I’m taking a break from my own decor drama to give a shout out to my bud Naomi of Design Manifest, who has a splendiferous article about Mona Ross Berman in the latest issue of Trad Home. The best thing about the article (besides Naomi’s mad writing skills) was reading about how the designer dealt with a kid and pet friendly household, which is something near and dear to my heart (and furniture). Now if someone were to gift me with a yard of Scalamandre’s infamously expensive Le Tigre or Leopardo velvet, I would of course grab it… and hide it. Far, far away from Ike and the baby and my heinous vomity cat.
This is a spectacularly gorgeous, totally hostile environment for children. I might as well move to Jupiter.
I know that a lot of people have expensive textiles and white couches, and somehow manage to impose something called “rules” on their kids and pets that magically keep expensive stuff clean. But I’m dealing with a stable of wild animals and it’s really important to me that our house be livable. Wipeable.
Cue Naomi and her article on Ms. Berman.
No carpet underfoot and leather chairs make this dining room as approachable for children as adults. May I also point out the lilac walls and Sarfatti chandy? Kids can’t ruin that unless they bust out a ladder and get really maniacal (I guess it could happen).
The banquette is covered in LAMINATED Duralee fabric. Brillz.
Ha! Just try to destroy this, children.
There goes one of the little buggers now — looking for trouble, no doubt.
Mom and dad have subverted midnight rotovirus attacks by using washable velvet fabrics throughout the master bedroom.
Keeping breakables in cabinets away from tiny hands is always a good idea.
As long as no one mistakes the walls for a coloring book, everything should be fine here.
So what do you think? Would you rather have your lovely delicates on full display and train your brood of pets and children accordingly, or are you on Team Wipeable?
Should we just call this debate Fabric vs Leather?
Team Wipeable for sure! i don’t have kids, but i have 3 dogs and 2 cats that destroy my rugs and get hair & dust all over the furniture. i do have some leather, but have also tried indoor/outdoor fabrics inside & they work! however, my rugs are not holding up so well. esp love the banquette and dining room from Ms. Berman!
Good to know, Leah! I just ordered some fancy outdoor fabric swatches, but I think they’re going to be prohibitively expensive. Did you use sunbrella fabrics?
Team wipeaple fo-to-the-sho. Also team “can’t tip it over,” and team “can’t slice oneself to ribbons on misplaced glass.” The less domestic stress, the better!
Oh wow. I love this house. Pinning, downloading, all that. Can’t wait to read Naomi’s article!
I loved that article, and am obsessing over that duvet cover. About your tile issue in the kitchen – I know it’s just temporary, right? Can’t you just fill in the spaces left when you take out the desk with a concrete type product? Before we did our kitchen remodel I poured a concrete countertop over our old tile countertop (that was something!!) and I used a Buddy Rhodes white cement mix. You could tint it a little, or stain it a little afterward to try and get it to match your tile. Just trying to think of something easy and temporary!
Wow, I feel honored to have my own tag. Thanks!
Yea, this house is an interesting mix of museum/art gallery (seriously, so many good pieces that sadly didn’t make it into the spread) and kid friendly. The laminated banquette wasn’t plastic like you’d think… it was a nice texture. And the lavender dining room is SO pretty. It’s a shame isn’t doesn’t read as well in pictures.
NOT shown: a full on playroom where all the kiddie activities can take place on rubber floor tiles.
As for my own home- I’m going white and ridiculous until I pop out a baby and then it will be a good excuse to redecorate. Never mind that I have a black pug who likes to leave his hair everywhere.
It’s not a bad idea, but one half of the desk (the side with drawers) will leave a pretty substantial hole. It’s probably worth it to do it right.
I’ll ask Matt about it, though. Thanks for the tip!
PS- I think they are doing another TradHome in the fall… want to submit me? I will need your stellar writing skillz to ever have a chance!
2 kids + cat = wipeable all the way. Microfiber is my friend, especially good on the dining room chair seats, since it doesn’t feel plasticy, but wipes off easily.
I also love the banquette. The palette is great – the red-violet with the pale gray green. (That table needs a pedestal base though – getting in and out would mean tripping over those legs constantly.)
Great job Naomi…and Mona! You can make your own “oilcloth” out of any fabric, so I wonder if that’s how she treated the banquette? I’d like to know more about that. I’m team wipeable to a certain extent, but I also like teaching “the rules” for when they are at other people’s houses that aren’t wipeable. Balance?
Here’s a link to DIY oilcloth and a link to laminators within that article
http://www.curbly.com/users/modhomeecteacher/posts/6857-real-oilcloth-and-how-to-make-it
Awesome! Thank you! And yes — balance is good. We’re still in training phase right now, but I hope to have a semi civilized child someday.
Seriously. I keep freaking out about having our home furnished before we get to the kid thing, and he tells me I’m just going to have to redecorate afterwards. Can’t a girl get a winning lotto ticket??
* “he” is my husband. And, yes, Naomi’s article was nails.
