We're not in a rush for our son to grow up and he can believe in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and his chances of winning the lotto for as long as he likes. He can even believe in fairies. It's part of the magic of childhood.
When reader Linda shared her daughter's playhouse and room re-do with us we were poking around on her blog and saw that she had installed a "fairy door" in her home - gasp! Smitten with the photo we wrote to ask her about it and she told us about the "discovery" of urban fairies by Jonathan Wright living amongst the residents of Ann Arbor, MI (NPR even covered this breaking story). Linda made her own fairy door with materials purchased in a dollhouse store which you can read about here.
Enchanted with the idea we hit the internet to see what else we could find out. We learned that another person enthralled with fairy doors is Stephanie Ford (who designed this lovely numbers poster) so we got in touch to ask her about her interest in fairies and fairy doors:
When I was little we had a cleaning fairy that would visit while we were gone and if the house was clean, she would leave us treats, and if the house was messy, she would leave of a tiny note telling us that she was disappointed that she couldn't leave us treats, but she would check back soon. That would leave us scurrying around the house cleaning up. We never knew when the cleaning fairy would come, but we always looked forward to her visits. My friend with teenagers has a jewelry fairy that leaves tiny, shiny packages with earrings etc. so her teenagers still rush to check the fairy door daily. I think it would be really fun to have a library fairy that leaves books related to things going on with your family (Christmas books or books about New York if you're headed there, or a book about the farm if you're headed there on a field trip, etc.)
Interested in acquiring your own fairy door? We found a few shops that sell them including Steph above (her shop is currently empty, but she may be adding some for the holidays), Enchanted Fairy Doors and Monkeytail & Wellington in Australia. Like Linda you could also purchase a dollhouse door and paint your own (see a selection here and here).
Does anyone else have a fairy door in their home?
(photo credits: 1) Restyled Home 2) Monkeytail & Wellington 3) Monkeytail & Wellington 4) Once Upon A Time Design)
Small Cool Lessons: Discovering Small Space Design Ideas That Really Work
Beatriz's Fun & Functional Workspace
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Sheex Bedding
How to Cook Rice on the Stove
How to Make Fresh Pasta Dough in the Food Processor
I love this idea! So cute and whimsical!
This has to be the cutest idea I've seen. Love people with the insight to think of such things. Look up Flitter Fairies on Thinkgeek.com and view them on Youtube. They are unlike anything you've ever seen. So special.
This is a great idea! I love that it can lead to stories told to your children, which is a tradition that has led to some of the greatest children's books (Raggedy Ann, Thomas the Train, etc.)
Love love love love this idea!! We had a "magic elf" at Christmas time when I was little. He was only magical if you didn't touch him and every morning he'd be hiding in a different spot. My sisters and I would dash around trying to find him first every morning.
I *love* this. We all need a bit of magic in our lives.
Last spring I was looking for a bit of magic for our Village. I remembered the Fairy Door project in Ann Arbor and made the decision to begin one here. Since June 2009, we have decorated and placed over 50 fairy doors on business and residential buildings in our village. Doors of MainStrasse then partnered with a local door company, printed maps of door locations, developed a Fantasy Quest to look for the doors, sponsored a wonderful fantasy event attracting vendors, street performers and musicians and are currently working on Christmas Fairies in MainStrasse. We have also have a blog with photos of some of our doors and more information - If you google 'doors of mainstrasse' our blog will come up - this has been so much fun!!!
The elf from your childhood is now available (in my store) and I'm sure at other stores also and is called "Elf on a Shelf" it comes packaged beautifully with a book included to read to the little ones.
I live in Ann Arbor and at least a few times a week over lunch (I work downtown), I see adults and children seeking out the fairy doors. It is a great way to spread cheer, but also attract people to local businesses.
If you are ever in Ann Arbor, come check them out!
http://urban-fairies.com/
I just bought one last week from Monkeytails! It belongs to the "Dummy Fairy". We are going to encourage our little 3 year old to give up her dummy (pacifer) in exchange for pressies and visits from the fairy:)
frankly, my dears, you are best off to check with bea lillie about all this......
We have one of these at the bottom of our stairs - supposedly just for the tooth fairy, but I like the idea of other fairies using it.
I got it from etsy - it was supposed to be a tree decoration but she very kindly left it undrilled for me.
A fairy door on the "garden side" of our old wood garage... just visible through the flowers... I think our young neices and nephews would be enthralled! I'd better get around to it soon, before they grow up entirely.
Check out: http://urbanfairies.blogspot.com/ Ann Arbor, Michigan has fairy doors all over the city in different shops and places. So cool!
How do you attach them to the wall?
I just absolutely love these! Check out http://www.littlefairydoor.com amazing!
Any chance i could use Stephanie Fords quote on my website with reference back to your blog?