Child friendly: preparing your home for kids

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Decorating a house is difficult, yet rewarding and enjoyable in its own sense. When a child joins the family, however, things can get a bit too chaotic for any organised project. Children have special needs when it comes to the interiors of homes, including increased safety measures and opportunities for education. When attempts at satisfying these needs take over, though, the house can become a mess of distracting and disturbing elements, which no-one in the family enjoys.

It is not surprising that home owners have the desire to change such a house and renew it. Today we are going to see an apartment in which this desire had been realised. J & Design Yelim undertook the renovation of a luxurious apartment of 37 square meters in Dangsan, Seoul. The renovation made the home more cheerful with a subtle and classic sensibility to the modern atmosphere inside and outside of the home. The result is a stylish home that will be equally enjoyed by child and adult.

Before: Old and distracting atmosphere

The apartment has a traditional atmosphere and has an old feeling to it. A clean-up is clearly necessary, which may just allow for the freeing up of space and the removal of distractions. However, as we can also see, this 37 square meter apartment could well benefit from a renovation of the space to optimise functionality. This is exactly what the designers did, transforming the dead space into something useful with an added elegant atmosphere. Now let’s go see…

After: Living room

After the remodelling, the living room of the house is much larger. Firstly, all of the brown panels and parts were removed, which was so characteristics of the old atmosphere. The walls and ceiling have been painted in a bright white, which makes the area feel larger. This effect is aided by the light wood floor, which makes the space feel wider. The floor is also decorated in a herringbone pattern, giving the room a sophisticated sense of style. The living room is furnished in a modern style, looking spacious and clean.

After: Kitchen

The living room and kitchen are separated by a partition. This partition has a section cut out in the middle thereof, in order to ensure easy communication between the kitchen and living room. This will also make it easier for the parents to keep an eye on the child playing in the living room while they cook dinner.

The kitchen is decorated in a classic minimalist style with some vintage, mid-century influences, like the black leather sofa and the white subway style brick in the backsplash area. The area opposite to the angled cooking space contains a built-in sofa in front of which a small dining table will be well-suited.

After: Bathroom

The previous bathroom contained a bathtub. It is widely recognised that a bath is not a good use of space in a small bathroom, and can make the room feel much narrower. For this reason, the renovation saw the removal of the unnecessary bath and substitution with a shower. The shower is separated from the rest of the bathroom by a glass panel, not impinging on the visual space, but preventing water from the shower splashing on the toilet and basin. Above the sink, the bathroom mirrors cover cabinets for storage space. Indirect lighting is placed under the cabinet space to create a luxurious ambience and sense of elegance in the room.

After: Children's room

When designing a room especially for children, it is important to change your perspective. A bit of creativity will go a long way when it comes to creating a room your child will love. This one is cheerfully decorated in a pastel pink. The interesting gable-shaped entrance way adds an element of fun to the room. The previous arrangement of the children’s room had a balcony, and here a large sliding door was inserted, and the balcony closed off to create a convenient porch instead.

After: Porch

Finally, we get to explore the space on the porch. The style of this porch is minimalist with an Asian influence. The look is neat and meticulous. This clear arrangement ensures ample available space, as well as easy and convenient access. The glossy floor hosts a pattern f small black diamonds, which is an elegant and stylised touch to the modern room.

Today this house has informed us that even though we have children, we do not have to give up a stylish and elegant interior. Instead, we can start a whole new story by decorating the interiors beautifully with a spectacular children’s room as well. If you want to see another inspiring children’s room, take a look at: A girl's bedroom fit for a princess.

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