these days, my life seems to suddenly be full of beautiful babies that my friends have had over the past year or two. everywhere i look, art studios and spare rooms have become nurseries and now i find myself shopping in cute baby stores more than cute shoe stores. although many designers have turned towards babies and children, i still find my favorite designs for children are those made by the parents’ own hands. so today i wanted to share one of my favorite diy projects from a child’s room- a beautiful hand-painted mural that belongs to mikus, llubav choy duerr’s beautiful little boy. llubav was kind enough to share her thoughts and details on the project so i’ll let her do the talking. gracias, llubav and mikus!

click here for full-sized images of mikus’ greenpoint nursery. and click here to see the rest of llubav’s greenpoint home!

“Mikus’ room used to be our dining room/crash room with a table for four and a cozy long vintage daybed filled with hable pillows across from it. We knew we didn’t want to move to a bigger place when our son was born because we really like the neighborhood but at the same time we didn’t want to put Mikus in the closet. Hee, Hee. So we had to make our apartment work for us without it feeling too tight. There was a lot of cleaning and donating…amazing how much one can hold on to but never really use and i’m a collector–what can i say!

We wanted to give his room a playful transformation without it looking like a nursery room but more like a fun kid’s place. And because it’s next to the kitchen and we have to walk through it to get there, we wanted us and others to enjoy the scenery… I’m sure this is no news to people living in new york apartments with interesting layouts.

I first got the idea of doing a wall design versus just plain paint because i’m enamored with patterns, color and really enjoy drawing. But had to keep the design fun and unisex so, we chose rain forest with a mint green color. All the animal silhouettes are hand-drawn with pencil, then paint and brush and then painted around and in between the shapes. Then we added splash of colors with a great stripe rug from ikea and hand-made party flags above his crib. Also, above the crib we hung arts from family and friends and the poster where his name comes from (it’s my mother-in-law’s maiden name). My husband’s great-aunt who is an accomplished painter Eleanore Mikus gave the poster to Chris after birth and was hanging right above his bed when we first started dating–and i just fell in-love with the spelling and knew my first son will be named that. It’s a really great place for the three of us to meet, read books and play. We enjoy it very much.”

[Photographs courtesy of 3photographers]

this is a bit of a departure from what i normally post, but i was completely taken with french artist barbara berrada’s work. barbara creates beautiful clothing, toys and decorations for children and their rooms and i find myself wanting to either reverse my age back to 10 or suddenly find myself living in france with a small child that needed to be dressed up and have their room designed. each of these pieces is so sweet and thoughtful- i just love them. sometimes words fail me and this is a perfect example- i think barbara’s work has such a cohesive look and feel to it- down to the styling of the shots. i’m hooked. click here to see more of her work online, and here to read her beautifully shot blog.

ps: click here to check out guy’s fantastic guest blog post on british ceramicists today!

it’s been a great week here at d*s- thank you to everyone who came out to the biz ladies meetup in boston last night! we had a great turnout and it was so fun to meet everyone. if you’re looking for the notes from last night’s meeting (or any of the other meetings) just click here for the biz ladies home page. i just got home so i’m going to dive back into my email folder to get few as many as possible before the weekend so i’ll see everyone on monday! have a great weekend and, if you missed any posts this week, a summary of this week’s highlights are below.

*ps: anne’s regional roundup for australia began with melbourne this week. melbourne was so packed-full of great independent designers that we decided to spread it out a bit and do parts three and four next week. so stay tuned for that and then sydney and brisbane (and more!) afterwards…

• new sneak peeks: christine chitnis, nancy lendved, screech owl design summer cottage
• new regional roundups: melbourne part one and part two
• diy wednesdays: yarn vase and amh design stitch-able journals
• new podcast and recipe: elisa strauss of confetti cakes
• before and afters: kelsey’s chair and cheryl’s drum table
• new guide: d*s fleamarket guide (part one: the northeast)
• ho ho ho: amenity holiday 2008 collection
• new shop peek: ink & peat in portland
• misc: fabulous faceted lamp, gorgeous marimekko jumper, colorful bedding from pbteen, a home for fabrics in a bright pink chest, new tableware from workingclass studio, new textiles from sanford burrows, rachel allen architecture, architecture in helsinki embroidery video, new: frazier and wing mobiles, new: piet’s diamond mirrors,

also, i couldn’t resist ending the week with these fantastic new wall decals from boodalee and blik. the two have teamed up to create this special collection for children’s rooms and i think they’re the perfect mix of kid-friendly and modern. i’m sure someone will correct me because i don’t have kids yet, but i think they’re super fun and if i was little, i’d definitely love a few on my wall. boodalee will start accepting pre-orders in the coming month but in the meantime you can click here to sign up for their newsletter and be reminded when they are ready to sell! [thanks, jeanice!]

when i was little i was never dreamed of having such incredible wall murals on my wall like these from nyc painter ami suma. ami specializes in murals for children’s rooms and has some some pretty fantastic work so far. i love the pieces above and below but you can view her full collection right here. thanks, ami!

i saw this photo on rachel from red velvet art’s flickr page and thought it was cute, simple and clever. the woodgrain-print lining on the back reminds me of a much more diy-version of something in the netto collection vein. it’s such a great way to spruce up a simple bookcase to fit your little one’s needs.

[ps: sarah's guest blog post for today just went up and it's so, so funny. gorgeous floral arrangements and funny wedding fantasy ideas. it's a must-read.]

i don’t normally do a lot of kids and baby posting around here (i get the most angry emails when i do. mostly a lot of “don’t turn into a yuppy baby blog you jerk! we don’t all have kids!”) but i couldn’t resist posting some of these gorgeous pieces from eric pfeiffer’s 10 grain company. i just love all the patterns on each piece (and the great product photography). they’re not brand new but considering just about everyone i know had recently had a baby (really, everyone) i figured it might be timely. i wish some of these came in big-people sizes. click here to check out more from 10grain and shop online. [thanks, eric!]

stay tuned for four before and afters up next…

kat nouri at modern-twist is debuting some gorgeous new products at the gift fair this week. i’m still debating whether or not to go but in the meantime it’s great to get a little sneak peek of what’s coming up. moderntwist will be showing new placemats (including designs by rex ray and matte stephens), doileez (reusable, silicone styles) and a new hide box (among many more). click here for more information on modern-twist. [thanks amy and kat!]