I run with a tough crowd of Type Nerds, the kind who can spend an hour discussing the joys of Helvetica, the horrors of Comic Sans, and play an iPhone game called "Cheese or Font" (yes, this really is a game). But even for those of us wh…
I have a confession: I have two children and I've never owned a crib. As a co-sleeping family, we've never really needed one. But now I'm going to tell you about the most beautiful crib I've ever seen, by which I mean the one that's maki…
There's a curious trend right now, a vicious but lovely circle in which interior design for adults takes inspiration from art for children, which was in turn inspired by interior design for adults. To put it succinctly, as we mentioned r…
Saying you love me with flowers is great, but on Mother's Day , please don't get me a smiling kitten n' rainbow mug full of carnations and daisies. I'd much rather have a bed of bamboo accented by one gorgeous orchid, or maybe some spark…
I am a pretty practical mom who would rather carry my stuff in a classic black handbag over my shoulder that I can use for years, but that doesn't stop me from adoring the stylish digital clutch netbooks that are starting to crop up in t…
It's hard to believe I had my son a decade ago. Back then, no matter what your personal style was, you were pretty much limited to duckies, boats or flowers when it came to baby bedding. But now companies like Olli and Lime are turning o…
We saw a whole lot of baby gear (a lot) at the ginormous ABC Kids Show in Las Vegas last summer, but very little stays with us all these months later. One exception however, is the cheerful European Hoppop Baby gear, which Kristen, Julie…
I confessed my serious addiction to Japanese cute when I told you about Momiji dolls, so please cut me some slack if I seem a little gushy when talking about Loloko Shop . This little Northern California shop does cute right with little …
Far too much of my time this weekend was devoured as I messed around with the wonderful Design Your Own tool on Jonathan Adler . According to the description, it lets you "unleash your inner Adler" and go crazy with colors to create the …
From Christmas through January, I seem to go into serious nesting mode. All I want to do is organize my home and fix those shelves and dream about paint colors and alphabetize the kids' books and...and...and... So I've had a grand old ti…
We discover so much incredible, inspiring talent from artists and craftspeople every day, that this just may be one of the hardest categories to cull down. Just imagine that we're choosing a few picks of the year and that we've got about…
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Let's say you've got a mid-century modern design freak on your holiday shopping list - you know, the kind of person who has everything already, and what he or she doesn't have, you probably can't afford. Now let's just say you were to ha…
I always thought that LEGOs were cute for making walls and towers, maybe the occasional weird angular horses or something. I honestly had no idea that now you could make, oh, say...the Guggenheim Museum . Right in time for the NY landmar…
It's starting to feel like contest judging week at Cool Mom Picks. Which is fantastic, considering how much we like giving things away to deserving people . But this time, we need your help. And you can win stuff too. One of our favorite…
When my boys were babies, I spent a lot of time looking for cool, original things for them -- clothes and bedding and accent pieces for their rooms . But in a strip mall world, that meant a lot of shopping, and no mama has time for that.…
If I were walking down the street in Chicago and came across Lollie , owned by sisters Mimi and Alyssa Fron, it would be impossible not to go in. Unfortunately 1000 miles stand between me and this adorable boutique which carries practica…
I just discovered the wonderful Poppytalk Handmade , and I am wondering where it's been all my life. This online craft fair comes from the minds behind the wonderful Canadian design blog Poppytalk and each month there's a new theme (righ…
You know who you are, you design-crazy parents : You scour flea markets looking for vintage picture books to turn into nursery art, you spent more time picking paint colors than pediatricians, and your greatest dream is to discover some …
I had no idea how much I've been taking the fact that there are not one, but two IKEAs within driving distance of me for granted. Poor, poor Heather, the creative talent behind Skinny laMinx , who was so despondent over the fact that non…
We bet you've at least once bought a set of alphabet blocks as a new baby gift. But buying a set of alphabet blocks that a new baby can enjoy all the way into adulthood? Now that's a really cool gift for a baby born into a home full of, …