What’s black and white and read all over by your newborn? Answer: Blik’s Wee Gallery. When designers Dave and Surya learned that newborns could only see 12-15 inches away in black and white, they came up with the genius idea to develop clever little black and white wall decals so even a young baby could enjoy the art in their room. Their wildly popular designs add a contemporary edge to nursery design and their knack for staying on top of the trends has them rolling out a hip new wall graphic: The Wee Gallery Birdie Banner.

An awesome value at only $38, the Birdie Banner comes with 100 pieces to help create your design. Banners are a HUGE hit this year providing parents yet another way to boldly display their child’s name across the wall. Going the decal route adds a modern twist to compliment any style of room as opposed to traditional flag bunting. And there’s a reason why Blik calls the installation process a “cakewalk”: Their “Re-stik” technology allows you to reposition the decal over and over until you get it just right! That’s a relief.

We’re loving Wee Gallery and we know 15 of our readers will be too starting  next week. Blik is generously giving away 5 Birdie Banners and 10 of their top selling designs: The Wee Gallery Elephant and Wee Gallery Giraffe wall graphics.

WIN IT: By commenting on this post with your very  favorite Blik wall decal (Warning: there are a ton of great ones to choose from) AND which ONE of the three wee gallery styles we are offering you would like to win. Did we mention 15 winners will be selected?! Contest ends Friday, March 26th, 2010 at 11:59pm PST.

EXTRA ENTRIES:
1. Become a fan of Blik and Project Nursery on Facebook and comment.
2. Follow Blik and Project Nursery on Twitter and tweet about it and comment.
3. Subscribe or let us know you are a subscriber with a comment.
4. Post on our Forum and comment.
5. Blog it and comment.

*Please comment separately for each on this post!

About The Author: Melisa resides in Los Angeles, CA. Mom to two little active boys Austin & Chase and partner in Little Apple Design, a children's interior design firm specializing in e-design inspiration boards.

We are delighted to welcome our newest contributor to round out the Project Nursery gang: Andrika King! Andrika offers a wealth of knowledge and style within the realm of nursery design. We first met Andrika through the opening of our OpenSky Store. She’s been a super resource to us and we know she’ll bring great ideas to you! To learn more about Andrika and the rest of the team, visit our about us page. Enjoy! – Pam & Melisa

First off I’d like to introduce myself as Andrika King.  I’m a mother, former children’s boutique owner and children’s room designer.  I am honored to be a contributor on Project Nursery and look forward to sharing my ideas and finds with you all. A few weeks ago I made a post on my design blog Nursery Notations about Amanda Nisbet Design.  I absolutely love her no fear of color in her design approach and thought that one of her rooms would be a wonderful inspiration for a bright and cheerful nursery design board.

The room above is a sitting area in a New York City apartment.  The main colors used in the sitting area are white, citrus green, canary yellow, fuchsia pink, straw and black.  Bright textured fabrics and high gloss decorative accessories truly make this room stand out.

For my inspiration board, I kept with the color scheme of the room but picked up a little more of the turquoise from the painting above the couch.  Turquoise is a wonderfully gender neutral color which pairs nicely with this color combination.  For furniture & accessories, I like to find pieces from adult lines and use them in nurseries.  That way the pieces become more of an investment piece which can grow with your child or easily be used in another room later.  As for painting the room, I’d play off the trim on the  window treatments above and create a pink trim all around the room.  The image in #13 is by designer Steven Gambrel was featured on Room Remix and Steven suggests painting a three inch boarder around the edges of the room to mimic the look of crown molding and to create interest.  Easy enough and makes a wonderful colorful statement.  The sources for the products in the inspiration board are listed below.

The furniture selected for the room is modern with straight edges but the simplicity of the lines makes the pieces feel a little warmer.  The bright colorful accents in the window treatments, bedding, prints, and decorative pillows pop against the white wall.  A black side table and glider were chosen to anchor the room and create some additional neutrality.  Most of the decorative accents are pink since this is a girl’s room if you haven’t noticed already.

