Do's and don'ts for furnishing a house with baby in mind?

[dueinmay]

Hi all,

We are soon moving in to a new home -- yippee! -- but we don't have the furniture to fill it and will have to buy a lot of things over the next few months. So, I got to thinking that there must be somes "do's" and "don'ts" as far as home furnishing and decorating when you will have small children around (our first is now 5 wks). I know "avoid sharp corners" but there must be more. So, those of you with real life experience in this area, what should I take into consideration? I'm thinking both safety and convenience (e.g., ease of cleaning). I think the first room I will tackle is the family room -- we'll need couches or loveseats, comfy chairs, entertainment center or bookcase, coffee table, etc.

Thanks for your advice! :)

Rebecca

It's a girl!
5.14.03

[parkersmama]

One of the biggest things that I found is to make sure you have sturdy tables. Our end tables in the family room were tall and sort of narrow and therefore top-heavy. When our first child was old enough to pull up on the furniture we realized that they could be easily tipped over. We replaced them quickly! We also ended up getting rid of the coffee table because it was simply in the way. Our kids play so much in the family room and it just took up space. As for sofas, etc., I would get a fabric that easily hides stains. To me that means some sort of texture to the fabric and some sort of pattern (plaid, print, whatever). Smooth fabrics and solid colors show stains much worse. We have sofas that are plaid and a very slightly nubby texture in dark jewel tones and they hide stains beautifully. They wouldn't be my first choice but they've worked out great! And I'm telling you these things have been peed on, puked on, colored on, eaten on, etc, by two young boys for several years and they look practically brand new! LOL!

Have fun shopping!

[Marisa6826]

One word:

Slipcovers! :)

-m


And it helps if they are washable...

[COElizabeth]

Actually, I would be tempted to leave a couple of rooms unfurnished! I would love to have more room for James to crawl and play with toys without any furniture in the way. And Pack N Plays, swings, toy kitchens, exersaucers, trains, etc. all take up a lot of room! LOL!

Elizabeth
Mom to James
9-20-02

[mom2kandj]

You might think this is funny, but get down on your hands and knees and feel the underside of the furniture. For the first couple of years, things are always on the ground and someone has to pick it up. Rough/sharp edges are always going to give someone a cut at the wrong time! Think of the little hands reaching under the sofa/coffee table for those lost cheerios. HTH!

Rose
mom 2 Katie (30 months)
& Jack (14 months)

[August Mom]

I think you'll find this thread helpful. Tammy had a similar question. http://www.windsorpeak.com/dcforum/DCForumID30/1821.html

We took out our coffee table because DS was bumping it and we couldn't really use it because DS was pulling everything off. We have leather furniture in the family room and LOVE it. Messes just wipe off.

[Jenmv]

I'm a big fan of leather furniture. It is so easy to clean and we own furniture with a distressed leather finish so that future scratches wouldn't be as noticable. We originally got the furniture not because of the baby but our dog. We have a German Shepard. They shed like crazy and even though we don't let him up on the furniture that damn hair would interweave itself into the upholstery and was impossible to get rid of!

[luvbeinmama]

The first thing I would recommend is to get overhead lighting if it's not already there, and eliminate all free standing lamps. If you HAVE to have lamps, be sure you can block off access to them. Cords are nasty safety no-no's and, of course, there is the problem of the kids pulling them over. I agree with the poster who said to get down on your hands & knees to feel things. Also try to pull things over. Tug, yank, and reach from a kid's perspective. They will touch EVERYTHING!!! They want to know about EVERYTHING! I would recommend not bothering with a coffee table. Get an entertainment center that has doors/drawers and can be completely closed up & put door/drawer latches on it. Keep bookshelves out of the kid's area, unless they are short shelves for the kids books & toys. They will first pull the books off, then try to climb on the shelves. Don't forget to baby-proof those outlets!

That's what I can think of off the top of my head. HTH!

[ddmarsh]

I love slipcovered sofas for the look and ease of clean as well. Mine were purchased from a store called Arhaus which I know as been expanding, their site is www.arhaus.com.

HTH and happy shopping!

Debbie

[dueinmay]

Thanks for all the great ideas. There is so much I never considered! I can certainly see the point of trying to eliminate floor lamps. Our home is older and without any overhead lighting in most of the rooms, but maybe it would be a worthwhile investment to have an electrician come and put in ceiling fixtures? Hate to spend the $ but it really does seem like lamps would be a hazard.

Follow-up question: for those of you mentioning (washable) fabric slipcovers, are there some fabrics that are better than others? Do they shrink/fade if you wash them at home?

And my mom recommends patterned instead of solid colors to hide stains better. What do you think? (I think it will be hard to find patterned sofas! Everything I seem to see is solid colors.)

By the way, love the idea of leaving some rooms unfurnished for additional playrooms! Could have one on each floor! They should ideally have doors to close and hide the mess though. :)

Rebecca

It's a girl!
5.14.03

[elf]

Leather furniture is much more forgiving of toddler spills than fabric in any pattern.

[luvbeinmama]

I would definitely recommend patterns in the sofa material as well. Look through the material samples when you order your sofa, there are plenty of fabrics with patterns out there.

I just thought of another consideration: drapes & blinds. If you have a sliding glass door with drapes and/or vertical blinds, be aware that your darling little girl will pull and tug and twist those as well. My sliding door goes to my side yard and no one can look in unless they are actually in my side yard, so I took my vertical blinds down after DS broke a couple off.

HTH.