Family Friendly Decorating

Carpet. I hate the stuff. My boys like to sit on the floor so we have carpet in the family room and bedrooms upstairs. It stinks. It takes forever to vaccuum and it never feels clean. Yuck.

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Black galaxy granite kitchen counters....installed before us. It's just like your black furniture...shows everything. I used to windex it at least twice a day and it was not enough.

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I hear you on the blinds. We have to replace some blind somewhere in the house atleast once every 3 months.

I so miss having our coffee table decorated. Now it is just lonely and empty.

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Oak tables with glass tops. You have to oil the wood, but then the glass is greasy, windex the glass and it dries the wood. Every speck of dust shows and finger prints,(try them with a house full of daycare kids) and dont drip anything near the edge of the glass or it sucks the moisture under the glass and spreads it all the way around the wood rim. Also, really good carpet. It lasts FOREVER and cleans up great. Too bad its country BLUE! what was I thinking?

the majority of my furnishings are antiques. They are sturdy, attractive, interesting to look at, & very forgiving when it comes to little ones. By using a mix of finishes & colors, I am not locked into any one style or design!

My regrets are the few "trendy" pieces I've bought thru the years.....the oak entertainment unit which I now HATE. I've managed to kick it out of the living room, & it's one step from the curb....hooray!

The oak laminate dining set - a round pedestal table with one big leaf. It seemed like a good idea, but it's not practical.....in the oval shape (with the leaf), you cannot put any pressure on the edge/end or the sucker will flip over! OMG...how idiotic! I donated the windsor chairs that came with it to my niece for her 1st apt. She painted them lime green, med blue, & dark brown....2 of each color & they rock!

Fun question!

I had a white vinyl chair, very stylish at the time, that my daughter wrote all over with ballpoint pen. I did everything and it was never clean so I finally just put it on the curb. My daughter has a busy family with a dark green leather couch, and it's been wonderful!

I hate the kid clutter and am longing for the day that I can afford the ottomans with storage space to hide toys = )
Biggest what was I thinking...we have multiple book shelves, the book shelf in the livingroom houses my little kid books...yeah, that was not a good idea...it will be relocated to the toy room soon, every time I turn around all the books are on the floor again...

So...with the black furniture...if you had lighter colored furniture the dust would still be there, you just wouldn't see it til it was a large dust bunny! Your toddler is a toddler for a very short time...tables can last 20 years. We have a microsuede sofa and it cleans up beautifully with the upholstery attachment on our carpet cleaning machine. Don't be so hard on yourself! With toddlers...if it is there, they will get into it LOL! Sorry I have no real advice...my 3 are in their 20's and 30's. I didn't do baby-proofing or intentional purchasing because they were little. We just had what we had to be comfortable in our home.

Mini blinds, hands down.

The metal bar stools with fabric seats. They look nice until little kids with little messy fingers eat up at the counter. Haha

Ug..... Carpet in the diningroom! WHO DOES THAT?!?!?!

I thought the wood laminate in the kitchen was a great idea. It shows every crumb my kids drop! We had light vinyl before and it was not nearly as obvious on the lighter floor.
I also made the microsuede couch mistake.
I used to love to use tablecloths, but now I can oly use placemats because my little one will pull the tablecloth (and everything on it) to the floor.