When a child comes into your life, there are some major changes and unexpected adjustments you have to make.
With these lifestyle compromises, we must consider child-proofing our homes as a key necessity. Don’t despair, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to sacrifice your home’s style fors ecurity and safety. You can do a lot with careful selection and smart design.
Your child will be most vulnerable when he starts learning how to walk and becomes fascinated with his surroundings. During this stage it is only a matter of time before he bumps into a sharp corner that you hadn’t previously acknowledged.
Basically any place in your home can be accident-prone but the most common areas are ones that your child plays in, most likely being the living room, den or playroom.
There are some staple items that you certainly should take care of when it comes to baby-proofing.
The market is flooded with safety caps for electrical outlets and tamper-proof latches to prevent children from opening drawers and cabinet doors. A stylish alternative is to replace your entire outlet cover plate with the kid-proof Decora covers. These allow you to slide the cover over to insert the plug. It not only looks better than the plastic plugs in your outlets, but also prevents you from losing the little pieces.
When it comes to furniture shopping we must consider the types of pieces to purchase and find unique items that can double up as storage.
In a living room consider an upholstered ottoman; these are great for kids who will likely be bumping into them and stylish for adults to include in their living room.
More so, most upholstered ottomans have storage inside, making it especially useful for storing toys. You can choose from one large ottoman or a cluster of smaller ottomans to provide maximum flexibility in the room.
For sofas and upholstered goods, look for sofas and chairs that have no sharp edges or hard surfaces. Ensure that your fabric choices are durable and washable.
Some sofas come with slipcovers that can be brought to the cleaners or thrown into the machine. This is ideal for babies and growing toddlers. Opt for cushion-based sofas like the Ligne Roset or Roche Bobois type sofas.
Don’t feel like you have to stick to dull or dark colours; take advantage of fun colours and patterns with new fabric technologies, such as solution dyed nylons, ultra-suede, vinyls that resemble exotic leathers and other resilient fabrics commonly used in the hospitality industry that are now entering our homes.
When it comes to wall units and entertainment centres, try to find ones that have ample storage and drawers. Use baskets to store toys, books and objects that you may want out ofa child’s reach. Ensure that your wall unit or bookshelf is well secured to your walls. Once your toddler starts to walk, he will also learn how to climb. To avoid any hazard, secure the top and bottom of your wall unit with L-shaped brackets.
Don’t forget your stairs; aside from the mandatory gates for toddlers, a carpet runner is a great place to put your finishing touches. It will create a tailored look and will prevent slipping and damage to stairs from young kids dragging toys up and down.
There are many ways to child-proof your home and these are just some of the few that you can do to make your home safer for your little bundle of joy. Just remember, it’s never a choice of safety or style, you can have it both with clever design planning.
