NettoCollection Blog

Animal House

Entry of The Animals into Noah’s Ark, Jan Brueghel the Elder, 1613

The real Entry of the Animals into Noah’s Ark hangs in the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles but you can get a piece of Jan Brueghel the Elder’s masterpiece at Dutch Touch Art.  Dutch Touch Art, run by a mother-daughter team, specializes in decorative oil paintings that re-interpret old master paintings from the 16th to 19th century.  This interpretation often takes the form of excerpting a detail from the original and making that the subject for the new painting.  See the Dutch Touch Brueghel’s owl , for example.  The Children's Collection  and the Animal Collection are sure worth a look if plastic popsicle-colored wall decals are not your idea of nursery décor. How much more fun to have your newborn gazing upon Albrecht Durer’s lions or Robert Hills’ giraffes?

By Liz

I Spy...

 

Look! No, not at the scantily clad, distractingly gorgeous Bridget Moynahan. What is behind her? What is she leaning on? What is that beautiful, sleek, and functional piece of furniture in her son John's nursery? A NettoCollection Ebony Moderne crib, of course. In the July issue of Harper's Bazaar.

By Liz

Rocking it Old School

 

Rocking it Old School

Some months ago, my friend Sarah and I were talking about children’s education in these days of excess. We both were yearning for a simpler time, a time when the walls were orange and the carpet was brown. “Where are the ponchos?” Sarah said. “I miss the ponchos.” Although ponchos are not required dress at the Church Street School of Music and Art in Lower Manhattan, they might as well be. This school is Old School. The school’s director, Lisa Ecklund-Flores, teaches a music class for toddlers and parents in which she plays acoustic guitar and piano and the children sing along and move interpretively to the music – fast piano trills for running, slow and ponderous chords for big steps. Like the music class you took when you were a kid. This method, formally known as the Dalcroze method, fosters a real connection and love of music. And more, it’s what you grew up with. The art staff, including our daughter’s excellent teacher Anna Adler, guides children towards an individual relationship with the materials at hand. “Let them experience it themselves,” they say. In the case of our daughter, this involves a lot of eating of paint. But the stuff she comes home with is beautiful. Touch the material, love the art. As Sarah and I termed it, it’s poncho-based education.

By Claude

Mini Frye

I am sure you have seen the classic photos of Hollywood starlets pairing a rustic Frye boot with a frilly frock while dashing out of Starbucks to avoid the paparazzi!  And now you can share the same style with your little one.  Frye has a great selection of boots with their signature chunky heel and bulky toe and also have a nice variety of sandals but more pertinent is their collection of “Small Frye” boots.  You can start your child’s foray into the fashion scene as early as a few days old with their Harness Bootie, available for $32 in blue and pink for the gender specific parent and a dark tan for the gender neutral.

By Sarah

Made In The Shade: Summer Sun Part Two

Sunglasses: Catch the crows feet early!  Or more importantly protect your children from later getting cataracts and other eye problems. You can find sunglasses now for children as young as 0 months.   Though shouldn’t a newborn just be in the shade?  Just make sure they offer 100 percent UV protection. Target has a fetching Isaac Mizrahi pair for $19.99.

Hats. Ugh. I know babies who will wear any hat you plonk on their head. Mine was never one of them.  But oh, if I had ever got her to wear one it might have been this one from Best and Company or the simple white organic ones with ties at Sage Baby or Under The Nile.

Pop-up tents: park, picnic, the beach, anywhere. A pop-up tent can be the size of a Frisbee, a large New York pizza or a houla hoop depending on what you need and what you are willing to carry.  Most are UPF 50-98 and you can hang toys from the roof inside for baby. Safe Tots has a decent selection.

Now you're ready for the weekend.

By Liz