I was always one of those people who told myself that my house would look great no matter what. I would teach my kids to respect things and nothing would ever break. My sweet baby boy has now entered the age where he is getting into everything! This is how my living room typically looks. That giant exersaucer lives in that spot. The coffee table has now become Jett’s favorite playground and I find that I am constantly picking up those balls in the silver bowl.
I find them everywhere.
I am learning that having kids means adjusting your expectations. However, I still believe you can have a beautiful home and still make it kid-friendly. This upcoming week a panel of experts is going to give some of their advice and tips on all kinds of different kid/design subjects.
Meet the contributers.
From left to right and top to bottom
Autumn of Design Dump, Holly Mathis of Holly Mathis Interiors, Krista of Kiki’s List, Courtney of A Thoughtful Place, Michelle of Three Men and a Lady, Traci of Traci Zeller Designs, Jenny of Little Green Notebook, Leah of The Way We Are, Emily of Three Boys and a Little Lady, Anna Liesemeyer of In Honor of Design, Janell of Isabella and Max Rooms, Danyelle of Dandee Designs, Shannon of Pink Wallpaper, Danielle of Danielle Oakey Interiors, Emily Clark of Emily A. Clark, Jordan of Oh Happy Day, Christina of Full House and Shelley of House of Smiths
I have been putting together the posts and all of these ladies have amazing advice! Not only am I excited to hear what they have to say but I’d love to hear from all of you as well. I figure we all need as much help as we can get. So get ready for a great week and look to the right sidebar to grab a button!
so excited! i feel the same way about having a nice looking house while still having kids.
I love this idea! Can't wait to see what tips these lovely ladies have to share!
What a fantastic idea! I don't have kids yet but I look forward to hearing what these ladies have to share!!
oh my! i am so excited!! perfect!!! 🙂
Love this idea! My #1 thing is no eating anywhere but the kitchen and dining room, it will save your furniture. Looking forward to the posts.
Londen
Wish I'd had the advice of all of these ladies when my kids were small. There were always toys everywhere. Truthfully though, I sometimes miss the toys laying around because that means my kids aren't babies anymore.
Looking forward to this series. I've got an almost 2.5 year old and I have another due within a week. Add to that our house is on the market and I've had to be very creative with how to keep the house kid friendly but look like a grown-up space. I find innovative storage to be key!
My girls are both older now, 17 and almost 21, and I wish I had learned to relax a bit more. There will be toys on the floor, and things won't always look perfect, respectable, but not perfect. But, they grow up in a blink of an eye and believe me I miss those days where the floor in the family room was covered with toys, the refrigerator covered with their art, and the laughter that ran through t he house each day. My big piece of advice, wait til the end of the day, then make a quick run through and put things back in their place. You will wake up to a clean slate and the fun starts all over. The other thing was that I never really moved alot of things out of their way unless it could cause potential harm…they learned to live with nice things and respect them.
Can't wait for the advise- I am pregnant with our first child and have wondered how I am going to balance a clean and organized house with decor.
What an amazing round-up of bloggers! Found you via Janell's blog. Love it!
xo,
cristin
Thanks for including me in this series! Looking forward to reading everyone's advice…Janell
really excited to hear what advice the contributors have!! thanks for doing this series!
I am so pumped up for this series. What a great bunch of ladies you have rounded up on this series. Thank you for including me and can't wait to hear what everybody has to say.
If there is one thing that bothers me, and ultimately makes me stop reading some design blogs, is the false image of perfection in rooms that are featured. I want to see what REAL rooms that are actually lived in look like! I don't have the luxury of a formal living room – every space in our house is used daily by us and our two YOUNG children.
I want to see ideas for hiding or incorprating the toys and baby gear. I want to see more design bloggers (the ones with kids that is) show what their rooms REALLY look like most of the time, not what it looks like just when all toys have been shoved in the other room for a picture. Thanks for sharing your room!
Yes, I try to design, but as we speak my son is pulling down the line of three decorative pumpkins on my kitchen table. For the love! I try to make my home beautiful, but nothing can be within their reach. A designer that can design a home with nothing in reach of the little ones AND make it look awesome is a talented lady!
great idea for mommas!! I will be definitely checking out and taking notes for the future!
I cannot even tell you how excited I am about this segment!!! As a mom, pregnant with # 2 who is in the middle of decorating her first home, I can use all of the child-friendly advice I can find!
Great idea! Can't wait to hear what everyone says!
What a great idea and awesome contributors! My living room is filled with toys and that gigantic exersaucer during the day too, but the toys are put away into a big basket at the end of the day when baby goes to sleep. Makes me feel like I live in a grown up house again:)
If you could see my house most days, it's almost laughable that I'm an "expert!" 🙂 Can't wait to learn from the other bloggers. Thanks for including me. Will link back to you when I post again.
How exciting! This should be great. I currently have 8 friends expecting and last night declared this "Baby Week" on my blog. I will have to send everyone your way!! Can't wait to read all the advice. Thanks for putting this together, abby
Can't wait for this series, as I feel like I get a big, fat FAIL at balancing a nice home with kiddo paraphernalia!
Kirsten- Thanks for including me. I am so excited about this series. If you saw my house this morning, you might exclude all of my answers. 😉 The key is to know that messes are going to happen, and they WILL eventually be cleaned up. I will be telling myself that all day while at the office knowing what is waiting for me at home… I can't wait to hear what all of these other fantastic ladies have to say!
I love this!! I just read through the first post – it's great hearing realistic ideas that can be put into practice (versus assuming homes are always perfect as they're photographed for the blogs). Can't wait for the rest of the posts this week!
I'm the same way.
I love to keep my house nice and clean with my lovely decorations in place as best as I can, while having a 10 month crawling around…I'll learn to cooperate with it all. ((((sigh))))
=)
♥
Pearl
You have assembled a wonderful panel. I admire many of these women as bloggers and even more so as mothers. There is something they bring to their own homes that resonates with me as a mother too. Looking forward to the series!
we should make up home designs with kids in mind.
Sure they'll have the best design ideas.