It came!

WARNING: If your IKEA 2014 catalog hasn’t arrived yet, feel free to skip this post until after you study your own copy so I don’t ruin it for you.

After soaking up every last image and product description, I am going to be brutally honest. I was underwhelmed. That sounds snobbish, doesn’t it? It wasn’t that I disliked it but last year’s catalog {2013 – this year’s catalog?} was so, so good that I was expecting even better this year. Of course, I did find a few things to love and I really appreciate the ‘everyday living’ approach that IKEA is promoting.

Here are five images I dog-eared, straight from my catalog. In the room view images, I’ve used arrows to point out specific items.

page 19 – I love the easy-going feel of this room {leaning art, mixed patterns, non-rigid furniture arrangement} and I’m happy to see the BESTÅ wall cabinets in a new finish. They look great on the white walls here but could be a really nice contrast against dark walls, too.

page 50 – What’s better than life-sized IKEA furniture? Doll-sized IKEA furniture. Methinks Mabrey should ask Santa for a doll house this year. I wonder if the doll furniture also comes in flat pack boxes?

page 88 – The new STOCKHOLM glass door cabinets in yellow are my absolute favorite thing in the entire catalog. It’s difficult to see from this image but the product description on page 208 shows the cabinets’ leggy bottoms in a rich wood tone which I think is fabulous. I predict these cabinets are going to go viral in the decor world.

page 100 – This kitchen! The catalog doesn’t list the gray LIDINGÖ doors as new but I haven’t seen them in person at the store or in a catalog yet. Maybe I missed something last year when I wasn’t renovating a kitchen? Anyhow, you know I’m all over this kitchen with the gray cabinets, wood countertops, open shelf and graphic tile.

page 208 – The lines of this STOCKHOLM sideboard are clean and modern. This could be IKEA’s most versatile piece in 2014. Dining buffet, media cabinet, bedroom dresser, nursery changing table…the possibilities are endless.

What did you dog-ear in the IKEA 2014 catalog? Even though it wasn’t my favorite catalog, I am still an IKEA fan.

images: Dana Miller for House*Tweaking

Where are all the toys in your house?

I get that. A lot.

The boys’ toys are in their room; Mabrey’s toys are in her room. We have no separate playroom and I don’t keep overstock in the attic. I store drawing, coloring and crafty supplies in a designated cabinet in the kitchen. Board games go in the floating credenza in the dining room/mudroom. Truth be told, my kids don’t have a lot of toys. We don’t have the space and even if we did, I would still keep the bare minimum. Why? Because no matter how many toys they have to choose from, they keep coming back to their favorites. They play for longer periods of time and have better focus when they aren’t bombarded by choices and jumping from one toy to the next.

Today I’m sharing my older kids’ {not mine!} five favorite toys. There are a slew of blog posts on the internet addressing the best baby products, the best baby toys, the best toddler toys and the best preschooler toys. But you don’t see a lot in the way of the 5-10 year old range so I thought this would be a fun and slightly different take. My older kids are boys and they’re 5 & 8 but we have {all!} nieces ranging in age from 1-10. When our older nieces visit, I feel bad that we don’t have girl-specific toys but something always grabs their attention and it’s usually one of these five items. FYI- This list doesn’t include crafty, tech-y or outdoor playthings. I was trying to focus on the toy genre. Oh, and this post is not sponsored in any way.

1 – We bought the boys this blocks & marble set for Christmas last year. They have a lot of fun engineering marble tracks in different configurations and seeing what happens. You can see the little wheels in their brains turning as they try to figure out which block to put where in order to get the marbles to go the way they want. We’re thinking of investing in the super set this Christmas to give them even more options.

2 – Have you guys heard of littleBits? They are the bomb. Basically, they are little modules with their own specific function that snap together magnetically to create a larger circuit. Kids learn about electricity without the risk of shock or firestarting. Super cool. Like the marble track, the starter littleBits set can be extended with additional pieces and/or sets. My kids have saved their money and bought additional pieces like the fan.

3 – Good ol’ plain wood blocks are just one of those toys that never get old. My boys use them to build roads, houses, cities and forts and drive little cars around the block backdrops. The most comical use I’ve seen was when the boys built skyscrapers for Mabrey {a.k.a. Babyzilla} to demolish. Ah, I savor those rare everyone-is-getting-along moments.

4 – Legos. The bain of my existence. Yes, they get lost in our shag rug, take over rooms and act as mini land mines when left out for me to step on barefoot BUT they keep my kids occupied for hours. They have all kinds of different sets and mix them together to create elaborate castles, houses, vehicles and weapons.

I’ve yet to find a good way to store Legos. Suggestions? Right now we’re giving one of these organizers a try. It has three perforated trays that are tiered to sort Legos by size. Often times, the boys are looking for a specific piece and this helps them narrow things down quickly. If this is the best system for them, we’d have to invest in a few more to contain their entire collection.

5 – Books. Technically they aren’t toys but out of everything on this list books keep my kids’ attention the longest and take up the most space in their room so I thought it was worth the mention. “There Are Rocks in My Socks!” Said the Ox to the Fox is one of our family favorites. We have HH’s childhood copy. While writing this post, I was stunned to learn that this book is a collectible. New copies go for upwards of $60!

We spend a lot of time reading in our house, together and individually. We take weekly library trips and they are one of my favorite things to do with my kids. I have fond memories of spending my summers as a child and teenager at the library or reading library books. {HH can’t relate. He says that was the last way he would have chosen to spend his childhood summers.} I can’t tell you how happy I am to see the excitement in my kids’ faces when I tell them it’s library day. Of all my kids’ belongings, books are the most important {they have more books than clothes} and I don’t think they can have too many.

Those are my big kids’ favorites. And you better believe I’m keeping them close at hand this summer to combat boredom! When I look at this toy list, I see a common thread. Imagination. On their own, these toys aren’t that captivating. Imagination and creativity bring them to life and make them fun. And because imagination is involved, these toys are long-lived in our home. They aren’t seen the same way twice. They aren’t played with the same way twice. They aren’t thought about the same way twice. Each experience with them is totally new and unique.

images: collage by Dana Miller for House*Tweaking, linked within