Style & Family: A Living Room Survival Guide

Becoming a parent doesn’t mean sacrificing your taste in honour of your kids, but sometimes you need to find practical ways to make the two work together.

The Meknis’ living room exists in a décor sweet-spot, where practical and attractive cross over. Their daringly pale pink and white toned lounge is a testament that you can have the look you want even with little ones running about – it’s all about finding the right items.

This could mean anything from swapping your delicate fluffy-fibre rug for a more hard-wearing but still super soft and shaggy synthetic rug, or you might want to ditch the long pile altogether. Something short or woven makes crumb removal much easier, and won’t harbour hidden building blocks or globs of playdough, and a patterned option will help hide any accidental marks.

Did you spot the Meknis’ cream coloured sofa? Some might say that’s a brave move with 5 little ones, but we say bravo – they’ve cleverly styled it up with patterned and textured cushions that are perfect for disguising those inevitable smudges and spills, and those removable cushion covers can be easily popped in the washing machine to freshen them up again.

Another great idea to protect your soft furnishings is to invest in a gorgeous throw that matches your colour scheme. Blankets and throws are doubly practical – they’re great for warmth and comfort that the whole family can share, and they create a protective layer to take the brunt of food and drink accidents that you can then pop in the washing machine.

For a family home, storage is also key. Between the toys, games and tiny socks, kids have a lot of stuff. If you don’t want your home to get quickly swallowed up by rainbow shades of plastic, you need somewhere to tuck it all away once they’re in bed. Find furniture pieces you enjoy, that also make room for the kids’ playtime, and you’ll achieve the perfect balance between life and style. The Meknis did just this with a discreet cream storage bench, that includes 3 box drawers for the kids to ‘fill with life’ as Takan puts it.

And what to do with your little ones’ artwork? Traditionally it might have found a home on the fridge next to the alphabet magnets, but this is a precarious position. Here it’s open to the elements, and unless you’ve got a budding Michelangelo on your hands they’re probably not in keeping with your décor either. For a more practical solution that combines your taste with your parental pride, pop them inside frames of your choosing and create a gallery of their original artwork on the wall.