FYI: I am still working on this guide.  It is not complete and I will be adding photos.

The Serendipity baby bedding line (also known as Noah's Ark) made by Kidsline was created by award winning designer/illustrator Viv Eisner Hess.  Ms. Hess has designed many nursery  themes for Kidsline but her whimsical take on Noah's Ark seems to be her most enduring and sought after bedding and decor sets. 

I first noticed the Serendipity Nursery set in late 2002 when I was pregnant with my second son.  I got a set at a consignment shop and was hooked.  I began a search for other items to the set.  Since I could no longer find any of the items new in my local stores I began hitting the internet and then ebay to finish my nursery.  In the years since I have purchased and sold nearly a thousand pieces of this set.  I have noticed variations in the set over the years.  I thought I would gather my notes together to give a prospective buyer some tips about this charming baby set.

Some times when you purchase a gently used set you will find slight variations in the colors of the individual items.  It still works well together but some people may be dissapointed if the colors are not an exact match.

The background color is always a blue with gold or yellow stars however depending on the year it was made the shade of blue varies.  Most of the stock photos people use from Kidsline show the "deep blue" as the background color I belive that this is the most recent shade they used in the background material.  There is also "sky blue" that is slightly lighter and a "light blue" that looks almost as if it is faded.  I belive the lighter sets were made early in the line's production..

For the purposes of this guide: later production sets are the "dark blue" and "sky blue" background colors early production sets are the "light blue"  

Comforters

All of the comforter's in this line have a dark blue trim or piping around it between the main design and the ruffle.  In the early production sets the trim is dark blue but has a corded texture with a satin sheen to it.  In later sets the trim is still dark blue but no longer textured or shiney. 

The early sets seem to be much stiffer and very heavy than later sets..   All the comforters have the trademark animals in a boat with whales, sun and stars.  The backing material for the comforters are always blue with whispy swirls of white which are meant to give a cloud like effect and scattered with gold/yellow stars.  All of the comforters are very full and beautiful no matter when they were produced.

Bumper and headboard covers

The very first sets have plain white ties.  Later sets have variations depending on what scraps of material were used to finish them.  The ties will either be plain white, blue with gold stars or part of the left over whale/ocean fabric. The plain white ties can look out of place when you are browsing a set via a photo but you really don't notice them once the set is on a crib.  I mention this because I have had customers ask me if I replaced the ties myself with white ones. 

More info to come over the next few days....