50 Ways to Decorate Your Home With Kids In Mind

There is just something about a home that lets you know whether it’s a pre-kids or post-kids space. Maybe it’s the little shoes by the door or maybe it’s the child-safe lock on the drawer with the scissors. Or maybe it’s just infused in the decorating. Some people think that when you have kids, you have to say goodbye to the freedom and fun of decorating your home. However, while there are certain precautions you have to take like sharp corners and breakable objects, creating a kid friendly space can be very liberating. Suddenly you have the opportunity to get away with bright colors and patterns, a style that you wouldn’t expect in a kid-less home. Scroll through these 50 ways to decorate your home with kids in mind. They’ll help you embrace the fun side of decorating with little ones.

Living Room

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

When you’re decorating your living room to fit your family, you want to think about the big items first. The ones that you’re all going to use, like the sofa. By opting for a large sectional, you give everyone a space to sit and relax together. Not to mention more pillows for forts.

Minimal living room with bean bag seating

After your sofa is firmly in place, think about what accent seating you can add to the room in terms of what appeals to your kids. Bean Bag chairs are a fun idea to make the living room extra cozy for little ones. They’ll enjoy sinking in to read or watch a movie.

Living room with lot of poufs around

When you have one child, you inevitably have many more in your house at some point. Birthday parties and sleepovers require options for seating that aren’t permanent which makes poufs the perfect solution. You can stack them away under a table or in a closet when the party’s over.

Kids friendly living room storage

Living rooms are used hard when you have kids. There will be craft time and snack time and movie time, all in the same space, which is invitation for accidents. Having a durable rug that’s easy to clean is essential for your living room when you have kids.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

Don’t think that kid friendly decorating stops at their height. Consider curating your gallery wall to reflect their fun and easy style. Bright prints can easily be found in books and magazines to help you give your gallery wall a makeover on a budget.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

Does the living room in your small home serve as the playroom too? Then you need to think multi-function when you’re choosing your furniture. Buy or DIY a coffee table that doubles as a play table for your kids’ trains and coloring pages.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

Ahh toy storage. There are so many possibilities you can choose from, depending on what your family needs. But a simple cube bookshelf can be used as storage for toys and books while the top surface can be used for more adult styling.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

Bookshelves are forever and always useful, no matter what you put on them. Turn the ones you have into kid friendly storage and, with the help of baskets and boxes, you can curate what is seen and what is hidden away to make your living room feel more put together.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

What do you do when you don’t have a playroom in your home? You make that home office corner into a play corner. Add a teepee hideaway with a couple pillows and throws to create a space that feels like it’s only for them.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

When you have the carpentry skills, your kid friendly decorating options get a whole lot more intricate. Like building them a mini house in an empty space where you can stash their toys and give them free reign.

Dining Room

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

When you’re designing your dining room to suit your family, really think hard about a breakfast nook bench. It will make mealtimes simpler when your children are small and provide lots of seating for teenagers when they get older.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

Are you ready for a DIY project? Rather than replacing all your dining chairs to match your child’s high chair, why not paint all the chairs to match? Then you can get whatever high chair you want instead of paying big bucks for the right color.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

And while we’re talking about chairs, did you know that some chairs are more kid friendly than others? Chairs with open legs gives your child more floor space to play which is helpful during those long adult conversations.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

Some kids are easily distracted which means, when it comes to mealtimes, you want them to focus on the food and not on the bright decor. Play it simple with plain walls, tables and chairs to help them pay attention to the meal and the people instead of the artwork.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

If you have the windows, great! If you don’t, you might want to consider installing them. Surrounding your dining room table with windows invites conversation about nature, weather and all kinds of interesting things.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

Is your child a mini artist? If your table is constantly strewn with crayons and paints and paper, that’s an obvious yes. Let one of your dining room walls become their little artist gallery to show off all their masterpieces to friends and family.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

When your child is turning out three and four pieces of artwork a day, you need a display solution that can change as often as they want. Install some picture ledges in your dining room that can display some family photos, prints and your child’s ever changing artwork.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

Is your small dining room feeling a little flat? Add some string lighting to brighten up your dining room and turn a mealtime space into a party space. Your kids will love even a simple strand of twinkly lights.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

Some dining rooms are too large for their own good. Instead of keeping a giant table that you don’t really need, opt for a smaller table and hang a swing! Suddenly your dining room will become the favorite room of the house.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

Is there an empty corner in your dining room? Instead of leaving it bare or filling it with a plant, let your child have it for a mini kitchen. They will enjoy “cooking” food for you and your dinner guests next time you have a dinner party.

