Designing a beautiful home can feel like a real challenge as a parent. You will want a space that is safe and welcoming for kids, but you won’t want your home to lack polish and style. The struggle is especially real for highly-trafficked rooms such as your living room, which sees a lot of daily use by both adults and kids alike.

If you’re looking for family friendly living room ideas that balance style and function, we’ve got you! After all, just because you have kids doesn't mean you have to give up your personal style or get rid of your chic sofa and coffee table. It can be a struggle to figure out how to find the balance and create a space that is both sophisticated and kid-friendly at the same time. Read on to discover some practical design tips that will help make your living room the ultimate kid-friendly, and adult approved, space.

Choose a Complimentary Color Palette

When designing a family friendly living room, choosing the color scheme can easily feel like one of the most important decisions. Happy, cheerful colors evoke a fun, kid-friendly atmosphere, but since the space is for both adults and children, we suggest starting with neutrals and building depth with colors and patterns of your choice. Some of our favorite options for paint colors include warm tans, cool grays, muted greens and blues, and off-whites. Once you have the wall color nailed down you can add in some fun colors with furniture, throw pillows, an area rug and decor. Throw pillows are one of our favorite options to bring in color as they can really liven up a room, and they can also easily be cleaned or swapped out if someone spills on one. 

Create an Open Living Room

Having an open floor plan is a great option for a family friendly living room. An open-concept living space is becoming increasingly popular because it is not only great entertaining but it also makes it much easier to keep an eye on your kids. Kids can use their imagination in the tiniest of spaces, but if you have the room, leave an open area where they can spread out to play a board game, or work on their latest art creation. If your living room design is on the smaller side, you can incorporate an ottoman or coffee table that can easily be moved out of the way to create a space for activities.

Cut the Corners

Getting rid of sharp corners is a great way to make a living room safer for kids of all ages. When shopping for accent tables we suggest cutting out corners and using round or oval shapes. Our coffee table comes in several kid-friendly shapes and hundreds of fun colors and prints, you can check it out and customize it to your liking here! If you’re worried about having a coffee table, you can try swapping in a large ottomman to keep your seating area extra safe and totally void of sharp edges. Many ottomans come with interior storage options which is another great way to add additional hidden storage to your living room to stash away all of your kiddos toys and games while they are not being used.

Provide Extra Storage

There is absolutely no denying that kids have a ton of “stuff” so when you have kids, you can never have too much storage units in our opinion. From toys, to art supplies, to books, a kid-friendly living room should always incorporate plenty of storage options to hide clutter. If a storage ottoman isn’t on your list, we suggest opting for other enclosed or stashable storage which can easily conceal loose items and keep your space looking neat and clean.

A credenza or sideboard is great for storing toys and smaller items and can also do double-duty as a TV stand. Adding a couple baskets or bins against the wall is also useful for stashing toys and clutter, and makes your room look good while doing so. You should look for end tables with drawers, coffee tables with shelves, and benches that open up to provide storage in as many areas as possible. Not only do you want to store the kids' things, but you’ll also want to make sure to have room to store your things as well. 

Use Durable Fabrics and Furniture

With kids, spills happen. So does dust and dirt. No matter how hard you try to prevent it, there's unfortunately going to be an accident at some point in time. You can set yourself, and your family, up for success by choosing durable furniture and upholstery fabrics. There's no one specific fabric to look for, but generally speaking, engineered fabrics are better than natural fabrics when it comes to wear and tear. Look for performance fabrics that are textured or woven and have high rub counts as they're more likely to hide stains and spills than smooth, flat upholstery. Although the look, and price point, isn’t for everyone, leather is one of the best options to consider. It is extremely durable and can stand up to just about anything. With leather, there is no need to worry about spills or scratches, as these marks and scuffs will blend right in as your leather sofa develops over time. Choosing upholstery in a bold color or pattern is another smart choice as it will help disguise those accidental blemishes that are bound to pop-up now and again. If you’re able to find one you love, slipcovers are another great choice for your family friendly living room. When spills or accidents happen, you can simply pull off the cover and toss it into the wash. 

Whatever you decide, before you buy larger furniture pieces for your home, you should always do a little research on the type of fabric you're purchasing to make sure it will be suitable in your family friendly living room. We have dozens of kid (and pet) friendly performance fabrics available for our products. You can order free swatches on our website to make sure you love the look and feel of the fabric before buying!

Have Fun!

Your living room design should definitely be a representation of your family so remember to have fun with living room arrangement ideas. One way to get creative is by framing your children's best masterpieces and displaying them as a gallery wall. Creating a kid friendly living room definitely does not mean you have to eliminate your favorite design elements. We suggest mixing in high-end pieces; just make sure they're made of durable materials. Check out Inside Weather for more tips on how to buy furniture online or small living room furniture ideas!