Finally - the dollhouse is ready

Finally the doll house is ready! In the end I decided to go for a book shelf and decorate it with Marimekko paper to arrange different rooms. I bought the kitchen, the bathroom, the baby room and the dolls from Lundby. But I must say I am a bit disappointed. They are not very sturdy. The mother doll is already broken. For a kids toy this is not a very good start. The bedroom interior is from Muji. And the bedlinen made by myself from Marimekko fabric (I love their bold patterns). I also used several mini designer chairs (you can get them at the Page One book shop here in Hong Kong). Last not least I have sewn a leather sofa and created a table out of a piece of wooden flooring sample and clothes pegs. Coasters are serving as rugs. My daughter got it for Christmas and loved it!

Holidaying - with three small children

Our first holiday trip with the new big family (our 2.5 year old daughter and the 8 month old twin boys). One (fairly big) hotel room, a king size bed and three travel cots (two provided by the hotel). The flight was already a bit challenging eventhough it lasted less than three hours. The next downturn was the weather. We knew it was the rainy season and thought we were prepared for some rain. But it was raining nonstop for the first three days. That was tough. The hotel staff was so nice and let us use the yoga room so that the boys could wander around a bit without bumping theirs heads all the time. We still went into the pool but every day it was getting cooler because of the rain. Finally after a rough start the rain stopped for a few hours now and then so that we were able to enjoy the pool and the surroundings. Everybody relaxed and towards the end we had a lot of nice moments to make it a happy but very demanding holiday. The return flight was much better. Coming home was a bit rough again but in the end we decided to do it again...

Stylish doll houses

Source: http://www.inhabitots.com/miniio-modern-dollhouses-are-green-dream-homes-for-barbie-and-other-dolls/miniio1/

 

This is my dream doll house. It's from a company called MINIO. It's very minimalist and stylish. But it comes with a huge price tag and I am not sure if my daughter would value that. You can order it from here if you are interested: http://www.miniio.com/

 

Another beautiful doll house is this one here by LUNDBY:

 

Source: http://micki.se/en/lundby/

 

It's also very stylish not as minimalist though. You can get a large range of accessoiries for it. And it's available at AMAZON too.

 

My plan is to create a similar style as MINIO from stylish storage boxes but use the LUNDBY furniture. I will show you the result in a couple of weeks as it will be the Christmas gift for my daughter (and for Mama, too ;) ).

Lundby dolls house

Source: http://micki.se/

I just uncovered this adorable dolls house furniture by Lundby. I want to get this for my daughter for Christmas. The dolls house itself is not really my style. I want to use this one instead:

Source: http://www.rasselfisch.de/

Or maybe I am going to build one out of acrylic boxes I have seen at Muji...

Source: http://www.muji.eu/

 

 

Make your own viewmaster slides

Source: http://styleunveiled.com/

I just came across this great site. They found a company who will put any photos you want into the VIEWMASTER slide! The company is called Image3D and they make it so easy! Simply visit their website ... it can all be done with the click of a mouse!

Baby Bjorn Bouncer

Source: amazon.com

The Baby Bjorn Bouncer is another great product for babies. Especially when the babies are a little bit difficult they will fall in love with it (or should I say their parents). It smoothly bounces up and down. And I really mean smooth. We had another bouncer but it's no compare! Our three kids were all very cranky in the first few months but in the bouncer they would usually settle down. The seat is easily removable and washable and it comes in many different colours. I love the retro style shown in the photo above!



We love Miffy

Source: amazon.de (all images)

Do you know MIFFY the little cute bunny by Dutch designer Dick Bruna? My daughter and I love her! We just bought these two little storybooks. So MIFFY's adventures are part of our bedtime routine now.

Janod stacking pyramid

Source: sendatoy.com.au

Our daughter turned two on May 9 and we had her birthday party last weekend. She got lots of presents. One of them was this super cute stacking set of triangular cubes. The little ones can either use them for building or stacking. My daughter uses them for counting...

Travel cot - LIGHT -

I have just uncovered this great travel cot by Babybjorn:

It ways only 5 kg and is therefore the super light weight on the travel cot market. It can be assembled within seconds with a single movement and it stands firmly on the ground. No wobbling if the baby stands up. Measuring 45 x 31.5 x 23.5 inches (L x W x H).
Since we travel a lot by plane and not so much by car this is the perfect travel cot for us! Only disadvantage - it's not cheap.

MacLaren seat liners

My ESPRIT stroller broke down just after a year. To be fair I must admit that we have used it A LOT. And Hong Kong is quite hard on strollers with its ten thousand steps...
So everyone in Hong Kong is using a MacLaren stroller. They seem to be more durable. That's why I got a preloved MacLaren Triumph stroller for my daughter. Since it was preloved I wanted to accessoirize it a bit to make it look at least a bit more fashionable. I decided for a seat liner. They come in all kinds of styles. The only problem is to find them at your local store. I got this one for my daughter:


Source: www.saksfifthavenue.com

But there are also very nice options available for boys:

Source: www.kiddicare.com

I was hoping to find this one for my twins somewhere in Hong Kong but the MacLaren shop doesn't have it...