With three young kids in our home, I need to be really mindful about what kinds of furniture we bring into our home and how we can clean and protect it. I’ve had the honour of working with The Brick for just over a year now (you can read my first blog post with them here that explains our partnership) and it’s been so rewarding. Not only have I learned a lot about furniture, room styling and making videos, I’ve also had the privilege of working with some amazing people that I really admire. Plus, I’ve been able to test out some beautiful furniture in my home so that I can give all of you some new home decorating and DIY ideas! My girls have been testing it all out too over the past year, so I thought that I’d share with you some tips on how to keep furniture looking fresh and clean with small children at home. I’m not the greatest housekeeper in the world, but I DO have some easy tricks that will keep your furniture looking great if you too are a busy mama with kids!
How to Protect Your Furniture with Kids at Home
Protect It
I like spraying any light coloured fabric furniture my kids might touch with a fabric protecting spray like Scotchgard. This helps repel any stains or spills on my fabric furniture so that they’re easier to wipe clean. Just make sure to follow the directions on the label when applying products like this. My off-white Moriann counter stools are a high-use item, so I’ve treated them with Scotchgard before we put them in our home.
Consider Leather
Genuine leather and faux leather are great fabrics for furniture because they’re so easy to clean! I love our leather sofas (now they’re in the basement TV & playroom) because they’re so durable. And don’t feel frightened when looking for a trendy style of leather couch! There are some really streamlined, stylish options out there; check these options out.
Buy Furniture in Colours that Hide Dirt
Our dining set chairs (which are treated with Scotchgard) and our living room sectional are really close to the colour of the dirt on our acreage! They’re both a medium, warm grey which hides any dirt or stains really well so that they stay looking new. I do have a few white pieces of furniture in our home – I love white! – but I keep most of those pieces washable or in an adults-only space.
Keep Fabric Cleaner at Hand
If your little ones accidentally spill their apple juice or spaghetti sauce on your fabric furniture, have your fabric fabric cleaning spray in a spot nearby so that you can quickly wipe up the mess. I don’t want to constantly be worried about spills and messes because I KNOW they’ll happen, so having a quick and easy clean-up method helps us all deal with the mess and then move on.
With these simple tricks, we’ve been able to keep our furniture looking clean and tidy. It’s SO nice to have kid-friendly furniture in our home that we all love and that I don’t have to constantly worry about! It makes me feel happy to know that our furniture is well used and enjoyed by our whole family.
Want more tips on how to decorate with kids in mind? Make sure to subscribe to my mailing list to get a free copy of my e-book: Pretty & Practical. I talk about all sorts of family-friendly decor ideas like double-duty furniture, toy organization, how to get kids involved in decorating and more!
Happy decorating!
Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by The Brick. As always, all of the opinions here are my own. I only recommend companies that I use and love myself. This post also contains affiliate links.
We are currently potty training, and that involves some diaper-free time in “special” panties that only catch a small accident. So we keep a spray bottle of pet stain remover on each floor. It has worked wonders on our area rugs, couch, reading chair in her room and any other fabric places that can’t just be tossed in the washer. It’s enzyme based, so with a quick shake and squirt the stain and smell are gone within minutes!
Nice post Christina, buying furniture that doesn’t show stains or stain easily is really important here! Also, buying for your children their own furniture so they can destroy theirs :))
Haha, we couldn’t agree more. “So they can distroy theirs”