A room is a YES space if it is designed specifically for how your family lives together. I want to create a home where you have permission to tell your child YES because we have designed a room that is not only beautiful but can stand up to the natural curiosity, busy fingers and endless imagination of your child.

I have studied how children learn and I believe most strongly in the Power of Play and the Wonder of Learning. My three year tenure on the Board of the Portland Children’s Museum has exposed me to very special people who dedicate their careers to building places where joyful learning happens.

The joy and excitement that you see in this amazing video is something you can recreate in your own home! It just takes some re-imagining, and wondering what would happen if I…

Wondering and learning is not just for children! I wonder every day, and when I learn something new I get the same fireworks in my brain you heard about in the video. I may grow old, but I will NEVER grow up!

Thank you all so much for your support in the Circle of Moms’ Top 25 Home Design Moms contest! Thanks to all of you (with a big boost from friends and family), we managed to reach the #1 spot! Take a look at the rest of the list here: http://www.circleofmoms.com/top25/Top-25-Home-Design-Moms-2012?trk=t25_Top-25-Home-Design-Moms-2012

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In the spirit of garden parties for your children, I wanted to share this fun invitation idea with all of you. As always it’s cheap, easy, and great fun for you and your kids. Creative invitations set the tone for a party, so make them special! Take a look at our garden party post for more inspiration!

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In Oregon we have had actual sun for the past two weekends, and to me that means getting out in the garden. My children have always been attracted to dirt! There is nothing better than throwing on some old clothes, a pair of darling rubber boots and handing them a sturdy shovel. I always have clearly indicated where in the garden it is OK to dig, I don’t want them digging up those bulbs it took me days to get in the ground. But once you define their “garden” turn them loose!

What better way to celebrate a spring or early summer birthday than with a “Garden Party” where they can get their hands dirty! Celebrating birthdays at home is more meaningful, and with a garden party you can actually plant a small garden that your child can watch bloom in the coming months, reminding them of their special day.

Use items you already have around the house for your garden party. Flower pots make excellent décor as well as containers. Plain, unpainted, brand new (if you are using them to hold food or serving items) terra cotta pots are even easier to use than the painted ones above.

I buy plants from the local hardware store that I want to put into the ground after the party and simply slip the plastic container into the pot to be used as a decoration. (I have even done this for elegant occasions, I just use fancier pots!)

Use a wheelbarrow to hold drinks or a larger one to hold gifts. If your wheelbarrow has seen its share of work in the garden simply wash it out and lay a square of fabric or a table cloth in it before adding the presents.

New watering cans make fun lemonade pitchers! Using an item in an unexpected way adds an element of fun to even the refreshments and is much more likely to make a memory. After the party it can be given to the birthday child for its more traditional use.

Cupcakes with artificial flowers make the perfect treat for your garden party, they might just need a few yummy worms for additional flavor! I like the cupcakes much better than the traditional chocolate pudding with oreo crumb dirt.

Baskets and containers of fresh garden bounty are a healthy and colorful way to round out your snack table.

Activities and party favors can be the same thing. Set out an area for decorating their own pots.

Let them get those little hands dirty by planting their own flower or herb to take home and nurture.

Celebrate their growth every step of the way by letting them do a little growing of their own. It not only nurtures their nature but teaches them to nurture nature as well – now that’s a win, win!

Happy Growing!

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Maurice Sendak died today, but you won’t get any of those boring facts and details about his death here. I want to take a moment to celebrate his life and his creative spirit.

This illustration from Where the Wild Things Are is a major inspiration’s in my work, I want to create spaces where children see, imagine and experience so much more than the physical furnishings. Why wouldn’t a bed be a forest, a pirate’s ship, a tiny desert island surrounded by sharks?

The Gardens by the Bay in Singapore would be the best place on earth today to let the wild rumpus start…but really who wouldn’t want to go there any day! It’s like a Maurice Sendak book come to life.

Maybe you could create a tent like Max’s for remembering, and creating your own fantastic journeys.

All you need is one cute Max, one wild thing….

One kingly tent…

and one stool for pondering great thoughts.

Or maybe you are more the blanket fort type, who just needs a spot to sit and read a good book.

 Sail on Mr. Sendak. We’ll keep the rumpus going.

By Robert Brandner

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We took a short trip to Puerto Vallarta over Spring Break to stay with my close friend and her children. I mentioned it when we were preparing to go but did not keep up with the travel log because our family was unfortunately in a store that was robbed at gunpoint on our first evening there. After that, I was on Mommy High Alert keeping everyone safe and sound and, honestly, nothing else seemed to matter. Everyone recovered (including Mommy) and the rest of our vacation was safe and uneventful.

