apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I don't really fit the demographic of those in the article (28 year old mother of 2), but I relate most to the last couple. I refuse to let my house be overrun by my children's toys. They are welcome to play in our main living area but no toys or baby items are stationary there. As for babyproofing, the only thing we've ever done is pop on the outlet covers.
I think decorating style has big impact on this though. Many of our purchases are from antique stores, so if my children add a scratch...no biggie. My aim is for comfort & beauty in my house, not necessarily a pristine look.
One of the best compliments I've received was when a friend's husband walked in and said "It doesn't look like they have kids."

Be sure to read Gawker's take on this:
http://gawker.com/356426/yuppie-shock-rich-dinks-not-equipped-for-parenthood

i totaly agree with Gawker. These people view their children as more of an incovenience, than a gift from GOD. Mabey when the parents become old and they need to move in with their children whom were so incovenient, their child will send them to Shady Acers so as not to clash with the then popular neo modern jetson like furniture their children will have. Yuppies SUCK. That is all.
Warmest Regards
TheDirtyShow

if you have kids, what is so wrong with having your home reflect that? its your kids home too. while our home isn't overrun with toys, it's still obvious that it's a home to children as well as adults. as for not babyproofing properly just to maintain a certain look? i don't understand why you had children.

I agree with bellymama. I love my kid, love having him around and want him to play in the same room I am in; that means toys and books in almost every room in the house. I live in a big apartment building and I love that when other kids come into my apartment, they see the toys, go right to them and hop in and play. That is the kind of home I want to live in.

We didn't go majorly crazy babyproofing, but most of our things have soft edges and nothing is too precious.

wow. one couple on here actually saw thier stupid table as a safety risk but did nothing until the kid actually hit the table with his face, not once but it seems like the way it was written it was a common occurence.

"while learning to walk last summer, he used it as his main training prop. “He’d cruise and trip and hit his face on the table’s edge,” Mr. Cheng recalled."

Seriously, protect your children. don't be such assholes whining about your designer table. I think it's much more fulfilling to design on a tight buget than to go all out anyway.

geeze.

If a piece of furniture is competing with your children, you shouldn't be raising children. At the very least, start a fund now for your kids' inevitable psycotherapy.

One of our favorite and nicest pieces of furniture is a solid cherry entertainment center. It was about $2k, but it is not special design-wise. I would toss it infront of speeding tractor-trailer if it would prevent my kid from getting a broken pinky finger.

Not babyproofing the stairwell!!!!!!! That was probably a 12 foot drop, if not more. Are these people nuts!!!! IMHO that is gross negligence.

Yeah, you should put up baby gates and put latches on the sink cupboard. But why must everything be bumpered and swaddled at all times? Whatever happened to teaching your kids how to behave?

I grew up without excessive baby proofing. I even lived in a home with a wood burning stove that didn't have neon orange bumpers stationed around it. When I was crawling and toddling my parents stayed with me while I was in the room with the stove. When I was older I was taught not to touch the hot stove. Guess what? I never burned myself on it. Once my sister tried to keep warm by backing up to it. She got so close she burnt her butt. After the tears and burn salve we laughed about it.

I had my son really young and I think that makes me a fairly mellow parent. I didn't have anything that needed to be baby proofed. I covered the sockets and put in one set of cabinet guards so he wouldn't drink the cleaners, but I can not believe that the one family won't put in a guardrail on the stairs and the other guys wouldn't do something about the coffee table. What's wrong with people? You can buy another table, you can't get another kid and you only get each kid once. You're never going to be able to go back and spend more time with them. These people can afford to go out and do fun stuff that most people in the world can't and the irony is that they're b*tching about junk in their house that's replaceable!

