(...and Hello to Traci, the fourth of our four bloggers trying out for a position on the Ohdeedoh editorial team. Comments welcome!)
Our family moved to Portland 3 years ago. From the beginning, the ridiculously talented citizens of our new West Coast city fascinated me. I stay at home with my son and because of this I have been fortunate enough to meet other mothers that stay at home with their offspring. I have been introduced to a new type of creative; the at-home-mom business owner. I am proud to call one of these a close friend.
Michaela Stanten owns Bumpstyle, an amazingly chic line of maternity tops. Each top is hand-sewn from butter-soft cotton that grows with a mom-to-be's sweet bump. Her tops are available in a variety of colors, simple yet elegant styles, and feature artwork from up-and-coming artists. I would describe her tops as modern, eclectic, classic perfection. This is also how I would describe Scout and Dashiell's rooms (Dave and Michaela's adorable children).
Michaela and her writer husband Dave have basically transformed the top floor of their 1920's bungalow into a children's wonderland. Cheery, yet calm colors and a mixture of old and new make this area a warm and inviting spot for children and adults alike. Behold the magic:







Shaw's Original Fir...
Wow just gorgeous! I absolutely love the door separating the two rooms, love the glass panel so you can look in on the baby without opening the door. Do you know where they got the large circle rug?
Nice color! It reminds me of Pixar's Dinoco blue -- almost! Have to love bold colors!
By the way, since "comments are welcome," well, "moms that stay at home with their offspring" is hilarious. My homo sapiens offspring is male. Hahaha.
What delightful rooms! Yes, that door is just perfect... as are all the little details, but it's those colors that are so exciting! I love the bold yet playful nature.
Good luck to Traci!
What a fun nursery!! The colors, the decorations, that door, and the fabulous mobile...Love ALL of it. Such beautiful photos that really capture the essence of this wonderful space!
Thanks for the tour Traci!
We have a similiar blue in our playroom. It is lovely. I love all the other colors used as accents (especially the red-orange color). Great photos!
A modern day tree house! I love how the two rooms blend into one another -- Oh, how I want to be a pint-sized patron. Excellent photos!
Absolutly love the nursery.... The colors are so bold and energetic. It is such a delight to see how other people put colors and ideas together. It is something to strive for on the next go around. Thanks for the wonderful post. Your pictures captured the true nature of the rooms!!
The rooms are so beautiful, calming, sleep sanctuaries with just the right punches of color.
Gorgeous colors!
Bright, cheery, and charming, but also soothing. That celery green is so relaxing. I feel inspired to paint our playroom that green now.
Thanks for bringing us such a magical place. I like the combination of colours and the so well created atmosphere. A treat for the eyes.
Wonderful nursery tour.
I enjoyed the photos and the descriptions.
What a fantastic space. Thanks for sharing. I love posts like this.
love the room, don't like the style of writing that much though :-(
oh boy, there is so much eye candy in those rooms! i love them, especially the wall treatments.
Absolutely beautiful! What a warm and inviting space with a great use of color. Also, her designs for moms-to- be sound really unique and innovative. I am a huge fan of Traci's as well, she has an amazing eye. Good luck Traci!
xo
Melissa
I love the wall art. Really makes the rooms. We have some great removable wall art for kids rooms at our shop. They would work great for a nursery or playroom. Check them out at www.StylishHomeandGift.com
Ann
I love the colors and the splashes of red - just gorgeous. Traci's eye (and style of writing) is fabulous - she would be a perfect choice for editor!
I'm sorry, the style of writing in this post didn't thrill me either.
Loved the pictures, but the writing was so so. I think we need to see another post.
"Basically..."
It looks like such a fun room! I especially like the red bird painting...how cute!
you've got a great eye! i LOVE LOVE LOVE the bright saturated colors. hope to see more from you!
Beautiful post, beautiful photos, beautiful nursery! I especially like the pics of views through rooms, they are so inviting.
And the close-up vignettes; wonderful!
Great post, portlanders have so much style!! I would have loved to grow up in such colorful spaces!!
Love the playfulness of this nursery. All the colors are wonderfully stylish and still kid like and artsy!
Definitely magical. I love the bird decals on the walls, and the abundance of natural light. So lovely.
You have wonderful taste : )
Great photos and narration....love Traci's eye for quality composition and talent for writing.
Adorable rooms! I enjoyed Traci's story and photos. Her post and writing style seemed a little different from the typical AT post but was very refreshing!
Beautiful post, but like a few others, I'm not a huge fan of the writing style.
what a gorgeous and magical space... I would die to have something like that for my kids. Fabulous job Traci!
Nice room, and your friends sound like interesting people, but the writing style has too many vague/subjective adjectives like "sweet" and "adorable." Actually describe what you mean and let the reader form opinions of his/her own.
(Also, "sweet bump?" Puke.)
