A feature article in the Summer issue of HOME & GARDEN, A Press Democrat Magazine, written by MICHAEL SHAPIRO:

A Child's Sanctuary

For exhausted parents with young children, it sounds like the holy grail: a designer who specializes in creating kids' rooms that will help them sleep. That's how a pediatric sleep consultant described Petaluma designer Ginny Hautau. But talking to Hautau reveals that her approach involves much more than getting kids to sleep well.

“Sleep is just a happy benefit of a well-designed space,” said Hautau, a former second-grade teacher. The essentials, she says, are making a child's room a unique reflection of who that child is, fostering a sense of independence and allowing room to play and to grow.

“Everything should be personal,” she said. A child's room can be a “personal 3-D journal all over the walls.”

We've all seen the somewhat recent trend of really cool alphabet cards. There are some really great looking sets out there: cute ones, hip ones... but, there’s a problem. Some of the most eye-catching alphabet cards on the market are doing little in the way of helping children recognize language. It's a bold(ish) statement, I know, but it's true. If you don't believe me, ask your child's kindergarten teacher if ARMADILLO, URCHIN or CHICK are helping to achieve those first sounds. 

It goes without saying that a language rich environment can give children a leg-up when it's time to read. Alphabet cards are a seemingly great way to begin letter recognition. The best products on the market take into consideration that lowercase letters are the first letters children should learn. Some products have both upper and lowercase letters like this cute set from K&Company:

The upper and lowercase letters work in this case because they only refer to the capital letters on the reverse side of the cards. Of course, it's fine to acknowledge the uppercase letters as is done in this beautiful set from Paul Gaj Design below left:

It's not just the case of the text that concerns my former teacher-self. It's that A is NOT for "armadillo" to the emergent reader. The first vowel sounds children learn are short sounds. Vowels don't even make sounds when they are followed by the letter R. (R is a trouble-maker.) I own a copy of all of these sets and then some. I think they are beautiful to look at. They speak to me as an artist and graphic designer, but as a teacher and a mom, I have a hard time making a compromised choice for my children.

Rules are rules: C is (and always will be) for CAT. COW works. CONVERSE for the cool parents. COLLARD GREENS for the earthy. CORAL, CABBAGE, CUBIST... all good. But C does not work for CHICK no matter how fuzzy the yellow nugget. Children are supposed to learn the hard C sound first. The hard C sound is followed by A, O or U. The soft C is followed by, you guessed it, E, I and Y. Of course there are exceptions to this rule, this is American english after all. But, by and large the blended sound that C and H make together is not doing our littles any favors until about first grade when "blends" become a part of the language arts curriculum. (Though they don't even make the spelling standards until third grade.) 

If you acquired English as a subsequent language, if you’re a writer or you happen to be a primary school teacher you know these rules of phonetics. The rest of us simply know how words sound, but not the rules behind them and it's not until you sit down to teach your own child how to read that you revisit the foundation of phonetics. These cards, originally designed to aid in teaching, have been stylized to the point that they fail to do just that, sometimes miserably so. 

We often forget the most obvious question, "Will these cards help my child learn to read?" When it's time to fill your home (and your child's first classroom) with purposeful language, here is a chart of sounds for you to use. There are, of course, myriad exceptions, but this is a solid guide to follow for emergent readers. 

We get called into a number of homes where an innocent whisper of green has turned to tart melon or a seemingly sweet shade of pink almost smells of Jean Naté. Color can have a visceral effect. It can leave you unsettled, even agitated, but when it's done right the result is a wonderful calm with a hint of happiness. 

Eve Ashcraft has created a fantastic resource for people striving to strike that balance of color in their own home. She speaks of pale color mishaps saying, "Pale colors people think will stay pale are famous for betraying them when they get home. It's the pastel-y colors that will become much bigger colors and take over a room. If you like a color when it's little, choose something that's dirtier and not quite as bright."(sfgate)

I think what I love most about Eve's approach is that she seems to consider the art in a room to be as important as the light. By art, of course I mean everything from your kindergartner's latest masterpiece to a vintage eyechart. In Eve's own life, she likes to paint, and repaint, her NYC apartment "like it's some slow-moving lazy Susan," she says, "I just hit stuff as it passes by." (nytimes) I can certainly relate.

The Right Color takes a leisurely stroll through the history of pigment, which all self-respecting color nerds appreciate, and although to the lay person it might seem almost as daunting as a Benjamin Moore fan deck, it is a beautiful book worth the purchase for beauty's sake, but I really think if you give it a good once over before trying to tackle your home, you'll be pleased with the results.