Decorating Ideas for Families With Children
Ideas to Help Declutter Toys and Reclaim the Living Room
In small homes, the living room often serves many purposes. Not only is it a place for parents to relax and for family and friends to gather, but it also may serve as an indoor play area for kids.
New parents often resolve to keep their living rooms decorated and teach their children not to touch, but end up caving in to pressure as the child begins to walk. Prized family heirlooms get put away and anything made of glass is removed. Bookcases become bare as parents tire of cleaning up after the child pulls everything out. Pretty soon, they may find themselves in a bare, undecorated living room that is nothing like it’s stylish, pre-children incarnation.
Has the living room turned into into a messy, disorganized play area? There are ways to remedy this situation and make the room kid friendly while still having style and visual appeal for adults.
Banish Toys
First, try to find alternate play areas. Move most of the toys to the children’s bedrooms. If there is another room in the home that isn’t used often and is out of view, like a dining room or guestroom, consider letting it do double duty as a playroom. Add a comfortable adult sized chair or even a small desk so that adults can relax or work in the room and keep the children company while they play. Then, reclaim the living room, and limit children’s time there to quiet activities like coloring or watching television.
Toy Storage
If removal isn’t a solution, or toys still find their way back to the living room, look for stylish solutions that can be used for toy storage. They should be easily accessible and lightweight, so that toys can be thrown into them quickly and transported them back to where they belong. Depending on the style of the room, baskets, leather boxes, wooden trunks and picnic baskets are some ideas for toy storage boxes.
When buying furniture, look for items that are durable and offer toy storage. Coffee tables with drawers can hold art supplies and small toys. Storage ottomans and trunks can hold larger ones.
Incorporate Toys Into the Design
Decorative touches can be added so that the toys actually coordinate with the room. Bright fisher price colors? Go with it! Pick out the favorite toys and artfully arrange them on shelves or a side table. Use the bright color palette to choose new pillows, unbreakable decorative home accessories like wood or paper mache vases, and wood or fabric picture frames with plastic instead of glass.
Another idea for letting toys happily co-exist in a living room is to give them their own space. Confine them to a designated area in the room – preferably an out-of-view corner. Add child sized tables, chairs or toy shelves. In larger rooms, this area can be blocked off with tall screens, freestanding, open bookcases, or other room dividing pieces. Just be sure the furniture doesn’t create a tipping or climbing hazard.
Keep It Safe
Other general safety precautions need to be followed when decorating a living room, or any room that a child spends time in. Some ideas for childproofing the living room:
- Hang pictures and other wall décor so that they are high enough to be out of reach of children and cannot be reached by standing on furniture.
- Attach furniture to walls with L brackets to avoid tipping hazards. Make sure there are no heavy pieces – like televisions or bookcases – that can be tipped over.
- Make sure curtains and draperies cannot be pulled down. Avoid using blinds or use a cord keeper so that children cannot get trapped in the cords.
- Keep fragile decorative home accessories to a minimum and remove all breakable or valuable items.
- Use decorative pieces of softer and unbreakable materials, like fabric, paper mache, and light wood. Avoid anything with even remotely sharp edges or anything with pieces that could pose a choking hazard.
- Cover square edges with corner covers, or replace the piece with one that has rounded edges.
- Consider removing the glass on a glass-topped coffee table and replacing it with a piece of plywood. This can be decoratively painted or decoupaged with paper tiles. Paint one side with game boards or roads so that it doubles as a play table. Flip it over to the more decorative side when company comes.
Use these ideas to create a room that is safe, relaxing and ready for company. Keep the room fresh by picking up toys regularly and getting kids into the habit of putting things away.
Use Toys as Decor
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