When designing your own home, if you have children in your life, safety will be a concern. But child-friendly homes always look so stuffy! How can you design a child-friendly home that still has the design flair you’re longing for? Here are some ways to achieve a sleek interior without sacrificing safety.
Glass Over Railings
If you have an open concept interior, your stairs might be a focal point in the design. Old-fashioned, wooden railings don’t really fit in with the plan, but leaving the stairs open is a huge safety risk with kids. The solution is some hardy glass! Heavy-duty glass paired with some metal anchor railings will leave the stairs still feeling open and modern. It will let light flow seamlessly from one room to the next. You can even add clear, adhesive films to the glass. These kinds of films will add an extra layer of strength and keep shattered glass from getting all over the place.
Cork Flooring
Cork floors are a wonderful choice for places in the house that don’t get a lot of wear. They’re soft to walk on and will be kind to children when they fall. Kids’ rooms and family rooms can benefit from the soft touch of cork flooring in more than one way. It helps tone down echo, is nicer to your joints, and won’t get as cold as harder flooring. And of course, cork floors have a very dignified appearance to them.
Area Rugs
Having young kids in the house will probably have them playing on the floor a lot. Babies especially will be crawling around where they can. If you’re set on hardwood flooring or laminate, getting an area rug is a must. Not only do area rugs help tie your decor together, they make playing safer and provide a soft surface. The baby can crawl around on the rug while you chat with guests or relax in front of the TV. The cool thing about an area rug is that it’s easier to wash than full-room carpet. If it gets stained beyond repair, it can be replaced for a lot cheaper too.
Ottoman
Having a large ottoman in the middle of the living room is great for functionality. Getting one with firm cushioning allows you to use it as a table in many cases. It provides great seating for guests, a great footrest when you want to kick back, and is also child-friendly.
Coffee tables, even rounded ones, pose a hazard to small children. You don’t want your baby hitting their head on the edge of any coffee table, whether the edge is round or sharp. An ottoman completely bypasses that issue. They’re soft and a bump on the head won’t leave your child any worse for wear.
As a matter of fact, ottomans aren’t just better for children for safety reasons. It also gives babies a great spot to pull themselves up and strengthen their legs with standing even when you’re too tired to hold them up. Older children can use the ottoman to play at and it also provides a great surface for the whole family to play games on.
