Makedo – for the cardboard box kid

When I was a kid, there wasn’t anything, quite so much worth doing, as messing about with cardboard boxes…  I coined the term “cardboard box kid” for the awesome kind of kid who could entertain themselves for hours with a simple box.  I was of course, one of those kids myself, but hey, it’s my term, I get to define it.

Makedo has a great kit that includes a safe saw, a punch, connectors, and even hinges to help you join your cardboard pieces into your latest creation.  Now I don’t want to slant duct tape, especially the clear stuff, it’s awesome, but the kits from Makedo allow you great flexibility in building and they are of course reusable, always a bonus!

via core77.com (although their links don’t seem to work…)

DIY High Chair…. For $6.50

When moving to Paris for 3 months with your 10 month old daughter, there are certain things you just can’t take with you. One of those is a high chair, and while we figured we make do without, after a month of spilt food and a baby who just wouldn’t sit still, it was time to get crafty!

While walking down Rue Cler, I saw the solution right before my eyes… This beauty of a tupperware bin was only $6.50, just begging to be turned into a DIY high chair.  I’ve always wanted to build a high chair for my daughter, but by the time she was ready for one, we were leaving the country, and all my tools behind.  Something like this Rietveld high chair would have been awesome to make, but considering I only brought a leatherman and a roll of duct tape, this simple design was still a bit lofty considering my equipment.

So I took the bin, cut holes for legs and then a hole in the top for my daughter, leaving her a bit of a “tray” in front.

The hole on top is really a flap which is still attached at the back of the chair and then taped to the bottom of the box.  This keeps her forward but is still springy so she can lounge (she loves to lounge…).

The plastic was pretty brittle and left some sharp edges so everything is wrapped in duct tape to hold it together and keep her from scratching herself.  Here’s a side view of the seat:

How much does she like her new chair?

And how comfortable is it? Well she fell asleep during dinner tonight, and slept long enough for me to write this entire post…