Your style in Focus

We are loving getting to know the creative women behind some amazing Instagram feeds . Todays interview is with Mandy @mandymk79. Mandy now has her own interiors business ( Interiors by Mandy ) and we love the rooms that she creates be sure to check out her beautiful Instagram. 

 Tell us a bit about where you live?

 We live in little old Adelaide…. The state that is so small everyone knows each other some way or another… but we love it!

Tell us a bit about you and your family:

I am just your typical girl next door with an absolute passion for Interior Design and beautiful things! I have the most supportive and gorgeous hubby who is my best friend we’ve been together since we were 18 and now we have 3 beautiful little angels that are all ours! We feel very blessed!

 What is your inspiration behind your kid’s rooms?

My kids are definitely my inspiration behind it all.  Loving beautiful things and having a very high standard of my home and myself!  My mum was always cleaning and making sure the house was perfect when I was little so I definitely get it from her! I’ve always had this natural talent in putting things together and they just seem to look great! They say we all have a calling and this is definitely mine!

Where is your favorite source of inspiration for the kid’s rooms? Magazines, blogs, instagram?

Its definitely Instagram… its actually become part of my daily routine….hehe I think I might be addicted to it but who can blame me look at all the amazing small businesses out there and amazing talented mummies…. We’re all a little family and we all support each other!

 Favourite thing to do as a family:

 Anything out doors…. We are very active and love the beach…. We hire a beach house at least twice a year and the kids and us just love hanging out down the beach, fishing, snorkelling, crabbing, canoeing.. It’s our little getaway!

Favourite travel or holiday destination?

Definitely our Beach House at Black Point SA.

 List of loves as a family:

 Beach, bike riding, bbq ‘s with friends and family.

Favourite weekend activity:

 Snuggling up on a Sunday Morning with the kids, we all jump into our bed and we watch TV its so lovely not having to get up and race around getting ready for school and work, we just laze around cooking Sunday breaky and being silly! It’s about quality not quantity and the kids just love us all being home together.

How do you celebrate birthdays and special days with your kids?

 Every Birthday we do up the Kitchen table (as that’s the room the kids doors are off of) we set it up with heaps of balloons and presents of their favourite theme at the time and just sing to them as they wake up! I have done this every birthday since they have been born and they love it!

 What does a typical day in your life involve?

 Its amazingly busy just like all mums with 3 children…… some days I think WOW how did I get through today and I’m very proud!  Having 3 children in 4 years definitely has its moments full of demands and pressures and can be quite testing but I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world! They are our absolute blessings and a little smile, cuddle or an “I love you mummy” makes it all worth it and nothing else matters.

Travelling with young kids in India .

AMBER FORT  

AMBER FORT  

THE KIDS PLAYING SPOT THE MONKEY . 

KIDS PLAYING AND MEETING  LOCAL CHILDREN  

THE BEAUTIFUL INTERIOR AT AMBER FORT 

RUNNING IN THE TUNNELS OF AMBER FORT

AMBER FORT 

AMBER FORT 

A LOCAL WOMEN IN JAIPUR 

BEAUTIFUL ELEPHANT 

LOTS OF STAIRS 

LOVING WATCH ALL THE MONKEYS 

SNAKE CHARMER KIDS LOVED IT BUT WOULD NOT GO CLOSE 

AMBER FORT 

CAMELS IN THE STREETS 

THE BEAUTIFUL ELEPHANTS 

Whilst we where away on our sourcing trip in January it also gave us time to reflect and look at things that we would both like to do in the business and areas that needed attention. Our La de dah kids blog was something that lacked serious attention in 2014 .We  have some great plans to make this place more of a lifestyle blog for all things kids and that includes a subject we are super passionate about which is travel . If you have a topic you would like to see featured on the blog we would love to hear from you ?

Travel has always been a huge passion both before kids and also now we have kids . Travelling with kids now brings a whole new dimension to travel . Seeing the world through our little ones eyes  is one of the most rewarding experiences .

Our stop in India was 90 % work so our tourist tips will be limited however we did mange to fit a little site seeing in while we spent the week in India . We travelled with both our boys one aged 6 and one who turned 4 the day before we left- so our travel tips are relevant to these age groups.

Hopefully we inspire you to take the adventure with your kids - enjoy !



Places to stay :
We stayed at the Crowne Plaza : New Delhi Rohini  we cannot recommend this place enough . The selection for breakfast was great . The rooms spacious and very comfortable.


Places to eat :
Due to our tight timescale we ate mostly with our suppliers families and within our hotel due to tired kids from a full day of activities .


Transport :
We had a driver which we strongly recommend . We found this a great way to get around with kids and within a tight time frame which we had . But be prepared for traffic and lots of it . Short distances can take hours - but the country side viewing and animal spotting ( camels, monkeys , elephants ) makes driving in India an exciting adventure for the little and big kids.


