I am a mom of two little ones, Jeanmarc 5, and Ariana 3. They are my entire world, my Sun and my Moon. I adore them obviously, but when it comes to our home, I have to admit that I got lucky with two babies who never gave me trouble with white furniture, sticking their hands in sockets, opening cabinets and making a mess, or sticking their hands and heads in the toilet! I also made it a point to not allow my kids to prevent me from buying white fabric furniture. I became conscious of the rugs I purchased because I was spending so much money replacing them every two years. I hated the smell of our dog’s pee, (RIP Lola) and hated the stains that came with markers, juice spills, and pasta sauce. When it came to a few other things, they behaved like children as expected, so I had to find ways to make our home, kid friendlier.
I needed to find a way to not limit luxury to just one room. I love my family, but I also love beautiful furniture and decor. Our home is our sanctuary, and I personally believe we should not limit feeling happy in our homes because we have kids. My motto has always been, my kids will adjust to my lifestyle, instead of me adjusting to theirs.
Kid-friendly Coffee Tables:
It took me a while to order a coffee table in our family room and living room. I still wanted something that looked nice, but had no edges, something that the kids would not crack their heads on and had minimal maintenance while being realistic that they may climb on it, spill things and possibly put markers all over. To minimize accidents, avoid sharp edges! Choose furniture that has soft, rounded edges like an ottoman made of leather or fabric, or a rounded coffee table with two levels so that you can still display books and stylish décor but avoid kids knocking over delicate objects. Perhaps a dark, black coffee table will forgive marks and stains, or a wooden drum with hidden storage can help you store away kid toys when you have guests over.
I chose to meet halfway, and bought a round marble table (not the best choice for everyone), but mainly because my kids honestly do not go into our living room very often and follow the rules. I know that this is not the case for all, so below are lots of options to consider.
Kid-friendly Paint:
When we first moved into our home, we only painted the walls of the kid’s rooms. We used Sherwin Williams with a satin finish because it is water-based, and you can remove stains with soap and water, or my go-to Mr. Clean.
Satin or Eggshell paint is durable, especially if primed, and likely to last until they are in their teen years. The rest of the walls we kept as is. Like most homes you purchase, the previous owners paint the home before selling which can be a good or bad thing because sometimes instead of going neutral, they pick colors that the new owner won’t like. The walls were a muted gray so I was able to make it work. What I didn’t like was that it was a flat paint finish. If you look at my walls close enough, you can see my kid’s hand prints! Avoid using flat paint in high-traffic spaces like hallways, kids’ bedrooms, and bathrooms. Also, since flat paint absorbs light, avoid using it in small rooms with little light. Satin or Eggshell paint works well in high-traffic areas like the kitchen, dining room, bathrooms, and children’s rooms because it is abrasion resistant and easy to clean!
Another paint we used in our kid’s playroom in the basement was chalk paint. I have seen it in both kitchens and playrooms. During the pandemic, the chalk wall really helped us teach our son Jeanmarc the alphabet, and numbers when we used it daily to draw and teach.
Kid-Friendly Area Rugs and Carpet Tiles:
Every home should have a few area rugs. Not only do they protect your floors from damage, warm up your space, create noise reduction, and anchor furniture, but they also protect the floor from scratches if you have pets.
Before washable rugs, our rugs would have a 3-year life span. We had a pitbull, Lola, who peed on the same spot of the rug over time, and I did my best to clean it every time, but spot cleaning is different from being able to wash the rug in a washing machine.
It was the same thing with my kids, they have washable markers but also eat all types of things that stain like chocolate, pasta sauce, pizza grease, etc. My daughter loves playing with playdough. She put it on our carpet and unfortunately, it stained the carpet. So when I heard about Ruggable Rugs, it was life-changing! Not only are they beautiful rugs, but also, they are machine washable. They are low-pile and lightweight rugs that are stain-resistant, water-resistant, and designed to fit conveniently in your home washing machines. They also come with a rug slipcover so that makes me happy that I do not need to buy an extra one and they also recently added a line of chairs!
The best part about Ruggable is that there are assorted styles to choose from. You can go from a beautiful, patterned rug for a formal living room, such as the Maral Heriz rug, or a kid pattern rug with different colors and shapes. The left picture is the rug I bought for my family room and the Rainbow print on the right is the one we installed in our client’s home for her son’s playroom.
