As I mentioned earlier this week, we recently got an invitation from LEGO that made our design-fanatic hearts flutter. Sarah C. and I got the chance to visit the Novogratz in their West Village townhouse, during a special event celebrating children and their innate sense of design. While there, we were encouraged to walk around the five-story dwelling. Each floor unveiled museum-worthy artwork, innovative decorating ideas and fun and lived-in spaces for kids of all ages — literally! In case you don’t know, the Novogratz have seven kids. One of them is named Five. And they are all insanely cute and charming hosts.

Idea No. 1  — Turn the unexpected into art.

I’m not entirely sure what this wall hanging is above these two kids’s beds, but I love it. It’s like a skin from a Maurice Sendak safari, and it is the stuff dreams are made of.

Idea No. 2.  — Use a candelabra as a jewelry organizer.

This was spotted on Cortney and Bob’s floor. It so clever it kills me. What a great way to keep your necklaces and scarves in sight while still having a bit fun with their display.

Idea No. 3 — Don’t be afraid to personalize design classics.

How genius is this? Decoupaged Panton chairs! I love that idea that nothing is too precious for a little personalization. Who cares if their a classic? Make it yours and feel free to improve upon their design.

Idea No. 4 — A bulletin board is not enough. Make it a wall.

Who cares if we don’t have 20 ft tall walls in our home like Novogratz? I am still gonna steal this idea for Isadora’s room. They have turned an entire wall into one big idea capturing space. The center panel is a fabric covered bulletin board. Its bracketed by two chalkboard panels. I’m not entirely sure how to pull this off — do you make a wall sized board and then just mount it? Or do you cover the wall itself in something? I’m thinking about this one and adding to our future projects list. If you have any ideas on how’d you’d tackle, please let me know!

Hope you enjoyed my little snoop — and forgive my iPhone snapshots! Thanks to LEGO and Novogratz for being so open and generous with their time.

Anyone who has ever watched a little girl play with a dollhouse knows that happiness comes in small sizes. The more mini the miniature object is, the more she will fawn over it. Well, LEGO has confirmed this casual observation with a study on how kids play. You may recall that the toy company got a bit of flack when it introduced its girl-focused LEGO Friends line back before the holidays, with some saying that building toy didn’t need to be gender-slanted. But the truth of the matter is the girls love them. [They] want “realistic building and role-play, with plenty of details and a chance to remodel, redecorate and redesign in a character-based world,” says Michael McNally from LEGO. In fact, the company says, in only four months, the number of girls engaging in LEGO play has nearly tripled.

Sarah C and I were lucky enough to be invited to an amazing event last week: LEGO teamed up with the Novogratzs (America’s biggest, chicest design family), to unveil the results of a poll that found that kids begin taking interest in changing their rooms just after the age of five, saying their number one wish is to have more space to hang out and play. The setting for the event was the perfect place to talk about fun kids’ spaces: the Novogratz‘s amazing West Village home.

As the family’s matriarch, Cortney explains: “We’ve seen how room design can unleash a child’s creativity in our own family.” The above LEGO house can be reconstructed to look like a townhouse — not TOO unlike the Novogratz’s own fab dwelling.

And while the LEGO mom and dad aren’t nearly as stylish as Cortney and Bob, we find them totally cool, none-the-less. Wouldn’t you invite these guys over a drink?

Coming soon: We take you on a snoopy tour of the Novgratz’s house and their amazing kids’ spaces!

After last week’s decidedly handsome door, I decided to go a little girly today. This door, spotted on the Inside the Loop tumblr via Fabulous K, has completely filled my dreams. Sure, the exterior walls are stone gray, but vibrant fuchsia door topped with a chartreuse panel and a warm clay frame immediately tell us something creative is happening within. The cactus next door makes me think it might be in Santa Fe, or perhaps somewhere further afield like Mexico City or Old San Juan. I would love to see this color combo on a little suburban house like mine. I’m thinking gray siding, warm clay trim, with fuchsia shutters and door. Would I get kicked out of the neighborhood for being too wacky? I don’t care, I’m adding this one to file.

