Modern Nursery is an online store filled with a ton of beautiful nursery pieces, from room accessories like rugs and lamps to furniture like gliders and cribs. Visit their store, and you will be drooling in minutes; it is seriously a one-stop shop for all your nursery needs. One gorgeous standout is the new Rhea Crib by Oeuf, and lucky for you all, Modern Nursery is giving away a white and birch Oeuf Rhea Crib to one lucky Project Nursery reader!

The Oeuf Rhea crib offers a modern, sleek look with high-quality construction. The warm wood tones and matte white combination will look beautiful in a variety of nursery designs. Made from sustainably sourced wood and finished with non-toxic, water-born coatings and paint, this crib promotes a healthy sleep environment. The conversion kit (sold separately) turns it into a daybed-style toddler bed. The Rhea Crib is built to meet all US, Canadian, Australian and European safety standards and is easily assembled with three adjustable mattress positions.

WIN IT! One Project Nursery reader will win the Oeuf Rhea Crib in birch and white from Modern Nursery (a $670 value).

We couldn’t help but swoon over Layla Grayce co-founder Tiffany Harris and her husband Tom’s Great Gatsby-themed first birthday party for their twins, Kirra and Cole. A longtime admirer of all things art deco and 1920s, Tiffany dreamed of marking the memorable year with the twins in high style with friends and family getting in on the fashion and fun!

As you can see by the beautiful images captured by photographer Tonya Joy, the garden soiree was thoughtfully planned from start to finish with gorgeous aqua and salmon Art Deco-inspired decor, vintage-themed treats and even an Read more »

It stands to reason that when you have 20 or 60 of your closest friends over to your house for a party, you want things to be clean—extra clean. Extra, extra eat-off-the-floors kind of clean. Really, you want your friends to be jealous of all the time you have to spend cleaning your house. Well, maybe not that last one. House cleaning generally ranks low on my to-do list on a normal basis, but when there’s a party, I try to make an effort.

Until this last time. Time was short to prepare the decorations, food, etc., and I had no adult hands available to handle a sponge, so I sucked it up and called an amazing house cleaning service, Extreme Gleam, and had them take care of every dirty nook and cranny. Not having to worry about that made for a much less stressful few days before my party. To lessen your party to-do list, you can call in a cleaning service to clean before (or after!) your event as a one-time-only job—no ongoing service required.

When chatting with my friends, who were in amazement at how sparkling everything in the house was, I found people actually took different approaches to cleaning for parties.

Clean before. Personally, with two small kids, there are all sorts of gross things stuck to the walls or floors at any given time (and we won’t even discuss the kids’ bathroom). I want the dried-up cheerios scraped off the baseboards and a lemony-fresh water-closet when people walk in the door, so we do spic-n-span before parties. This is usually a huge load on my husband and me to accomplish on top of all the cooking and decorating.

Straighten up and light cleaning before. This method also makes sense. Honestly, within fifteen minutes of a few dozen people trampling across the floor, it’s dirty, and everything else in the house gets equally mussed, which makes all that cleaning an exercise in futility. Instead of a full-on, whole-house sparkle, sweep up, declutter and do a light dusting and wipe down of any areas in dire need. There will be plenty to clean up after the party.

Clean after. Of course, make sure any dirty clothes are off the floor, but don’t make a huge effort to make things super-gleaming. After the party is the time to call in the cleaning service to take care of wayward dabs of frosting and trash created by all those partygoers!

What’s your party cleaning style?

Somethings never change. When it comes to finding enough storage space for favorite things—clothing or art supplies—I am always looking for a solution. The cubby, or some variation of it, always seems to work great. Whether you have a cubby with closed doors, baskets or just plain open, it is the easiest way I know to keep life organized in a room.

If storage space can be incorporated into the room’s design, it can be a well added aesthetic. Warm woven baskets here look soft and inviting for a child’s space.

image from “Small Rooms for Kids” by Kleine Kinderzimmer

Or try a more hide-and-seek approach with a modern, buttoned up look. Have fun with your surfaces. Graphic elements, such as numbers or animal silhouettes, are a great way to add decor to a much needed storage system.

image from “Small Rooms for Kids” by Kleine Kinderzimmer

In my house, I have a kid room for homework, special art projects or for anything that needs more space and area. My cubby in there is wide open. It is a work space, so having everything open and visible is great, and it stays organized for the next person. I also like the way art supplies look when out and about. You never know when you might be inspired.

image from Annette Tatum Collections/cubby available from annettetatum.com

Try out some cubby space in your room. One of my favorite systems to use is from Ikea. This simple, clean system is affordable and so useful, especially for quick storage fixes and temporary room set ups.

image via Heather A. Wilson, Architect

Have fun with your storage plan. Make pick up easier and more fun with a cubby system for your favorite room.

image via Nursery Notations/cubby available from Sprout Furniture

You have spent all of this time planning and designing your nursery or toddler’s room that you ran out of time to paint the kiddos’ bathroom. Don’t sweat it, here is a quick fix to instantly add color, pattern or texture to their bathroom—hang a pretty shower curtain, then just add water and kids!

1. Pink Ruffled Shower Curtain: adds a pop of color with a few playful ruffles along the bottom 2. Ruffle Shower Curtain: white keeps things simple, but its layered ruffles add visual texture 3. Striped Shower Curtain: gray on white, modern horizontal stripes add some color and visual interest 4. Blue and White Striped Shower Curtain: same design as #3 with a softer color palette

Complete the bathroom theme by adding matching towels, a cute rug and some fabulous accessories. Do your kids have their own bathroom?

This is our interview series where we bring you the nurseries and kid rooms of successful designers, entrepreneurs and moms. Through this series, our featured guests will divulge some of their design secrets and share stories of how their nurseries came to be.

Lori Holliday, designer and founder of 2 Red Hens, gives us an up-close and personal look inside her own coop. It’s no surprise that this “Mama Hen” used vintage inspiration in her daughter’s nursery. Colorado-based 2 Red Hens Studio offers a collection of vintage chic inspired items for modern mamas, including diaper bags, dolls, shopping cart nests and a range of accessories.

Aside from loving her fun eclectic style, we really admire Lori for some very special reasons. Her story obviously turns out wonderful, as she’s a mom to nine-year-old Luke and three-year-old Harper. However, Lori was told by doctors that she wouldn’t be able to fulfill her dream of becoming a mother when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer at the age of twenty. Not only did she beat cancer numerous times and have two beautiful children, she is also committed to educating girls and women on the facts about cervical cancer.

What was the most important thing you wanted to achieve when creating this space?

I wanted to have a room that did not look like I bought everything in a day. I wanted the room to look cultivated and sound and to have some character. This is where my hobby as a collector came in—the only “new” items I purchased for the room were the rug and the crib.  Everything else was vintage or items that I crafted myself for the room.

As a self-described collector, did you have trouble narrowing down the pieces you wanted in the nursery?

The challenge was that I wanted so much stuff in the room I had to be considerate about the space so it did not look like a cluttered up antique booth! Placement was key, so I spent a great deal of time deciding where everything should go in the room.

Lori, Harper’s nursery is a great example of “breaking the mold” of traditional nursery design. Do you have any advice for parents who want to do the same?

You will be spending a lot of time in your baby’s room; try to make it a room that you absolutely love and have it display your personal style. A nursery can be a really beautiful room, and there is no rule that says it has to look like a typical baby’s room.

Photo Credit: Golden Paisley Photography

Do you know of a fantastic nursery or big kid’s room designed by a successful designer or business owner? Please send a photo of the room to Adrienne@ProjectNursery.com for consideration.