Carousel Designs Blog

Yesterday I came across another great artist who makes Customizable Baby Blocks. 

Not only are these blocks a hip twist on a retro idea, all materials used are non toxic – and that is a great update from the children’s blocks of the past.  These solid wood blocks are a great way to decorate the nursery or for helping your child to learn the alphabet.  And all of the blocks can be customized to create a truly unique baby shower gift. 

These hand painted blocks are offered in a variety of sizes and there is a huge assortment of styles so you can pick the colors and treatment that suits your taste.  Here are some great sample photos on Flickr.  Take a look at the Holy Craft blog for more information and to get your own customized baby blocks.

Baby Blocks from Holycraft

John

When we were decorating for our baby girl’s nursery, my wife and I kicked around the idea of having a mural painted in the baby’s room.  But one of our reservations was that a mural would be permanent and may not be appropriate as our child grew into a toddler.  We also got busy with other family projects and eventually dropped the mural idea.

Since the idea of “the next child” has gotten a little more positive reception in the household lately, I started casually looking into unique art for the next possible nursery-to-be.  I found that some really great art can be printed on a removable surface for a great looking design at a much lower cost (and permanence!) than painted murals.

One company I discovered that has a nice assortment of removable, printed art is imaginativemurals.com.  They offer a variety of murals for the home but I was especially drawn to the Focal Points ™ designs that are printed on adhesive-backed wallpaper.  The Castle Windows mural is an imaginative design for a girl nursery and the Mediterranean Villas design was another personal favorite that would look nice in any nursery.

There are also many different sizes, themes and price ranges available on their website.  I will definitely consider their art when I get ready to design the next nursery.

John

It should come as no surprise that Carousel Designs is proud to display the label “made in the U.S.A.”.  Occasionally, we like to spotlight other unique businesses that share that special label and provide services relevant to ours.

Platypus Productions offers unique, handmade wall clocks that can be fully customized to match your nursery.  Send them your fabric swatches from your custom crib set creation and they can create a customized clock that matches your nursery bedding.  Now that’s unique!

They even offer a camouflage clock that would go well with our camo crib bedding set.  Every clock they offer is hand-crafted and original.  Visit their website to order a unique wall clock customized to match your baby bedding.   

John

Are you crafty? Do you know how to sew? Do you crave a one-of-a-kind creation for your baby’s nursery?

If so, check out our vast selection of fabrics, featured in many of the same prints our baby bedding products use. Whether you choose to make a decorative pillow, curtains or window treatments, or a chair cover, these fabrics will take you to your final destination in style. Additionally, many of these fabrics coordinate perfectly with other Carousel Design products.

Use your imagination, look around, and release some creative energy!

Our fabrics are available by the yard. For more information, visit the Fabrics section of our Web site.

Haley

Just in time for Holiday shopping, we have launched the Babybedding.com gift registry. Whether you are planning a shower, designing a nursery or just looking to navigate holiday shoppers to the baby bedding and nursery decor items that match your taste, the registry is perfect for creating the ultimate nursery buying guide that can be shared with friends and family.

Signing up for the registry is easy and saving items to your registry is even easier. After creating a registry account, adding items to your registry is as easy as clicking the “add to registry” icon beside any product. It’s that simple.

Sharing your registry list is also simple. But for those wishing to restrict access, there are convenient options to control who can see (and purchase) your saved registry items.

The invitation-only registry is restricted to people with whom you have shared an access link to the registry. The private registry is only open to the registry account holder. A public registry, on the other hand, is the best option for allowing friends and family to find your registry profile via the registry search. Since it is public, people can visit your registry and make purchases without first having an invitation.

Try it out and tell us what you think!

Doesn’t it seem like once October hits, the rest of the year flies by? I think part of the reason may be because those three months are filled with fun holidays. Once Halloween is over, it’s high-speed on to Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Christmas, New Years’, and other holidays. As the rest of the house makes a whirlwind of decorative changes, baby’s nursery often gets left out. But there are some options to make the nursery just as festive as the other rooms in the house.

1: Add holiday-inspired accessories to the nursery (like pillows, paper decorations such as white snowflakes, and framed photos)

2: The fall and winter holidays are characterized by warm light – add lamps, or other soft lighting to baby’s room. Securely-fastened stringed lights along the ceiling line create a festive vibe as well (and you might just decide to leave those lights in place after the holidays!)

3: Apply a neutral touch. There’s no color combination worse than baby blue or pink coupled with the holiday colors of orange, red, and green. When decorating your baby’s nursery, start neutral and it will be easy to add decorative touches when the holidays roll around. Otherwise, choose decorations that accent rather than clash with the nursery.

Happy Decorating!

Haley

Remember the nurseries of yesteryear? Rooms covered with pink or blue paint (for girls and boys, respectively,) and full of decorations that screamed, “baby, baby, baby!” These super-sweet nurseries typically had one thing in mind – making people think that there were no adults involved in the decorating of this special room.

The babies of today are much more chic and stylish than their mothers and fathers ever were (no offense parents!) And who can blame them? With such fabulous nursery designs and themes available (like Circus Toile and Shabby Chic Chenille) today’s nurseries are proving to be the most fashionable rooms in the house. So who’s going to enjoy these decked-out nurseries more, parents or baby?

These cute nurseries are all about mom and dad!

Haley

You’ve recieved the wonderful news! You’re expecting! The excitement begins! One of the most fun yet challanging tasks is “What will we do in the nursery?” “What colors will we use?” “What motif should we go with?” It can be a bit overwelming to say the least. In todays world of cyberspace your choices are unlimited!

My suggetion would be to just have fun with it. Nursery decor should be as individual as you are and as your baby will be. Seems like for 2009 Pantone, the Fashion Color Authority, agrees with me. Their Spring/Summer 2009 color palettes lean toward “individuality” including medium pastels with a tinge of retro glamour and “independant-ism” featuring tart, bold colors.

We all know that fashion and colors tend to run full circle. Proven by the recent recurrance of the looks from the 60’s and 70’s. This look is still going strong for the baby’s room and will continue into 2009. As colors pertain to the baby’s room you can never go wrong with the tradional pink and blues….just add a twist….with all of the wonderful textures in fabrics available in today’s market it is easy to do. The textures will be sure to not only delight your little one but I am sure you will not be able to keep your hands off the incredibly soft fabric as well! Don’t believe me? Just check out our wonderful plush minky fabric and see.

Whatever you decide to do with your nursery decor just remember, have fun with it and enjoy this wonderful experience. Babies are a precious gift and will bring you a lifetime of joy! Congratulations!

Rose