apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Thanks to our special Birthday Shout-Out giveaway this summer, we have plenty of June Birthdays to share with you all. An extra big Happy Birthday and best wishes for a wonderful year to all of the boys and girls! Jump below to see their full photos and to read a little bit about each of their unique and special personalities. All together now....Happy Birthday to you....Happy Birthday to you...

Congratulations to Carrie, wonderful Ohdeedoh editor, on the birth of her first child, Miles! (He's the second Ohdeedoh baby boy of 2008 - Janie's son was born last month.) Best wishes to Carrie and Simon on this very happy occasion from everyone at Ohdeedoh and the whole Apartment Therapy family.

We're happy to announce the new addition to our editorial team at Ohdeedoh - Tammy. She is based in Vancouver, British Columbia and is a freelance writer and mom of two. She had this to say during the tryout process (which we think is right up the Ohdeedoh alley): "I firmly believe that you can have kids and be surrounded by kid things without sacrificing either your aesthetic sensibilities or your credit card. In fact, I'd argue that being filled with kids' things has enriched my home in ways I'd never expected." Absolutely! Jump below for links to Tammy's tryout posts:

Many of you may recognize Kristin's name from her daily posts on AT:NY. She's been blogging the best of European design and homelife for quite a while now and is adding the world of kids design to her regular beat. Starting today, look for a little bit of Europe on Ohdeedoh each day, as Kristin's reports from her home base in Paris...

(Hello again to Tara, trying out for a spot on the Ohdeedoh editorial team. Enjoy the nursery tour she put together for us - comments are welcome.)

Name: Penelope, 2 months
Location: San Francisco

>> Enter Slideshow
>> See All Thumbnails

We couldn’t think of a better way to introduce ourselves to the Ohdeedoh community than with a tour of Penelope’s room.

Maxwell’s felt door tutorial was used to help convert this former dining room into little Penelope’s brand new nursery. As renters, we were limited in what we were able to do to personalize the space but with a mix of items found via Etsy or handmade by ourselves and friends, we were able to turn a small dining room into a cozy space.

(Hello again to Megan, trying out for a spot on the Ohdeedoh editorial team. Enjoy the nursery tour she put together for us - comments are welcome.)

Names: Maggie and Boston
Location: Spokane, Wash.

>> Enter Slideshow
>> See All Thumbnails

Seven-month-old Maggie wasn’t supposed to have her own room. My husband, Jay, grew up sharing a room with three of his siblings, and as hard as it was at the time, the close relationship he has with them now was worth every imaginary line he had to draw around his bed.

So when Maggie was born, her crib was set up in her 2-year-old sister Boston’s room....

(Hello again to Tammy, trying out for a spot on the Ohdeedoh editorial team. Enjoy the nursery tour she put together for us - comments are welcome.)

Name: Sam, 3 years
Location: Vancouver, BC

>> Enter Slideshow
>> See All Thumbnails

Designing a nursery is easy (okay, relatively easy). With only your own taste to consult, it's a breeze to create a space you love, because let's face it: you have great taste. But what about the next step up: designing a room for an opinionated three-year-old? Sam's room shows how a few vintage and homemade pieces, combined with some IKEA standbys, can result in a room that is, in the words of one visitor, "serene but not soporific."

(Here is a second post from Tara, one of the bloggers trying out for a spot on the Ohdeedoh team. Her first post is here and comments are welcome.)

The recent "Now You See It, Now You Don't" Storage Contest has us thinking a lot about our need for new storage ideas lately. These wall mounted felt pouches...

(Hello again to Megan, one of the bloggers trying out for a spot on the Ohdeedoh team. Her first post is here and comments are welcome.)

Remember the one who got away? The love who wanted more, but you just weren't ready to commit?
If you still have commitment issues, you might fall for this temporary way to decorate walls that requires neither paint nor wallpaper nor heartache. All it takes are fabric and liquid starch to create a bold scene in your child's room.

(Welcome again to Tammy, one of the bloggers trying out for a spot on the Ohdeedoh team. Her first post is here and comments are welcome.)

We've always liked the look of the Moby Wrap, but if you've ever watched one being, well, wrapped, you may have found yourself as daunted by it as we are.

This is where the Baby Buddha stretchy carrier comes in. We've heard it described as "the Moby for dummies" (in the non-pejorative sense, of course), with three easy-to-use pieces that can be combined to carry a baby six different ways, from birth to toddlerhood.