One of the things that has obviously stayed with Weston (11) from out trip was the work of the spray paint artists we saw on the Malecon, the beachfront promenade. This afternoon, she simply appeared in her old clothes and asked if they were OK for painting. I said yes and she quickly disappeared. Three minutes later she showed back up and wanted to know where the spray paint was now that we had finally cleaned out the garage! She explained she was going to make her own spray paint artwork.

Artwork on the Malecon, Puerto Vallarta

It really was pretty fascinating how they layered, shielded and manipulated the paint. This You Tube video shows the process pretty well if you can stand the music.

The Final Product

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Weston and her friends spend endless hours dancing, jumping and flipping themselves about (no really…think trampoline!) So what better way to celebrate her 12th birthday than with a very special trip to see the Cirque de Soleil. Seeing the tents from a distance is magical in and of itself but that’s nothing compared to what you find inside.

I may be past the flipping myself about stage (especially after my spinal surgery this fall), but when I see excellence I am always inspired. I see something beautiful and my mind goes to how I can capture this magic in a way that a child can continue to experience it at home. So today I am drawing inspiration from the Cirque de Soleil Ovo performance Weston and I shared last week for her birthday. Happy Birthday Weston!

Ovo is dominated by a curious egg – so any space would have to begin with a glowing egg. You could tell bedtime stories about the different things that hatch out of the egg!

Ceramic Egg Night Light

There are wonderful sets and creatures that take us on a journey into an enchanted forest. These charming leaf and cocoon shaped chairs and swings would be the perfect way to re-create the magic in your home.

From WebUrbanist.com

From I New Idea

The vivid colors and textures in the costumes could be introduced through the bedding. This particular bed would be too mature for a young child (though it could work for a tween or teen) but the contrast of the textures and the bright colors are perfect. I would add even more texture by making the pink pillow furry and adding as much contrasting texture as possible in your fabric selections.

From Posh By Gosh

The lady bug was Weston’s favorite character. Really, isn’t the best part of saving up for these special occasions watching your child laugh and be amazed? Every time the lady bug was on stage Weston laughed out loud.

She is so bright and cheerful that only a shining bug seemed to capture her essence.

From Amazon

One of the visually stunning parts of the show is of course the acrobatics. This fly dancing high above an ominous web was breathtaking.

From Tech Lighting

These little flies from Tech lighting could dangle enticingly above these amazing spider web chairs by a young Russian designer Nadezhda Moiseeva.

From Plus Mood

We also loved the red ants who balanced and flipped fruit, how easy would it be to add a kiwi throw pillow for a little at home fruit flipping, or snuggling.

From 86073

But in our opinion the absolute highlight of the show were the grasshoppers that did climbing wall and trampoline acrobatics. As we were watching them I knew there would be many more hours of flipping about on the trampoline in our future – and I was right!

Now if I were the coolest type of mom I could actually recreate this at home with an indoor rock wall. The hand holds are available at Home Depot as part of their build your own outdoor play set. Be careful you follow their installation instructions carefully or hire a contractor.

From Children's Museum of Houston

You could mimic the look of the rock by using a textured wall covering or faux painting the wall with multiple shades of brown, thus reducing the permanent investment in the wall.
Anything can inspire your child, find what it is that is magical to them and capture that even if it is in only a small way that makes them smile when they remember. I think I might want a ladybug lamp to remind me of the beautiful 12 year old laughing girl I was lucky enough to sit next to.

Textured Wall Coverings

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If you are new to YES Spaces…

Many of you are finding us for the first time through the Circle of Moms Design Blog Contest. Welcome!

I’ve been an interior designer for many years now, but first and foremost I’m the mother to my five children. I built the YES Spaces brand from the ground up around the basic idea that designing for children be focused on engaging their imagination, inspiring their passions, and making every fleeting second of childhood count. This means taking a unique approach to working with your child on designing a space custom tailored to them and their interests. Simple ideas, right? But when I look around at the design industry, that’s not what I see. I’m going to fix that.

Our blog is where you can come to find new and fun ideas to bring life and imagination into your family’s home. You can subscribe to our feed in the sidebar, just over there to the right. I write three times a week about ideas that have inspired me, rooms that only exist in my head, fun activities for you and your family, and anything else that can help you make your time with children special. Whatever you do, don’t be afraid to try new things!

“Mess to YES” is my newest idea, and every week I’ll be tackling those collisions between practical family life and a beautiful home that always seem so difficult to navigate. With five kids I’ve got plenty of problems to share, but please submit your messes and let’s find elegant and practical solutions together. Help us turn your mess into a YES!

The Yesspaces Store

YESspaces.com offers design services and a curated selection of children’s furnishings and gifts. Everything we sell is hand-selected by me for its quality and design aesthetic (that means I think it’s cute and will withstand your child).

