Sunday 21 August 2011

Evolution of a room

I was reading Kylie's words here, in her wonderful post about her son's room.  And what she said struck me.
I love to see bedrooms and nurseries especially those of the Montessori kind. But most of all I like to see them after a little use and to see how the have grown.

She is so right! It is really interesting to see other Montessori inspired room, but to see it's evolution really talks a whole deal more.

I want to share with you this evolution, and if you feel like it, join me along, and post, on your blog, the evolution of your rooms.  You are very welcome to leave a message here so that we have a big pool of really nice Montessori inspired bedrooms in evolution to look at!

What started out like this:


yes, we started with a rocker, but only for a few weeks.  It is a heirloom that I wanted to have the chance to use.  I did so when we moved here, because family history really speaks to me.  These were taken 3 days after we moved.  And it became

 this 2 weeks later... :
for my 5 month old:

a new floor bed


a corner dedicated to toys and books
and a changing table with images to enhance the changing experience...

 for my 8 month old:

a new book corner with few books and a chair to sit by
 a new play corner with cubbies made by daddy and images that changes ever so often
and a new clothing area that is more open and accessible

And as a 11 month old

a new table to play on just right by the cubbies


the bed area did not change during all this time


and finally for my 1 yo:






Please, join me for this show and tell, and don't forget to link to it by commenting.

Thanks for looking!

20 comments:

  1. What a beautiful room! I love the baskets...how cosy!

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  2. Great idea. Here is my link
    http://howwemontessori.typepad.com/how-we-montessori/2011/08/evolution-of-a-room.html

    I love your son's mobile it is gorgeous. His room is perfect and I love his drums.

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  3. What a lovely post. I didn't quite do a full 'evolution' post, but I showed my baby's rooms in his first two houses here: http://louiseallana.com/2011/06/29/montessori-floor-bed/. Everything else that features his room in words or pictures is here: http://louiseallana.com/tag/roos-room/. Now that I have a better idea of how to do this (eg take more pictures closer up!) I will revisit his current setup and blog about it again.

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  4. Ok, so I got inspired and did blog about my baby;s room again, which you can see here: http://louiseallana.com/tag/roos-room/

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  5. thanks for all of your for your comments and most of all for participating! I hope many other will add to this as time goes.

    I'll surely go and check your post ASAP!

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  6. Is the clothing storage area from IKEA or handmade? It is SO adorable! I would love something like that for my toddler.

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  7. It is from IKEA. Thank you very much!

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  8. I love the Montessori closet! We have been struggling for a while to find something similar. Did it come as is at IKEA or did you make adjustments? Would you mind sharing the product name?

    Thanks again for the great blog!

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  9. Hello!

    It is the Trosfast line. When I bought the module, they also sold drawers and shelves that fitted the module. But they changed the line to something new (and I just CANNOT remember the name of it), and again, you can customized the entire thing with shelves, drawers, doors and so on. GO to the IKEA site, and search under the child section, you'll find what I am talking about, they are pushing this new product big time.

    I hope this helps. Don't hesitate to post any other questions you might have!
    Thank you so much for visiting!

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  10. Did you add the bar yourself for hanging clothes in the Montessori closet?

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  11. Hello there

    The IKEA module had the option of a bar to hang clothes. But it would have been easy all right to do it even if it wouldn't have been the case. IKEA doesn't have this line anymore, but they have an equivalent that also has a bar option for hanging clothes.
    HTH!

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  12. Super chambre! Je ne suis pas une éducation montessori pour mon fils de 10 mois mais je commence à lire sur le sujet, me renseigner. C'est un petit garçon très nerveux et excitable qui a du mal à se concentrer, alors parfois les exercices semblent impossibles à pratiquer! Penses-tu que cela puisse l'aider à se focaliser sur une activité, un objet?
    Autre chose: j'adore la petite chaise!! Où l'as tu déniché?
    merci!

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  13. Ici:
    Bienvenue et Merci:)

    J'ai connu la pédagogie Montessori en faisant des recherches pcq mon plus vieux semble être exactement comme le votre. Et honnêtement, c'est ce qui l'a "sauvé". Sa concentration est encore parfois ardue, mais Montessori l'a grandement aidé, plus que n'importe quoi que nous avons fait pour lui. Et c'est également une des raison pour laquelle X va toujours rester dans la pédagogie Montessori. Ça prend du courage et du temps, mais ça en vaut la chandelle!