It’s not often that I am able to sneak out during business hours for product launches or previews, but when I got invited to come and chat with Sally Clarke, Method‘s creative director, I couldn’t resist. If you come over my house, you’ll find one of their signature, Karim Rashid-designed tear drop hand soap dispensers in the bathrooms. I also am pretty addicted to their Steel for Real Stainless Steel Polish and their Leather Love Wipes. Everything they make just smells so damn good, it inspires cleanliness.

But there was an added bonus for going to this event: They were unveiling a collaboration with one of my favorite graphic artists, Orla Kiely. You may recall our past obsessions involving Orla’s Target Line (we did a giveaway and helped you track down what you couldn’t find locally). The limited edition cleaning collection will be available at Target (where else?) starting in September. In addition to adorable patterns that will add an instant chic to your countertops, they also come in new custom scents — vanilla chai, primrose, pear ginger and my favorite, bay leaf. (Note: The above photo features prototype bottles, not the real thing. That will be even prettier.)

Listening to Sally tell us about Method‘s principals, which marry fun and useful design with healthy products and eco-smarts, has made me even more of a fan of this company.

Stay tuned as we get closer to launch dates on the Orla Kiely products and more new releases. I’ll be sure to let you know when they hit stores!

I am obsessed with front doors. It is the place where a home’s personality is most projected outwards. My favorites are ones that are painted a bright color so they POP and let you know that something fun and quirky is within. This dandy door is in Hudson, New York, where we are lucky enough to hang out a weekend or two a month. Isn’t it perfection? The bright teal complements the gunmetal gray building color just right. The well tailored checked curtains are masculine and slightly retro. It’s also geniusly unsymmetrical: with a large potted plant to one side and a classic doormat on the left.

Have you seen a front door you love? Please let me know! We’ll do a series and show them off here.

You don’t have to twist our arms to pin cute images of nursery decor to our boards on Pinterest, but Dwellstudio and Hatch maternity have created a really good reason for us to start a new one today. In partnership with Christy Turlington Burns’ and her awesome charity organization Every Mother Counts, they have started the #stylesquared contest. Make a pinboard that captures your personal nursery and fashion style, tag it #stylesquared, and you could win over $1500 in DwellStudio and Hatch gear. But best of all, for each pinboard created, the companies will donate $10 to Every Mother Counts. Click here to read more about the contest and how to enter. And, click here for a little happy Pinterst browsing of the #stylesquared boards already created. Contest closes May 17th.

I’ve been absent from these pages for a while, and here’s why: we just moved 2,000 miles from Seattle to Chicago! What a change – the biggest part of which, at the moment, is our living space. We went from 880 square feet in a 1940s cottage to 2,000+ in a giant 1800s-era two-story house. (Lest you think we suddenly came into some money, we’re renting.) When I first saw the house, the previous tenants were using the dining room as a living room.

I just chalked that up to their age – guys in their 20s don’t tend to value décor, in my experience. But now that we’re in the house, I confess we’re considering doing the exact same thing. Despite all the space, we’re having trouble setting up the living room to comfortably watch TV (and I can admit: we like TV). There’s a huge open archway, an awkward room off the entry through another archway, and a three-window nook. The only wall big enough for the TV is also the only wall big enough for the couch. Putting the couch against the windows looks weird. I am adamantly against putting a TV in front of a window. And floating the couch in the middle of the room messes up traffic flow. The dining room, on the other hand, has two good-sized walls for both TV and couch, as well as a lot more electrical outlets. So, what do you think: have you ever switched up the layout of the house like that? Will we be risking the wrath of the feng shui gods if we do?

I’m writing this tale in hopes of preventing others of making the same mistake, though I will likely seem pretty damn foolish as I do so.

You see, I know that raisins are bad, very bad, for dogs. And I know the safest place for puppies when you can’t watch them is in a crate. Yet, I somehow seemed to carelessly forget both of these things and our insanely loveable, six month old labradoodle Cupcake managed to devour a snack box full of raisins Saturday afternoon. Thank heavens he’s fine now, but let me tell you of our scare.

