the hardware seems very, very sturdy, and it didn't cost much more than the other. And less than a Kettler, for sure.

We slapped a basket with fake plastic flowers on it and she was good to go.

Play it, sam

So everyone knows the Playsam cars.

But not to brag, I got something for Christmas that's even better. A Playsam airplane. Don't you wish real airplanes looked like this? (But with windows. And able to fly.)



It's like this, but silver -- and that's better, because the silver has a real depth to the finish and is very, very nice to hold in your hand.

I have to say that I like this swish car, though. (Apparently this is an executive toy. That makes being an executive sound very attractive.)

Scout it out

My daughter's wonderful preschool is fund-raising.
Why am I mentioning that? Well, they're doing it in a pretty Covetable way.

Scout is a line of organic kids clothes with great colors. They're offering a coupon code (GRIFFIN) that will get you 30% off, and donating 30% of sales to the school.

I like this colorblock dress a lot.




Orange and blue, pink and brown. What's not to like?

It's on through December 15 and sizes run up to 4T.

Sweet

I'm a pretty big fan of the colored metallic shoe thing -- as you may remember.

These look pretty amazing (thanks for the tip, S). I haven't seen them in person, though, so until I do I won't actually recommend them. (By the way, Sweet Shoes, you should hit up the Bay Area so I can see you.)

But they are pretty ridiculously nice.

Heaps of covet

I went to Borders today to get an ipod cover.

Actually first I went to Barnes & Nobles, realized it wasn't the one with Paperchase in it, drove a couple blocks and parked at a Borders, got confused again, tried to concentrate, realized I was finally in the right place and went inside.

Anyway, I love Paperchase, and not just the notebooks. There was a sort of narrow melamine tray that I seriously coveted, but I was trying not to be indulgent. I did buy some presents (almost as fun as buying stuff for myself) and an ipod cover of silver with crazy pink cartoon cats rocking out. It actually wasn't my favorite pattern (there are a bunch of themes and then various products with the pattern) but it was the best they had in the store and is pretty fun and not serious.

So, some stuff I liked...

A CD case made of metal! With a zipper.

One of the many totes.

A place to put your [insert form of public transportation here] card.

Dish towels! Never too many...


A tumbler. There were also mugs -- china, although thin.
Finally, the tray I loved. It was even better in person.

Kids do eat lunch

This is a great-looking lunchbox, but I can't get my hands on one! They only ship in October, plus I probably can't afford one. But I can covet!

Anyway, it comes with boxes for food that fit perfectly inside (good idea -- I'm always cramming stuff into my daughter's lunchbox, running around the kitchen swearing under my breath and looking for lids...). And you can strap a water bottle on top, like so:



The designers are US-based but Dutch, from the land of so much good design (and pretty hot guys).