Like so many of you out there, our family is downsizing and simplifying our lives this year. A lot is going to be changing, and  we will be starting with a fresh house to transform to a YES home within the year. It is going to be a big adventure, but I am ready to tackle it head on and share my tears and joys with you.

YES Spaces: Home Design that Nurtures Their Nature

My book, YES Spaces: Home Design that Nurtures their Nature is in development. We worked with over 15 families and over 98 kids to bring you ideas to transform your home with and for your family. I can’t wait to share it with you. I know some of you have been waiting for a while – I promise, I will give you a full update soon!

I hope you will join us. Follow us on Facebook, subscribe to us on Youtube, and check out our store.  We are all in this together, and the more we share the stronger we’ll be. Once again, welcome to YES Spaces!

With Love,

Barbara

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I have become over-whelmed by the amount of stuff I care-take on a daily basis. We live in a neighborhood that has a ridiculous snooty homeowner’s association that says we are not allowed to have a garage sale so when I heard about Portland’s Largest Garage Sale I thought – perfect I will rent a $50 space and get rid of a ton of stuff. I have teenagers they can run the sale and keep some of the cash, win…win.

I used every inch of the 10' x 10' space!

Here is how it really played out.

Pros:

• There was a fixed date on the calendar that I had to shoot for when cleaning out closets
• We got rid of a lot of things

But...the kids had to test EVERY toy as they were sorted!

• We made some money
• By renting a space at a large event we did not have to do ANY marketing – thousands of people showed up to shop
• I actually had fun setting up the booth. I kind of enjoyed the whole retail display aspect…make it pretty!

Toys and games galore! (Games don't sell well)

Cons:

• If you can’t use your own garage you have to limit the number and size of things you can sell and you have to pack it all up!

Load it...unload it...set it up...reload or donate what doesn't sell...

• You have to touch everything you want to sell multiple times – cleaning out the closet, setting it up, pricing it, selling it, or sorting and donating if it doesn’t sell
• You have to keep your pricing very low and simple

Kids costumes $1 a piece

• It took over 7 hours to load in, set up and price. Someone has to man the sale – in our case from 7 AM to 5 PM and then pack up
• You are left with items afterward to decide what to do with
• We made almost $300 but could have made a lot more (probably) in our own garage, with a larger variety of items and no limit on the space we have. Doesn’t seem like the best return on the time invested.

Having a good variety of items we did attract a lot of people!

We have only had one garage sale before in California when we were moving to Oregon and made tons of money, but we sold tons of stuff. Since then I have been a Goodwill girl, it is the easiest way to recycle goods and feel good about contributing. But I have sorted out most of the things that are easy to just give away already, I now am faced with items of some real value.

How do you recycle your children’s outgrown toys, decor items, gifts from aunts that never worked for you? I’m now debating the merits of Craig’s List and Ebay – if you have any tips let me know! Otherwise I will keep you posted on the adventures of simplifying my life, one outgrown toy at a time.

You know sometimes it’s not just my kids that want to physically hold onto the past. Their are emotional costs in shedding items as well, but I know there will be a lightness as the end. Colton is not so sure “You are selling my childhood!” No, Colton, not really just sharing the joy with some new children.

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In the spirit of finding fun and creative ways to spend time with the kids, last week we decided to do some experimenting with doughnuts. Despite how intimidating frying in oil might seem, the process was incredibly easy! If you make the dough ahead of time, actually making each doughnut only takes about a minute or two. Then you can let the kids go crazy with whatever glazes, icings, sprinkles or other decorations their little hearts desire.

We improvised our process with a basic dough we found in a recipe book, but you can find a great guide at “The Pioneer Woman”. She illustrates the process very well, and her recipe is almost identical to what we used. We’ll be citing her recipe here since our recipe required a kitchen scale.

Without further ado, here’s the recipe!

Ingredients

Doughnuts

1-1/8 cup Whole Milk, Warm

1/4 cup Sugar

2-1/4 teaspoons (one Package) Instant Or Active Dry Yeast

2 whole Large Eggs, Beaten

1-1/4 stick Unsalted Butter, melted

4 cups All-purpose Flour

1/4 teaspoon Salt

Canola Oil for Frying

To Make the Dough:

1.       Make sure milk is nice and warm, but not overly hot.

2.        Add sugar to milk. Stir to dissolve.

3.       Add yeast into a small bowl.

4.       Pour milk/sugar mixture over yeast. Stir gently, then let sit for 10 minutes.

5.       Melt butter in separate bowl until butter is almost melted. Stir to finish melting so butter won’t be overly hot.

