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I have mentioned our neighborhood in the past; it's a high-class scavenger's paradise. You want furniture? Great world literature? Toys? Housewares? No problem.
I have been an active participant in this scene since we moved here 2 and a half years ago. I've put things out, rifled through boxes, and come home on more than one occasion screeching "Oliver, look what I found!" I knew (knew!) if I waited long enough I would find a copy of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. My most dramatic find: a Stokke Tripp Trapp chair (hellooooo $300 high chair) that needs a new coat of paint.
Paradise!
Some recent finds:
A giant basket that holds all our shopping bags, umbrellas, flashlights, etc. I do love an organized closet. Especially when you pay nothing to organize it.
Some fun-looking old books. Maybe Nils and I will read these together someday. Maybe I'll just read them on my own.
Stacking rings and stacking boxes (Nils seen wincing mid-topple with the boxes). People leave out some beautiful toys, and with a good cleaning they're like new. He loves stacking things, so the more the merrier.
And finally, his favorite toy. These are gears that spin together when you turn the toy on. He's drawn like a magnet to this thing every time I put it out. Do we have a little engineer on our hands? (Oliver certainly has his fingers crossed.)
Have I ever shown you Nils's room? No? It's actually pretty cute. It's the smallest room in our apartment, and also the only one we painted. (Correlation?) It's a peaceful little corner - I've always thought so, anyhow. Find Nils while we're putting him down for the night and you might get a different story. We've read many stories in the rocking chair, pulled many toys off the toy shelves.
Excuse me Nils, please let us in. Toots, can you let us in?
This is his favorite game right now. He closes the door, and waits for you to open it so he can close it again. Very funny.
Yes yes, you are so clever.
There's not too much to the tour, since it's a pretty small space.We've got light gray walls and your typical baby furnishings. If I can, I'd like to direct your attention to the quilt on the rocking chair, window treatment, and crib bumpers. Nils has quite the grandma; she made all these things for him.
One other touch that I love: the grouping of pictures on the wall:
They're illustrations from The Runaway Bunny. I bought a used paperback and ripped out a couple pages; one represents Oliver and the other is me. I'll let you guess which of us is the Alpine mountain climber in a Swiss/Bavarian-style hat.
Simple but sweet, no? Nils has a lot of fun in here (as long as no one is trying to make him sleep). And look! I do believe he's about to start in on his second favorite game - taking his toys and throwing them on the floor. Cleanup? Someone else takes care of that.
To me though, there is another side to this room. Let's look at that last picture one more time:
I'm pretty proud of myself for this. I have always been a secondhand furnisher, and for Nils I did my best to re purpose our own things or find new ones through secondhand channels. His things were inexpensive, and they are both unique and easy on the earth. We have even found some secondhand books and toys (mixed among their new counterparts) - a small feat given the fact that we don't live anywhere near family or friends with older children.
