Kids’ Rooms With a World View

Children’s books are full of whimsical stories, heroic tales and colorful, mind-expanding illustrations, so it’s a bit surprising that the decor of most kids’ rooms hasn’t changed from a pink or blue world of bunnies and teddy bears, with an occasional Speed Racer room thrown in for boys.

But that may be slowly changing. At one extreme is the high-concept, high-cost child’s room, which can include everything from designer sheets to Italian wrought-iron changing tables to the $28,000 castle bed from the Neiman Marcus catalog.

But to some parents, imagination is more important than image, so two new shops are offering things to delight children and open their eyes and minds to a whole world of design and fun.

Enter Entertaining Elephants in Studio City and you know you’re not in a usual kids’ store. From the Chinese dragon kite suspended from the ceiling that moves with the breeze to the 1950s mahogany television set that’s never off since the picture is actually a fish tank, here is a small store that is meant to be magical.

And that’s what owners Ellen Massee and husband Michael, star of the upcoming TV series “24,” want it to be.

The store’s decor hints at Ellen Massee’s set-design background, with its brick-red cement floor with stenciled borders in an Indian textile design, Indian shawls hanging over the skylights and walls painted in a Chinese bamboo motif.

Even the store’s name is whimsical, alluding to the children’s book “Alligators All Around, an Alphabet” by Maurice Sendak, in which “e” stands for “Alligators Entertaining Elephants.”

The store’s contents come from throughout the world, but Ellen Massee avoids calling it “ethnic.”

“Ethnic sometimes has a derogatory connotation” she said. “We feel we’re changing the context by mixing different cultures and periods to get something that’s both fresh and traditional. We’re trying to create a world style. This teak Art Deco crib was made in east India in the 1920s,” explains Ellen Massee. “It has that Colonial style that works great in a Craftsman house.”

The store also has 19th century painted cabinets from Rajasthan, India, and wood armoires with brightly painted animals from Pakistan. A white rag macrame cradle from Mexico is suspended from the ceiling and filled with toys.

“I love these little rocking elephants from Thailand and the 1930s double-duck rocker for twins, from India,” she says. There is also a large horse from India as well as 3-foot-tall papier mache horses from Mexico.

Village women handcraft many of the items in the shop, including sweaters from Bolivia and brightly beaded dolls from South Africa. Prices range from $10 for Aztec headdresses to a 19th century tiled wardrobe from India for $1,800.

Ozzie and Moosy on West 6th Street, just off La Brea Avenue, is also filled with color and whimsy. With a nod to her childhood, owner Azita Nahai used her nickname in the title of the store. ‘Everyone calls me Ozzie,’ says Nahai, who is getting her master’s degree in child development from Pacific Oaks College in Pasadena.

“The clients we deal with are moving away from the pinks and the blues for the boys and the girls. They’re buying furniture that blends in with the rest of the house,’ says Nahai.

‘That way, after two or three years, the pieces don’t have to be discarded. Later you can use the small armoire that once held baby clothes in the kitchen, the changing table can be used as a buffet in the dining room, and a cradle can be used decoratively to toss pillows and blankets in.

“The idea is to have timeless decorative pieces that can be made functional,’ she says.

Both Nahai and Massee point out that babies don’t respond to pastel colors such as blue and pink, anyway.

‘The parents are picking those colors for themselves,’ says Nahai. ‘Babies see black, white and red first, so bright colors are actually better for their rooms.

“You’ll see cradles here from Europe, Asia, India and early America. A lot of the pieces are one-of-a-kind,’ Nahai says, with 90% of them antiques. Few pieces are newer than 20 years old.

Ozzie and Moosy also does a whole line of woven accessories that can be dyed to fit any decor. ‘Our bestseller is a changing-supply basket that can be dyed in bright rainbow colors. We also have toy chests and bookshelves. And, on an appointment basis we will help design the nursery,’ Nahai said.

In one room she designed, an antique Chinese cradle was hung from the ceiling to hold toys and blankets. There was also a small East Indian armoire with a blue patina, an old Chinese stool and weaves dyed in red and orange for the hamper, toy chest and changing table.

‘We are a gender-neutral store,’ says Nahai. ‘I didn’t like pink as a young girl, so why should all girls be forced into it?”

Prices at the store can range from $60 for a woven storage container to $3,000 for an antique armoire. Baby clothing starts at $12 for cotton shirts to hundreds of dollars for Italian knitwear.

Both stores sell their furniture and accessories as decorative pieces, since they can’t guarantee that the paint used is lead-free. ‘We think that things for children don’t all have to be plastic or totally childproof,’ says Michael Massee. ‘Children will learn. Our 2-year-old Lily lives with these things and loves them.”

If someone is very concerned, the furniture in both stores could be lacquered over as an added protection.

Other ideas for upbeat children’s rooms can be found in museums. The Folk and Craft Museum on Wilshire Boulevard has toys and masks and some children’s furniture such as desks. Fullerton’s Muckenthaler Cultural Center has early American chairs and furniture from Africa.

‘You see too many cookie-cutter styles. We’re always searching for something new and different,’ says Nahai. Adds Massee, ‘By using timeless, colorful pieces to decorate a child’s room, you are giving them wonderful things to respond to and, in the process, giving them a wider world view.’

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Entertaining Elephants, 120531/2 Ventura Place, Studio City, (818) 766-9177; Ozzie and Moosy, 5439 W. 6th St., Los Angeles, (323) 938-8886.