It is perfectly ok to hack apart children’s mobiles with a pair of scissors

Let me explain.  

My wife and I were doggedly determined that our nursery not resemble anyone else’s (a noble, yet common desire, I am sure; if you, the reader, are interested in piecing together an entire room from one single source, then I am afraid that these notes may not be of your liking; however, do not let that deter from continuing reading; a new reader, even if they be an antagonistic one, is always appreciated).  My wife and I also have rather limited space with which to work (see: 650 s.f. NYC 1 BR, 1 BA).  Using a professionally installed curtain from the Shade Store, we have split our living room in twain to create an 8x14 foot nursery (more than enough room for a five-and-a-half day old, although I wouldn’t want to have to store a teenager in the same square footage), while still leaving ourselves ample space for a living room (although many non-New Yorkers might be hard-pressed to use the adjective “ample” upon initial inspection of said living room).  Our original plan was to have a translucent sliding glass wall installed by the Sliding Door Company, but alas, our apartment building management company nixed that idea, leaving us to ransack our imaginations and finally alight up on the soundproof curtain idea (although categorizing the curtains as “soundproof” is a bit of a stretch).  The detail of the nursery with which this Note is concerned is what I managed to do to the back of the curtain in order to further enhance the overall design esthetic of the room. 

Picture a mobile.  The kind that connects to a crib in order to entertain a baby while you are out of the room doing dishes or taking a nap or running rabbits out of your herb garden.  Now, picture a pair of scissors.  Now, using these scissors, cut the hanging pieces off of the mobile proper and then throw the rest away.  Now, using light-colored thread, sew the mobiles onto your fabric item (a curtain, for example). 

Naturally, it is advantageous to use a mobile (or in my case, three mobiles) that you find especially eye-catching.  The three I used (sheep, penguin, and bunny) were all designed by Flensted Mobiles from Denmark for MoMA.  My original intent, I suppose, in addition to giving someone, baby or otherwise, something to look at on the otherwise empty back of a nine-foot floor-to-ceiling curtain, was to create a field effect where animals came to graze in peace, far away from the bustle of the business world.  Now, granted, penguins as a species don’t tend to graze (and thinking about it, neither do bunnies), and besides, sheep, penguins, and bunnies are probably almost as worried about the bustling business world as babies are, but as far as the design aspects of the room are concerned, I think that the overall effect was rather successful.