post off: how did having kids change your decor?
Hello everyone! I am sneaking in a quick post while Isadora is blissfully snoozing in the other room (thank you for all your well wishes!). The past two weeks have been blurry (to say the least), but I am slowly starting to reconnect with the outside world. The amazing Mary T. forwarded me this story from the NYTimes last week: Parent Shock: Children are not Decor. Despite the condescending title, it’s a pretty interesting piece about what happens when people choose to become parents later in life, after honing their decor aesthetics and investing in some treasured pieces. While our one-bedroom apartment leans more towards Ikea than modern collectibles, I can empathize somewhat. One dad in the story laments having to put a padded “bumper” around his Noguchi coffee table (I don’t think it looks that bad actually). Our only “dining” table is a bistro-sized Saarinen tulip. Once Isadora moves off my chest for meals, that won’t do at all! It makes me wonder how our place will evolve over the next year or so. Luckily, I learned long ago not to ever get too attached to objects. But tell me what lies ahead! How did you and your friends adapt grown-up, stylish homes into safe, easily cleaned, family friendly abodes that you all live in? Click here to see the full story at nytimes.com. — Angela M.
February 21st, 2008 at 6:22 am
more importantly… where is that carpet from. very nice.
February 21st, 2008 at 6:45 am
Hi Angela, you might want to take a quick peak over to Decorno for the lively discussion.
http://decorno.blogspot.com/2008/02/parents-choose-furniture-over-children.html
I personally did not change a thing in my house. Of course, I didn’t have any designer fabrics, furniture or crystal and china.
I did teach my two children to only eat in the kitchen, to respect mine and their dad’s belongings. They didn’t have any of those gigantic toys kids have now a days. Now kitchens, big ride on trucks, play tables….nope, none of that. We had games, crayons, coloring books, puzzles, small cars and trucks, some dolls, etc. They were taught to play with one thing at a time and to put it away after.
When my children were young, I was always in the room with them.
I also did not use baby gates, safety latches, play pens or any other restricting devises. Mainly because I was always with them either playing with them or watching over them.
February 21st, 2008 at 10:55 am
We have padded ottomans instead of coffee tables and our bookselves now house toy bins. Other than that, we didn’t have to change our decor too much. When we have a party with all adult guests, we hide the really big toys.
February 21st, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Baskets - only small toys that fit in baskets can go in the living area. Big toys go in his room.
February 21st, 2008 at 2:01 pm
We quit using the nice-looking coffee table in our living room and instead used the serviceable-but-not-that-pretty coffee table from my husband’s bachelor days. It has been banged on with blocks, colored on, drooled on — and our son is only 16 months old! Bonus — we don’t have to use coasters on it anymore, since it has been sacrificed as the “kid coffee table.” We were lucky that this one came with notched-out corners (kind of like on a raffle ticket — little quarter-circle bits “cut” out of the corners), so it never gave us any sharp-edge danger.
Once your little one is big enough to run around, devote a lot of time and effort to baby-proofing the baby’s room. Get rid of the rocker, anchor the furniture to the wall, and don’t keep anything in there that’s off-limits. That gives your tiny one a place to play that’s all their own, and makes the limits you place on the kitchen, living room and other spaces more tolerable.
We spent about two months reinforcing the “no” zones in our new house (we moved when the baby was 10 months old, before he could walk but definitely not before he could crawl), and now he knows where he can and can’t go and just about never gets into the “no” areas (near the fireplace, near the book-filled shelves, etc.).
Of course, we do have baby gates around stairs. Some “no’s” are just too big to take chances!
February 21st, 2008 at 5:10 pm
I’ve let the husband’s bachelor coffee table stay, too. About the time I convinced him to replace it, I realized I had overlooked its one redeeming quality that few wood coffee tables have—rounded corners! Other than that, we just did baby gates, padding around the raised hearth and crossed our fingers. Four plus years and no decor casualties. So far.
February 21st, 2008 at 7:03 pm
I am a bit of a kid at heart, so I bought playable and fun looking toys that I would have loved to have had as a kid. Decorating with toys was fun. I can’t count the times our guests seemed to have more fun playing with my kids’ toys than paying attention to the conversation (perhaps we’re a bit boring) or the TV. Really though, I figured that if I liked my kids toys that I would probably end up spending more quality time playing with the kids. Kids usually want to be where you are, so it can turn into a full-time job trying to keep the toys confined to the play area. Just know that you will be seeing their toys alot, so why buy ugly ones? Of course, if you are into DIY it can be fun to make a few strange toys (our library has a few great books on handmade stuffed toys).
The same goes for kids books. If I couldn’t stand reading them I wouldn’t buy them. Actually buying good children’s books is a huge deal for a long time. Toddlers are constantly bringing you a book to read to them. It can’t hurt to show them a love of reading early. How would they feel if everytime they brought you a book you first groaned and then grudgingly read them a story?