If you are a regular Ohdeedoh reader the adorable faces above are probably familiar and you already know that we love to help celebrate your kids birthdays. We've been posting birthday shout-outs since we launched the site and this summer, we have a new treat. The icing on the (birthday) cake just got a little bit sweeter...

(...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.

(Hello to Megan, one of four bloggers trying out for a spot on the Ohdeedoh editorial team. Comments welcome!)

When it comes to feeling special, few things beat the boost kids get when they put on a crown.Portland, Ore., artist Denise Sharp’s birthday-themed crowns might just send your little one over the top. She handcrafts the tiaras using vintage sheet music and decorative paper, giving each creation a unique and antique look.

(Hello to Tara, one of four bloggers trying out for a spot on the Ohdeedoh editorial team. Comments are welcome!)On a recent trip to the local mall we wandered into the children’s clothing store Jacadi Paris and picked up their catalog. We were surprised to learn that in addition to the beautiful children’s clothing carried in US boutiques, Jacadi also has a collection...

(Hello to Tammy, one of four bloggers trying out for a spot on the Ohdeedoh editorial team. Comments are welcome!)

Despite having a literature degree, we’ve never been able to finish Moby Dick. That is, until now. As it turns out, pictures really help.

This principle is especially true when the pictures are rendered gorgeously in three dimensions by artist Sam Ita, former apprentice to master paper engineer Robert Sabuda. The quality of the artwork elevates this hefty tome from kids’ book to all-ages coffee table book.

Congratulations to Janie, Ohdeedoh editor extraordinaire, on the birth of her second son, Bennett! Best wishes to Janie, Albert and big brother Jonas on this happy occasion from everyone at Ohdeedoh and the whole Apartment Therapy family.

This one is for all the Moms reading - as a little treat for Mother's Day week, we have three kits to giveaway of EO Product's Lavender Essentials, available only at Whole Foods throughout May. The kit includes Massage Oil, Bath Salt, Shower Gel, Hydro Exfoliating Gloves and a Soy Candle to help create your own relaxing spa at home.

We're experiencing some comment trouble in IE. We've fixed it, but the problem will persist for a little while unless you clear your cache yourself. To do this, simply go to the URL up top in your browser window and add this to the end:

?bustcache=1

so it looks like this "http://www.apartmenttherapy.com?bustcache=1"

Then refresh and it will clear itself and enable comments again. Sorry for the problems!

The top nine finishers in our recent Now You See It, Now You Don't contest moved on to a second round of voting at the Cookie site. If you haven't yet had a chance to pop over and give your favorite entry a vote, go ahead - voting is still open and you could also win a prize from DwellStudio just for voting...details below:

It's time for the Ohdeedoh team to grow and we are looking for a new blogger to add to the mix. Our current team is from DC, NYC and Chicago so we'd love to hear from potential bloggers in cities further West. Interested? Read on....

The nine winners of our Now You See It, Now You Don't contest have each won a $250 gift card from DwellStudio and have been to be entered in a second competition on cookiemag.com to win an even bigger prize...

To all the entrants, a big Thank YOU for sharing your brilliant solutions to the challenges of storage in a household with kids - we received so many good ones, it was tough to limit it to the 36 we had room for this time around. To all the readers, commenters and voters, Thank YOU for helping the Ohdeedoh editors choose our nine winners...

We'd just like to take a moment to thank everyone (all 1453 of you!) who partook of our first ever survey last month, and congratulations to Britt, who won our $100 Amex giveaway.

Not only did we get a ton of information about where you all live, how you found our sites and how active you are as readers, you took a lot of extra time to send us general feedback and requests for making the sites better.

This is a treasure trove for us of helpful advice and we're going to be going through it all month, digesting, and then using it all to improve how we serve you.

For us, it's all about community and our mission: Helping people make their homes Beautiful, Organized and Healthy.

Best, Maxwell and the ATeam
(Pic: Clueless Cat)

The entries for our big Spring Contest have been rolling in, but we know there are more of you out there ready to share your organizational skills (and possibly win some great prizes while you are at it!). Our Now You See It, Now You Don't! is all about the one issue every parent deals with...storage. Big house or small, one kid or four, babies or preteens...along with your kid comes kids STUFF and you've got to store it - somewhere, anywhere, right now, and hopefully make it look good! Were teaming up with Cookie Magazine and DwellStudio to find the best solutions from you, the Ohdeedoh readers.