Instagram, pinterest and blogs are a constant stream of perfectly styled rooms with purposefully placed ceramic vases, decorative objects, flowers and plants. Its most definitely beautiful But when you are looking at it from a Mom’s view all you see is breakable, breakable, dangerously breakable, plants to water which are also probably poisonous to baby or fluffy. These images we are constantly bombarded with are definitely not
Trust me Moms I GET IT!
Kid friendly styling and decor feels impossible. I started to settle into that thought until one day I just turned my whole thought process upside down ( this is something we designers like to do on occasion). What if we could create EQUALLY BEAUTIFUL styled shelves and tables that also ENCOURAGED PLAY. No more yelling–“hey,hey don’t touch that!” or “BE CAREFUL! TWO HANDS! ” Instead just sit back and let them play with the decor, and when they finally go to sleep (do they ever just ‘go to sleep?!—asking for a friend…) a few minutes of clean up and you are back to having a pretty +ADULT LOOKING living space. Here a few of my ideas for Kid friendly coffee table styling!
KID FRIENDLY COFFEE TABLE STYLING
Any type of styling can follow some fairly simple rules like balance, variety of height and shape, positive and negative space. We can take these same principles and apply them to objects that will create a both beautiful + functional kid friendly coffee table!
A. Add a wicker basket with interesting color and texture. Add some fun textural elements in them that could be played with but also look pretty when piled up in the basket at the end of the day. Think hand carved wooden tops, agates, shells or even buttons or marbles (depending how old baby is of course!)
B. Add a mirrored tray for creative play. Not only does it allow for a great surface to dump all the contents of the basket into and play with the reflective properties, its also very handy for stacking items and quickly moving them off the table to make room for wine glasses and snacks during adult time. Place a stack of the best looking children’s books you have to add some height and color to the grouping.
C. Adding a grouping of vases in the tray is a nice way to add a spot for the natrual color and texture of plants. Fill wood vases with faux succulents for a break-proof pop-of-pretty!
Sincerely,
Allison
MY SHORT BIO.
Founded in 2012 by Allison Harlow, Curio Design Studio focuses on creating distinctive interior environments for new construction, whole house renovations and kitchen + bath remodels for modern families and leading professionals.