The guy who said his kid was using his Eames coffee table to learn to cruise did eventually put up a foam bumper all the way around the edge. In all honesty, the Eames tabletop is curved and doesn't have sharp corners. We too have the same table and we slapped a cushy foam strip on it before my son learnt to cruise. He's walking well now but it's still up since he plays with his cars on it and the foam bumper keeps them from falling off! I can understand it being difficult for people who love design to babyproof it with plastic and foam, but at the end of the day my kids safety is more important. Having said that, most of our parents probably didn't babyproof a thing when we were growing up. We were probably just taught boundaries earlier.

I guess my take might be unique, but as a mom who works full time my house is such a mess most of the time that the whole subject is almost moot. We did babyproof when my son was young, but never had time to hang out with anyone who didn't also have kids, so they all understood. Now that my son is 7, I focus my energy on constantly "reminding" him to pick up his stuff. Maybe one day that will actually take hold, and then my guests can look at my Eames chairs again.

The whole article seemed silly and deliberately inflammatory to me. As if nice things and children are mutually exclusive. It's possible to have both, if you care enough to plan around it. Other than some outlet covers and cupboard door locks, our house doesn't have any additional childproofing. We have young children around all the time, and it's a safe, fun place for them to run around.

Dining room? We have a heavy antique round oak pedestal table with a bunch of Eames shell chairs. The round table means no sharp edges, and the chairs are as toddler-friendly as can be.

Living room? Our brown leather Natuzzi sofa is totally wipeable, and the ottoman, which doubles as a coffee table when we put a simple wooden tray on it, couldn't be safer. Mid-century armchairs are incredibly well-made, or they wouldn't still be around. Rugs can be scotch-guarded and cleaned. Hanging lamps are every bit as cool as table lamps.

Plus, there's so much great design for kids -- both in furniture and toys -- at all price points, there's no reason to "settle" for ugly stuff. Personally, I love kids' things and consider them a design asset (as well as being, you know, fun).

What's funny about this article is that it seems to position these parents as part of some new phenomena, when really they just remind me of all my friends' parents who, when we were kids, would keep the plastic covers on their "nice" furniture and wouldn't let us into the "good" sitting room or dining room. Fun folks!

My husband emailed me this article this morning, and I gagged when I read it.

I had the same reaction as a number of people here -- I think much the same as doppleganger -- the article seems to be deliberately stirring the pot to create some sort of controversy.

It is possible to have both children and nice things, without any harm coming to either. The couple who seem so resentful of putting chairs in storage, or putting foam on the edge of their Noguchi table clearly given the appearance of valuing their possessions more than their child. And the couple who left their stairway open -- I only hope that one of their children does not fall one day. I can't imagine valuing a design or a thing above my child, and I am a woman who has had her nose in a design magazine since the age of 5. This week, my 15 month-old son spent 3 days in the hospital; it was relatively minor and easy to fix (dehydration due to a bad case of gastro-enteritis), but I don't think I could live with myself if he had been in there due to negligence on my part.

Childhood passes so swiftly, it is so ephemeral, this whole issue is ridiculous and overblown. My 4 year-old doesn't need babyproofing any more, and is being taught to eat and drink in the dining room, not the living room, as I was. We keep chemicals and medicines in high cupboards, and have covered electrical outlets. We are having a hard time with safety gates, as the walls are concrete, and nothing seems to anchor them securely, so we are super vigilant around the stairs as they are tiled and very hard, and the baby is not allowed to wander freely. But that is about it. Don't know why that family would need to have 30 kitchen cabinets drilled for safety latches, but then, we don't have thirty kitchen cabinets to begin with.

I love my kids' things, and display them proudly. The living room is theirs as much as ours, and their things are much in evidence. In keeping with Montessori principles, they are taught to tidy their things when they finish playing, but they stay in the living room. If someone told me that it didn't look as if we had kids, I would wonder what I had done wrong.

I keep thinking of our trips to the Netherlands, where I never cease to be inspired at how gracefully, joyfully and beautifully homes and spaces, both public and private, are designed for and around families. Families seem to inspire great design in the Netherlands. Children are not only integrated into design; they often set the lively and playful tone of it, a marked contrast to what is presented in this article. What I witnessed in Holland makes this article and the people featured in it appear small-minded and uninspired; they give the impression that they don't realize that children are one of the most precious gifts they will ever receive in life, and good design is all about beautiful solutions.

