Play, Sit, Store

Full disclosure: I am a new dad and I live in Brooklyn, so needless to say there is a whole new genre of furniture that catches my eye. When I saw the Los Angeles-based nurseryworks’ playdate table I thought it would work well in our apartment (even if we didn’t have a three-month old son). Four itty-bitty stools fit cleanly and snugly underneath each corner of the table. Then comes the clincher—each stool has a lid that flips over to a padded seat and reveals the storage compartment underneath—plenty of space for trucks, books, and stuffed animals.

“Our audience was looking for a table and chairs for kids that they could coordinate with their other furniture. Read: Ikea,” said nurseryworks designer Traci Fleming. Since a large part of the company’s customers live in space-challenged urban neighborhoods, it made sense to incorporate a storage system into the unit. You might have to keep a first-aid kit in one of those stools though—those table corners are a little sharp.