The sources for the rest of the images are listed below:

1. Thao Circle Art Pink & Orange Pendant by Seascape Lighting

2. Lily Mirror by Ballard Design

3. Ark & Birds A-Z Prints by Bold & Noble

4. Luxe Glider in black by Jennifer LeLonge

5. Cabine Changer by Netto Collection

6. Tini Table IV by Oomph to be placed next to the glider to hold feeding supplies when feeding the baby

7. Loom Crib by Nurseryworks

8. Bright Mini Envelope Pillows by Oomph as crib accessories

9. Pumpkin Girl Doll by Blah Blah Doll to cuddle with

10. Pink Paradise Pillow by Oomph to place on the glider

11. Spool Stool by House Eclectic to display the framed birth announcement

12. Fabrics from New Arrivals Inc. to match Sugar Baby bedding set on #15

13. Painting the trim of the room ideas was originally implemented and designed by Steve Grambel for an idea house for Cottage Living magazine

14. Spiral Vine Curtain for a splash of yellow available at Anthropologie

15. Sugar Baby Crib Bedding Set by New Arrivals Inc.

16. Lace Cut Storage Unit for toy storage by Brocade Home

17. Bon Bon Pouf for additional seating for a friend by Pixie Dust Decor

Now as an added decorative accent, I love this wallpaper pictured below found at Brocade Home: Flourish Print in Celadon.  If you did not want to do the pink trim I would definitely use this wallpaper on at least two of the walls in the room. For an added punch in the true Amanda Nisbet spirit, use the pink trim and the wallpaper together!

I hope that  you enjoyed my first post.  If you have any inspirational rooms that you would like turned into a nursery or children’s room please feel free to e-mail them to me at nurserynotations@gmail.com.

About The Author: Andrika lives in Manhattan Beach, CA and is a mother, interior designer, and editor of Nursery Notations, a blog devoted to helping moms and designers find distinctive items for children and inspiration for their rooms.

One of the questions we are asked all the time by our customers is regarding one of the biggest necessities in a nursery – the diaper pail.  There are so many options!  Diaper Genie, Diaper Champ, Diaper Dekor…..oh my!  Since completing over 50 juvenile spaces and working with all types of diaper pails with our clients, we have pretty much got it all figured out.  Hands down, we always recommend the Diaper Genie.  It’s simplistic design and awesome features make it a regular in our designs.  Here’s why:

Smell Containment: Great – the Diaper Genie really does a wonderful job of keeping your nursery smelling fresh.  We had a client with a Diaper Champ who had to relocate the whole unit outside because of the smell.

Ease of Use: Great – it’s easy to put together and changing out the refills is not bad either.  We have had a client who had an issue with a faulty refill, but other than that, we hear nothing but good things.

Longterm Cost: Refills are pricey at around $7  and you will be buying them until your kids are potty-trained.  The Diaper Genie itself is ranges from $25-$35 depending on the model, but it’s a great investment.

Availability: Refills are sold everywhere – Target, Babies’R'us, etc.  This is important!  We defer most of our clients from certain other models because you cannot buy refills at Target (which as every mom knows, is baby central).

Sanitation Factor: Great – Diaper Genie keeps yucky things off itself and you, which is very important considering you probably don’t want E-coli or other bacteria anywhere near your baby.

Other Useful Stuff: There are two models of the Diaper Genie – Diaper Genie II and Diaper Genie II Elite (with foot pedal).  They are both great choices.  The opening on both models is also sufficiently large enough for bulky cloth diapers.

Here’s a few shots of the Diaper Genie in our nursery designs:

We are always curious about other moms’ thoughts.  Let us know what your experience has been!

About The Authors:
Naomi and Gerri are specialists in juvenile interior design. Based in Southern CA, the pair has designed countless nurseries and kids rooms nationwide through their company, Little Crown Interiors.

Back in January we raved about  Oopsy daisy, one of our favorite makers of vibrant art for the nursery and children’s rooms.  The folks over there let us in on some big news and we wanted to be sure to share it with our Project Nursery readers.  They have been busy at work designing an exclusive line of products for Target. I have to admit that I am a huge fan of these fun partnerships that Target keeps coming up with. Speaking of,  anyone seen the the stuff by Liberty of London? I’m dying to check it out.

Oopsy daisy, Fine Art for Kids was hand selected by Target to develop artwork that would complement their bedding. The artwork is reproduced lithographically which is a more affordable method of printing then their higher-end, boutique line of products which uses the giclee method of fine art printing. The 22 pieces in the Target line specifically work with their Circo bedding and room products, while the boutique line encompasses more than a thousand options which can be special ordered and even further customized with sizing or color as dictated by the individual customer. Prices for the Target line range from $12.99-$24.99 and are available online and in stores now.