Place to visit :
Delhi - we had a city tour with our driver in which we where lucky to have a taste of the sights . Our time in Delhi was super limited  and with many road closures due to President Obama visiting it made it tricky getting from place to place .
We visited the India gate and Chandni Chowk.


Jaipur - So many exciting things to do and visit in Jaipur . One of the Highlights for us was the Amber fort . We had an elephant ride up to the fort with the Kids and they loved it! -  It was a real highlight. The kids loved exploring the Fort the small passage ways and stair cases in the fort was  a big adventure of hide and seek . The kids also got to see monkeys and a snake charmer which was high on their list to do and see why we visited India .

Your style - In Focus

We are so excited to be introducing a new monthly section on our blog . We are constantly inspired by some of our beautiful customers and there beautiful styling skills. We thought it would be great to meet and get to know a little bit more about these super talented mums . Our First Mum is Candice and she is the inspiring mum behind the beautiful Instagram @arabella_and_poppy.

 Tell us a bit about where you live ?

We are from Melbourne and live in a beautiful area filled with lots of trees and hills. It's very much a little world of it's own. It's close to all things busy yet you could almost say we live in the bush. 

Tell us a bit about you and your family:'m Candice and I'm 31. I love all things bright and colourful and enjoy any sort of interior styling. I'm very much an amateur however one day I hope maybe to make a career out of it. I especially love childrens interiors. I have the most wonderful better half Nathan who always supports any crazy ideas I have lol. We have 2 beautiful little girls. Arabella is 3 and just started Kinder and Poppy will be 2 in June. Poppy likes to do anything her big sister does. Both my girls would live outside if we let them :)

 What is your inspiration behind your kid’s rooms?

 All my inspiration for the girls room (my girls share) comes from all the wonderful designers and talented mummas on Instagram. 

Where is your favorite source of inspiration for the kid’s rooms? Magazines, blogs, instagram?

My fave source is most certainly Instagram. I was new to Instagram mid last year and between then and I now I have formed friends with extremely kind, supportive and talented mummas all ove the world. We all inspire each other in not just design but parenthood also. 

Favourite thing to do as a family:

 Our fave thing to do as a family would have to be watch Disney movies. Our girls are at an age now that they enjoy watching movies. Nathan and I are both big personalities so there's often a chance a few tunes will be belted out during a movie. Our kids love us regardless of the fact we both usually make a huge fool of ourselves singing lol! 

Favourite travel or holiday destination?

 We have only been on a couple of holidays as a family and we have absolutely loved them all. I am not a huge beach person however we had a ball when we went up to the central coast of NSW to visit Nathan's family 💗 The girls love the beach :) 

List of loves as a family:

As a family we love watching movies, singing, spending time together, going on family dates, hanging out with our extended families, Arabella LOVES birthdays and we all love spending time with our amazing friends .We recently visited the Zoo and had so much fun. We can't wait to do that again :) 

Favourite weekend activity:

 Lately with the warmer weather we have loved getting our sprinkler out and letting the girls and Nathan run wild lol! I prefer to watch on and take photos haha.

How do you celebrate birthdays and special days with your kids ?

 Birthdays are huge in our house hold. Arabella loves them so much. We always have a party with decorations and party hats. We make a big deal for whoever is celebrating their birthday. We do this for our extended family also. Arabella loves parties and I love decorating, it would be silly not to have a party lol.

What does a typical day in your life involve?

A typical day in our house would be waking up between between 8/8:30 sometimes earlier, sometimes later but roughly then. The girls have a bottle or milk in a cup and I make them some peanut butter toast. They have their fathers genes and take about 2 hours to fully wake up so I pop the telly on and let them get out of their grump. Depending on the bath situation we may have a bath, they LOVE it! It's such an awesome activity. It's great having the girls so close as there is always someone to play with. After a bath and maybe a photo shoot lol, we may draw, dance, jump on the bed, play in the play room and help mummy hang out the washing. Lately I've been getting the girls to help me cook. I'm not very good but looking to expand my skills. They are really enjoying it. Poppy still naps and Arabella has quiet time. By the time 5:00pm comes around I have no idea where the day went. Dinner, sometimes a bath and pjs before bedtime. Bedtime is about 8pm for our girls. I've tried earlier however they wake up in the middle of the night and party lol! 

La De Dah Kids New Season Range

La de dah Kids New Season is here . 

This season, we are taking a trip down memory lane. We are off to a time when our toys really were Superheros and we made friends with Dragons and had talking Horses. Remember how colourful and alive our favourite toys were? Our winter range brings to life once more the joys of a child with a special toy.

                                                             

We must not forget the return of our bunny family. New members are here complete with a lifetime of cuddles and room for many secrets. Easter will be so much more special when the chocolate is long gone, a mischievous little playmate will remain.