    La chaise, je l'adore. Elle vient de chez Michael Olaf. (USA)

    Merci de votre commentaire :)

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  14. Ah ça me rassure tellement ce que vous me dîtes! J'habite à Montréal où il y a parait-il de très bonnes écoles Montessori... pas du tout dans notre quartier mais qu'à cela ne tienne (bon, après, il faudra aussi voir les couts bien sur). Mais en attendant, j'éprouve le besoin de me renseigner sur la question... est-ce qu'il y aurait un ou deux livres qui vous semblent indispensables ou qui vous ont aidé avec votre fils plus âgé? Je suis toujours étonnée par mon fils qui est si nerveux (alors que nous sommes plutôt mou-mou et intello ;) ) et se canalise difficilement. Bref... je ne veux pas voir de "problème" à un si jeune âge mais je sais aussi qu'il faudra être vigilant. Ça me fait du bien d'entendre que je ne suis pas la seule, autour de moi je n'ai que des bébés tout relax... :)
    Merci!

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  15. Ici: en fait de suggestion de livres, en fait il y en a des tonnes :)

    Ce qui m'a aidé le plus ce sont les livres qui traite de la pédagogie Montessori, en ce sens que j'ai compris comment la méthode fonctionne et ce que à quoi je devais faire attention. Il y en a tellement, j'ai de la difficulté à dire lequel m'a le plus aidé. Mais définitivement qqchose écrit par M. Montessori.
    J'ai, par contre, aussi fait d'autres lectures qui n'était pas Montessori, mais qui m'ont vraiment aidé aussi. Entre autre l'esprit dispersée de Gabor Mate, le programme Attentix à la maison (qui offre des suggestions d'activités pour "grounder" l'enfant et le calmer).

    S'il m'en vient d'autres, je reviendrai...
    J'espère que ça réponds :)

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  16. Wow! This is just amazing! I wish I had a little bit of you organization skills to put everything together. Could you please tell me where did you get the hand wash station, the pieces for the reading area and the pretend area?

    Also, I have looked at different Montessori posts but never done anything with them. I would like to start now. What would you say is the best place to start? I have a 3 1/2 yr old an 1 yr old girl.

    Thanks in advance!

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  17. Johana
    Thank you!

    THe hand wash station was made with bits and pieces of things I had. The play sink part comes from a local Waldorf store, the table is an old geography cabinet, and the rest are material I bought at local stores.

    For the reading area, I bought the first chair at Michael Olaf : http://michaelolaf.com/store/product105.html
    and the shelves were bought on Etsy. I tried to look through the things I bought, and couldn't find the store. I wish I could link for you.

    For the printed pay area, Again, it is a Ikea wardrobe with shelves and a rod. Again, the stuva line currently on sale at Ikea should be able to do the same.

    As far as starting in Montessori, I know how hard it might seem. But if you take it one bit at a time, it will go smoothly, and it will be worthwhile.

    There are many places to start from. I know I am a book person. When I want to learn more on something I read a book or 2 to get me going. My favourite first resource is a book by Tim Seldin : http://www.amazon.com/How-Raise-Amazing-Child-Montessori/dp/075662505X

    If you rather just start, you can either start by changing the environment, and make it more children friendly (there are loads of post about this in this blog!), or you can start implementing Montessori activities in your home. But I think it is important to understand a bit of the principles that are supporting the Montessori philosophy before starting. There are many books and blogs about this. I can pinpoint you towards some resource, but I need to know a little more as far as where you want to start from in order to direct you properly. You can reply here, or send me a e-mail.

    Good luck in your journey. It is a fantastic one!

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  18. Thank you very much for all the helpful information. I had just posted another comment in one of your other posts and you are actually giving me some of the answer here. I hadn't seen you answer before I posted it, I'm sorry.

    I'll definitely get book. Thanks again!

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  19. Uow! What a beautiful post. We did a big change in Theo's room last week. Now he can stand up and we are changing all the ambients. My post:

    http://acaratapa.wordpress.com/2012/09/15/mutacoes/

    Kisses!

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