5 Ways to Hide Your Kid Stuff in Your Living Room Decor
(While Still Keeping It Beautiful)
If you have children you know EXACTLY what I’m talking about. And I’m no stranger to the stuff these cutie pies bring into our lives. I’m Kristin, wifey, mom of 3 kids (now 6, 9, and 10), and owner of Postbox Designs. In fact, my kids are the reason I even started my company. I worked as a traditional interior designer for 13+ years, dropping down to part-time once my daughter was born 10 years ago. Then once we got up to a brood of three, I decided my career wasn’t working with our schedule anymore. I wanted to pursue my passion, but my schedule had to be more flexible, so I could still be home with my children.
Then I realized so many of you were just like me: busy, over-scheduled and never having enough time in the day. Meeting with an interior design in person used to mean either taking time off work or finding a babysitter. Instead, ALL I do is Online Interior Design now. I custom design my client’s rooms virtually which means I can work more efficiently for them, and get the joy of working with clients all over the country now (instead of just in my hometown). I create your Room-Inside-A-Box and mail it right to your doorstep. And my clients love it-they can order their custom designed room in ONE HOUR from the comfort of home. Then they pull together their room as THEIR schedule and budget allow.
So today I want to show you one of those projects. Designed by a Mom of three in Michigan (me) for my client: A busy Mom of three in California!
How to Create A Traditional Living Room….With Kids
My client wanted a beautiful, elegant, and traditional Living Room design, located in an upstairs Bonus Room. She wanted a spot where family and friends could gather, and it needed to hold up well to her three kids and their friends. But how to do you combine a beautiful and elegant Living Room decor with the loads of stuff that kids come with? Today I wanted to not only share this Real Postbox Designs Project with you, but share my favorite tips for hiding your kid’s stuff…and still keep your room looking beautiful.
Designing Like a Mom
And when I design for my clients, I can’t help but filter through the “Mom Lens”. I am always looking for items that are beautiful but are also durable, easy-to-clean, and will hold up to kids and pets. And you really don’t want to cry over a piece of furniture if your kid ruins it.
One of my kids (who shall not be named) once tossed a purple smoothie over our balcony onto our brand new sofa. Why? I have no idea. But luckily since our sofa is slipcovered, I could take it off and wash it. Total Mom magic.
In fact, all I do is Real Designs for Real Life. If you want a “look-but-don’t-touch” room, I’m probably not your gal.
But if you want a beautiful home you can actually live in and enjoy, read on my friend!
Traditional Living Room Decor Version #1
Hiding Kid Clutter Tip #2: Closed Storage
I will forever be a fan of the closed storage. I know Pinterest is full of these gorgeous spaces with open, styled shelves with every item placed perfectly. However having three children has proved to me that the only time my house looks perfect is when they are gone. Kid’s aren’t tidy, and their stuff isn’t always pretty for a grown up space. So whether it is doors or drawers, I highly recommend choosing furniture with CLOSED storage. Whether it is organized behind those doors is up to you. But I know in our house, what lays behind our cabinet doors isn’t always pretty! One of my favorite pieces in the Pottery Barn Kid’s Cameron Unit (Item #18)-it has a mix of doors, drawers, and room for baskets to help further corral kid stuff. For this Traditional Living Room makeover, we went with a rich, dark wood stain that will look elegant with the rest of the furnishings.
Hiding Kid Clutter Tip #3: Choose a Neutral Version of Their Toy
Okay, maybe I’m going to get an eye roll on this…but is there a prettier version of the standard “kid version” of a toy? In her old room, my client had a plastic green and red dart board for her son on her wall. But it would stick out like a sore thumb in her updated elegant Living Room decor. Instead, I found this gray and white version (#17) that can stay our on the wall..and still look great.
Same with the chalkboard. Instead of a plastic, brightly colored one, we went with a more subdued version (Item #16). Both do the same function, but this one blends into the rest of the room.
