8 Tips For Decorating Your Home With Kids In Mind | AD

*This is a collaborative post.

When you have children, a lot of the things you do will mean that you have to consider them before making decisions. Whether that’s booking a holiday, making plans for dinner, or decorating your home. When it comes to changing your house, whether it’s the living room, kitchen, bedrooms, or the whole place, there are a few things to consider to ensure that the space is suitable for your children. Of course, this all depends on their age, as the older your children get, the more they will usually get along with more mature décor. However, when it comes to your younger kids, you’ll want to ensure that it is a safe space for them and that it also gets their approval in terms of the decorations in their bedrooms and recreational spaces. To help you with this child-friendly design process, here are eight tips for you to make use of. 

Storage Solutions

As a parent, you’ll be well aware that one of the biggest problems with tidying your home is finding a place for the myriad of toys and items your kids leave lying around to be stepped on. Storage is going to be the most important thing to consider when looking to remedy this. While adding any number of storage systems to your home isn’t going to necessarily convince your kids to use them, it will provide you with quicker and easier options to put things away hastily when unexpected guests drop by. Some of these storage solutions can be very creative, too. Hidden storage units in footrests, coffee tables, under couches and cabinets are a great option for your home and are worth considering when planning a decoration project.

Safety Devices

If your children are young and still getting to grips with walking and running around, then it’s important to keep an eye on anything that might be dangerous. This includes things that might cause a trip hazard like raised steps, sharp corners on coffee tables, and easy access to countertops and drawers where they can reach sharp and dangerous objects. You can remedy a lot of these potential risk factors. For example, you could add an indoor ramp to combat raised steps without renovating that house area. You can also choose furniture with rounded edges or add padded corner guards to the furniture you already own, and you can add child locks to cupboards and drawers, making it more difficult for them to access these areas. Don’t forget to choose high countertops for your kitchens when redecorating.

Child-Size Furniture

While you might want to choose standard-sized furniture that will dissuade your kids from clambering up onto countertops and tables, it’s important to remember that this is their home, too, and you need to cater to their needs and quality of life, too. This means that child-sized furniture may be a good option for your home, especially in their bedrooms and play areas. Smaller furniture will also help to stimulate your kid’s minds, allowing them to emulate the adults in the home. Smaller versions of your standard furniture around the house can help satisfy their curiosity about the grown-up world, which will also help their minds develop.

You may also like to read – Decorating Ideas For Kids’ Bedrooms, Decorating Your Home When You Are Renting and Foolproof Home Decorating Tips That Will Completely Transform Your Property.

Safe Flooring

As well as keeping your furniture child-safe, it’s important to remember that a big cause of bumps and other minor injuries is the state of your floors. When your kids are running around your home wearing socks, for example, they aren’t going to have a whole lot of grip. This is where the type of flooring you have comes into play. It’s important to have non-slip floors such as carpets, as these reduce the chance of them slipping and falling down and provide a more cushioned surface if they ever do. Areas such as your stairs, for example, are important to consider here, and installing a stair carpet, whether it’s a runner or a complete designer carpet, will reduce the chance of them slipping and falling, which could cause serious injuries. Of course, places like your kitchens and bathrooms aren’t going to be suitable for a carpet, but you can get some nice rugs to place in these rooms, which offer a bit more protection, too. Just ensure they have a rubber slip-resistant mat underneath, or you might create an even more slippery environment.

Non-Toxic Materials

Kids at certain ages will explore a lot of things in their environment with their mouths, and so when you are decorating your home with children under the age of three (which is the age that most will stop putting every object they find in their mouths!), you’ll want to avoid using anything that may be toxic when ingested. This includes paints, sealants, glues, and other substances. As well as keeping toxic materials like this out of your plans, you’ll also want to consider what sorts of plants you bring into the home too. Many people who have house plants will be aware that a lot can be poisonous, but only if they are eaten. While that’s enough to stop us as adults, a child won’t necessarily be able to understand this and could get sick if they decide they want to take a bite. Research each plant ahead of time to ensure it’s safe for kids and pets before adding it to your home.

Choose Washable Fabrics

Let’s face it, kids love mess and one of the best considerations a house-proud parent can make is which fabrics to use. More specifically, you’ll want to think about how easy those fabrics are to clean, no matter the food or grime that gets on them. Arguably one of the best options for a sofa, for example, is going to be leather as these are easy to wipe down and clean. As well as the material itself, don’t forget to choose darker colours in case anything ends up staining them. These stains will be much easier to hide on a dark leather sofa than on a cream-coloured velvet one, which would just be a nightmare to clean. 

Secure Furniture

Another big risk in our homes when kids are around is tall and top-heavy furniture. You might never have thought about your bookshelf being a health hazard to yourself, but you’ll still be aware of the physics that would occur if you tried to climb it. A baby or a toddler isn’t aware of this, and that thin bookshelf in your living room may look suspiciously similar to a ladder. While you’ll always want to dissuade your children from climbing furniture like this, sometimes all it takes is for you to turn your back for 2 minutes, and they’ll make an attempt. This is why you want to ensure that all furniture like this is well-secured. TVs and TV stands can be baby proofed as well as shelves using things like anti-tip furniture straps or cables. 

Tidy Your Cables

As well as preventing your kids from tipping your TV over, you’ll also want to make sure that they can’t get easy access to things like cables and plug sockets. Luckily there are plenty of great solutions for this, such as blocking off areas where cables may be, using plug socket protectors, and also making good use of cable ties and tidies. Keeping all of your cables out of your children’s reach will help reduce the risk of electric shocks and keeping them tidied away and off the floor will also prevent them from tripping over them. A cable tidy will also generally make cables less appealing and interesting for curious toddlers, especially if you then tuck those cable tidies away or even attach them to the wall.