Kids and chaos seem often goes hand-in-hand which would make maintaining a lovely home a task – Meaning messy rooms, toys scattered everywhere and potential safety risks. As parents, while you may have adapted and learned to go about your daily task around it, your guests however do not and that can be catastrophic if not properly managed. However, you don’t have to sacrifice on style, even if you have kids! Hence, here are 5 creative ideas to create a child-friendly living room.
CHASIRE DANGER
With kids and chaos, comes potential harm. No parent likes to see their child harmed, especially within their own home. There are many potential spots that could hurt your child, and we often overlooked it until it’s too late. It can range from sharp edges of your tables down to your small glass side table. But don’t throw away your ideas just yet! There is a way to overcome it.
To avoid bumps and potential breakage, keep glass-like items at a high level in your living room. If you have a coffee table with sharp edges, you can opt to shave the edges down to become round edges or you can cover them with some cute designed edge protectors – Retaining your living room’s aesthetic display and protecting your child at the same time.
MURAL WALL ART
Kids are very creative and very open to display their creativity. One of many ways they love to do so is drawing, which has their pros and cons and it involves the walls of your home. Any parent can agree that while its fun and lovely to see their child display their creativity by drawing on the wall, it can be a hassle to clean up and it sometimes leave a stain that is hard to remove.
A great idea you can consider is to have a corkboard/whiteboard wall. Building a wall-sized corkboard/whiteboard where your children can both draw with some washable paints or erasable markers and stick their drawings for display not only give your children freedom to draw to their hearts’ desire, but also prevents them from drawing or sticking things on other sections of the house.
CUSHION PARADISE
Jumping on the sofa or cushions is a very fun thing for kids to do in the living room. Choosing a sofa with feather-type cushions which are soft and safe for children can be an option, but the downside would be its high maintenance and daily plumping to keep it in shape. Fibre filling is a more minimal alternative option, but it’s not as soft as feather cushions.
For a two-in-one solution, go for a foam-filled cushions as your best option – They are firmer, provide better posture and requires minimal maintenance. Throwing in a couple of bean bags, foam chairs and child seating can also make the place welcoming and family-like. If you have a dark-coloured sofa, you can brighten it up with some bright and vibrant sofa cushions or pillows!
CARPET & THROWS
Placing carpets on the floor is ideal for homeowners with young toddlers, as it acts as a barrier for your baby against any rough texture flooring and is soft to the baby’s skin when they’re crawling. Choosing thick and soft carpets and rugs in fun, colorful designs are ideal with a double benefit for your child – As young toddlers are attracted and fascinated by brilliant colors which will keep them engaged for a while as they will try to name all the colors within sight and be fascinated by the different patterns on the rug. This is also a clever activity to entertain your little ones without the need to take out all of the toys for them.
Other items such as throws and blankets are also another choice you can add into your living room, both as a comforting warmth on cold days and also a beneficial item that children can use to build little forts or tents with during play time or sleepovers. Just make sure to buy carpets and throws made with soft materials that you can easily maintain and safe for your children especially if they have health issues to certain materials such as asthma.
FURNITURE STORAGE
Of course, we cannot end without talking about having storage to keep away your little ones’ chaotic mess. Keeping your living space tidy is no easy task, especially when sharing the space with your kids so improvising is your other option. Having designated storage space and spots for toys, books and games is a great way to keep your space tidy while maintaining a clean and welcoming living room profile to guests.
There are many ways you can allocate your designated storage, such as having built-in cabinets at the around your TV, getting a dual-functional sofa that has a hidden drawer storage or ottomans and single round seats with hidden storage simply by pulling out the top. This also creates an accessible area for your kids, and allows you to keep their toys within reach without compromising your living room’s aesthetic.
Overall, these are some of the creative ideas to create a child-friendly living room. Of course, there are many more ideas out there that could be beneficial to you than what we shared, but we hope that what we covered today gave you an in-depth knowledge about creative and tactical choices you have available. We hope that this will help you in creating both a child-friendly living room and the living room of your dreams!