Image and text by Gabrielle. Hello, Friends! Do you have a minute? I’d love to talk 2014 with you. As I mentioned last week, there are some changes afoot here at Design Mom. The first is a biggie. In 2012, I started working with a regular team of contributors. It was an experiment, with the original goal being to double the content on Design Mom to an average of 6 posts a day, and to eventually create a place where I could even step away for a few days, or even weeks, as an author — to create a place that was more about the team than me as an individual. And goodness, I LOVE working with these ladies. They bring so much talent and enthusiasm to the table and I know how much they treasure this community. But friends, the experiment didn’t work! Turns out readers didn’t want 6 posts a day. It was too much content. And turns out, I don’t want to step away from Design Mom. I love this job. I love interacting with readers. I love reading and responding to comments. I love your emails, ideas and suggestions. And I love writing blog posts. You may have noticed that contributors had less of a presence on the blog through December. And that’s going to continue. Over the next week, we’ll finish the transition, and for the remainder of the year there will no longer be contributor posts.  To be clear, I’ll still be working with lots of talented folks (and lots of the same talented folks we’ve all come to love), but they won’t have regular columns. Instead, all articles will be authored by me, and I’ll bring on help per article, as needed. So if there won’t be regular contributors on Design Mom in 2014, what can you expect instead? …

Design Mom in 2014 – The Future Looks Bright!Read More »

By Gabrielle. Let me guess. School doesn’t start until Monday and you have some bored, stir-crazy kids on your hands. Well you’re in luck! I’ve got the perfect Olive Us episode for you. It’s called Tongue Twisters, and it will have your kids testing out their own weird word concoctions — and probably giggling a lot too! As you can imagine, this was a really fun episode to film. The hardest part was narrowing down which tongues twisters to use. In fact, if you have a favorite tongue twister, I’d love to hear it! I hope you enjoy the video. And I hope you enjoy the rest of the holiday break. P.S. — Would you like to know more about Olive Us? Here you go: – Find the official Olive Us website here, and subscribe to the Olive Us Newsletter here. – Find all the posts I’ve written about Olive Us — including every episode — here. – We’ve made 44 episodes so far and collaborated with ulive on 20 of them! You can find the Olive Us page on ulive here.

By Lindsey Johnson of Café Johnsonia for Design Mom. Menu #23 of our Lunch Box Series has a bit of Asian flair. We eat a lot of Asian food, and therefore a lot of rice. If I have leftover plain rice, a great way to use it up (besides rice pudding) is to turn it into another meal. Here I made good use of it for a quick, semi-healthy hot lunch. If you don’t want to go to the trouble of making it from scratch, order a little extra the next time you have takeout and use it for an easy lunch. LUNCH MENU #23 – ham fried rice – kale chips – clementine – freeze dried strawberries and chocolate chips – milk (or water) …

Lunch Menu #23Read More »

By Gabrielle. Oh. This episode is one of my favorites! About an hour north of our little town in France, you’ll find the village of Honfleur. It’s a small fishing town that is such a delight to visit! (I wrote about it here .) We spent many lovely afternoons in Honfleur. It’s near the beaches of Deauville, and we loved taking our visitors who had already seen all the “big” sights in France and were looking for something less known. One thing we learned about Honfleur is that it’s considered the birthplace of Impressionism. Monet and Boudin painted here and it became a meeting place for their contemporaries. Fantastic, right? And if you visit, it’s easy to see why — the light in the little town is extraordinary. (Laurie White helped us with the research — her Great Artist program is terrific!) So we thought it would be fun to make an episode about painting “en plein air“, and share what it’s like to visit Honfleur for the day. I hope you enjoy it! Tell me friends, do you bring paints or a sketchbook with you when you travel? Have you ever tried painting en plein air? I’d love to hear. P.S. — Would you like to know more about Olive Us? Here you go: – Find the official Olive Us website here, and subscribe to the Olive Us Newsletter here. – Find all the posts I’ve written about Olive Us here. – We’ve made 44 episodes so far and collaborated with ulive on 20 of them! You can find the Olive Us page on ulive here.