La De Dah Kids are not just about toys, we love our homewares too. Our floor rugs have long been a favourite and this season our collection will not disappoint. Vintage mix-ups and gorgeous metallics combine with new designs and top ups of faithfuls from seasons past.

                                    

What room would be complete without a clock with personality? We have introduced four new characters to brighten any wall space. Everybody is loving all things industrial and our crochet pendant lights add a little funky nostalgia to your trendy space. Banners are the new bunting! Add a spunky banner or beautiful word chain to bring Jr.’s room to life.

           

Storage, we are always looking for storage that you don’t have to hide under the bed or on the top shelf at the back of the wardrobe. Our baskets are back, with new colour combinations and our popular staples add to your chosen colour palette.

Don’t forget the stunning blankets in blacks, mints and pinks. These are perfect for cooler nights and always at the ready at the end of the bed or cot.

A few people to thank for the shoot are  Eve Wilson for the Photography and Paige Anderson  for the styling . 

Some of our beautiful fellow creatives who helped make this photo shoot are : 

Incy interiors for  the black bed featured in the kids room . 

Lilly and Lolly for the very cute beside table 

Hk Living for the industrial white beside table .

Also huge thanks to the parents and all our beautiful models Isla , Dylan , Chanel and Patrick and Danielle from Iconic Agency for all her assistance .

Unicorn rainbow

Our favourite Unicorns are on their way back to La De dah kids head quarters and we could not be more excited . Our favourites Jess , Stella and  Ava unicorn  will all return and be looking for loving homes like their fellow unicorns below . Pre- ordering starts this morning with all unicorns being ready for dispatch the beginning of Feb .

In other La De Dah kids news we are busy putting together some new product lines that we cannot wait to bring you later in the year . If you are also interested in all the latest La De Dah kids news be sure to sign up to our blog and also our newsletter . 

Happy Holidays x

Happy New Year .

Happy New year !!! 

So exited for 2015 . We have been been soaking up some family time while putting together the final touches on our new range that will be released the first week in February. We have also been  creating all our new designs for the 2015 / 2016 season . 

La de dah kids  have lots of projects to share this year along with some inspiring interviews and hot travel spots . So stay tuned as the La de Dah kids blog is set to be posting on some fun things to do and see this year in 2015 . Mark it on your must read list and also follow along for your daily inspiration and 

La de Dah kids happenings on Instagram @ladedahkids.

Happy Holidays .

La de dah kids 

x

Why is Black Back ?

1) oscar bed)

2) grey and black round floor matt

3) black and cream stripe crochet basket
    cream hand crochet basket

4) Cross knitted jacquard bean bag

5)  Ikea storage / clothing black and white closet

6) big bad wolf softie

7) Triangle hook black
    Cloud shape hook white

8)  White crochet light

9)  Sweet dreams word chain black

10) Sammy snail softie

11)  Sebbie shark

 First of all, let’s just say we are back! Back in the land of Blog. We have lots of new creatures to introduce and amazing things to share.

Welcome old friends and new, La De Dah Kids is a buzz with creativity at the moment and what a place to be.

What’s with all the bells about black and white? Well, it’s only the very latest chic thing to do in your bubba’s bedroom. Setting up a nursery is a new mum’s right of passage. Selecting a cot, paint colour, prints, floor coverings and just the right soft toys to welcome your little one home is all part of the “nesting” of a mum-to-be.

However, what have we had to choose from? Good old lemon or mint? Please, its been done to death. How about something fresh and funky? Yes, please! Hello, we are not embracing Goth for Tots. It’s about pairing things back, lots of white and just a little black for definition. Then we add pops of colour and texture to make it soft and homey for the little one. Lots of layers and chunky knits, rugs, cushions, prints and maybe some timber to warm it up a little.

If you are not sure what you are having then getting the basics down before bubs arrival is the most important part. Adding the colour later is also heaps of fun. I know I went on a pink rampage when my daughter arrived.

What do we love at La De Dah? We love the black round floor mat. It’s been out of stock for a while but will be back next month. With tones of black cream and grey, it’s great for either girls or boys.

Storage, we love storage and there is never enough. Our crochet storage baskets are fantastic for all of baby’s very necessary “stuff.” Then as baby grows, they can be used as toys start to accumulate. Baskets come in black, cream and black and white stripe.

  Everyone loves an heirloom. Why not start a tradition in your own home? We have the most divine cream and black throws, all hand made and 100% cotton. Perfect for the rocking chair to cuddle under during late night visits to your nursery.

Accessories are what give personality to a room. We all love a nice garland, how about a La De Dah word banner to make a statement in your child’s bedroom? This season we have also introduced our super funky industrial crochet light for a little bit of wow.

Lastly but absolutely not least are our adorable softies. This week Sebbie Shark, Sammy Snail and Wolfie have come to play happy families in our gorgeous monochrome room.

Written by Amanda Hunter