Shelving
Shelving is always a wonderful way to display little trinkets, you collect in your travels, décor, picture frames, and plants. It is also a great way to display books! Floating or built-in shelves are both great options. Floating shelves are an inexpensive option but if you can do built-ins then it’s definitely worth it. When done right, it will also add value to your home. Built-in also serves a multi-functional purpose for storage, display, and even as an entertainment center if you build around your tv. When guests come over, you can use the bottom cabinets as storage to hide any kid-related mess!
You can also do this for a kid’s room where you want to display books and have them out of their immediate reach. Our basement is not very big, and I had already hung up some wall art so in order to do something different and cover this small wall, I thought of shelving options. I wanted to have an area dedicated to books and reading space for them so I created this out of Ikea shelves. I love the way it turned out and it was a very inexpensive alternative!
Kid-friendly Fabrics:
For a pet and kid-friendly home, choosing fabric for your furniture is something we are all concerned about. Either you go for the white couch or stay away from it and go in a darker direction. Besides the occasional wine spill, I always worry about chocolate hands, sticky fingers, and if you have pets, dog hair, and dirty paws. You don’t have to settle for furniture you don’t love so finding ways to ensure that your furniture can withstand time is important.
Sunbrella Fabric:
There are Performance fabrics such as Sunbrella. Sunbrella fabrics are complete performance that stands the test of everyday life. “Sunbrella believes in worry-free fabrics. Fabrics that are durable, easy to clean, and beautiful for everyone to enjoy comfortably in any environment.” From window treatments to outdoor furniture such as umbrellas and pillows, stain removers, and chairs, Sunbrella options are everywhere. Pottery Barn, for example, has a lot of Sunbrella options. Lowes, Wayfair, William Sonoma, and so on have a lot of options as well, just type “Sunbrella furniture” in your Google search and get acquainted with options.
Leather:
Leather is also easy to clean but be careful with the type of leather you purchase. Untreated leather will have a softness to it but is much more likely to show wear and tear as you use it. Faux leather is an excellent choice for kid and pet-friendly furniture! These West Elm stools are really cute and stylish. Article has lots of leather options as well, at affordable prices in their signature mid-century styles. Leather is easy to wipe off and almost never leaves a stain.
Velvet:
Velvet is another fabric option, but my last choice. Velvet is almost indestructible, and spills don’t really sink into the fabric. It’s not the best look, but I know that everyone has their preferences in fabric choices so I couldn’t leave this option out.
Performance Fabric Protection
I made the BOLD decision to buy these Studio Mcgee counter stools with upholstery, but I was conscious that they may stain over time so I did some research and found an upholstery stain guard protection for both my couch and stools. I spray it on every month to make sure and seal the fabric. When we have an accident, I use Resolve spray to clean. I have found that 95% of the stains completely disappear except for SHARPIES! But even then, it comes off and just leaves a bit of color (see below). At least it’s not a black mark on them. (Note to all parents, DON’T leave Sharpies at hand reach and ALWAYS buy washable markers). Sunbrella also has a good spray on its website for oil spills and all. I spray this on all my furniture!
Art
Let your kid’s imagination flow! Kids love to color and are fascinated with abstract pictures, lines, and shapes. You can choose modern art with pops of color or something with texture. Some people may disagree with me, but I love to hang their artwork and display it in their playrooms and bedrooms.
One day a friend of mine mentioned ArtKive, and I was so happy this service existed. I have done a fair share of dumping artwork in the trash and piling up their art in a bag that slowly overflowed. I remember my mom kept all my artwork and then threw it all out one day because she felt like I didn’t appreciate it. When I was old enough to realize I wanted to see my artwork and show it to my kids, it was too late. I didn’t want to get to that point where I saved their art with the intent to throw it out. With Artkive, you can keep all their artwork and display it in more than one way. I chose to make it into a book for my coffee table and I love it so much! It’s also very seamless. All you have to do is purchase Artkive, they ship you a box with a return label, and you put the art in the box and ship it back for them to curate it the way you selected!
All in all, I think we can create kid-friendly homes if we put intent into our décor. There are so many beautiful kid-friendly furniture pieces to create the space you are dying to have without having color-block toys everywhere! Toddler tables, kitchen sets, performance fabric options, washable rugs, and colorful art are all doable while still having an adult space.