  I thought it would be fun to share a fun DIY gift idea for children (or grownups!) — a simple fishbowl customized with sea-themed doodles! I think watching a little fish paddling around its bowl could be a calming way to spend some time. And adding happy illustrations to the bowl is an easy way to make this simple gift into something special. Just think, a simple doodle can transform a plain fish bowl into a fun and interesting home for our finned friends — without having to buy (or clean) extra accessories. If you’re worried about your doodling skills, we took care of that for you. With the help of illustrator Stephanie Frey, we have three underwater scenes you can print off and trace on your choice of fish bowl. You can choose from a school of fish, the ocean floor (with pirate’s treasure!), and seaweed and coral — or choose all three! Ready to find out how simple it is? Come see! …

The Perfect Gift: Custom Fish Bowl + Free DownloadsRead More »

By Gabrielle. Oh, we’re in for a treat today! Friends, I’d love to introduce you to Kayce Hughes: wife, mother of seven, and classic designer. I’ve worked with Kayce a lot over the years, so I can attest to the fact that she is inherently stylish; she hails from a gorgeous lineage of women who define style, among them an aunt by the name of Lilly Pulitzer! She is an anything-is-possible maker. Her style is timeless and effortless. She runs toward color, and somehow leaves us wishing for boldly patterned red chairs to match our green walls…and not just in December. Years ago, she whipped up nightshirts for her daughters, which were the first of a now 200-plus piece collection that includes children’s apparel, gift and layette collections, a flower girl collection, and an ever expanding women’s line of clothing and accessories. She has shops, too, so if you’re lucky enough to be in Nashville, Chattanooga, or Atlanta, pop in! (I’m told her fall line is on sale 40% off!) Q: Please tell us about the family who makes this house a home. A: We have seven children – two boys and five girls, ages eight to 20 – and two white labs. Our children’s names are Reagan, Charlotte, Sophie, Owen, Clare, Audrey, and Olivia. And our dogs are Jack and Lilly. My husband is a great photographer, and I design woman’s and children’s clothes. There is a lot of creativity under one roof! With nine strong unique artistic personalities, there is always someone to hang out with and something fun going on. Q: How did this home become yours? A: We bought our house 20 years ago when Scott and I moved to Nashville from New York City. It was built in the 30’s. I have fond memories of the first few years when we spend so many hours scraping wall paper and painting one room at a time. Fourteen years ago we added on the kitchen and family room which is where we all spend most of our time. It was great to have lived in our home for so many years so that we knew what we wanted when the time came to add on. …

Living With Kids: Kayce HughesRead More »

By Lindsey Johnson of Café Johnsonia for Design Mom. I know what you’re thinking — another breakfast-for-lunch menu? Yep! I think my kids and I could eat breakfast for every meal, so Menu #22 of our Lunch Box Series is a popular one in my family. It doesn’t have to be French toast. It could be baby pancakes or waffles. The idea is that it’s a finger food that doesn’t need a fork or plate. Dipping is all part of the fun! I like to include jam instead of syrup for several reasons: 1) syrup is super sticky and spills more easily, and 2) it’s super sticky and spills more easily. : ) I add in some kind of extra protein in the form of lunch meat, cheese stick or cubes. Rice pudding is a relatively new thing we’ve been trying. I didn’t love it as a kid myself, but so far so good! It’s a great way to use up leftover rice and fill their little bellies. If it’s not your child’s thing, you can totally substitute yogurt or cottage cheese. This menu is 100% flexible! LUNCH MENU #22 – homemade French toast sticks with all-fruit jam (see below for directions) – a few slices of lunch meat – carrot applesauce – rice pudding – orange juice …

Lunch Menu #22Read More »

By Gabrielle. This weekend, I was at the grocery store, picking up a last-minute gift for an event, and remembered this little video I made last year. Since this is the week before Christmas, I thought it might come in handy for some of you! Watch it, then keep the ideas in the back of your mind, and if you suddenly remember you still need a teacher gift, or coach gift, or neighbor gift, or hostess gift you can pick one of these up during a late-night grocery run — or on the way to the party! Not in the mood for a video? Click through below and you’ll find the 9 recommendations from the video plus notes on why I chose each one. By the way, how is your shopping coming along? I confess: I’ve barely started mine. Yikes! I feel like our life has been on hold for 11 days while the floors were being redone and we were camping upstairs. We don’t even have our Christmas Tree! I can hardly believe it. We’ve definitely never had a December like this before — we’re going to need to pack in all the holiday magic we can in the next 10 days. I can feel Tim Gunn chanting Make It Work in my ear. : ) …

