Tales From the Box

So I read stories all the time, in magazines and on blogs, about people finding these absolutely beautiful pieces of furniture “on the side of the road”. They’re usually an actual, genuine designer piece from the 1950′s or something, although occasionally the finder is unlucky enough to have only found a replica. I always read these stories with a grain of salt (sidebar: are you picturing me sitting on the couch with my laptop, holding my hand out with a grain of salt in it? No? Just me then). I mean, the stories are so common. Where is this mythical neighbourhood where all the trendy people live that no longer want their designer furniture and just put it out on the side of the road?

And then it happened. To me. Yep, truly. I had driven my car down to the mechanic for a service and was walking home with the Widg in his pram (it’s only a 20 minute walk). It was council pick-up week, so there was lots of rubbish and unwanted junk out the front of everyone’s houses, the occasional piece of tattered or broken furniture. So when I saw this sideboard, I assumed there was something wrong with it.

I bravely walked up the driveway to see if the residents were home, and there was an electrician out the front doing some repair work. We got chatting, and the homeowner came out to join in the frivolity. To cut a long story short, the sideboard was in perfect condition, I was welcome to take it, but how would I get it home? It was too big to fit in my station wagon (which was at the mechanic’s anyway) and was way too heavy for me to lift it into the car (and the Widg wouldn’t be much help). So I offered the electrician $20 to drive it home for me in his ute. By the time the Widg and I had walked home, the sideboard was sitting under our front verandah.

It’s certainly not a “genuine designer” piece or anything. But I really like it. I decided to put it upstairs in the hallway (remember this space?). It fits the space perfectly, and it currently holds all of our bed linens and towels.

I guess one man’s trash is this gal’s treasure (the husband’s opinion certainly leans towards “trash” on this one).

We have been asked quite frequently lately what “stuff” we have found useful, essential, stupid and unnecessary with regards to all things kid-related. Granted, we have only been in this gig for 13 months, but there is a lot of “advice” out there about what you really “need” to buy or have for a baby.

Wipes warmer. Really?

Well, we found a lot of it to be absolute rubbish. We went with the philosophy that we would buy only the absolute essentials to start with, and then if we found we were missing something, we would buy it only if and when we needed it. And when I say “buy”, I mean buy the cheapest (but safest) option available, or better still, borrow one from a trusted source.

The Widg's car seat

So I thought I would put together a post about the baby stuff that we found useful, and what we could live without, in the hopes that it might serve as a guide of sorts to other parents-to-be, especially if you are working on a modest budget (as we were and are). Please bear in mind that these suggestions are just that – suggestions – and by no means are we saying that anyone would be a better/worse parent for having/not having any of this stuff. It is purely our opinion, based on our own personal experience.

The Widg's Gulliver cot from Ikea

Firstly, what did we make sure to have before the Widg arrived? The absolute essentials only. This means cot (and mattress and cot sheets), nappies and wipes, change mat (no, not a whole change table), baby bath, clothes, blankets, car seat, pram, sling, bibs, cloths for catching/wiping spit-up, and something for white noise (we use a small battery-powered radio tuned to static).

The Widg's Quinny Buzz pram.

We did get a bassinet with the pram, which we did actually use. The Widg slept in it in our room for the first couple of months or so, and it was quite useful to take with us as his bed when we went away (until he grew out of it). I wouldn’t have bought the bassinet separately, but I’m glad we had it.

Quinny similar bassinet.

With the nappies, we did have the Peapods prepared before he was born, but his little butt didn’t fit them for the first months, so we did use disposables until then. Oh, and here is a link to our previous post about setting up the Widg’s room, which includes more details about the cot, change table, etc. I mentioned a sling (baby carrier), and this is the one we used:

Our sling

We loved our sling. Noah loved our sling. For a little while there, he hated the pram, so the sling was awesome. It was easy to carry him around, he was guaranteed to fall asleep in it. We even ended up with 2 of them, which was great, as we could have one in the wash, or one in the car and one in the house. I have only recently stopped using it, because he is starting to get too heavy (at 12 months and 9kg).

Our highchair

Things we ended up getting later, as we needed them: dummy, high chair, rocker (although the Widg only used it a handful of times, but I got it second hand for about $15), nappy bag (although we only used this for about the first month, and then only for long trips, and then not at all. And we bought the cheapest one we could, $30 from Target), toys, portacot (we were graciously given one by friends who’s little ones had outgrown it).

