It’s been an incredibly busy start to the year, but I couldn’t let the first week pass without saying Happy New Year! Hope you enjoyed the holidays and are ready for the year ahead.

2011 was an incredible year for us, as we ‘hopped’ across the Atlantic, taking us closer to our US customers, and helping [...]]]>

It’s been an incredibly busy start to the year, but I couldn’t let the first week pass without saying Happy New Year! Hope you enjoyed the holidays and are ready for the year ahead.

2011 was an incredible year for us, as we ‘hopped’ across the Atlantic, taking us closer to our US customers, and helping us to massively improve day-to-day running of Olli & Lime.

Following this complex but, ultimately, very rewarding relocation from the UK to Boston, we are hugely optimistic about our first full year in the US…and we’ll share it right here.

Thanks to regulars and newcomers alike for your support of Olli & Lime. Do stay in touch and follow our news as the year unfolds. We wish you a happy and prosperous 2012

With the holiday weekend upon us, I’d like to offer seasonal best wishes from all at Olli & Lime! We do hope you have a very enjoyable and relaxing time with family and friends.

By the way, we’re staying open right through the holidays. All olliandlime.com orders will be processed same day, with items shipped out next [...]]]>

With the holiday weekend upon us, I’d like to offer seasonal best wishes from all at Olli & Lime! We do hope you have a very enjoyable and relaxing time with family and friends.

By the way, we’re staying open right through the holidays. All olliandlime.com orders will be processed same day, with items shipped out next available carrier collection date

Pantone just announced its color of the year for 2012. The hot shade for next year – and the perfect antidote to a cold winter’s morning – the deliciously titled ‘Tangerine Tango’…

Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, says that Tangerine Tango “marries the vivaciousness and adrenaline rush of red with the friendliness and [...]]]>

Pantone just announced its color of the year for 2012. The hot shade for next year – and the perfect antidote to a cold winter’s morning – the deliciously titled ‘Tangerine Tango’…

Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, says that Tangerine Tango “marries the vivaciousness and adrenaline rush of red with the friendliness and warmth of yellow, to form a high-visibility, magnetic hue that emanates heat and energy.”

Pantone’s release says “orange has grown in popularity and acceptance among designers and consumers alike”. No argument from us; we’ve been flying the orange flag for ages.

Not least with our Billie design, incidentally one of our best sellers since we formed three years ago. We’ve made a few design tweaks and are launching an update early next year.

Hopefully Pantone’s endorsement signals a bright future for the use of this much under-valued color in home design. We’d like to think so. Long may the orange love continue

I can’t believe this has come round so quickly…but it has. In the 2011 Cribsie Awards, we were honored to be finalists, in the ‘Statement Crib Bedding Worth the Splurge’ category.

Now the ‘Cribsies’ are back, asking for nominations. So, we need help from any O&L fans. Hopefully that’s you! Please nominate us and any other [...]]]>

I can’t believe this has come round so quickly…but it has. In the 2011 Cribsie Awards, we were honored to be finalists, in the ‘Statement Crib Bedding Worth the Splurge’ category.

Now the ‘Cribsies’ are back, asking for nominations. So, we need help from any O&L fans. Hopefully that’s you! Please nominate us and any other faves by clicking here. Thanks

No, I haven’t closely escaped being run-over by a crazed child on a red tricycle…exciting as that sounds. I’m just letting you know, we fell short in the awards of the same name.

Yep, the Red Tricycle Totally Awesome Awards have finally come to an end. After an intense period of voting, the winner has just [...]]]>

No, I haven’t closely escaped being run-over by a crazed child on a red tricycle…exciting as that sounds. I’m just letting you know, we fell short in the awards of the same name.

Yep, the Red Tricycle Totally Awesome Awards have finally come to an end. After an intense period of voting, the winner has just been announced and unfortunately it’s not us.

On the plus side, making the top 10 means we remain on the site for a year. And though I’m sure it’s random, we’re shown in second spot…so I’m convinced we were very close.

I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who supported us by voting, and offer congratulations to Baby DeeDee Sleep Nest, who won the bedding & decor category

Hopefully you’ve met Logan by now; our newest – and certainly ‘pinkest’ – design. So far, people have given us nothing but positive reaction, which makes us VERY happy indeed!

As has become customary in these parts, we’re sharing our vision of what other products work well with this new design (see our previous posts). Click image [...]]]>

Hopefully you’ve met Logan by now; our newest – and certainly ‘pinkest’ – design. So far, people have given us nothing but positive reaction, which makes us VERY happy indeed!

As has become customary in these parts, we’re sharing our vision of what other products work well with this new design (see our previous posts). Click image below to enlarge.

As per other designs, we advise not introducing other strong colors (though it can work). Varied texture adds interest and muted grays allow space for pink accents to breathe

As some of you may be aware, Chicago City Council recently took the unprecedented step of banning the sale of crib bumper pads in the city, due to concern that these products pose a threat of suffocation. We thought you might appreciate the O&L take on this.