Last Minute (Thoughtful & Stylish!) Gifts You Can Find at the Grocery StoreRead More »

By Lindsey Johnson of Café Johnsonia for Design Mom. I’ve been really trying to find something my son will eat for lunch. He has numerous issues with food beyond being a picky eater. It’s more of a sensory issue — he’s on the autism spectrum. When I find something he will eat besides peanut butter and honey, I’m super excited. For Menu #21 of our Lunchbox Series, I made him homemade pizza pockets! (I can’t believe I hadn’t thought of it before!) Admittedly it’s not the healthiest of lunches, but every once in awhile I feel okay about it. And it’s a lot better than the pizza they have available at school. LUNCH MENU #21 – homemade pizza pocket (recipe below) – carrot and celery sticks – banana – dried cranberries – portable kefir (my kids call these ‘yogurt smoothies’) …

Lunch Menu #21Read More »

By Gabrielle. I’m so pleased to share another episode with did with ulive! It’s called The Clockmaker and it’s really lovely. As Ralph explains in the video, in France, all students in the 9th grade (troisieme) do a professional internship. We were so excited that Ralph could intern with Jean-Francois, a clockmaker in our small town. After Ralph’s first day on the job, he came home determined that this would make a great Olive Us episode. When we went to explore the shop, Le Diable au Cadran, we too became mesmerized by the possibility! Thankfully, Jean-Francois was very open to the idea as well. He was such an easy-going, creative and fun person to work with, and his shop is really something to experience. I’m sure it has something to do with all the gears, dials, faces, hands, and tools — plus the ever present tick-tocking. We love how the video turned out. And we love that Ralph was able to experience in internship while in France. We hope you enjoy it! P.S. — Would you like to know more about Olive Us? Here you go: – Find the official Olive Us website here, and subscribe to the Olive Us Newsletter here. – Find all the posts I’ve written about Olive Us here. – We’ve collaborated with ulive for 20 episodes, you can find the Olive Us page on ulive here.

By Gabrielle. Usually, I try to remove all time stamps from these home tours. That means cropping out Halloween decorations when possible and trying not to post summer tours in the middle of December. But Candice is good at decorating for the holidays. Like, really good. (Do you remember her Winter Wishes craft? She’s also the brilliant photographer who helped us with our Central Park family photos.) And so I threw out all the rules and begged her to share her holiday home. Her inspired Christmas decor reinforces the idea that simple is stunning, especially in excess. (Candice calls this the Anthro rule, which made me laugh. But it’s so true, isn’t it?) I hope this installment of Living With Kids offers a little inspiration, and maybe even an afternoon of cutting a billion glittery stars. Enjoy the tour, Friends! Q: Please tell us all about this festive family. A: Hi! Our family consists of Mark, Candice, Grant, Nicholas, Sebastian and a prideful little scotty dog named Dickens. I met Mark when I moved across the country the day before my senior year of high school started. I wish I could say it was love at first sight but really due to a rather large miscommunication when we first met it was more of a Pride and Prejudice situation. To say we barely tolerated each other is an understatement. It wasn’t until the end of the year when we were cast as husband and wife in the high school play that we stopped trying to avoid each other completely. He moved away after high school and it wasn’t until he came back when I was a junior in college getting my BFA in photography that we knew we were in love. We were married just a few months later. We have been married for almost 15 years now and I’ve loved him every minute of it. (There is a lot more to the story including the time I set him up with my best friend…but we will just leave it at this!) Mark is currently a Theatre Professor at a University here in San Antonio, and I teach photography online. Grant is a new teenager and is everything Mark and I are not: brilliant at math and science with a deep love of rules and organization. I’m very grateful that there is someone in this house who loves that stuff. Nicholas, formerly known as Cole, has decided that at the age of ten his nickname is too young for him. He also changes his name from Cole to Nicholas every Christmas season. He is charming, funny, and can make friends with anyone. Sebastian is two. That means that you can see that there is an eight year gap between his brother and him. We waited for him to join our family for a long time and it was well worth it. He’s super smart and full of life. He pretty much rules the rest of us with his adorable demands. …

Living With Kids: Candice StringhamRead More »

