Decorating with young children

What have I learned about home decorating and designing a home with young kids/babies? Let me tell you a few things:

• Rugs are pretty, but it is so much easier to clean a hard floor. In our house, we only keep them in bedrooms as the kids don’t usually eat or drink in there. I covet beautiful rugs, but it’s not worth buying a really nice rug and having stains all over it. Another good thing about tiles or wood floors are you can vacuum or sweep if you aren’t feeling like hauling a vacuum around.
• Dining tables and chairs (the everyday use ones) should be wipeable. Ditto for counter stools! We have three sets of maple syrup hands sitting down for breakfast every morning.I have to wipe clean the table and chairs a couple of times a day. Before my oldest was sitting at the table, I bought a pair of pretty upholstered counter stools. They lasted about a year and a half. Stain resistant fabric is not the solution in my experience…it can only take so much.
• Be careful where you put your nice furniture. Whatever it is you consider nice, move it far away from where the littles hang out. They are just being kids, but I have marker on my sofa and a bench in my living room. It’s not really avoidable since it only takes a second for them to drag, spill, etc. I am glad I didn’t spend a lot on my living area furniture because it is not in the best shape.
• Get all the gates, locks, child safety latches you can! It’s for safety and also for keeping them in areas where you know where they are (see above re markers on sofa). This is a little hard if you have an “open concept” house like us, but we do what we can. A lock installed on our office ensures that there aren’t baby break ins when my husband is on calls.
• Lots of decorative baskets and cabinets for hiding away all the stuff these kids accumulate!

I don’t think there’s any fool proof way to shield your home from the littlest residents, but these strategies have helped us from losing our marbles. One day, I hope to deck out my house just as I would like, but for now, it’s about practicality and ease of cleaning!