I wasn’t too convinced on the necessity of a playmat (like the one below) and wasn’t planning on getting one. But then I saw how much the Widg enjoyed using his friends’ ones, and I buckled. It ended up being the best toy for him from about 1 month old until he could sit up. I distinctly remember watching him one day figure out that he cold control the use of his own arm when he reached for the monkey and batted at it. That monkey served as the perfect motivation to teach him how to reach and grab and pull and learn those all important motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Of course, he would have learned those skills without a playmat, but it was also a great place to put him down and keep him entertained while I put on a load of washing or something like that (until he learned to roll that is).

The Widg's playmat.

We bought a Kinderkot as a portable bed to take on trips. It was recommended to us from a friend, and it was great at first. Light weight, folds up to the size of a large satchel bag. But lately the Widg has stopped reliably sleeping in it, so we haven’t used it in a while. I’m not ruling out using it again as he gets older.

The Widg's Kinderkot

The only thing we bought that I wouldn’t buy again (if we could go back in our time machine and do it again. What? You don’t have a time machine?) would be the nappy bag. Really, any bag would have been fine, a large satchel would have been perfect. I think it really depends how much “stuff” you carry around with you, and that really depends on the parent. I’ve survived pretty well so far with just my huge nanna handbag.

Things we were told to buy, but never needed: bottles, formula, sterilising equipment (breastfeeding worked out really well for us. I know it doesn’t work out for everyone, and I am very grateful that it did for us), various bedding/linen for the cot (pillows, quilts, top sheets, bumpers, etc. Most of this stuff isn’t recommended as it can increase the risk of SIDS), dedicated changing table, bath stand, nappy stacker, and a bunch of other stuff that I can’t even think of. Put it this way: when we were pregnant, we went to a (insert name of well known baby-gear chain here) store, and we were handed a list by the salesperson. An A4 page, double sided, full of “new baby essentials”. We politely smiled, cut a lap of the store, and left empty handed.

Granted, I’m a complete nerd when it comes to researching, planning and preparing before an event, so I had a fairly decent idea of what we did and didn’t need before we went shopping. Some people might find it incredibly helpful to have the salesperson give them advice and lists and things.

So that’s our rundown. Hope you found it useful/interesting/not-completely-chew-your-arm-off-boring.

I am notorious for having stacks of magazines piled around the house.

I love to pull out a stack every now and then, and flip through them to get a regular dose of inspiration. It’s really just an excuse to look at pretty things.

So far the Widg has been pretty good with “no touching” the ones within his reach. Considering he quite enjoys tearing paper.

However, a lot of my inspiration these days is online. I follow a lot of blogs – everything from interiors and decorating, photography and typography, to sewing and crafts. But how do you “store” the images you find online, so that you can peruse them again and again when the mood strikes? I have gone through various phases of bookmarking, even saving the links onto a google doc. Now, finally, some interwebby genius has come up with the answer. Pinterest. And it’s not just for fancy-pants home decorating ideas. You can pin anything to your boards, whatever you are interested in. For example, if you were interested in collecting rare and unique spoons, well, you could pin pictures of them to your boards. You could have different boards for different types of spoons. A board for wooden spoons, one for ladles, one for teaspoons.

I’m finding it very useful. There’s more information about it here (and they explain it better than me).

When the Widg was just a wee fella (ok, so he’s still wee, but slightly chubbier wee. I’ll stop talking about wee.) When the Widg was younger, he didn’t really require much stuff, in terms of entertainment. Pretty much the ceiling was incredibly entertaining for him for days on end. So his collection of toys and related objects was as you see below – an activity playmat, a rocker and a small basket of toys. Since there wasn’t much to it, it was pretty easy to keep it all neat and tidy and out of the way.

Now that he’s much more advanced (ok, so he can sit up by himself) he is able to play with a lot more stuff. Below is what his little play area looks like now: 3 baskets of toys, plus the overflow. He also has a few small boxes of toys in his bedroom, but lots of them are too old for him yet, and I try to rotate the toys every few weeks, so he isn’t playing with the same things over and over. And also so that he doesn’t have 400 toys that he plays with all at once.

I find that giving him just 3 or 4 at a time is plenty to keep him entertained and interested, without getting too overstimulated or frustrated. I find he is better able to focus for longer periods of time with a smaller amount of toys, and isn’t bouncing his attention all over the place every 5 seconds. Some of these toys are a little bit old for him yet, but he enjoys chewing on them, or banging them. He likes the different textures and sounds. He actually went for a whole week where his favourite toy was a mixing bowl.

This is his basket of books (below) that I also rotate a few books in and out of every few weeks – he has quite the library upstairs. It’s a bit difficult reading to him at the moment, as he much prefers chewing the books than sitting quietly and listening to me reading or looking at the pictures. I have even tried giving him one book to chew on while I read him another book. But no, the one I am holding always seems tastier.