The article freaked me out a bit. Then I started thinking about some of the overprotective parent articles and decided that there have to be both ends of a bell curve and left it at that.

Still, I felt bad for a few of the kids mentioned in the articles. The stairs and so on. When I go into someone's house who has kids, a white carpet and no sense of humour, I worry.

I wonder how much of the interviews were taken out of context. These people could have had a 2-3 hour conversation and the reporter could have chosen the most out there things they said.

I was just telling my husband about this article, and he reminded me of Cameron's parents' house in the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Remember that bit where Ferris describes the house as being the root of Cameron's problems?

"If I had to live in that house, I'd pray for a disease, too. The place is like a museum. It's very beautiful and very cold. You're not allowed to touch anything. Can you appreciate what it must have been like to be there as a baby?"

It'd be funny if it weren't also kinda depressing.

"...good design is all about beautiful solutions."

Exactly! I keep thinking these people don't really love design, in the fullest sense of the word. They just love things.

@Doppelganger:

the quote from Ferris Bueller's Day Off nails it perfectly.

I didn't find the people shocking or upsetting. We didn't go all out baby proofing. We did put baby gates on the stairs and a door clip on the kitchen cabinet with the cleaning supplies. He has avoided the hot radiators so no worries there.

What I found most unusual are the couples who put things in storage so the children won't ruin them. My antique dining room set has gooey fingerprints most of the time...who cares...my son eats there and his hands are dirty. He has also stained the chairs, but they can be recovered once he gets older. When we bought our furniture, we knew at one point it would get dirty and sticky because children are gooey and sticky. Everything can be cleaned and/or recovered. I am not changing my furniture to accommodate my children, but my furniture needs to accommodate them. Expensive, high quality furniture usually can work just fine with children but if it doesn't, it is all just stuff anyway.

It's pretty obvious a kid lives here (I have yet to figure out how to wash the "washable" finger paint off of the grout in the kitchen), but I do try to keep the living room in a state of semi-order. My son is certainly welcome to play there, but I've been trying to teach him (with varying degrees of success) to pick up one toy before he brings another out. And once he's in bed, my husband and I take a few minutes to pick up the toys, so we can relax without having to worry about stepping on Legos. The key is strategically placed baskets to sweep all toys into.

I've seen some friends whose living rooms look like Fisher Price threw up in it -- tons of those huge plastic toys everywhere at all times -- and that would drive me bonkers.

Molly, there was a great spread in Domino a few months back -- the home of some hip young designer who had two small kids. She had GORGEOUS fabric on her dining room chairs, and to protect it, had put clear plastic (yes, grandma-plastic) over the fabric. It was really pretty brilliant. Looked great, but wiped off easily.

I highly, highly recommend the following:

(1) Plastic -- there's nothing my son can do to my Eames Eiffel chairs that a Mr. Clean eraser can't undo

(2) Microsuede -- I sprayed it with some fabric protector the sales woman at the fabric store recommended, and that stuff is the bomb. Everything sponges right off. Even vomit!

(3) Leather -- Probably the most child friendly upholstery material available. I've even gotten magic marker off my sofa.

Ah yes, Mr Clean Magic Eraser, cancer in a convenient hand held sponge.

lifI live in a 3,000 sq ft home and almost every room has something in it reflecting the fact that I have children. And I don't mean that "Fisher-Price just threw up" look since I am a little anal about everything being organized and nice looking - but only to a point. More than anything, I want our home to be a comfortable and fun place for my kids.

I think, as with much in life, there should be some balance in this. I've been in homes that have been completely given over to the children & their stuff--whole rooms cordoned off with safety gadgets, that look like TRU threw up in them. On the flip side, it seems to odd to have children and not have that fact reflected anywhere in your home.

