Interior and Design

Adjusting your home to a life with kids

By Jade Corcoran | June 21, 2016

When I had Piper, I was not prepared for what was going to happen to my house. I didn’t realise that almost every piece of furniture becomes a play gym at some stage in the early years.

The first 6 months wasn’t that much of an issue as your little one isn’t able to move around all that much and when you put them down on a play mat for tummy time, you can almost be certain, that is where they will stay. Then… they start to roll and crawl. You begin to realise how dirty your floor is and that you need to create more space for them to explore. This means moving coffee tables, pushing couches to the extents of the room and hiding all the delicate and dangerous accessories and ornaments.

When they are crawling properly or begin walking, you find them in the strangest of places. No space is your own anymore. You completely surrender to the fact that there is going to be toys and mess everywhere, all day, until you pack them all up at night and its starts all over again the next day. As a designer, I like everything to have a place, functionally and aesthetically; however, when your little one finally goes to bed, all you want to do is sit on the couch and veg out.

So with of all this exploring, crawling and climbing, these are some ideas in adjusting your home to a life with kids:

The chalk board :

A nice idea to help guide your children’s creativity in the right direction is a chalkboard on the wall or chalkboard paint.

Image via: Petit and Small

Book Storage

This book storage is genius. If you have a blank or spare wall, it’s an effective and tidy way to store and display books. Make a book nook, add a chair, hang some canvas, create a photo collage etc.

Image via: Its Overflowing

The Drop Zone

This ‘drop zone’ is also a creative and effective use of space. A great DIY is to add some hooks and shelves to the area so that it becomes a designated spot for bag storage, instead of all over the house. Also good for organizing sports bag, jackets, shoes, a calendar, roster etc.

Image via Laurel and Wolf

As your life changes when your little one comes along so does your house and its belongings; it’s just something that I never thought about before having kids. But I wouldn’t change it for the world. On the plus side you get to decorate the nursery.