Creating a Beautiful Home with Kids
Everyone wants their home to be cozy and welcoming, and a place to unwind at the end of the day. But how do we keep our place nice when we have young kids? As we naturally progress through different life stages that goal seems harder and harder to maintain. Children, unfortunately, are not born with the sense to be gentle and careful. That is a beautiful skill we as parents teach, so having nice things seems so impractical if the child may just break it. However, I think this is still possible. Maybe not to the extent a home without young kids might have nice things, but there are ample resources these days to help you achieve a beautiful space. Here are some tips and tricks to keep your home beautiful:
Closed storage.
Closed storage will be your best friend! No matter how hard I tried I still have clunky plastic light-up toys for my daughter. I was ok with it though because, as much as I love the ideals of Montessori and wooden toys, it simply wasn’t practical when I was trying to not spend any money on toys for my daughter. I was limited to what was given and what the thrift store has. Having closed storage allows for all those sorts of toys to be there and accessible but out of sight when company comes over. In our home, we have an Ikea Besta unit on the wall. Each section serves a purpose, and one of the cupboards is specifically for toys for my daughter. Closed storage also allows you to not have to keep that space tidy. Simply close the door and the mess is out of the way- a potential lifesaver for young parents.
If you don’t have the resources for closed storage with a door you can create closed storage with baskets and boxes. I read about having “treasure spots” for the littles when they start crawling, so I made sure to collect my baskets from around the house to do that when R became mobile. It didn’t really catch on for her personality, but it did work well in corralling our toys. I have two small baskets in her room and two small baskets in the living room and just trade them around every so often to give her ‘new’ toys. This is also super helpful for me, because whichever basket she chooses she is limited to the toys inside, making less of a mess for me to clean up later. Baskets also bring beauty in reflecting your personal design style in your space. You can have natural baskets that are boho or Scandinavian. Or colorful boxes that bring in a bit of eclectic, to even very modern and minimal white boxes. The options are open to any design style and will help bring in a curated feeling even with littles running around.
If you have more of a budget for beautiful toys there are companies like lovevery and kiwico you can check out for very aesthetic toys you can leave around the home.
2.Big Toys
If you have kids, you know some toys don’t go in cupboards or baskets. Things like exersausers, play kitchens, or walkers are stuck to always being out. There are so many options for these that are beautiful and aesthetically pleasing when guests come over. I have this play gym when R was smaller that was always out, and then this exersaucer. With the rise of Montessori, there are more and more brands that are making things like these that are nice to look at for adults. I realize that these things are not always the most affordable, but almost all of our toys I have shopped second hand! Our walker, exersaucer and baby doll stroller I all got off facebook marketplace. The activity center and building block were from the thrift stores, and we have also been given a few toys too. I live in a small town in Canada, and I have been able to find some amazing things second-hand at our thrift stores or on marketplace. If I can find them here, you can find them wherever you live ;)
Depending on your goal for your home, try to be intentional about which big toys you are letting into the space. The exersaucer we have turns into a table for her to cruise around and eventually can be a table for her to sit at and draw on or have a snack. The practical aspect of this large toy also helped me bring that into our space. We are often so diligent in thinking about the ‘adult’ furniture, and then just get what’s available for the kids, but actually taking the time to think it through will help you enjoy the things in your space so much more.
3. Choose Performance
When choosing your furniture try to be really mindful about what you are bringing into your space with littles around. I know sometimes we furnish our homes years before kids are a reality, so there are ways you can update what you already have as well. Don’t opt for a glass coffee table, but rather a wooden one that can always be sanded and refinished if some damage is done, or a large ottoman that has soft corners for when your little one starts running around. Again, you can have amazing success with shopping second-hand in this area. If you already have something that isn’t conducive for small kids you can find some really nice things on Facebook marketplace, or at a thrift store. You just need to look around. In our home, we choose a coffee table that already looks distressed, so little R adding any marks to the table wasn’t going to bother me. For our couch, we bought a beautiful modular sofa but did not come with a performance fabric option. Since it is a lighter color, it was important to me to keep the fabric clean, so instead, we had it sprayed to make the fabric more performance. There are a few options for this, but check out this scotch guard if you want to spray your sofa.
Also, choose more mindful options when thinking through area rugs. If you have small children shad rugs might not be the best, because they are harder to clean and kids might get a lot of snacks and dirt in there. Instead, opt for a low pile rug that can more easily be cleaned. There are a lot of brands that offer washable rugs these days including Ruggable or The Rug Collective. If a washable rug is a bit out of the budget you could also look at an outdoor rug. There are some really nice designs, and they will be so much easier to clean when juice is spilled.
4. Choose Kid-friendly Decor
When setting up your home to have a little one running around be mindful of what is within reaching distance. Will they be able to reach the surface of your coffee table? What do you have decorated there? For my coffee table, I have some beautiful coffee table books that I thrifted. I like to still have beautiful things out, but when they cost a dollar each to buy, I don’t mind if one day they get a tear here or a spill there. I always loved putting candles on my fireplace before my daughter was mobile, but now they aren’t a good option to decorate with. Instead, I opt for battery-operated, so if they are gotten ahold of they won’t hurt your child.
In general, I have my daughter’s toys within her reach, but also some decor. I try to make sure any decor in her reach is not breakable if she were to get at it, though I also love the teaching moments that arise. Wooden chains like this or woven coasters are so great that if the kids start to play with these things, they won’t break easily and they won’t break other things if swung around (that wooden chain is quite light and harmless). If you have plants around your space, faux plants are a better option if they are within a reachable distance. Otherwise, keep your plants high and out of the way!
Though I focused on the coffee table space here, the principle is applicable throughout your home! Try to be creative with your decor so that you don’t always have to tell your child “no, don’t touch that!” Or give up on having your space be beautiful for a few years.
Hopefully, this helped you have a beautiful home while having your beautiful children! Embracing the season you are in is also so important. You are going to have toys out, you are going to have kid’s things scattered around your house. I hope these tips and tricks can help you feel like your home is still beautiful, company-worthy, and a place to unwind at the end of the day! It is possible to have beautiful things with small kids. Please let me know if you have specific areas of your home that you don’t feel these tips covered and maybe I’ll write another blog post. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy your kid-safe, beautiful space!