Homeowners with children know how the “junior” members of the family can affect the function of their home. So, when considering a remodel plan, customized family friendly upgrades are important. Not only will they help streamline your daily routine, these upgrades can adjust to your kids’ needs as they grow.
At Blackline Renovations, we believe that it is possible to create a beautiful space, one that is comfortable, safe, and functions efficiently for everyone in the household. Here are our best tips for remodeling with children in mind:
Planning for the Future
If there’s one thing that remains constant with children, it’s that they’re always growing. So you’ll want to consider their needs now and later. In addition to sufficient bedrooms, a playroom/area with storage for toys is helpful. This dedicated space provides a safe spot where kids can play while helping to minimize clutter and noise elsewhere.
As the kids grow, the playroom can transition to an area for hobbies, games, homework, homeschooling, or where teens hang out with friends. Often called flex rooms, these spaces can adjust as your family’s needs change. When the kids are grown, the flex rooms are easily converted to a home office or gym, guestroom, or media or craft room.
As you formulate your remodel plan, determine if your existing bed and bathrooms are sufficient. If you envision your family expanding in the future, consider adding extra bedrooms and/or bathrooms, whether by adding an addition or reconfiguring your home’s layout. An experienced design-build contractor can assist you with a customized plan to suit your family’s present needs, as well as potential ones in the future.
Create Ample Space for Kids
It’s nice for kids to have extra space, and a customized remodeling plan can accomplish this. Open concept layouts are well suited for a growing family, as they enable an easy flow throughout the home and allow space for entertaining and other activities. With this layout, parents can monitor their children as they cook, do laundry, relax, and attend to other daily tasks.
Depending on your child’s/children’s ages, the designated playroom option, as mentioned above, provides purposeful space, and can help keep toys, games, books, and art supplies organized in one spot. Other kid friendly options include indoor/outdoor spaces like a sunroom or screened-in porch. These spaces are well suited for kids’ activities and can provide fresh air and natural light. They are easily tailored to suit your needs with custom built-ins and features like attractive windows and sliding or French doors.
Outdoor play areas are another consideration for growing children. If your remodel plan includes an addition, it could pare down the available square footage of existing play space outside. Your design-build firm can help formulate a customized plan, offering a balanced solution for your family’s indoor and outdoor needs, now and in the years ahead.
Storage is an Absolute Must
Kids have a lot of stuff. From infancy to young adults, ample storage is a must. Families need organized spaces to neatly house everything. So, when remodeling with kids in mind, remember that these storage areas must have flexible options to suit them as they grow.
Custom built-ins offer smart and timeless storage solutions for the kids’ bed, bath, and playrooms. From the littlest ones’ toys and baby gear to the teens’ laptops and gaming consoles, built-ins are a homeowner’s dream. An attractive means of keeping spaces neat and organized, they’re secured to walls with kid-friendly features like rounded corners, adjustable shelving, and soft close doors/drawers. Built to suit your spaces, they can include a desk, dresser, or wardrobe for older kids too.
The family household will benefit from ample storage, whether in the playroom or bedrooms, bath, kitchen, laundry, mudroom, or garage. It’s a smart, safe, and handy way to efficiently store everyone’s items while improving the function and flow of your home.
Create Drop Zones
If you aren’t familiar with the term, drop zones are exactly that – areas where items are dropped, such as the mudroom, breezeway, laundry room, or garage. These spaces provide convenient indoor/outdoor access, whether coming or going, for the entire family to drop and/or store shoes, boots, coats, all-weather gear, backpacks, reusable shopping bags, outdoor toys, pet leashes, and so on.
Often a drop zone is located in or combined with the laundry room, where wet or muddy shoes and clothing, sports equipment, and pet items can stay, avoiding a mess in other parts of your home. Depending on your home’s layout, the drop zone could work in a corner of the garage, an alcove under the stairs, or a foyer near the main entryway. Even smaller drop zones can include a compact bench with drawers, handy coat hooks, or a decorative cabinet for outdoor accessories like hats and gloves.
Built-in cabinets are a handy solution for drop zones too. One popular mudroom built-in feature includes locker-like compartments where each family member has a place to hang and store their outdoor gear and footwear. The possibilities for these convenient family spaces are many, and your design build contractor can offer efficient, customized solutions.
