Djeco Cubic Dollhouse Furniture: A First Look

Do you Djeco? 

I was excited to see a new Cubic dollhouse and furniture from Djeco, a veteran Paris-based toy company founded in 1954. I just got my package all the way from Milk Tooth in Australia and had some fun unpacking.

Nice touch!

All arrived intact and in delectable boxes just waiting to be opened. I could tell right away that the quality was going to be high.

The pieces are between 1:16 and 1:18 in scale and are made of wood and plastic. The colors are great and the furniture is stylishly modern. I only bought the dining and bedroom sets -- there are other rooms, but I had to shut my wallet at some point. ;)

All in all, the pieces are very well made and sturdy. The one exception was the bedding, which was not as perfect as it could have been (the pictures show the messy underside). Also, I would have preferred to lose the candles in the dining set. I love the blue bowl, but it would have been good to see plates, glasses, or even a plant.

I'm very excited to set up the Cubic house, but that will have to wait until I can steal some time away to put it all together and play.

If you have some Djeco too, do share!

Inspired: Mad Men

While the majority of my styling takes place on a small scale, I have made efforts over the past year or so to slowly transform rooms around our actual house, or even corners of rooms. I'm strongly adverse to paying retail, so I often hunt for good deals, tempered by an eye toward quality.

While it is sometimes easy to envision how you'd approach styling a real room, inspiration definitely helps. I love design magazines, blogs, and websites, and Instagram feeds with an artistic point of view. I wouldn't necessary single out TV as inspiration, but there is an exception. The show Mad Men, now in its final season, has drool-worthy midcentury interiors, and I admit to being distracted by the authentic composition of the rooms while watching.

Courtesy of the New York Times

Courtesy of Interior Design

I was contacted by the site Chairish to do a Mad Men-inspired style board in honor of the show's last season using actual pieces from their available collection of gorgeous Mid-Century furnishings. If you've never cruised around Chairish, do so! It's a site of well-curated furnishings and accessories, vintage and otherwise, and you can sort the listings by type, prince range, and even location of the seller.

So, here's what I came up with: a more "glam" riff on what you might see in the show. I even included some jewelry!

It was a fun diversion -- try it!