I assume he’ll get better at reading as he gets older. Otherwise school could be difficult.

We have 2 Lack shelves at the Box, and we have made very good use of them over the years. We started out with one above the TV in the old lounge room upstairs (before the reno) that housed our small-but-rapidly-growing DVD collection. When said DVD collection grew bigger than the shelf, we bought another one and mounted it above the first one. It was a great look, and I had the DVD’s alphabetised and everything. Very cool.

(from Ikea)

Then we renovated the house and relocated the lounge room downstairs. We again mounted the 2 Lack’s above the TV on the new wall with their accompanying DVD’s. It worked fine until the DVD’s outgrew the 2 shelves. We thought it would be a bit ridiculous to buy a 3rd shelf (and mounting it above the top one would mean they would be too high for me to reach). So we brainstormed storage ideas. I measured up the Malm 6 drawer chest and worked out that it would easily house our burgeoning DVD collection and allow room for plenty of growth (see more about that tale here). DVD storage problem solved.

Then I decided I wanted a landing strip (see more about that fascinating tale here). And I realised that a Lack shelf would be the perfect solution. So the lovely husband made it happen. We moved one of the Lack’s around the corner to the front entryway, and left the other one above the TV to be a display shelf.

So now I have a lovely spot for bits and pieces like vases, pretty books and my ever-present stack of magazines (not sure where this came from, but I have them all over the house).

And because it’s above the TV, it’s in the perfect spot for sitting on the couch and staring at my pretties during ad breaks of Gilmore Girls.

Anyone who has been to the Box has probably seen the large section of hallway we have upstairs. It’s a remnant of our hodge podge reno.

You see, when we turned our kitchen/living/dining room into the master bedroom, there was this section of room leftover that became (by default really) a very wide hallway between the 3 bedrooms and bathroom. This hallway is so wide that I can have my clothes airers set up, and there is still enough width to walk past without touching them.

The hallway currently has 2 very old and dodgy white cupboards (old wardrobes that were left here when we moved in) that are being used for storage, and a couple of airers (I don’t have an outside clothes line). We don’t have any proper storage at the Box – no linen cupboards, no where to store sheets and towels, or any other random belongings that most houses have. Hence the suitcases, old computer and baby bath sitting on top of the wardrobes. (Side note: where do people store their suitcases anyway? Does everyone have some giant secret cupboard to hold all their luggage?)

So our next indoor project for the Box will probably be to find a more permanent solution to storage and use of the hallway upstairs. We will most likely keep a large section of the hallway free for the airers. It’s just too convenient to be able to hang out several loads of washing indoors, and that particular area of the house seems almost purpose built for it – the way we have positioned the louvered windows and the air flow through the bedrooms means that washing dries incredibly fast, even on the most rainy or humid day.

But we really need to ditch the old white cupboards – they really are falling apart, and they aren’t a very functional type of storage (they only have hanging space and one shelf). What we really want and need are either a built-in system, or a few nice sets of chests of drawers. We discussed the built-in option, but I really don’t like the look of something all crammed in from floor to ceiling, like a kitchen up there. So we have decided to go with some chests of drawers, but only as a test.

However this could cost a bit, especially if we decide we don’t like it or it doesn’t work. Ideally, I would love to use these Hemnes ones from Ikea:

But I’m not sure they sell them in white anymore, and they are a bit pricey. So instead we have decided to go with these Rast ones, which are only $50:

I actually think they’re quite ugly, but then I saw this over on Aubrey + Lindsay’s blog:

And this one too:

(from Armelle)

And it got me thinking: paint them a nice glossy white, change the handles, and they might scrub up ok. So I have permission from the husband to buy one to start with, paint it white and see how it looks. I’ll let you know.

Now, I realise that you might be thinking “Why would you store your linens and towels in drawers? Surely a cupboard with shelves would be better?” Well, maybe. But surely drawers are essentially the same as shelves, they just have a front on them. As long as I fold them very neatly (which I already do anyway) they should (in theory) fit in drawers just fine. I’m going to give it a go, and I’ll take photos and let you judge for yourselves. Oh, and I have no idea where the suitcases are going to go. At the moment, I’m hoping a genius solution will present itself out of thin air. I’m nothing if not hopeful.

Now, please bear in mind that this whole idea may only be short-to-medium term. We have thought about turning the upstairs hallway into some kind of “room” – like a study nook if we ever needed the 3rd bedroom to actually be a bedroom. We could fit a built-in desk under the window. And with a view like this, why wouldn’t you?

