apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

WOW. i'm really impressed. definitely going to give this a try when my little one gets a bit older!

just a thought... it looks pretty heavy, and i'd have trouble dragging it to wherever i'd store it. has anyone considered putting four wheels on the bottom? the kind that have a little lever to lock into place (for safety reasons of course)?

Pretty cool and thrifty execution but I can't imagine what your editors can be thinking. You do a real disservice to your readers not to credit the source for the (real) product. The Learning Tower is a specific product and name brand from a specific company. It is NOT a generic concept and it is not a generic name and you should know better.

I don't begrudge them the ability to knock it off, I'd do it myself if I was handy, but to not even credit it as a nearly identical knock of is poor.

We have a Learning Tower and like it a lot. Yes, it is bulky and yes it heavy both of which make it sturdy and safe.

we have such a tower (a gorgeous hand-made by a woodworker-friend) and had a love/hate relationship with it because we were at the time a family of 4 plus a big dog in an 1100 square feet cottage. the person who gave it has a grand old house and no children. we really didn't have room for it and I resented that it took up so much space despite that it did provide a safe, inside work/play area. I believe there is a version with hinges that allows the unit to fold/collapse somehow. I also noticed there is a new 'chalkboard/art easel' add-on that we would have loved. We put felt 'floor saver' buttons on the bottom and just dragged it around. I am going to drag it out right now, in fact! It is a good home base for living room forts as well as great in the kitchen.

bravo!

i think the 5:15 poster might just be sore they spent a lot more money on theirs.

Good Lord it's massive! Our step stool works great-thank you very much.

It is a brand name, and while I'm totally down with DIYs, calling it a learning tower when it's a (totally awesome) knock-off isn't doing anyone any favors.

So it's totally cool to knock off Eames chairs and Saarinen tables, but not this? Funny.

But brilliant of the original inventors to "create" a klunky wooden step stool and market it to eager parents as a "Learning Tower."

Hilarious!

I don't object to knock offs. I don't object to DIY. I object to a design blog that gives a DIY knock off a false attribution. Call it a happy tower, call it a Fred's Fancy Stepstool, call it Our Like a Learning Tower but don't play the designer false, whatever they make.

Businesses that make knock of Eames chairs or what have you don't use trademarked terms in their sales literature, unless of course they want to get sued.

(Ours was purchased for half price on CL and will be sold for close to the same price we paid so not a bad bargain at all. Very good resale value. But again, if I was handy, I can totally see making one and the blue one above looks very cool and useful.)

My little girl and I will stick with a step-stool...this thing is HUGE. I'm a little confused about why one needs to introduce a new piece of furniture for each activity. Can't a stepstool handle this, while at the same time act as a chair, and, with a blanket draped over it, a fort?

A step-stool doesn't work for every child. My boy is a climber and we had him on an Ikea stool for a long time, and he would always stand on his tip-toes on the very edge. I can't tell you how many times I dove to catch him just before he would have fallen.

So what if it's huge if A)the child is safer B)the parent is happier knowing the child is happy and safe?

Nope. Not buying it.
You all need to check out Ohdeedoh's recent Top Post: Things you don't need for a new baby. But in this case, replace "baby" with "toddler."

Editing questions aside, the actual content of the article could be very valuable for a handy parent or grandparent with the space to tackle this. It could be useful for years of shared cooking and baking experiences. Thanks to Kate for sharing with us!