Style & Kids

Ms.Jade

I posted this on the decor board too but I thought you ladies may be better able to help me.?I need someone to tell me it's possible to have kids and still have a stylish home.?DH and I plan to start TTC next summer. We are buying a house and excited about decor. We really love decor and currently have original art up on the walls, scupltures around the room, nice rugs, etc.and we basically put a lot of thought into how our loft and eventually our home looks.Well our niece who is 9 months old and crawling everywhere came over a few days ago and we realized our style has to change. We have accessories and things on our coffee table and end tables, and she made quick work of grabbing at those. We have books on our shelves (DH is an art historian/librarian so we have TONS of books) and she had a bunch on the floor within seconds.My brother and SIL (niece's parents) have a nice place, but it is always a wreck. Toys everywhere, they claimed they had to get rid of their coffee table because of the baby, baby gear all over the place, and the walls are completely bank. ?My question for all of you moms out there is how do you keep things stylish with kids? How do you keep your home from looking like a pre-school? And most imprtantly, what the heck is on your coffee table??TIA!?

AZ_Erica

Well we certainly don't have a stylish home, but I think it's possible....sort of.  We really have nothing on our coffee tables.  DS can reach them and grabs at everything.  I would probably keep your "stuff" to haning on the wall and on high shelves.  i would also not leave out things you really care about (or are super expensive) because within seconds kids can climb and get at things you thought they couldn't reach...even my 1 y/o does this.  I have to say my MIL and FIL have a very stylish house and when the grandkids come over the first thing my MIL does is put everything away.  Our house pretty much looks like a preschool.  Some friends keep one or two toys in their living room and the rest in a guest room, and bring toys out 1 at a time.  DS is really into toys though, and i would be running back and forth all day.  I would suggest having a playroom.  When we get our new house we will definitely have one.   Good luck decorating your new place.

senecamom

My coffee table is in the hallway. Seriously, there is no room for it at the moment. At this point, I'd love just to have a clean apartment...never mind it being in style. I have a 15-month-old and work FT, so those are my top priorities. We had tons of baby gear (swings, bouncer, etc) when she was younger. They are put away now, so it's just toys and books. Books go in her wagon (weird, but it works) and her toys go into a huge bucket (like what you'd put beer in).

zacook

i think its possible to leave it alone you will just have to *TRY* to teach your dc not to mess with stuff... Bentlie has never been into everything... THANKFULLY.. But I would wait and see if your dc is into everything or not.. we dont have a coffee table but we have end tables and night stands and she doesnt mess with them... as in your house looking like a daycare.. I dont think you can help that!! you will have toys everywhere!! i wouldnt stress til your dc is old enough to be getting into stuff..

MrsSledge

We don't have a coffee table.  Our front room isn't that big, and it can be a hazard with a baby.  As far as looking like a pre-school, you can have a play room for the kids, but you can't always just have the kids playing in the playroom.  It is quite a while before you can let them play unsupervised, so either you would be in the playroom with them, or they are in the living room while you get things done.  We basically made sure that things that are within her reach aren't dangerous and we won't be devastated if it broke.

So, I think what I'm trying to say is that alot of things change when you have a child, for us, the least of our concerns was what our house looked like.  You can have a neat, clean, tidy house with a kid.  You may not be able to have all the little things sitting out within reach of a child, but that's temporary and really seems like a small thing to be thinking about when considering have a child.

gibs

We don't have a coffee table in our informal living/tv room. ?We have an end table where we put our laptop and remotes and a variety of kid junk ends up. ?We have a lovely glass coffee table in our formal living room, but we rarely go in there these days. ?There is no reason to have bare walls, but we have a 'fence' around our 53" tv and components and virtually no decorative items on any surfaces. ?Your life will change. ?Decorate with leather instead of upholstery (you can wash spilled milk, or vomit, off much more easily) and rugs you can trash in 5 years and get rid of all pee and kool-aid stains, and keep the expensive stuff over 5' off the ground. ?GL.?

PinkPiano

Lucky for me, I'm kind of a minimalist in the decor-sense so I have never had much of anything out on tables. 

I'm pretty strict about keeping toys in the bedroom to be stored.  I think things go downhill when you start purchasing storage bins for the living room...I've seen it happen...it's not going to help. 

The only thing I keep on the coffee table is magazines, and even those often get taken down and torn.  It's frustrating but I know it's just a phase and soon enough my kids will understand that they can't touch anything they want. 

I also love decorating and my house is constantly a work in progress.  If you care (which it sounds like you do) then you don't have to let your house be taken over.  The best thing we did was to not purchase every baby item.  We got a booster seat rather than a high chair and got a bouncy (no swing), I don't think both are necessary. 