6.       Add beaten eggs to melted butter, stirring constantly to make sure the butter’s not too hot for the eggs.

7.       Add the egg/butter mixture to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook.

8.       With the mixer on 3 or medium-low speed, pour in the yeast mixture.

9.       Allow the dough hook to stir this mixture for a couple of minutes, making sure it’s thoroughly combined.

10.   With the mixer still going, add helpings of the flour mixture in 1/4 to 1/2 cup increments until all the flour is gone.

11.   Stop the mixer, scrape the bowl, then turn the mixer on the same speed for five whole minutes.

12.   After five minutes, stop the mixer and scrape the bottom of the bowl.
Turn on the mixer for 30 seconds.

13.   Turn off the mixer and allow the dough to sit in the bowl undisturbed for 10 minutes.

14.   After 10 minutes, transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowl.

15.   Toss the dough to coat, and then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in warm location to rise for 1 hour.

Once you're ready to start frying, put the dough on a clean surface and let the kids start shaping!

The Pioneer Woman recommends that you use a round cutter to keep your doughnuts even and uniform, but we went ahead and did it with our hands. While we might not be able to pass them off as store-bought, the taste wasn’t any different and the kids got to experiment with some interesting shapes.

When frying, keep the kids away. Hot oil can be extremely dangerous!

To Fry the Doughnuts

1.       Heat plenty of canola oil in a large pot until the temperature reaches 375 to 380 degrees—do not let it get hotter than 380 degrees! 375 is ideal; keep the “candy” thermometer in the pan to continually monitor.

2.       One to two at a time, gently grab doughnuts and ease them into the hot oil. Allow them to cook 1 minute on each side; they will brown very quickly.

3.       Remove doughnuts from the oil with a slotted spoon, allowing all oil to drip off.

4.       Place doughnut immediately on several layers of paper towels. Count to five, then flip it over onto a clean part of the paper towels. Count to five, then flip it over again; the purpose, obviously, is to drain as much grease as possible before it soaks into the doughnut.

5.       Repeat with remaining doughnuts and holes. The holes will cook more quickly than the doughnuts; about 30 seconds per side.

6.       Allow doughnuts to slightly cool.

Let the doughnuts cook about a minute on each side, then scoop them out however you feel is safest. We used a mesh spoon, but chopsticks or a long fork would work too!

Once your doughnuts have cooled slightly on the towels, the toppings are up to you. We tried a few combinations of sugar and cinnamon, as well as just plain powdered sugar. It’s hard to go wrong with sugar and fried dough, so don’t be afraid to experiment! You can find a list with a few ideas for glazes you might try in the tutorial if that strikes your fancy.

Our abstract doughnuts tasted fantastic. In the lower right you can see Colton's (failed, and slightly unnerving) attempt at a smiley face

Clean-up for this project was simple — we fried all the dough with no leftovers, so a quick wipe-down of the counter and proper disposal of the oil and we were done! We even saved the extra cinnamon/sugar mix in a sugar jar for coffee, cinnamon toast, or sugar cookies, or any of a thousand other uses for the tasty combination. As fun and simple as this project was, the greatest reward was reigning in the nonplussed teenagers to participate in a family project. Not only were they involved, but making (and eating!) the doughnuts was a great conversation starter. From normally sealed lips came a flood of information about everyone’s week, school, their plans for the weekend — a veritable treasure trove of secret teenage information.

The Doughnut Team & Friends (who could resist?)

All in all, doughnut making was a success! It’s a great way to get everyone together, get the kids out of the woodwork, and enjoy a tasty treat all at the same time. Thanks to The Pioneer Woman for putting together a great tutorial that we can share with all of you. Enjoy!

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This week we’re looking at a quick, easy, and cheap project you can use to throw a fantastic birthday party! This project is great for kids of any age and just requires a lot of scraps and a little imagination. Take a look at this week’s DIY video to see Donna and her daughter Mackenzie show you how this great project goes together.

Our YES Tested Tips for Great Robots:

When you collect items, you don’t need to think about what it could be! Save your junk CD’s, recycled cans and broken parts from discarded objects! Then go around your house and garage and just grab lots of things: wire, buttons, beads, brads, nuts and bolts…  You’ll need lots of choices so supply extra items!

Remember, your kids will come up with more ideas than you will! Try to just glue things where they tell you. It’s hard, but if you can avoid the temptation to give them suggestions, you will be amazed at what they come up with on their own! Ask the open ended questions like, “What do you think this could be?” “Is there another way that you could use these?”

Even with the peel and stick magnets, we used hot glue. So don’t bother buying the peel and stick. The round magnets from a craft store work really great!

To create springs, twist wire around a pencil and then remove the pencil.  Try unbending a large paper clip or wire hanger if you don’t have any wire.

Remember, the process is the most important thing! Building robots is more than just fun – Your kids are studying the laws of physics! …Shhh! We won’t tell them if you won’t!

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