By Darcy Miller. Find her on Instagram and Twitter. Note from Design Mom: This project is by Darcy Miller — you may know her as the long time Editor of Martha Stewart Weddings, and one of the most talented people on the planet. I met Darcy a couple of years ago and have loved exchanging emails with her and following her adventures on Instagram. When she reached out with photos of these charming pillows, I knew right away I wanted to share them here! Without further ado, here’s Darcy: With Thanksgiving coming very late and Channukah coming very early, I was a little last minute on this year’s holiday gifts. But you’d never know it from what we gave my husband — it’s a personalized, handmade present that just happens to be easy enough to make quickly. When it comes to gifts for my husband, my daughters and I are always big on making things. My middle daughter Ella, who is eight, loves to sew and takes lessons at a wonderful little sewing shop named Pins & Needles. Over Thanksgiving weekend we decided to make Daddy throw pillows for his office, inspired by pillows that Rachel (the owner of Pins & Needles) whipped up for her nieces. First, we went to B & J fabrics and picked put materials that would go with his couch — a rich black velvet and gray flannel and linen.  Then we spent a few hours sewing together at Pins & Needles (truth be told, Ella did most of the work — and even squeezed in making jeggings for her sisters!). The pillows were a huge success, and seriously easy to do. Now we want to make more for our grandmother’s couch — one for each grandkid — but that’s 8 more pillows(!), so we might be waiting for Christmas break when Ella has more free time to sew. Along with being the perfect thing to give to grandparents, these profile pillows would be a great gift for a engaged couple or for newlyweds; how cute would it be to have the 2 silhouettes facing each other on the pillows? …

The Perfect Gift: Personalized Profile PillowsRead More »

By Gabrielle. Nightlight available on Etsy. Ben Blair is in France this week, and I have the hardest time falling asleep without him. I basically just end up staying awake until my body forcibly shuts my brain down. But I started sleeping on his side of the bed a couple of nights ago and it seems to be helping. His pillow carries his scent, and I think it’s comforting me. It got me thinking about my side of the bed, and wondering when my side became my side. I definitely have memories of sleeping on Ben’s current side of bed in some of the houses we lived in. In fact, I think the layout of our house, and our bed’s relation to the nursery, is what ended up determining where we slept. If I remember right, it started with Baby Ralph, 16 years ago. Ben chose the side closest to the baby, then when tiny Ralph woke in the night, Ben would get up and bring the baby to me for nursing, letting me stay in the cozy bed — his sweet way of making the night nursings easier for me. (I know we just discussed how much I love my sleep.) But somewhere along the line — I’m guessing it was in New York, which is the place we lived the longest as a married couple — we settled into particular sides of the bed. I’m on the left. He’s on the right (the right if you’re laying in bed). At home. At hotels. At friend’s houses. It’s practically become an instinct. I know it’s a silly question, but how about you? Do you and your partner have particular sides of the bed? Or do you switch around? And for those of you sleeping solo at the moment, do you straddle the middle or do you keep to one side? P.S. — Do you make your bed?

By Lindsey Johnson of Café Johnsonia for Design Mom. Menu #20 of our Lunch Box Series is all about the leftovers. I’m a big fan of sending them to school for lunch with my kids. Chicken enchiladas is a favorite. Here I’ve added some tortillas chips and salsa and cinnamon applesauce. It’s a very filling hot lunch that I know will always be eaten and enjoyed. And I love the bonus that my leftovers are getting used up! LUNCH MENU #20 – chicken enchiladas – tortilla chips and salsa – cinnamon apple sauce – water …

Lunch Menu #20Read More »

By Gabrielle. Image by Justin Hackworth For a blog called Design Mom, sometimes I’m surprised how little I get into the nuts and bolts of parenting. I suppose it might be because the longer I’m a parent, the easier it is to see that I really have no idea how to do this job most of the time. And that almost nobody does. There’s a lot of winging it going on! But I was having a conversation with a friend, and her kindergartener is having trouble staying dry at night, and I replied, “Oh! I totally I wet the bed till I was in middle school. I even had to see a doctor about it. My parents handled it really well. And here’s how I learned to stay dry…” Thinking about the conversation later, I realized I’d never talked about bed-wetting on Design Mom before. But I know a tiny bit about it, and who knows, my experience might help someone out there. So if you’re in the mood for a little only-parents-would-want-to-talk-about-this discussion, read on. …

