A living room designed by Nathan Turner showcases closed cabinets with starfish-shaped handles which offers a space for hiding bins filled with toys. (Victoria Pearson/Nathan Turner via AP)
A child-friendly family room offers closed storage perfect for stashing toys and a low-slung table with stools small enough for a child but stylish enough to please the grown-ups.For new parents, the urge to keep little ones entertained and enriched can often lead to a home so full of baby gear and toys that grown-up style all but disappears.
It doesn’t have to be like that.
Designer Theodore Leaf of Los Angeles says he works with many clients trying to keep their whole home from becoming a playroom.
“All my coolest friends have kids now. And there’s just nobody giving up their cool card,” says Leaf, host of “Living Big Under 1,000 Sq. Ft.” on Apple TV’s new channel The Design Network.
For one thing, he says, “People are having kids older, so they have better stuff. The whole ‘Oh, this sofa is a jungle gym now’ thing has changed, because it’s an $8,000 sofa that they love.”