I do think people can go overboard with the babyproofing and it's not really necessary. It's a whole business built on paranoia and first-time parent jitters. We have lots of stairs (although no floating staircases, to be sure) that our children (2 & 5) have learned to navigate. Some things are off limits and we reinforce that without swathing the items in bubblewrap and padlocks.

What doppelganger said!! I really think they cooked up this idea and then went out and found people to talk to about it, and as a result they made the people look like child-hating idiots, which I don't think is true at all! So the kids have a playroom -- so the hell what! Geez, there was a story in one of the LITTLE HOUSE books about the kids not being allowed to play in someone's "good" parlor. Now, when I was a kid, our stuff was crap, but we played in the basement, the yard, or our rooms, not in the living room and dining room, though we did take them over if there was something special, like making Shrinky Dinks or cookies.

I really, really think this article set out to demonize those horrible hipsters who, GASP!, care about design! I'd rather be in that camp than buy my furniture from Sleep Country USA, thanks.

I have 2 kids. 3yo and 1yo.
We never babyproofed the staircase. But we never allowed our kids to play upstairs, and we never leave them unattended long enough for them to climb up the stairs.

3years ago, highchair never had a 5-point harness. Now every single highchair on the market is equipped with 5 point harness. Aren't we over protective?
As long as some people put kids in the Bumbo chair and leave it on the table, nothing is safe! Aren't we supposed to teach our kids by letting them explore the environment? Or caging them so they are away from every possible danger is better for our kids?

Now on to the article...
If they don't want sacrifise their "style", then get another coffeetable with no glass on top. Noguchi also designed an ottoman you can use it as a coffeetable. Put a nice tray on top to use it as a table. Being a lawyer and with double income, you can do it, right? ;)
Afterall, mid-century modern furniture are made with "ease of clean" in mind(refer to Guide to Easier Living by Russell Wright).
Modern actually works better for people with kids.
We let go of table lamp and floor lamp and got recess lightnings. We have no credenza or bookshelves. It still look very modern with some Eames chairs and Thonet furniture.
You don't have to listen to Barney when you become a parent, my kids love listening the oldies radio station. Their favorites are The Monkeys, and The Beatles. There are so many jazz albums that both kids and you can enjoy (and sing along).
We can (or have to)be more creative as parents, and it's quite fun. Be optimistic and have a good time while you can, because kids grow up fast!

lightnings...my typo. litings. haha.

lightings. I can't edit my post.

"Integrating Children Into Your Decor" Oh, I get it. That's why they adopted that asian kid, right?

I grew up in the late 60's, early 70's living with Hip Parents who loved Danish, Eames, Saarinen, Warhol. There were three of us kids. We made our share of messes but this furniture blended with us and felt comfortable. I think for people who like mid century, there's nothing wrong with instilling that style to you family. AS long as one appreciates that things will change in color etc. Go for it.

I've seen a lot of modern styled nurseries and kids rooms these days that both parents and kids love because they're unique and artistic and promote that energy. Pottery barn doesn't do much in that sense.

food for thought.

This whole article just made me kind of sad. I had my son at 38 so this is my age bracket. I did take a few pieces of furniture that I loved out of circulation- one was a hunk of stone coffeetable that could have killed him- and I put slipcovers on my sofas and mid century chairs. The slipcovers were the best thing I have ever done. My living room has toys in it- after all- it's his room too. My living room is for living- not looking.
As for babyproofing- I put those knobs on the doors so he couldn't get in certain rooms or outside (he figured out the front door at 18 mos) , locked up the electrical outlets, and moved the chemicals up high and the knives to a high shelf in the pantry. I also attached all dressers, tv stands etc to the wall so they can't be pulled down ( that is a huge cause of death of toddlers and infants)
I thought I wouldn't change my life because of my son- but I had to- and I am happy that I did. Having him was the best thing I have ever done in my life-hands down- and I just want him healthy and happy.