Kitchen

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

Kids in the kitchen can be a joyful if messy experience. When you have a patterned floor though, it can help hide a multitude of stains and dirt, letting you go longer between mopping the floors.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

While we’re bringing pattern into the kitchen, feel free to add it wherever else needs it. Patterned magnets will make the fridge front a decorative place and patterned bowls will bring some brightness to snack time.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

No matter how old your kids are, snack time is most likely a daily occurance in your home. While you probably don’t let your kids snack on candy like in the containers above, having jars of healthy snacks displayed on the counter can help them make good choices when it’s time to eat.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

Little ones just love to help mommy and daddy, but the trick is finding something safe for them to help with. Put your kid safe tableware in a drawer that they can reach so they can set the table while you prep the meal, making them feel like they have a grown up chore.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

If cooking together is a family tradition, you’ll want to have some durable counters in your kitchen that can stand every kind of kitchen tool and substance. Stainless steel countertops are a good place to start.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

Kids inevitably bring more paper into the house than two grown ups combined. Instead of leaving their grades and calendars and school projects in a pile on the counter, hang them on a wire to keep them organized.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

Large sinks are really helpful in a kitchen with kids. You start out by giving that little person a sink bath and they grow to playing with bubbles and cups on a rainy afternoon and then there’s all the pizza plates from that teenager’s birthday party. So go ahead and get the big farmhouse sink.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

Is your little one in need of something to do while you’re busy making dinner? A kitchen chalk hidden away so artwork during meal prep feels special.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

Older kids often needs a place to display charts and graphs of things they’re learning. Make the kitchen an educational space where you can quiz them while you cook.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

Is there a cluttered nook in your kitchen? Replace the clutter with booth seating. It will invite your kids to do projects and homework and just spend time with you while you make food for your family.

Bathroom

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

It’s temping in a kids bathroom to deck the place out in animal print or some other patterned tile. But a simple bright color will feel playful while they’re young and can be easily updated as they grow.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

If there was ever a bathroom that needed wallpaper, it’s the bathroom your kids use. Find something patterned and fun that will make bathtime and brushing your teeth more appealing to little ones.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

One very important aspect of a kids bathroom is that you enable them to use it independently. Stools for hand washing and teeth brushing are helpful so little ones can hoist themselves up to the sink.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

Along those same lines, towel bars are difficult for little ones to take care of their bath linens. Instead of constantly finding towels on the floor, give them hooks or pegs so they can hang their towels themselves.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

Have multiple kids using the same bathroom? Buy or DIY some towel hooks with the first letter of their names so nobody forgets whose towel is whose.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

The more colors you can infuse into your kid’s bathroom, the more they will enjoy it. If you have that beautiful soaking tub, paint the outside in a bright hue to invite them even more to bathtime.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

A fun aspect of small children is that you get to decorate their spaces however you desire because they’re too small to have much of an opinion. Hang some animal prints in the bathroom that go beyond your fish and ducks and they’ll be making animal noises until bedtime.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

Storage in your bathroom is mainly limited by how the space is laid out. But if you can, try to make some storage space down low for towels and toys so kids can easily reach the things that are safe for them to have.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

How do you turn a regular bathroom into a kids bathroom on a budget? Forget tile replacement and wallpaper. Change out your towels, bath rugs and prints for kid friendly colors and patterns. You’ll create a whole new look in an affordable way.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

Got teenagers in your life? Involve them in the decorating process if the bathroom will be primarily theirs. Give them a white base to work with and let them choose the other decorative elements. You might be surprised at their eclectic tastes.

Bedroom

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

Brightly colored walls probably aren’t the wisest choice for a child’s bedroom. But you can still make things interesting with a soft patterned wallpaper. They will love going to sleep while watching the butterflies or cars or puppies on their wall.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

What is a kids room without fun lighting? Whether you go for the softer shaded light or a bright spaceship looking chandelier, it will make the whole room seem a little extra kid friendly.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

When they’re old enough to start making choices for themselves, you might find that they want to dress themselves each day. Give them an exposed clothes rack with your picks so they can feel free and independent as they get ready for the day.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

Kid friendly storage is also an important piece to independence in their space. When they have boxes or baskets for toys, books and shoes, not only can they get them out themselves, they can also put them away.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

Speaking of books, is your child a serious lover of pages? Use a corner of their room to create a mini library just for them. With a bookshelf, a shaggy rug and some comfy pillows, you’ll never get them to come down to dinner.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

Are you wanting to give your kids a special hideaway but don’t have space in the rest of the house? They won’t mind if you take up some space in their bedroom to make them a cozy nook for play and imagination.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

Sometimes things can get rough in the kids’ bedroom. So make sure that the art and decorative accents you use in there aren’t too precious. There is a higher chance that your grandmother’s old bear will be broken in there than if you put it someplace else.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

While younger kids would need the supervision, a swing in an older kid’s room is a fun idea. Especially one they can curl up in for reading and homework.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

You know how you have a home office? Well if your child is old enough for homework and projects, turn a corner of their bedroom into their own little office space. With a desk and a lamp, they’ll be more motivated to get things done.

Contemporary living room with u shaped blue velvet sofa

When there is no room for each child to have his or her own bedroom, the solution is simple. The family that bunks together stays together. It will be like one big sleepover every single night.