Kid Friendly Fabrics

I'm sure you have seen mentions here and there of "kid friendly fabrics." What are they? How do they work? Where do you find them? I imagine these are questions most people have when they see designers talk about light colored fabrics they chose for homes of families with small children. I don't see them go into detail so as someone who has lived with these fabrics for several years I'd like to share my thoughts.

This is just an average day after school. I've heard psychologists say they are bonding when they wrestle like this.

My sofa and two side chairs are both covered in Sunbrella fabric. They are the same outdoor fabric you already know, but the fabric is made for indoor use. They can mimic cotton, linen and even velvet.

The two cream colored chairs are from Pottery Barn. Most of their upholstered fabrics come with the option to be covered in Sunbrella. Mine are similar to a linen weave. The fabrics aren't quite as soft as a typical linen fabric, but once you combine that fabric with the down cushions it is one of the most comfortable chairs.

The sofa is from High Fashion Home. If you order online the only fabrics are standard linen, but if you visit the store you can choose from hundreds of fabrics including kid friendly ones. I initially chose a Sunbrella navy velvet fabric for this sofa. What a different look that would have been! Unfortunately, it was just a promotional fabric at that time and it was undetermined when I could get enough fabric to cover the sofa. The only fabrics they had at the time simulated linen or cotton. It's amazing how things can change in just a few years. There are so many new kid friendly options available now.

How resistant to stains are these fabrics? I would recommend to test out a sample before buying furniture covered in it. I spilled my two biggest vices on the samples, coffee and red wine. Both came out immediately after spills. I was thrilled! I did notice once I bought the furniture it was a little more difficult to remove stains that had been there a while. The reality is it isn't that hard to get out stains in any fabric if you remove it immediately. The hard part is removing stains that have been there for days, weeks or even months. In my experience, most of them can be removed easily with water and a paper towel. There are some stains that required a bit more work, but they all eventually came out. The issue was the integrity of the fabric was compromised the more I worked on it. The bottom line is it was definitely worth the extra cost for these fabrics regardless if you have kids or pets. I do not think these fabrics would have been worth it with very young children. My kids are older (school aged) and do not eat or drink in the living room. I think back to when they were toddlers and preschoolers and realize the leather sofas we had were probably the best choice. I wiped them down with a wet towel daily.

Restoration Hardware has been offering their Perennial fabrics for years. I've tested them out and they appear to be very similar to Sunbrella when it comes to stain resistance.

Crypton fabric is the newest fabric available. I have to be honest that I don't have any experience with this fabric, but it seems to be similar to Sunbrella and Perennial fabric with regards to texture and stain resistance.

I am happy to see more and more retailers offering kid friendly fabrics. I honestly can't imagine going back to regular fabric on light colored fabric furniture.  It is quite a bit more expensive, but you won't have to replace the furniture as often so it does pay for itself. I do not have one stain on my furniture at this time. I can't say that will always be the case, but after two years that's amazing!

It's Getting Spooky Outside!

We're ready for trick or treaters! I just love the way the Halloween decorations turned out this year. Hanging lights outside is one of those things I never want to do, but it's the boys favorite part of holiday decorating. 

If you remember, this is how I decorated my fall porch.

I just added a trick or treat sign to the planter, pumpkin lanterns to the ceiling (Michael's), and grapevine garlands with lights to the exterior arch. I didn't want to remove any of the decor because I liked it the way it was. I like it even better now!

We also have the dreaded blow-ups in the yard. Everyone in the family loves it but me. My husband warned me he is going to decorate the front yard this year for Christmas, and blow-ups are the first thing he's going to buy. Maybe I can get the porch?

Living Room Update: DIY Window Trim

I think I might have mentioned the living room trim project at least a dozen times, and now I can say it's finally complete!

Here are the windows before. I tried to live with them, but I found myself shying away from photographing this side of the room because they just seemed so unfinished.

My first thought was to add drapery panels between each window from the top of the transom down to the floor. That would have worked to hide most of the drywall around the windows, but drapery that tall between every window is overwhelming. It's also very expensive! Trimming the windows gave them a custom look for much cheaper than four to six custom drapery panels. The total cost of the trim was what one French pleated 140 inch panel would have cost!

We used pre-primed boards to frame each window and a piece of crown molding on top, which is what we did in the formal dining room and study doors of our last house. The only problem was that the drywall around these windows was not even. If the board next to the window was flush at the bottom, it overlapped the top of the window by up to an inch.

My husband wanted to scratch the entire project and return the wood we had not yet cut, but I ran back up to Home Depot to stare at the wood trim and come up with a creative fix. If you have read my blog for a while you know this is not the first time I refuse to take no for an answer when a project doesn't go right! I found these L-shaped trim pieces that would just cover the imperfect areas where the wood did not meet the edge of the window. It's not the normal way to add trim to a window, but it works! You can see that extra piece of trim that wraps around the corners in the picture below.

I am thrilled about the result almost as much as I am about it just being done! I was on this hamster wheel of putty, caulk, and sand for weeks until I was satisfied enough to finally paint. All of those uneven edges and walls caused a caulking nightmare. I told my husband if he ever says I can hide something with caulk again then he will be the one caulking!

You would think I'd never try to attempt this again, but now we are working on the Juliet balcony trim I mentioned in my last post.

This time it will be simple trim under the balcony railing...simple...lol. We'll see how this turns out next weekend!

My First "Easy" DIY Project: Juliet Balcony Update

One of the things that has bothered me since we built our house two years ago is that the Juliet balcony railing does not match the stair railing. I said I was going to have it replaced because it resembled a jail cell. I just figured that it was the way the house was built until I realized much later that everyone else with our floor plan had railings that matched their stairs.

You can see that the stair railings have embellishments called knuckles. 

I found knuckles I could buy at our local home improvement store, but they were in one piece. The balcony railings are soldered to the floor. There was no way I could remove a railing piece to add the knuckle. If they just came in two pieces...

Well, a quick google search showed me that this is really a thing. I found a local company that offered them for $1.29 each. I ordered them online and two days later they were delivered to my door.  They are plastic and come in two pieces that snap together. You cannot tell the difference between the iron and plastic ones at all.

Here it is finished! It took me forever to find a pattern that would mimic the stairs. I couldn't match it exactly because of the number of railings. I found a pattern that looks the same unless you are counting the knuckles on each railing. The installation was so simple, too! You just snap the pieces together, and you can move them up and down the railing to make them level.

Here is the before again.

Finally! I know we all have things that bother us about our homes. I've learned from experience it cane all be fixed with a bit of creativity not to just fix the problem, but make it one of your favorite features in your home. 

Don't think this balcony is complete! The homebuilder in the "expensive" section of our neighborhood has almost exact floor plans as mine, but with a bit more square footage and extra features. This wood trim under the railing is one of those features. I can have that same wood trim for about $50!

I just have to talk my husband into getting his saw out again!