Bathroom Amenities with Kids in Mind
Kids spend a lot of time in the bathroom, so it’s Important to consider how these high traffic areas can best function in your home. You’ll not only want to consider how these rooms will suit when the children are small, but as they grow into their preteens and beyond. The tub, shower, sink and mirror area, as well as storage for supplies, are all important features to upgrade or include in your remodeling plan.
One popular feature is the Jack and Jill bathroom, a shared space between two bedrooms, equipped with a tub/shower, vanity, single or double sink, and toilet. This clever layout can include privacy features with the tub and/or toilet behind a separate door.
Additional family friendly bathroom considerations include a vanity with ample storage, touchless faucets, radiant heat flooring, and easy to reach light switches and towel bars. A floating vanity is another good choice, as step stools and bath toys can be easily tucked underneath.
Kid Friendly Kitchen Considerations
A gathering place for all ages, the kitchen offers great kid friendly potential. An island is not only a good place for food preparation, it’s a great spot for school aged kids to grab a snack and do homework too. Parents can keep an eye on the gang while baking or tidying up. A well-appointed island will offer ample seating that can accommodate almost any age, whether family or guests.
The eat-in kitchen area and/or breakfast nook offer other comfortable places in which to have a meal or snack, do homework, or play games. With room for high chairs, booster seats, and a bench or traditional seating, these spaces can easily accommodate quality family time around the table.
Another popular kitchen feature is a small desk that complements the cabinetry. It serves as a condensed office space for adults, but works as a homework hub for kids too. Other kid-friendly features include a family sized refrigerator, an undercounter refrigerator drawer, and pullout drawers that allow easy access to age appropriate snacks and tableware.
Safety and Maintenance Considerations
In addition to standard childproofing measures like outlet covers, safety outlets, cabinet locks, and countertops and furniture with rounded edges, there are other smart choices that can help prevent cuts, bruises, and mishaps. Luxury vinyl flooring and stain resistant carpeting soften toddler’s tumbles and help reduce noise levels. Quality carpet tiles are another good option, and are eco-friendly, easy to clean, durable, and available in various colors and patterns.
Washable walls, with low/zero VOC paint or wallcoverings, are another low maintenance solution. Available in a full range of colors and patterns, homeowners don’t have to sacrifice style for easy to clean surfaces. For quick and easy cleanup, a central vacuum system also provides another great option for busy families.
Kid-friendly home remodeling provides an opportunity to upgrade your home’s electrical and security systems, creating user-friendly, technology compatible options for now and in the future. This is also a good time to assess and replace windows and doors, as newer options will provide enhanced childproof safety features and create an energy efficient environment. Cordless or motorized shades and blinds, as well as decorative shutters are a great child-friendly complement to new windows and doors.
In addition to their valuable storage potential, built-in cabinetry is safer than freestanding dressers and bookcases. Their shelving and soft close door and drawer features are less likely to pinch little fingers, too. Your design-build firm can help you choose the best safety and low maintenance options for your kid-friendly home remodeling plan.
Don’t Forget Your Fur Babies
Beloved family pets are an important remodel consideration too. Custom built-in features such as a feeding station in the kitchen or laundry room are easily factored into your remodeling plan. This handy station reduces mess and potential tripping hazards, helping keep your pets fed and the family safe.
Pet washing stations, located in the garage or laundry room, are another handy feature, and are equipped with a washbasin, water supply, and non-slip flooring. Cat owners find that a litter box nook is convenient for reducing mess, storing supplies, and providing easy cleanup. Other pet friendly considerations include durable floor materials like scratch resistant luxury vinyl and stain resistant carpeting.
Family Friendly Remodeling with Blackline Renovations
Blackline Renovations has been helping families in Dallas, TX with their remodel projects since 2002. We are well acquainted with kid friendly design features and can customize your remodel plan to suit everyone’s needs. From first consultation to completion, our knowledgeable design-build team will guide you through the process, tailoring a plan that is just right for all the residents in your home.
From family friendly kitchens, living, bath, and bedrooms, to utility/mud/laundry rooms, ADUS/garages, and home additions, our portfolio offers a glimpse of our extensive design-build services. We count it a privilege to help homeowners upgrade and enhance the beauty and function of their homes.
Call us at 214-827-3747 or schedule a consultation with our team. We’re available to answer all your questions about family friendly and other types of remodeling.
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