As a UK-formed company, now based in the US, [...]]]>

As some of you may be aware, Chicago City Council recently took the unprecedented step of banning the sale of crib bumper pads in the city, due to concern that these products pose a threat of suffocation. We thought you might appreciate the O&L take on this.

As a UK-formed company, now based in the US, we were surprised by the use of foam-filled bumpers in the US. The greater thickness of standard US bumpers and the filling used is unlike anything we had previously encountered in the UK and European market.

UK bumpers are traditionally filled with fiber, not foam. As a result, these bumpers are much thinner; less than an inch. They’re filled with glued-together fibers; dense enough to give protection, yet thin and open enough to allow air circulation within the bumper.

As our US sales have increased, we’ve resisted the temptation to adapt our UK-made bumpers to US norms, as we recognized the important safety benefits. In fact, some retailers and customers questioned why our bumpers were relatively thin and less rigid.

But we stuck to our principles, and our crib bumpers continue to be filled with fiber, not foam. This vastly reduces risk of suffocation, as the ‘barrier’ inside the crib’s perimeter is porous, creating a far more breathable bumper. And it also has some other benefits.

Most infants don’t sleep in cribs until 6-months-old, at which point they are quite mobile. Bumpers remain good solution to protect against limbs becoming trapped in crib slats. They also create obvious protection against bumping of the head or limbs against the crib.

This is echoed by a statement from the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association, citing several studies which support the use of crib bumpers. The JPMA thinks “the city Council’s actions seem misplaced” and suggests they may be doing more harm than good.

While we’re on safety, worth mentioning that no pillows, quilts or soft toys should be left in the crib while your child is sleeping, until they are at least 12-months-old. For further safety information, visit cribsafety.org and check the ‘sleep safe guide’ on our site :-)

Totally awesome news. Literally. About a month ago, I said we’d been asked to take part in the Red Tricycle Totally Awesome Awards. Well, now we’ve been chosen as finalists!

And it’s thanks to you guys. To anyone who nominated us (you know who you are) we’re VERY grateful. To everyone else, it’s not too late [...]]]>

Totally awesome news. Literally. About a month ago, I said we’d been asked to take part in the Red Tricycle Totally Awesome Awards. Well, now we’ve been chosen as finalists!

And it’s thanks to you guys. To anyone who nominated us (you know who you are) we’re VERY grateful. To everyone else, it’s not too late to help. Final voting is going on now!

Just scoot on over to the voting page for Most Awesome Bedding, Accessories and Room Decors and vote for us! We’ve got some stiff competition, so every vote counts!

Please feel free to share this post/link with anyone you know who likes Olli & Lime too. Thanks so much for your continued support of what we do. We really do appreciate it

Not an expression I use often, but it’s justified here. The lovely people at Red Tricycle have invited us to take part in their ‘Totally Awesome Awards’. That’s where you come in.

We need a favor. PLEASE nominate Olli & Lime, in the ‘bedding, accessories and room decors’ category. Just follow this link, enter our name + [...]]]>

Not an expression I use often, but it’s justified here. The lovely people at Red Tricycle have invited us to take part in their ‘Totally Awesome Awards’. That’s where you come in.

We need a favor. PLEASE nominate Olli & Lime, in the ‘bedding, accessories and room decors’ category. Just follow this link, enter our name + your details and submit. Easy.

If you can help, we’ll be extremely grateful! Oh, and if you know someone else who’s a fellow Olli & Lime fan, please pass on this link so they can nominate us too. Thanks!

By the way, this is just the initial nomination phase. I’ll be posting again if we make it to the next round, and (no doubt) requesting your help again! Happy Tuesday people!

Huge collective sigh of relief at Olli & Lime. Thanks to us finally achieving our ambition (one that regular readers will be acutely aware of) of officially relocating O&L to the US.

I mentioned we were in the UK managing production of our new design. True, but we also visited the US Embassy (below) for VISA [...]]]>

Huge collective sigh of relief at Olli & Lime. Thanks to us finally achieving our ambition (one that regular readers will be acutely aware of) of officially relocating O&L to the US.

I mentioned we were in the UK managing production of our new design. True, but we also visited the US Embassy (below) for VISA approval to run O&L from here. And we got it!

And by ‘here’, I mean Boston, where Olli & Lime LLC is now located. This brings all sorts of benefits for us, and the 95%+ of our customers who also reside in North America.

We already had US warehousing and distribution, but now we control this directly. This means orders are processed immediately, and products reach our customers way faster.

It also means that everything will now happen in the same location, and in a similar time zone, as our customers. This makes customer service far more efficient and responsive.

It all provides a great basis to grow O&L. And, from a selfish perspective, it gives us the opportunity to live in a city we love, while we continue exploring this amazing continent.

Oh, we weren’t allowed to take anything electronic to the VISA interview so I grabbed this pic from the US Embassy website…way too nervous to start snapping photos anyway