We went upstate to spend the night in our little cottage. We only have one crate for Cupcake and though it collapses, we stopped bringing it on overnight trips with us a month ago. Cupcake sleeps solidly through the night at the foot of our bed, and we never leave him alone long enough to get into trouble during the day. That was until Saturday, when the three of us headed out to a restaurant leaving our dear little pooch alone for a couple of hours. Coming home with our bellies full, we open the door to find Cupcake, happy and excited to see us as always, standing over a shredded box of empty raisins on the rug. I had left them in a bag on a chair, and now that too was on the floor.

My heart instantly leaped into my throat. Raisins are on the list of things that are toxic to dogs (along with grapes, chocolate, onions, garlic, macadamia nuts). How toxic? I didn’t know and instantly started Googling “My dog ate raisins” to find out. The results terrified me. Eating raisins causes sudden kidney failure in some dogs. But the specifics were unclear: How many raisins? How quickly? Some dogs? This Snopes page offered some useful, albeit scary, background.

Apparently, animal doctors made the link to kidney failure in dogs with grapes and raisins in late ’80s. They found that after eating a few ounces of them, some dogs would stop eating, have diarrhea, and grow lethargic. After a few days, they would not be able to pass urine, causing intense abdominal pain — and sometimes resulting in death.

Everything I saw advised to call a vet immediately, so I dialed the number of the nearest 24 animal hospital (about 40 miles away). They told me to give him a teaspoon on hydrogen peroxide to induce vomiting. After a quick run to CVS, we managed to do this — and it worked! Up came a rather impressive pile of all the things Cupcake had eaten recently including a whole lot of raisins. I thought that would be it, but the vet told us we needed to come in none-the-less.

We got to the clinic and immediately felt out of place. Obviously the other pet owners were there with really sick animals (who were howling and whimpering sadly from behind closed doors), while our dog was scampering around, as cute and energetic as ever. How could anything be wrong with him?

The doctor called the Animal Poison Control Center, to get the prognosis. She came into the exam room grim faced and told us this is very serious, and Cupcake would have to spend two nights at the hospital, and be treated with intravenious fluids and charcoal to flush the toxins out of his system. After this — and a $1500 bill — she promised he would be 100% well.

Reluctantly, we left our dear dog at the clinic and headed home to a much emptier house. I called every twelve hours to check on him, and got nothing but positive news. He came home today with a funny cone around his neck, a shaved leg, brimming with wags and kisses. It’s possible that he would have been fine if we hadn’t taken him to the hospital, but who could take a chance like that? We’re so happy to have him back.

And for the record, we now live in a raisin free house.

More posts from the Puppy Files:

Choosing the perfect breed

I love a good plaid. Be it the refined British Burberry patterns or rugged Scotland breeds that make up those delicious kilts, I am smitten with plaid.That’s why Raw Edges studio’s plaid benches have leapt to the top of my wish list! Part mod, part preppy, the collection of benches are made up of interlocking colorful bands crossing horizontally and vertically to make up a gorgeous pattern. Check out Raw Edges studio for the rest of designers Yael Mer and Shay Alkalay’s creations (the floors of the Stella McCartney store in Milan are nothing short of inspiring).

Low energy light bulbs are something we’ve grown accustom to reluctantly. We love that they last so long and don’t use as much electricity as standard bulbs, but we hate their blueish glow and the way they slowly come to full light. Technically, incandescent bulbs 40 watts and higher won’t be manufactured after 2014 (something that is still be contested in Congress). The one thing that will make everyone happier about making the eco switch will be better bulbs.

Enter Philips and their new LED which won a $10 million U.S. Department of Energy prize last year. It is the most efficient bulb made yet that can replace your old 60 watters. It comes with a three year warranty and supposedly will last about 20 years (presuming 4 hours of use a day). As USA Today reports, the claim is that it gives off a softer light the CFLS most of us are using now, and it doesn’t contain Mercury, which makes the CFLs dangerous if they break. Philips’ new bulb hits store this Sunday, Earth Day, and the price tag may keep you from making the switch immediately: they will cost between $20 to $60.

We’ll be keeping our eyes out for reviews on their glow – because wouldn’t we all pay more for a bulb that made us look better? If you have an opinion of it, leave your thoughts here!

More posts on our quest for the perfect light bulbs:

Will you miss incandescent bulbs?