I love the photos and subject of this post, my favorite of all the potential new editors, but I have to admit that the writing didn't thrill me either. It may be that I enjoy a less formal tone in blogs, but I was put off by what seemed to be the writer's surprise at finding so much creativity in a city like Portland and at the term "new creative" of at-home mompreneurs. I think there is creativity everywhere in every city, we just need to look for it. And haven't mompreneurs been around for a while? (ie. Mary Kay cosmetics started by mom Mary Kay Ash). It's just that now there is more support for them from organizations supporting small business owners. Sorry Traci if I got it all wrong. The writing may just need to be tweaked a little since the photos and subject provided so much, but thought I'd put my two cents in since I've always made my living as a writer and being a professional writer means having a tough skin to withstand all criticism.
This room is gorgeous and the photos are excellent. I am totally inspired to redo my boys room - oh the places I could now go with this new inspiration. The story of how this room came to be just flows for me. Snap. I like.
A beautiful nursery with great style and energy, and a lovely place for these young ones to grow and play. Nice post with great photo composition and conversational writing style.
Cool kids rooms - love the way one flows into the other with such clean bright colors. I love when I get the chance to peek into someone's REAL life and home. Great post!
Wonderful colors, and I especially like the ABC animal prints on the wall of the playroom!
Traci is an intuitive, thoughtful writer, with keen insight and a fabulous eye! I loved this entry! I'm in the process of collecting such inspiring images of nurseries right now, I'm so glad she posted all of these :)
A magical wonderland indeed. The photos are fabulous and I love the combination of colors throughout the roomsâso cheerful and inspiring.
I enjoyed Traci's fresh and friendly writing style. She did a great job introducing us to the home tourâsuccintly providing a little of her background and that of the homeowner, and then letting the gorgeous photos speak for themselves.
Well doneâloved it all!
Gorgeous photos! Any child would be so lucky to grow up in a house that promotes their imagination and creativity such as this.
I enjoyed the writing, as it doesn't loose my interest and had splendid pictures with bright colors to keep the attention.
Hope we get to see more :)
The photos are gorgeous...the writing style is quite awkward.
Loved the post! The pictures were so sweet and the writing, the icing on the cake!
I also love that Traci obviously has access to talented people! Michaela's eye for design is amazing...so fun!
I appreciate Traci's personal witt and style! I hope to see more from her!
great eye, great photos, but the writing style was not as polished.
I like Traci's style and taste!
This is gorgeous and so inspirational! Thanks for sharing!
I know that many blogs have a personal touch to them, which is great, that however, is not what I am looking for when I read ohdeedoh. I like the photos, ideas and quick little snippets that get to the point. This post (intentional or not) gave me another wave of mommy guilt because I am at work, not at home with my child. I believe one of ohdeedoh's strongest points is that this blog is firmly unbiased; if you stay at home, fine, work, fine. If you nurse, fine, formula feed, fine. No need to judge or mull over it, we are all doing our best. I do like the photos, but I love well edited short posts that cut to the chase.
I love to see what other moms are up to... I started making organic baby blankets and lovies. ( www.piecetextiles.com ) I think a lot of inspiration comes from having a little one and everyone has a different way of channeling whether it be into new projects/businesses, living healthier, working harder for your child's future college fund or suddenly becoming aware of causes that now mean something and volunteering.
this room makes me want to be a kid again! the photos are wonderful.
what isn't wonderful? the snippy comments about the writing style that are based on three paragraphs. take it easy, folks!
This nursery is darling! I love the polka dots on the door and the walls! I also like the alphabet on the wall. I am a preschool teacher and the more you can expose children to the alphabet the better! I personally enjoyed the comment "sweet bump", especially given Michaela's company name! Nice job!
A beautiful nursery, presented and written about in an insightful way, great pictures too
: )
great content, but writing style is verbose and overwritten. "sweet bump" really is dreadful.
the photos are great and the writing is warm and friendly. i regularly read traci's blog and find her writing style engaging and her eye for design excellent.
Wow. I came to this site to check out the new bloggers and I started reading the comments. Seriously, guilt for being an "at work" mother? From a nursery post? And, such harsh comments from a "professional writer"? Wow. I have not visited a blog with such negative and demeaning commentary. I think the blogger was trying to convey beauty lurks in all places. As she was discovering a new place, she found beauty.
As a mother, I can attest to the fact that there is "mom guilt" on both sides of the aisle. We should unite and stand together as we rear the next generation and not make harsh comments. I think the blogger was merely enjoying the beauty of the room.
As a former English teacher, I thought her commentary was just fine. I think the "we against them" attitude conveyed here is just not kind.
I will not be back to this blog and I am sad that the blog owner allowed such negative criticism to be listed publicly. When I go to a blog, I want to find beauty. I found an ugly spirit conveyed by these readers.