Keepin the toys in check and put away is our biggest struggle.  Our girls' room is often pretty cluttered (which drives me crazy) but I'd rather it be isolated to that area than the whole house.

I love this site...it's stylish homes that all have childrn.  Very inspiring!

https://www.cookiemag.com/magazine/blogs/nesting

 

PinkPiano

Here's a more direct link to the house tours.

https://www.cookiemag.com/homefront/decor/subindex_housetours

 

dallystarr

We have a playroom and most of her toys are there, but trust me they make their way all over the house! We still have our coffee table and end tables, but with nothing really on them. Or nothing that will either hurt our DD or bum me out if she breaks it! We do have leather furniture although I don't let DD have any food other than water in a sippy anywhere outside of the kitchen. I have friends that let their kids walk all over the house with food, and they have the stains to show it! I wouldn't say my home looks like it is right out of Pottery Barn, but it is nice and I would like it to stay that way.

I try to keep things as picked up as possible, and the house is never a train wreck, but I have learned you do just have to let certain things slide!

 

UGAbride

It helps that we have a dedicated playroom - the big toys go in there, and we have storage bins in there to organize as well.  But we definitely have toys downstairs as well, since I can't leave him unattended in there (the playroom is upstairs, and he wants to be where I am).  Downstairs, we have fully dedicated several cabinets in the keeping room and the family room to storing his toys - so after the kids go to bed, it's pretty easy to store everything neatly and out of sight.  We do have a newborn, so the pack n play and swing are kind of unavoidable at this stage.  I did decide to get a Space Saver high chair this time, so at least the high chair will not be taking up additional space when he starts sitting in that. 

We use an ottoman as our "coffee table" for now, but there's nothing on it and it is a soft surface.  DS #1 is into *everything* and nothing is safe in our house...so we have no knick knacks out, and not much out on the counters (he can climb up onto the kitchen island, the kitchen table, etc).  Luckily, I don't like clutter anyway, so it's too big of a deal.  But I do have artwork/pictures on the wall and things like that, so it's not bare in that respect. 

It's definitely a challenge to find the balance, but just get creative - about finding ways to store toys out of sight but so they are still easy to get to, just staying clutter-free, and keeping things up high!  You'll find a way to have a home you are proud of AND is kid-safe  

JOEBunny

I think our house is nice and fairly "stylish", but I do have a small pretend kitchen for DD in my kitchen and she does have a small table in our family room.  All her other toys are put away on a huge book shelve in her room or in a cabinet.  She is a member of our family, and as such you can tell she lives there.  Our biggest issue is not clutter, but stroller storage.  My DH runs and I walk all over and we are having a second child, so we have a lot of strollers and no place to put them.  We are going to rearrange the bedrooms in our house soon, so they will go in new babies room, which is currently DH's office. 

I think the trick is to buy less than you think you will need for a child.  We live in the city, so space is at a premium.  I try to really edit what we need.  

 Our coffee table is a mid 1800's bench.  DD uses it as a balance beam, it is the perfect height for putting your feet up.   Sturdy and a few scratches don't matter.  We don't keep things on it really, maybe a couple of current mags.  I hate clutter and nick knacks. 

Rose.9.6.03

We do a pretty good job of keeping our first floor presentable and "adult."  We have a number of antiques and vintage pieces in our living room, dining room and bedroom.  These are areas where our girls generally do not play, unless we have guests and are entertaining.  We have tried to teach them to be respectful of our breakables and such and for the most part they're pretty good at not touching things, although every toddler can't resist touching something they aren't supposed to touch now and again.  We have a large room in the basement which is part family room, part playroom and that room is essentially childproof.  There's nothing of any great value in there that they can break and that's where they keep their toys (also in their bedroom).  The occasional toy sneaks into the living room or the office, but we find it pretty easy to get stuff back to where it belongs. 

JulieandBen

You can see pics at the bottom of my bio of my home. It's a serious work in progress. It's very much not my style any longer. I'm going for a clean minimal look in a different color palette. Anyway, our house is still our house. It's very toddler friendly, but we didn't change much. Our coffee table is an ottoman and has been for years. The only think I can think of that we've had to adjust is what goes on that ottoman. We no longer have anything decorative on it. Jack loves to pull the tray down and sit in it. I throw a couple magazines/catalogs on it these days. Otherwise our house is still our house. Baby and kid toys are all over the house unless we clean it up. Easy. I taught Jack very young to clean up his toys and he goes around humming our clean up song as he puts his toys away on his own when he's ready to move on to the next activity. If your inlaws' walls are blank then it's because they choose to have them blank or they don't take the time to hang something. You do not have to give up on yourself and your home just because you have kids. Just don't stick an insanely expensive sculpture on the floor if you don't want your child to knock it over. Or be ready to be firm and redirect your toddler to stay away from it.