Team Wipeable all the way-especially with boys!! Love that banquette! We’re planning on doing something similar in our dining “space” (all of about 7 square feet…ugh!) and fabricguru.com has some great outdoor fabrics, but that oilcloth I’m sure can’t be beat!
Hooray for wipeable surfaces, stain-repellant fabrics, and patterned rugs, but I actually don’t go out of my way to make anything “kid-friendly”. Probably helps that I like sturdy wood, stone and brass, and that I prefer dark colors to light for upholstery anyway. I do have some glass things within reach of the 2 year-old, but he figured out pretty early on that glass is delicate and handles it accordingly – he even drinks out of antique blue willow teacups (they’re his favorites). And believe me – this kid is no angel. Quite the opposite. I just recently acquired a little collection of antique stone fruit and he keeps throwing the lovelies across the living room, but we’re working on that. My older four kids are probably worse for my decor – they play outside barefoot and seem to enjoy putting their dirty feet on my walls, they climb the woodwork, make forts out of my furniture and throws, and leave discarded apple cores everywhere. Still, everything holds up ok.
My secret is vinegar. I keep a spray bottle full of the stuff, mixed with just a drop of dish soap, on the counter at all times. It works for every single surface in my house. Like magic.
Also, as far as light fixtures are concerned, don’t be so sure that they are safe from harm. Once three of my girls (ages 5, 5 and 7 at the time) threw stuffed animals over and over again at the light fixture in a bedroom until it came crashing down. True story. Thankfully it was plastic and from Ikea.
I’m happily joining my two favorite English teachers on Team Never Having Kids. Plus, 80% of the apartments I look at in NY won’t allow pets.
Having said that, leather would be better so that I don’t ruin it. That’s already kind of happening with my fabric couch. R.I.P. Couch, Feb – April 2012.
well, leather is totally kid/pet friendly as far as im concerned as i believe it just gets better with stains and age and rubbing..but i am for sure on team wipeable anyway.
i have ONE rug in my entire house (all hardwoods) and that rug is a hide bc of it’s kid/pet friendly ways.
i can’t have rugs. not bc of kids, but bc of cat pee. i do have velvet pillows though. and i lint roll them every day. team wipeable. you will have the stuff longer. and i am doing vinyl on my next set of dining chairs.
My cat barfed on my rug AS I WAS READING THIS. I’m glad there is hope for a wipeable home, sometimes I feel like giving up for the next 15 years or so! Love that powder room wallpaper.
I’d like to think I’m a modified wipeable. Ban sharpies, Hawaiaan punch and chewing gum and move on. Shit gets stained–so get a new one, or live with the stain. That said….I love a good oil cloth, and can only rave about my outdoor cloth covered dining room chairs–totally wipeable. My Room & Board sofa is covered in one of their stain resistant fabrics (a duckegg blue)–even Easter Egg dye came out (genius supervision on my part). Tide pens are quite helpful with tight back upholstery, btw. But I’m currently replacing all my throw pillows b/c their role of kleenex had finally overcome their pillow role. And I just sent some silk drapes to the dry cleaner…2 weeks after tragedy struck. ‘Cause I’m lazy. And optimistic.
I really want Chiang Mai on a settee I have….but fear I would kill the child that takes a sharpie to it (I don’t know where they find them…its like anarchists drop them down the chimney while I’m at work). So far, that is where I draw the line–if I could not emotionally handle seeing it destroyed and fear I would resort to violence or psyche-scarring extended silent treatment, it must wait until all my children are capable of reason…and they have things that I can take away from them, like staying up late, phone use, etc.
Oh yeah, and no animals. I love stuff more than I love animals. That one is easy for me.
Wipeable, replaceable, or just stained, those are your choices with kids. I have some of each, all trying to live together in one space.
I need info on those chairs in the dining room layout. I just picked up similar ones this past weekend. http://pinterest.com/pin/102316222754542698/
My search for wipeable fabric begins now.
[...] for an interior designer. That is why I totally enjoyed the well written article on Design Crisis, Team Wipeable – Designing for Kids, by the multi-talented Erin Williamson. The article was fun to read, since Erin has a great [...]
I think I’m a mish-mash. I definitely have stuff now (like a glass-topped coffee table) that I wouldn’t have had when my kids were younger (they’re 10 & 7 now). They understand a little better what is acceptable and where food is allowed, etc. That’s not to say they don’t mess stuff up – oh, they do, but it seems to be substantially less. I think Persian rugs are very forgiving of pets and kids, as are cowhide rugs. My diamond jute rug from West Elm is pretty much ruined mainly from my dogs.
Niiice! Although that dinning room had an awful lot of sharp edges. That table next to the fireplace looks dangerous for instance. It’s one thing to keep an interior un-destroyable by kids, you also need to make sure the kids won’t hurt themselves running around…
Thanks for sharing this article. Another great read on Design Crisis. My fav photo in this article is the banquette. It is such an inviting color for a banquette.
FYI: I appreciate how you guys are such a Dynamic Duo!! Love, Love, Love your Blog! IMHO, you are one of the Best Interior Design Bloggers around. Your wit and humor always keep me coming back. Keep up the Great Job designing and sharing with your readers…