Bed WettingRead More »

By Gabrielle. This tour takes us on a sweet journey through a home that lovingly embraces two cultures. From traditions and tiny travel souvenirs to a giant world map in a little girl’s bedroom, Myla and her family’s home is a subtle study in world geography. The most important lesson? That it’s a small, small place. The Lopez family lives in the perfect spot – just a 40 minute commute outside of New York City – which was one of my family’s favorite homes on our growing list of hometowns. To further illustrate my point (and Walt Disney’s!) of how tiny this world of ours truly is, Myla’s family and mine are neighbors. Sort of. She has a cottage in Normandy, too! It’s the most fun when paths overlap, isn’t it? For those of you with culturally blended families, or even those of you with your passports at the ready, I really hope you enjoy this tour! Q: Please tell us all about you and yours. A: I’ll try to simplify our story! There’s me, my husband, Richard, and my daughters, Chiara and Ines. I spent my childhood in the Manila, Philippines while my husband spent his in Brittany, France. We now live in northern New Jersey and spend summers in our little cottage in Normandy, France. We met in our late teens and dated long-distance prior to the days of email and Internet. The great thing is that we still have actual hard copies of our correspondence that we can show our daughters, and hopefully our grandkids one day. I can’t believe it but we actually have been married for 17 years! …

Living With Kids: Myla LopezRead More »

By Gabrielle. It’s going to be a bit of a crazy week at our house. Ben Blair flew to France yesterday and won’t be back till Sunday, and starting Wednesday, the wood floors are being refinished. Which means we need to live upstairs until they’re done. Which means we won’t have access to the kitchen. Which will be tricky. But I’ve got a plan! And take out menus! And we’ll make it work. In honor of Ben’s trip, I thought today would be a fun day to share one of the newest Olive Us episodes, called How to Travel. I’m sure many of you have travel plans for the holidays (or are just returning from Thanksgiving trips), so hopefully this cute little video will resonate. And if you have your own travel tricks and tips you’d like to add, I hope you’ll share them in the comments. The aim of Ben’s trip is to have the roof and chimney of The Cottage repaired. I tell you, I get a case of the butterflies when I think about progress being made on our pretty little bit of France! P.S. — Would you like to know more about Olive Us? Here you go: – Find the official Olive Us website here, and subscribe to the Olive Us Newsletter here. – Find all the posts I’ve written about Olive Us here. – We’ve collaborated with ulive for 20 episodes, you can find the Olive Us page on ulive here.

By Lindsey Johnson of Café Johnsonia for Design Mom. Menu #19 in our Lunch Box Series is another favorite snack-y lunch. There are lots of little finger foods that are perfect for sharing with a friend, but tasty enough I know they’ll eat them. LUNCH MENU #19 – whole grain pretzels with chocolate nut butter dip – grapes – baby carrots – dried mango pieces – cottage cheese – hardboiled egg …

Lunch Menu #19Read More »

By Lindsey Johnson of Café Johnsonia for Design Mom. For menu #18 of our Lunch Box Series I planned another pasta dish. A warm meal like this is so simple but satisfying — especially on a cold day. My kids are all smiles whenever they see me prepping the thermos for pasta! LUNCH MENU #18 – linguine with marinara sauce -cheese and garlic bread stick – string cheese -carrots with homemade dip – squeezable fruit puree* -water …

Lunch Menu #18Read More »

Birch snowflake ornaments! This is the 3rd (and last) project in our mini-series of cool things you can make with a wood burning/etching tool. Project 1 is here. Project 2 is here. Birch trees are just lovely for the holidays. Paired with a slip of ribbon or twine, an evergreen bough or two, and these little ornaments will instantly give your home a rustic, woodsy, holiday feel, and have you ready to greet the first snowfall with a big grin. The interior of the birch branch was soft so etching was very easy and the process was very quick. And these couldn’t be more affordable to make! You could cover your tree with them. Or hang them on doorknobs around the house. You could give a set to your niece who’s just settling into her first apartment. Use them as gift toppers, or give them as holiday party favors! Don’t worry if drawing snowflakes isn’t your thing — feel free to copy mine! The designs I made are totally easy and simple to mimic. Flex those fingers and let’s do this. …

The Perfect Gift: Etched Snowflake Ornaments in BirchRead More »