When you live alone, decorating your home is a relatively easy process as you only have to take your own wants and needs into account, so keeping everyone happy is far from a challenge. Unfortunately, when you have a family, it’s not quite so simple. You have to consider ideas from every person living in your home and do your best to ensure that everyone gets what they want. If you have fairly young children, you also need to pay close attention to safety and any potential risks. The living room is the most sociable area of most family homes, so it’s vital that this space works well. Here are ten ways you can create a more family-friendly living room:
- Dedicate A Space
Unless you already have a separate playroom in your home, it makes sense to dedicate an area of your living room to your children. If you don’t, you could end up with a living space that’s cluttered with toys and games, leaving you little room to relax and unwind when you want to. Make sure that your kids have some storage for their toys, whether that be in the form of a toy box or something that fits more in with the decor, and set some clear boundaries for playing.
- Clear The Clutter
Depending on the age of your children, you should consider moving or removing some of the ornaments and decorative pieces from your living room. When kids first start learning to walk, they love exploring, which means that your little ones might grab onto the things on your coffee table, lower shelves, and other surfaces. This could leave them hurt and your ornaments broken. It’s much better that you move these things now, to avoid any upset either way. Living room furniture sets often come with ottomans or footstools that can be helpful here!
- Hide Your Storage
In a family home, there’s no such thing as too much storage, so you should incorporate as much into your living room as you possibly can. If you already have shelves, cabinets, and cupboards in your space, and you still don’t have enough, then you should consider hidden storage options. For example, you could turn your window seat into a storage chest or buy an ottoman that opens up to put things inside. You could also slide drawers and baskets under your sofa and chairs.
- Always Cut Corners
When you have little ones wandering about, you become very conscious of all of the things they could hurt themselves on. In particular, you become very aware of how dangerous the corners on square and rectangular coffee tables can be. Rather than cover these corners with ugly safety bumpers, you should invest in a round option instead. Circle coffee tables and large ottomans both work well in any living room and are much safer for toddlers and small children.
- Cushion The Blow
When toddlers first learn to walk, they fall over an awful lot. To cut down on bumps and bruises, you should cushion the blow by placing a large rug in the centre of your living room. Although you could carpet the entire space, this can make cleaning incredibly difficult. It’s much better that you have hard floors that you can mop or wipe, and a rug that you can stick in the washing machine. Just make sure that your rug is securely stuck down or it could become a trip hazard. Soft sheepskin rugs such as these rugs from Rugstore NE could be a great option that kids will love. When choosing a machine-washable option, consider avoiding coloured rugs and large rugs.
- Durable And Removable
Regardless of their age, children aren’t the cleanest of creatures, so you should do everything you can to make cleaning your living room easier. Having a rug instead of carpets is a good place to start, but you should also remember your furniture. The last thing that you want is for sticky hands and muddy feet to ruin your sofa, so consider the kid-friendly options available. Durable materials, like leather, and removable covers are both incredibly sensible ideas.
- Stick To Shutters
Choosing window treatments for your home is incredibly tricky when you have children. Blinds, unfortunately, tend to have cords, which can become wrapped around your little ones and cause injury, whereas curtains, depending on the length, can be climbed or pulled down. To avoid any of this, you should head to a site like s-craft.co.uk and buy some shutters instead. These are much less dangerous, don’t have any cords or rods to play with, and are incredibly easy to clean.
- Display Their Masterpieces
When a child paints you an adorable picture or draws something cool, most parents tend to stick it on the fridge for the world to see. Of course, you could continue to do this, but this can make your kitchen look cluttered and could also end up ruining the masterpiece your little one has created. Because of this, you should stop sticking these pictures on the fridge and frame them instead. This way, you can display them proudly on your living room wall or shelf.
- Organise Your Cords
With televisions, games consoles, DVD players, laptops, mobile phones, and more, your living room is full of plug sockets and power cables. For adults, this isn’t too much of an issue, but when you have little ones roaming about, they can be incredibly dangerous. To stay safe, you should keep your cords organised, cable tie them together, and secure them to the floor or wall. You can also visit momtricks.com for advice on how to protect your plug sockets.
- Opt For Open
Modern family life can be incredibly busy, which means there’s often little time to bond as a family. To make this easier, you should create a space that encourages communication and quality time. Creating an open plan living room is an incredibly good idea, as it means that one family member can be in the kitchen, while another is in the living room, but you can still interact with, talk to, and spend time with one another, even though you’re doing different things.
Creating a living room that suits your entire family can be tricky, but, hopefully, with these tips, you’ll find the process a little easier to handle.