I've Been Driving All Night...

Recently I transformed our loft from an office, into a play area for our son.  We are on a very limited budget right now, but I still wanted to do something fun for him. And most importantly find a way to keep all of his toys in one central place!! 

My journey towards a cute play area started with a garage sale to sell all of our office furniture and supplies.  We made just enough to buy a few things for his play area.  Our first purchase was the Lillabo Play Mat from Ikea.

Since the area is extremely small, every thing has to serve a double purpose. This rug is even cuter in person, and it obviously serves a double purpose:)

I then re-purposed a book shelf from another room, and bought some baskets from Ikea to store puzzles and small toys in.

Next came the best part of the project....DECORATING!!!

Just like everything else in the room, I wanted the decor to have a dual purpose.  Since I went with a cars theme, I decided the decor should revolve around that theme.  The first thing I did was blow up a picture of my son in his Little Tikes truck. I had it blown up and made into a canvas on Snapfish.com.  They were having a sale on canvases, so I got really lucky that day!!

Then my hunt got tricky, but fun!!  I knew I wanted some wooden cars to display, but was very picky about what I wanted.  They had to be made of 100% wood, and handmade. I wanted them to be cute enough to display for years, yet durable enough for my son to play with.  I wondered if I would be able to find such a thing, especially on my limited budget.  I knew my best bet was Etsy.  I headed over, and after 5 minutes of looking found exactly what I wanted at Darlingling.

Darlingling was started by a husband and wife in 2008, when they had their first son Benjamin.  Just like me, they were on the hunt for cute yet safe toys for their son.  They decided the best way to get them, was to make them themselves!!  I am so glad that they made that decision, because their cars are beautiful.  When you see them in person, you are amazed by the craftsmanship and shocked that they didn't cost a lot more.

They were exactly what I was looking for, but the real test would be the day that my son would finally get to play in his new play area. 

I took the cars off the shelf and put them on his rug.  Would he like them as much as the plastic ones at the gym??  Would they move well??...well the answer to all of my questions was YES!!  He loves them.  He even carries them with him to his nap, and to eat.  They move really well, and so far no dents despite a very destructive owner:) (who sometimes likes to crash them into each other).

Darlingling claims that their cars are made with love, and this is very evident from the second that you place your order.  They ship items immediately!! I got them the same week that I ordered them, despite them coming from Canada.  I can't wait to order a few more, especially one of these:

I told Olivia (from Darlingling) how much I loved her cars, and couldn't wait to share them with all of you... and she gave us all a special promo code to use!!  Get 10% off of your order, with code DARLING10 at check out. 

Now everyone can get something great from Darlingling!!!