Unlike loft conversions and sweet stainless steel restaurant kitchens with giant Viking stoves, as a trend, commercial and institutional baby furniture hasn't quite taken off yet.
Or has it? I'm not sure if anyone has ever bought a chrome and plexi hospital crib for their nursery, but those sweet maple daycare center cribs from Community Playthings are a huge, compact hit.
And I don't hear much about people buying those pyramid-shaped high wooden chairs from Wendy's, but the $18 Ikea Antilop, the best style-per-dollar high chair deal going, is in restaurants all over Europe.
I don't know where these Woodies preschool chairs from Hertz Furniture Systems will land on the trend axis, but they look good, they're cheap, and they probably wear like iron. They're sold in pairs in a range of seat heights, from an adorably stumpy 5" way up to a big kid-friendly 13". But unless you get the taller chairs, you'll probably have to look elsewhere for a table; this cubbyhole table is cool, but it's 20" high.
Woodie Preschool Chairs - No dangling legs! $35-38 plus shipping [hertzfurniture.com via dt reader christy]
[update: Arielle points out that Community Playthings has a similar chair, called the Me-Do-It, which is a bit squatter and thicker, and which costs $45-48, depending on the size. Looks very nice, actually. ]
Not to be a Community Playthings whore (how would that be possible, given their religious bent?!), but they also have really nice, simple, indestructible-looking toddler chairs. We've been so happy with our crib that I think that's where we'll go for a chair, too. They have a few styles, including a traditional rocker, and they come in a wide range of sizes by age. Check this out.
[duh, that looks suh-weet, too; I think you'll be forgiven for all your whoring. -ed.]