Monday, April 6, 2009

House Tour: Children's Rooms: Stuffed-Animals

Today, I am continuing my Decorating Series called House Tour.
{the one where I am taking a tour around my own home and sharing my thoughts. CLICK HERE to see my first House Tour post: Children's Bedding}

Today's edition of House Tour continues with Children's Rooms: Stuffed-Animals. If you have a child, well... you have stuffed-animals. And depending upon how much your child loves these critters, you may have enough to start a small army. A very soft, fluffy, cuddly, comforting, room-invading army.

So, what to do with these darling thangs??
Unless you are Stalin-mommy, you need to acknowledge the fact that these precious things give your little ones comfort and joy. You should incorporate them into decorating.

But. Please. Do not just stick 'em all on a shelf or a bed, or they will become the focal point of your child's bedroom. Hence: room-invading army.

What to do???? Glad you asked :)

1. Display in Moderation
Many of you have seen these pics of Caleb's room before. This time, take special notice of the stuffed-animal displays. Trust me. He has many more than this, but only a few are on display. This keeps the things from taking over:
Here are the only two that are currently on display in Christian's room. I know that he will have more as he gets older because he really loves stuffed-animals: I think that putting a few lovely or important stuffed-animals on bookshelves (a few. did I say a few? like 2, maybe) is a good way to feature and preserve treasured stuffed-animals, like in the pics above and below.
Below is a pic of Caleb's bookshelf, and at the top you can see two bears. The one on the left is a special stuffed animal that I gave to my grandma soon before she passed away:
2. Give favorite Buddies a place of Honor

Does your kiddo have a favorite, treasured stuffed-animal? Well then. That precious thang deserves a place of honor. Preferably, right smack dab in the middle of the bed.

This says to your child:
what is important to you is important to me.

Nevermind if that particular animal is very, very bedraggled. The seat of honor is where he belongs:
3. Hide the Troops, thereby Hiding the Uglies

Ooh, yeah. You knew it was coming! Hide those Uglies, peeps.

As I said earlier, if you display all of your stuffed-animals, they will become the focal point of the room. Therefore, you must find a way to contain those animals that do not make the cut.

Do they make the cut?
Ask yourself: Is this stuffed-thang any of the below....
1. Priceless to my child?
2. Really, really cute to look at?
3. Enhancing the theme of my child's room?

If not, well... it is time to Hide that Thing.

Here is how we hide 'em at our house:
Baskets:
Window Benches:
Insides of regularly-used closets:
4. Another display option: Feature Stuffed Animals that fit into your theme.
When Caleb was a baby, his nursery had a lamb theme, so we displayed a lot more stuffed-animals at that time:
Do you see my little cutie-patootie?? amongst his lambs?:
Many of the lambs (now that he no longer has a lamb theme) now reside on his his dresser inside the closet. {fear not: We have kept the most important ones out}:
Well. There you have it.
Now go and take control of that precious room-invading army!!!

For more House Tour, Click Here.
And be sure to enter my Giveaway, which ends this Friday, by Clicking Here!

11 friends had a thing or two to say...:

Stacey @ The Blessed Nest said...

Thank goodness for fabulous baskets!! Love the bookshelf in your little guy's room! I agree that most of the stuffed animals should be hidden away, just looks much nicer that way, plus it gives the kids more space to dream and play! Great post :)!!

Tessa said...

I completely agree also. Jonah was never really gung ho about stuffed animals, so I never really had to get creative in convincing him that they should not be taking over his room. If nothing else, those things can be an allergy nightmare! There are definitely cute ones, and I know they should have a special place in the room. Great post!

Unknown said...

You are too cute with hiding the uglies - not sure I'm so good at that yet. With 8 children and tons of stuffied loveys we do our best to keep them all under control!

Hugs and love,
Jill

Paula said...

And once again you deliver the goods Darlene! My daughter has soooooo many stuffed toys in her room that it's scary, and to makes matter worse, she only likes a select few. So...this Easter weekend I think it time that she and I cull the masses and give some to charity! I love cane baskets, so I think Jasmine and I will be shopping for some new caneware for her room so we can well and truly hide the uglies in them. She has bright pink see through storage 'things' with Dora on them but now she's getting older I need to 'grow up' her room a bit. What better way than cane! Thank you for the inspiration! xo

Room to Think said...

Love the baskets and the blue dinosaur! Everthing looks fantastic!

He & Me + 3 said...

YOu are a genius. I love your ideas. I am not a fan of stuffed animals, so this was awesome. Love your decorating.

Mom in High Heels said...

Yeeeeeeeeesssssssssss! I so agree with you on this. We hide most of the stuffed army in the closet or in baskets. His best buds (Teddy, Skokie and Monkey) get the place of honor on the bed, a Mickey that he got in Disneyland Paris sits on a bookshelf and 2 teddy bears, one given by my parents and one dressed in an army uniform (that he actually wore because he was so tiny as a baby) are on another shelf. Those are all displayed because they are special. Everything else gets hidden.
Keep on preaching it!

Jennifer @ JenniferDukesLee.com said...

Love your ideas! Our house has been overtaken by stuffed animals. Someone call the exterminator! We've been invaded by Webkinz!

Unknown said...

I love baskets - i use them like crazy :-) great post!

Christine said...

You sure have a real eye for making everything look do good. I so love your home! Warm and very inviting. Can you believe we still have stuffed toys in the kids rooms!...lol

hugs and hope you and your family Have a blessed Easter!

Laura said...

Oh, honey. Great ideas. This army has taken over my son's room. The problem?

He plays with his animals. this leaves them strewn across the floor in rows upon endless rows.

I comfort myself with the knowledge these sweet plush-filled days will soon come to an end!

:)Laura

Sponsor a child in Jesus' name.