It’s been just over two weeks and we are finally unpacked and organised in our new home. Although we probably won’t be here for too long (it’s a temporary stop-gap until we hopefully buy a place), it’s still important we make it feel ours.

Part of that process has been choosing a few new pieces of furniture to replace tired or broken bits that we no longer had use for. First on that list was a new desk for Frog. 

Her old desk was a little table and chairs from Ikea, that I painted in bright red. The thing is, our current place has less room downstairs for a full table and chairs set, so it stayed outside and got damaged by the rain. In its place, we now have this gorgeous wooden desk from Wooden Toy Shop, which also doubles up as a storage box.

At three years old, Frog is becoming ever the independent diva (always has been, actually), so this desk is a great way to encourage her to get her own toys out and put them away again once she’s finished playing. With pistons on the hinges to stop the lid banging shut, it remains open when Frog is rummaging around for a jigsaw puzzle or colouring book.

The desk lives in the corner of our living room and – I’m pleased to say – it doesn’t take over the space at all. With bright colours and fun dinosaurs, it’s pretty enough not to want to hide away in a playroom. Plus, the storage element means the toys are tidy and not constantly cluttering up the rest of the room.

With a large surface area, the desk easily houses Frog’s pens and pencil crayons and provides a big enough space for even her largest of colouring and sticker books.

I’ve written before about how I’m a sucker for wooden toys and think they’re often a better buy than much of the plastic stuff on the market, and this desk is no exception. In fact, I was checking out the other items on offer on the site and came across some brilliant wooden play food which I’ve already marked as a possible Christmas present. The range is very impressive – and all at a reasonable price.

It goes without saying, Frog is delighted with her new desk and is currently sitting at it, drawing, as I type!

***

This desk comes from WoodenToyShop.co.uk and retails at £86.95. There’s a range of different colours to choose from, including a Union Jack and flower design.

Disclosure: The desk featured in this post was provided for the purpose of this review. All opinions remain my own, naturally. 

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From living room to kitchen to dining room to bedroom, my toddler leaves a trail of sparkly rubbish in her wake. As fast as I clear it out of the house, it makes its way back in again, like a persistent weed taking over a beautiful flower bed. Not that my house is like a beautiful flower bed, but you get the analogy.

In my attempts to banish the tatty paraphenalia, I have taken on a new game plan. This one involves finding new, better stuff to rival the plastic.

I’m drawn towards wooden toys, bright and bold colours rather than insipid sparkly ones, preferably with some kind of retro slant. The kind of things I don’t mind clogging up my living room. I know, I am a toy snob. Perhaps I wouldn’t be this way if we lived in a huge house with a playroom and deep cupboards, so I wouldn’t have to spend my evenings knee-deep in holographic stickers and dry felt-tip pens. That’s my excuse anyway.

In my quest for cool kids’ stuff, I have even created a list on my Shopcade account. Shopcade is a social shopping site. It works a bit like Pinterest, in that you create boards of things you like, but rather than sitting and looking at them all day, you can actually buy them. You get points for your activity on the site (when people follow you or like the items you list etc) and – as we all know – points mean prizes.

This is a snapshot of my Cool Kids Stuff list:

It also features these beauties:

Hamleys Kettle, £8, via Shopcade

Science Museum Space Hopper, £19.99, via Shopcade

Habitat Wooden Skittles, £20, via Shopcade

I could live with these in any room in the house. Honest.

***

Disclosure: As a Shopcade ambassador I occasionally get sent pretty things from the site. All opinions are my own. I really do hate plastic tat.

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