About The Author:
Pam lives in San Francisco, CA and is expecting baby number three later this year. She is partner in Little Apple Design, a children's interior design firm specializing in e-design inspiration boards.

I have had the pleasure of working with Melisa from Project Nursery on her son’s 3rd birthday party the last few weeks.  She came to me with a big request: plan a party that her son, Austin, will think is a “Thomas the Train” party….but without the cartoon-y look, something more modern, that would appeal to the designer in her.  After weeks of collaboration – I think we have done just that!  Today, I am showing you the inspiration for the party – the virtual party planning that has taken place, if you will.  Melisa will be following up with pictures from the party in the next couple of weeks – showing you exactly how she took my inspiration and brought it to life!

The images I am showing you today come directly from the custom party plan I did for Melisa.  If you are interested in having WH Hostess plan your next party, check out our website for more information!

As I mentioned above, Thomas the Train was the main inspiration for this party.  Austin is turning 3 years old, and I wanted to create a party that visually appeals to both the toddlers and their parents!  With a color palette of red, aqua and cobalt blue, I combined polka dots and stripes to create the decorations.  My first step was to design a custom logo for Austin – one that resembled the Thomas logo – but with a fresh, modern look.  We used this logo for his invitations, and a lot of the party decorations.  *tip: using a logo throughout the party helps to create a cohesive look!

Decoration ideas include custom banners, signs, centerpiece sticks and paper lanterns.  Two different type of centerpieces: one for kids, one for adults.  Using blue blume boxes as the container for both, I suggested red gerber daisies or carnations tightly packed for the adult centerpieces.  The kid’s centerpieces needed to be a bit more “fun”; a bunch of balloons (using red tissue filler around the base) and a custom centerpiece stick with Austin’s logo on it.

There are a few ideas for dressing up your basic paper goods: dress up your paper cups with a custom sticker, create coordinating napkin rings either out of paper bands or by using rubber bands or ribbon, attach flags to your straws with cute sayings such as “choo choo”.

We all know that little kids need activities at a party to keep them busy!  For Austin’s party, the highlight is a trackless train that will be giving the children rides.  How can you top that?!  A couple other ideas: storytime, and playing with bubbles.  I love bubbles!  And so do kids.  A basket of mini bubbles will keep the kids occupied for a while!  *tip: dress up those bubbles!  (I love this inspiration from Abby of Style Me Pretty daughter’s birthday party) Custom labels or ribbons will do the trick.

With a theme like this, you can get really creative with your food.  Simple things like cutting train shapes out of cheese, or mini sandwiches (use a train cookie cutter) add a special touch that the children will love.  Another great idea is a color-coordinated dessert bar.  The inspiration above is from Scissors Paper Cake – and I just L-O-V-E the colors!  You can fill candy and apothecary jars with different candy, and coordinating cookies, cupcakes and lollipops.  Make sure to provide cellophane bags for your guests to fill up with candy to take home as a party favor!

Party favors are a big deal when you are 3 years old.  I mean – it’s a bag of stuff that typically your parent’s wouldn’t buy you! (especially if it’s a whole bag of candy!)  No train party would be complete without engineer hats and train whistles.  Another idea is a bag of train-shaped crayons, and a roll of Thomas the Train coloring pages (you can download them on the official website).

Let me tell you, this party is going to knock your socks off!  Custom paper goods ranging from signs, to cupcake toppers, to centerpieces, to party favors….all created by us over at WH Hostess.  We love to work with customers to create custom parties – so if you are in need of a little help, or a lot of help – check us out!  We would love to help you plan your next party!

I can’t wait to see how Melisa pulls everything together!  Here’s a little sneak peek of the invitations….just to tide you over until we show you the rest of the party!

Images: dessert table (hello naomi via flickr.com), centerpiece (nancyluichin.com), paper lanterns (karljuengel.com), thomas the train cake (simplysweetz.com), red and blue banner (etsy.com), polka dot party favor box, straw flags (thecelebrationshoppe.com), party favor topper (etsy.com), paper goods (target.com), paper cups (hostessblog.com), blue box (blumebox.com), bubble jars (stylemepretty.com), engineer hat and train whistle (orientaltrading.com), train party favor bags (etsy.com), train crayons (etsy.com)

About The Author:
Kelly is a newlywed settling into the suburbs of Chicago, IL. She spends her free time creating social stationary and evenings blogging about inspirational party ideas over at The Party Dress.