You may discover one day that your home and landscape are in need a family-friendly upgrade.
It can be overwhelming to worry about kids while also preparing for home renovations, use this guide to determine adjustments which make your life easier as a parent.
Below, explore child-friendly design tips for your home and landscape to make ita safer, more functional place for young children.
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After an intense process of finding the right Design Build company we choose Eco Minded Solutions for a large home remodel project for our Carlsbad home. From the initial consultation to the completion of the project, everything ran smoothly. The crew was always on time and often worked longer than expected to keep the project on track. Loving our newly remodeled home and would highly recommend Eco Minded!
Why Remodel for a Family-Friendly Home Design?
There are a lot of changes that happen, at the beginning of parenthood and throughout the growth of the child, so there’s no reason to add a move to a better home into the mix.
Enjoy staying in your community without the need to relocate to a new home by planning for a whole home remodel.
Do you need more space, peace of mind, or to make your life easier? Below are top reasons that parents will remodel to accommodate a family lifestyle.
Kid-Friendly Design Ideas for Home and Landscape
Remember, there’s no need to sacrifice elegance and style of your home while making it family-friendly.
There are plenty of opportunities for remodeling upgrades to increase the ROI of a luxury home while simultaneously making your life easier as parents.
Consider the needs of your family and use your creative imagination to determine which of the following upgrades would make the most positive impact.
Top Reasons to Remodel Your Home and Landscape for Kids:
- Safety: Remove any potential hazards that may be present in the home.
- Functionality: Make your life much easier by making functional adjustments to the indoor or outdoor spaces.
- Cleanability: You may need to alter the design of your home if it will be a major inconvenience to clean.
- Creating More Space: Creating additional and ‘functional’ space they need to learn and play.
Remember, Safety First!
In this section, we will lead you through the areas inside and outside of your home that will need to be assessed for childproofing upgrades.
Whether you already have kids or planning to have kids, chances are that you will be worried day and night about the safety of your child.
More than anything, peace of mind regarding the safety inside and outside your home is non-negotiable. You will also want to create a home environment where your kids can learn and play – indoors and outdoors.
Childproofing Indoors
Consider the interior of your home by walking through and identifying problem areas that will need to be adjusted to be child-proof. Take note of the following:
- Cabinetry: Replace cabinetry that holds chemical or drugs with locking functionality. You will want to make homes for your kitchen appliances so that they could never be in reach of a child.
- Electrical, Outlets, Appliances: What about your electrical wires, outlets, appliances? Is there a need for a major overhaul of the electrical setup in your home? Do you need to have a recessed area for your appliances to live safely?
- Cosmetic, Furniture: There are some cosmetic changes that will need to happen as well, such as moving furniture from windows and installing child-safe window coverings that are cordless.
- Danger Areas: Remember there will be a need to install safety gates around stairs and other danger areas where an explorer could wander.
- Cutting Corners: Maybe you want to replace your angled granite countertops with a rounded edge design. Maybe that last step on the stairs doozy.
Childproofing Outdoors
Outdoor safety is paramount, but also ensuring that a child could not enter outdoors without supervision is important.
Areas to examine for child safety outside your home:
- Property Boundaries: Take a look at the perimeter of your property and any outdoor accents with a critical eye. You may need to build fences as part of your outdoor landscape design to keep the little adventurer in the home compound and safe.
- Pool Area: The pool area may also need cordoning off using a fancy picket fence or elegant wrought-iron fence.
- Fire or Water: If you have any fire pits or water features in your backyard, check and make sure that there could be no potential for unsupervised play.
- Soft or Hard Backyard Surfaces: When discussing your ideas with landscape architects and designers, keep in mind that you may want a softer landing pad for potential falls. You can decide whether to have an artificial turf, that allow for ‘a softer environment’ without the need for too much maintenance. On the other hand, a hardscape landscape architecture allow for kids to enjoy a variety of fun sports such as roller skating.
- Dangerous Plants: Maybe you want to build out space for a vegetable garden or soften the corners of your outdoor features with plants? Be sure that none of the plants you are using in your design could be harmful to children.
- Garage and Tools: Test automated garage doors frequently and be sure that landscape maintenance equipment is stored far out of reach.
Be sure that these hazardous features are secured to protect your children. Building an enclosure around your pool is a great preventative measure.
Increased Functionality and Accessibility
No need to worry about losing your elegant and gourmet style to make your home more kid-friendly because you can have your cake and eat it too!
Many ‘child-friendly’ features are subtle but effective design enhancements that both kids and adults can appreciate.
- Kitchen: You may need to create a functional living and eating room. Imagine having the little ones sitting at a custom bar so you can keep an eye on those trouble makers while they eat.
- Kid Storage: Installing custom cabinetry that is within a child’s reach allows storage for kids toys and snacks, which could also double as rustic-chic unique accents.
- Windows: Additionally, you can adjust the windows in your home to allow clear visibility of the outdoor play area, so you can always keep an eye on your kids as they play.
- Bathroom: If you have some bathroom design ideas in mind, it would be a good to consider how to make a custom bathroom for maintaining children.
To make your family life more functional, you are truly only limited by your imagination when considering these necessary upgrades.
Cleanability: Picking the Right Renovation Materials
Let’s face it; it is hard to keep a house clean when you have kids! That fancy white carpet won’t be white and attractive anymore, once the little ones are done with it.
Get carpeting and upholstery that is easy to maintain and durable. For instance, leather and chenille are fabrics that are easy to clean.
If you are dreading the dirty carpet, a major change may be necessary – such as transitioning from a carpet to hardwood floor.
Custom storage is a huge help to make it easy to maintain an active area, whether it be the living room or the bedrooms. Creating homes for all the new things in the house will really make it easier to manage the entire household.
Adding Space for Living and Playing
When you add more bodies to your household, there may be a need to expand the space or transform a guest room into a bedroom.
When we work with you on a child-friendly design, we consider how to open up the space to make room for more play and less clutter – both inside and outside.
More popular custom home builders and designers will be happy to design you an indoor to outdoor great room or just an open floor plan. Transitional spaces allow great visibility while also creating an elegant design that will impress.
Outside design will depend on what kinds of activities that you plan to do. Whether you want a soccer field or a basketball net may depend on what kind of activities that your kids will be interested in for the long term.
If you don’t know what activities you may want to have, then just ask yourself what you would have liked to have in your house as a kid!
Safe Remodeling Tips When Kids Are Present
So you’re ready to take the big step? Then, before starting your remodeling project, you should consider vacating your home during the remodeling, depending on the extent of the project.
If a vacation away from home is necessary during remodeling, you should consider the benefits of a simultaneous home and landscape design project, which will allow you to get all your remodeling done in a quick manner.
A Child-Friendly Design with the Future in Mind
While it doesn’t sound very sexy to have a kid-friendly home, you don’t have to sacrifice style to make your home into a safe and fun environment for your kids.
Remember, this house is only going to need to be child-friendly for about 10-15 years so we want to make sure that the design you select is something that you can live with for many years to come.
With the future in mind, you can plan to make your home a place that both you and your offspring can grow into older age with style. Common upgrades that occur in a home remodel when children are present will depend on your specific situation.
Schedule a free design consultation to discuss these and more concepts so that you can achieve a functional, stylish and child-friendly home.
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