Keeping a family home looking fresh with contemporary styles can be really difficult, especially if you have young kids running around.
With some careful planning and a couple of kid-free days to get the hard work done, you can give any room in the house a makeover.
Here are some top interior design tips for a family home to get you through the planning and preparation stage.
Add Style With Fixtures And Fittings
Family homes can be chaotic spaces at times, and decor in family rooms often favours function over form. If you want to bring some designer touches to your home’s spaces without breaking the bank or giving a room a full makeover, update the fixtures and fittings.
Choose smart, stylish, and well-crafted pieces. Look for cabinet handles, drawer handles, and cupboard handles with this high-quality feel and designer finish. Cortson source the best materials and manufacturers available to create their unique fixtures and fitting. Bringing style with your accessories works when you are putting together an outfit, and it works when putting a room together too.
Go Light And Airy
The beach house look has become popular with families. Having a light-coloured and airy space, perfect for family kitchens, gives an area an open and fun-loving feel. The kitchen is the heart of a home and is usually the place the family comes together. There doesn’t have to be food involved, for some reason we congregate in the cooking space.
Use pastel colours and light, natural wood where possible. Natural light is crucial. Consider making an alteration to windows or back doors to let more light in using glass. This beach house feel has a holiday vibe, which helps keep kids active and positive. You will be surprised at how much a change in decor can influence the behaviour of children.
Switch To Minimal To Cut Down On Mess
The minimalist style is possible in a family home, but it takes planning. There needs to be a place for everything, and everything in its place, to achieve the look without clutter. If you have young children, maybe skip this style until you have tweens and teens in the house.
Clean, clutter-free homes are calmer spaces. If you are looking for modern decor that also cuts down on chaos then this is the one for you.
Getting down to the fundamentals of design and reducing the influence of colour is what the minimalist style is all about. People often associate the style with monochrome tones, but you can use subtle shades of natural colours like stone or leafy greens to avoid stark white walls with cold, black fixtures.
Reducing clutter and tidying things away is the challenge, but what you do have on display is the reward. Family photos, mementoes from trips away, and family favourite books and DVDs can take centre stage on sparsely populated shelves.
Try Farmhouse-Chic
Family spaces with a rustic look and cute accents can make fun and friendly spaces for families with lots of children.
Ever watched The Waltons? There is a certain charm to a back-to-basics farmhouse style, but you can make it comfy and chic with the right accessories and style motifs. If you are going with a farmhouse-style kitchen diner, use gingham material on cushions and stone or wooden flooring.
Using the same wood for the furniture, storage, and floor is a little too much. Mix up the materials and styles.
Distressed wood is a great look for kitchen cupboards, and dark reclaimed wood can make a great dining table or booth.
Stone is a suitably stylish alternative to a wooden floor, but is not very child friendly. You can cheat a little with high-quality vinyl flooring that imitates stone or tile and tricks the eye for the same style without the cost.
East Meets West In The Living Room
The influence of Asian styles is making a comeback in UK living rooms. In the late 70s and early 80s, Asian culture was a huge trend that impacted the home decor of the day. Just like in the world of fashion, what goes around comes back around. Forty years later, Asian influences can be felt across European culture today, and living rooms are taking on Japanese, Thai, and Vietnamese styles.
Decorative Asian wallpaper is more like art than a wall covering. Though tricky to apply, it is well worth the extra effort. Trees, plants, and creatures like butterflies and peacocks can all adorn an Asian wallpaper pattern. Accent this look with jade statues on shelves and mantlepieces or open fans hung on the walls. Do not be afraid of fusion, and bring some East meets West into the decor. The detailed walls of Asian decoration juxtapose nicely with the clean and linear look of contemporary Western furniture.
Use Your Kid’s Art As A Centrepiece
You may have to be a little brave to do this one. Have you got a special piece of art from your kids you can frame? Remember to give all your kid’s artwork the same attention. Getting a few special drawings or finger paintings framed is a lovely family touch to bring into a living room or the kitchen. The more colour, the better, which is why finger paintings are such a good candidate. They’re cute and fun.
If art is not one of your children’s specialities, are they budding writers? Not all teenage poetry is bad, believe it or not. Consider getting a professional printing of a short story or poem an elder child has written and have it framed for the living room, hallway, or dining room. If there are a few pages to the tale, go with a collage or frame each page individually and space them down a hallway.
Bring Nature Inside
Plants get a bad rap when it comes to home decor. Many people struggle to look after them even if they are low maintenance. If you don’t want another thing in the home to have to nurture, fair enough. Kids, pets, and partners cause enough stress. There are always plastic alternatives if you want to bring some nature inside. Spend some money on them though, cheap ones don’t last and don’t look the part either.
For those people who can handle a little watering and spraying every couple of days, low-maintenance plants can bring a taste of the outdoors inside as well as colour, texture, and even scents. There is a huge range of plants to choose from, though you should avoid cacti if you have little ones. Though they are the ultimate low-maintenance plant, they can cause injuries to curious toddlers.
Succulents are a great compromise. They do not need much fettling and feeding, and some come with added bonuses. Echeveria Elegans, or Mexican Snowball, has beautiful green and white leaves and blooms with pretty pink flowers on a long central stem.
Follow our top tips and put a plan together. Book some play dates for the little ones, draft in help from your teenagers, and get to work. You can give every room in the home a whole new look. Do not forget to spoil yourself when it is time to redecorate your bedroom.
Create a relaxing sanctuary for you to escape to, you will need it after all your decorating duties are done.