Traditional Living Room Decor Version #2
Hiding Kid Clutter Tip #4: Use Double Duty Pieces
In this Traditional Living Room, the whole look of the space has a serene and elegant look. What you don’t see is that the sectional sofa (Item #1) is made in a durable, high performance fabric that will hold up well to kids. Most of the pillows are pillow covers (which means you can take off and wash them when your kiddo spills on it…cuz they will). And heavy duty use items like this rug (Item #5) are beautiful but inexpensive, because no matter how you cut it, rugs are going to get a lot of abuse. So when you have small children, I’m a fan of using less expensive rugs that you won’t cry over, knowing that you can invest in a more expensive piece later.
We also purposefully chose furniture pieces that could do double duty. This sleek and elegant side table (Item #8) still works with the elegant Living Room BUT it has hidden drawers to help hide kid clutter. I don’t know about your children, but mine seem to collect so many little, itsy bitsy tiny things. Almost daily I’m stepping on a Lego or run-away Shopkin. Instead of tracking it back to its home three rooms away, I love having a drawer that I can stash it. Once a week I might empty this drawer and return all of the items back to their respective homes.
Make Trays Your New BFF
I’m also a huge fan of trays for the same reason. In a pinch, just throw all of the toys into a coffee table tray and carry it up to the rest of the house, returning everything back to its homes. We used this elegant mirrored tray (Item #17) that looks grown-up, but will help with your kid clutter.
Hiding Kid Clutter Tip #5: Choose Grown Up Pieces of Furniture for Kid Stuff
Just because you are storing kid stuff doesn’t mean you need to look at kid furniture. Whenever we think about our children’s items, we tend to look for “kid centric” furniture pieces. But instead of a cheap melamine kid bookcase, could you try a more grown-up piece that you can use long after your kid’s toys are gone? Using a gorgeous and beautiful piece of furniture will do the same job, AND keep an elegant look. This storage unit (Item #15) is chock full of drawers that will hide toys beautifully. And it will look great sitting out in their Living Room space.
To help corral some of the kid’s books and toys we used this fun but elegant floating bookshelf (Item #16). P.S. While we did go with those of these open shelves, I’m still going back to Tip #1-I will always choose CLOSED storage over open storage! When I choose open shelves for my clients I try to do it sparingly and with purpose!
And as a bonus, I have one more tip, but this one goes out to both kids and grown-ups!
Hiding Kid Clutter Tip #6: If You Can’t Hide the TV…then Disguise It
I saved this tip for last because the TV is just as much the center of a Living Room design for adults as it is for kids. But do you remember back in the day when we used to hide or TVs in an armoire or disguise it in a piece of furniture? In this Traditional Living Room design, while the TV was necessary, my client didn’t want it to be the star of the room. So we added a Gallery Wall of framed black and white photos around her TV (Item #22). So the TV simply blends into the rest of the Gallery Wall, giving it a more sophisticated look.
More Traditional Living Room Decor Ideas
I hope today gave you some hope that you can have a beautiful Living Room that also makes the kids feel at home. I wanted to leave you with a few more Traditional Living Rooms (that were all designed for homes with children!) to give you some more ideas:
5 Ways to Re-Create this Elegant Living Room
Modern Meets Traditional Living Room Makeover
Want Free Designs?
But my most favorite source for sharing my free design ideas with you is my Free Resource Library! I have oodles of free Design Resources like Mood Boards, Shopping Lists, Guides, and More. Get 24/7 access to it all, plus snag $50 off your first project with me. You’ll find items such as:
“How To Style a Sofa Like a Pro”
“Farmhouse Family Room Free Mood Board + Shopping List”
and more…
You can check it all out here:
See you back here next week, same time, same place!
Cheers,
Kristin
Ivory says
Fabulous choices, I love them all. Thanks!
PostboxDesigns says
I’m so glad you liked it! 🙂 Have a great day!
Pam says
I love this design board!! What paint color would you recommend?
PostboxDesigns says
HI Pam, Thanks so much! Right now I’m a huge fan of two different Benjamin Moore colors…and they look wonderful with just about everything! I love “Simply White” (a soft but crisp white) and “Classic Gray” (a muted, soft pale gray). I recently used both in my own home and LOVE them. I hope that helps! 🙂 Kristin