Although, might not get much work done that way. Maybe it’ll be more of a “daydreaming nook”. We’ll see.

You may remember from previous posts that a) I tend to be quite organised, and like things neat and tidy, and b) we have the Malm 6 drawer in the Widg’s room to store his various articles of clothes, blankets and other random accoutrements.

We had some friends over just before the Widg arrived, and they were having a sticky beak through his room. One of them noted how neatly I had organised his things in the drawers, and commented that his belongings wouldn’t remain in such a neat state for very long.

Well I can proudly state that the drawers have remained neat and tidy for the first 6 months of his life, so we are off to a good start.

He has 2 drawers of clothes that currently fit him, 1 drawer of clothes that he will grow into, and a box hidden behind the chair that contains clothes that he has grown out of. One drawer holds his cloth nappies and things, another is for bibs, burp cloths and towels, and the last one holds blankets and sheets.

I use these Skubb boxes from Ikea to keep the small bits and pieces organised.  And I go through his clothes every few weeks to rearrange things slightly as he grows into or out of them.

I also have a box under his cot for winter blankets and clothes that he will need to really really grow into (since I won’t need these for at least another 6 months). I must say that his friends and family are incredibly generous in giving him lots of gifts – the kid seriously has a lot of clothes! Takes after his mother obviously.

There used to be 2 Lack shelves above our TV, and these were a home for our extensive DVD collection. However, our DVD collection outgrew the Lack shelves, so we needed to find them a new home.

For a while, the DVD’s lived in the Billy’s, but this was very messy and drove me slightly bonkers. I was also, at this time, thinking of ideas for the landing strip. So my solution was this: find a chest of drawers or sideboard of some kind to house the DVD’s, move one of the Lack’s to the front entrance hall to become the landing strip, and leave the other Lack above the TV for decorative items and such. Genius, I know.

So I put the trusty husband to work, and a short time later, voila! I give you… Single Lack Above The TV:

And presenting her friend, Malm 6 Drawer Chest, otherwise known as Sideboard:

Within the mysterious depths of Sideboard live our DVD’s. If we are very quiet, we may be able to have a peek…

Don’t they look pretty? In all seriousness, I did actually do my research before deciding on the Malm 6 drawer for this space (have I ever made a decision without doing extensive research first? Probably not). You know we are already fans of the clean lines and unapologetic simplicity of the Malm, so it was already top of my list. I measured up the space to make sure it would fit, and I also worked out how many DVD’s it would comfortably house (picture me taking piles of DVD’s up to our Malm’s in the bedroom, sorting them in various configurations into a drawer, then doing the maths to calculate how many would fit into 6 drawers). I figured out we could fit all of our DVD’s, plus have 2 drawers spare to allow for more in the future. And I knew it would look great in the space. It was a no brainer.

Plus, it gives me another surface to “merchandise” my pretty things, like various vases, bowls, ornaments and stacks of magazines.

And yes, the DVD’s are alphabetised. I have a sickness, I know.

We have added to the landing strip. For a while now, I have wanted to add some hooks to the front entry area of the house, so that there would be less clutter and a more organised zone for keeping my handbag, shopping bags, and those random things that seem to accumulate at the front door. You know, coats and scarves in winter, a few pairs of thongs in summer, that sort of thing.

So we bought a nice set of hooks from Bunnings and the husband hung it on the wall opposite the lack shelf.

I am quite pleased with the result. It keeps things neat and tidy without actually having to put stuff away. Always a bonus.

I have blogged about our bedroom before, and how important it is to me to keep it tidy and organised. Well I thought I would add some info here about how I achieve that.

Our Pax wardrobe from Ikea is great for keeping clothes sorted and organised. It is made up of 3 sections, 2 for me and 1 for the man of the house (I easily have twice as many clothes).

As you can see above, in my side of the wardrobe, I have things double hung, which gives me twice the space. In this section of the wardrobe I only keep tops, cardi’s and skirts. I keep long pants, dresses and coats in the second section, which isn’t double hung. Hubby’s section is also double hung.

Then in both of our double-hung sections, we have this awesome little pull out drawer (they are from Ikea also, but I don’t think they make the same one anymore. I think they sell a similar one, but I haven’t found the link yet. If anyone would like to enlighten me, feel free). I use mine to store scarves and jewellery, and his is full of belts and ties.

There are also shelves above the hanging spaces in each section, which we use to store spare blankets, doona’s and pillows, my wedding gown, and a few other random bits and pieces.

Of course, I always have way too many clothes, and I am constantly getting rid of some to allow for the new. But this also means that I am constantly re-organising and tidying the wardrobe. So my shopping habits are really a good thing, right?