Is it True? Don't Buy Nice Furniture Until the Kid's are in High School???

[Anonymous]

No, we bought a durable couch for the family room. Otherwise we mostly bought what we wanted, making some minor tweaks with kids in mind (wood, not glass, dining table, etc.)

[Anonymous]

If West Elm and Pottery Barn-type stores are nice, then no--we didn't wait. As a young family, I wouldn't buy priceless antiques (not that I'd want them) for the house, but I want to live in a place that makes me feel happy and at home. To me, that means decorating nicely. It's my house too, not just my kids' home.

And listen, I don't have any experience with anyones kids but my own, but we raise them to respect belongings and it has worked since they were babies. With the exception of baby proofing cleaning supplies and the like, we didn't change anything about our home and its never been a problem. Will there be a crayon drawn on the wall or couch? Sure, occasionally, but everyone slips up and then they help clean the mess.

I wouldn't buy a white or cream sofa though. Partly because I would likely spill red wine on it, regardless of what the kids would do

I will say I have never understood people who use kids as an excuse as to why their house is dirty or messy. It is absolutely possibly to have a clean and tidy home with young children. If you don't want to clean and pick-up, just own it, lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If West Elm and Pottery Barn-type stores are nice, then no--we didn't wait. As a young family, I wouldn't buy priceless antiques (not that I'd want them) for the house, but I want to live in a place that makes me feel happy and at home. To me, that means decorating nicely. It's my house too, not just my kids' home.

And listen, I don't have any experience with anyones kids but my own, but we raise them to respect belongings and it has worked since they were babies. With the exception of baby proofing cleaning supplies and the like, we didn't change anything about our home and its never been a problem. Will there be a crayon drawn on the wall or couch? Sure, occasionally, but everyone slips up and then they help clean the mess.

I wouldn't buy a white or cream sofa though. Partly because I would likely spill red wine on it, regardless of what the kids would do

I will say I have never understood people who use kids as an excuse as to why their house is dirty or messy. It is absolutely possibly to have a clean and tidy home with young children. If you don't want to clean and pick-up, just own it, lol.

This 100%
My DS is now a D1 football player, he and the rest of the team never destroyed our house. And we were the team house with multiple boys draped over every piece of furniture. DS did occasionally wear down furniture but that's because he's 6-6 and 300 pound D-tackle. He was taught to lower himself into chairs gently, etc. The only furniture he ever broke was a gaming chair but once we started getting him the big and tall variety of office chair, he has been fine.
DD was more into art than sports but she never got paint all over or ruined anything.

[Anonymous]

I have a lot of hand-me-down furniture. Some is over 100 years old and doing fine. It's built so much better than most of the new stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just bought a house. I'm itching to furnish it. I've been living w/hand me downs too long, and I am so psyched about finally having an "adult" home.

However, my mom warned me not to buy anything nice, lest the kids ruin it. Our child is only a toddler. Hope to have a couple more.

What do you think of this advice? My in-laws have beautiful old furniture (Henkel Harris, Baker, Hickory White, etc.) that they've had forever. But then again, they were very strict with their kids, and I don't have that kind of energy.

So, how did you furnish your house? Did you hold off on the "nice stuff" until later? Or do you buy the nice stuff know, figuring that good furniture is built to withstand wear and tear?

No. I need to enjoy my surroundings. We had an interior decorator and stayed away from white and cream. We are a no shoes house and eat our food in the kitchen. We have 3 boys and live in an adult home. The boys have the basement and that is their domain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If West Elm and Pottery Barn-type stores are nice, then no--we didn't wait. As a young family, I wouldn't buy priceless antiques (not that I'd want them) for the house, but I want to live in a place that makes me feel happy and at home. To me, that means decorating nicely. It's my house too, not just my kids' home.

And listen, I don't have any experience with anyones kids but my own, but we raise them to respect belongings and it has worked since they were babies. With the exception of baby proofing cleaning supplies and the like, we didn't change anything about our home and its never been a problem. Will there be a crayon drawn on the wall or couch? Sure, occasionally, but everyone slips up and then they help clean the mess.

I wouldn't buy a white or cream sofa though. Partly because I would likely spill red wine on it, regardless of what the kids would do

I will say I have never understood people who use kids as an excuse as to why their house is dirty or messy. It is absolutely possibly to have a clean and tidy home with young children. If you don't want to clean and pick-up, just own it, lol.

This 100%
My DS is now a D1 football player, he and the rest of the team never destroyed our house. And we were the team house with multiple boys draped over every piece of furniture. DS did occasionally wear down furniture but that's because he's 6-6 and 300 pound D-tackle. He was taught to lower himself into chairs gently, etc. The only furniture he ever broke was a gaming chair but once we started getting him the big and tall variety of office chair, he has been fine.
DD was more into art than sports but she never got paint all over or ruined anything.

Your son will be dead or dying by age 45. This is nothing to be proud of. Allowing your kid to get so obese is abuse.

[Anonymous]

I have a lot of nice furniture that I’ve purchased secondhand, and my kids have not done anything to it. What are kids supposed to do to wood furniture?

[Anonymous]

I guess you could sleep on the floor

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If West Elm and Pottery Barn-type stores are nice, then no--we didn't wait. As a young family, I wouldn't buy priceless antiques (not that I'd want them) for the house, but I want to live in a place that makes me feel happy and at home. To me, that means decorating nicely. It's my house too, not just my kids' home.

And listen, I don't have any experience with anyones kids but my own, but we raise them to respect belongings and it has worked since they were babies. With the exception of baby proofing cleaning supplies and the like, we didn't change anything about our home and its never been a problem. Will there be a crayon drawn on the wall or couch? Sure, occasionally, but everyone slips up and then they help clean the mess.

I wouldn't buy a white or cream sofa though. Partly because I would likely spill red wine on it, regardless of what the kids would do

I will say I have never understood people who use kids as an excuse as to why their house is dirty or messy. It is absolutely possibly to have a clean and tidy home with young children. If you don't want to clean and pick-up, just own it, lol.

I don't think it's about cleaning and picking up. It's more about constant close supervision for your kids to make sure they never ruin the furnishings.

We did sort of in between furnishings. We have new, nice-looking but not expensive sofas and accessories. Now's not the time for a $12K sofa for us because we have little kids. I can find sofa pillows that I like for under $40 each. We have a really nice antique buffet in the dining room, but it's not like the kids use it. We have a modern upholstered bedframe, but it cost hundreds, not thousands. Duvet sets from Anthropologie, Restoration Hardware, or Pottery Barn on sale. We buy mid-range window treatments. I really don't see spending thousands per room on window treatments with my little kids, but I prefer simple panels anyway. We paint, put up wallpaper, accessorize, etc., so we're not living like recent college grads. I can decorate a room for $3-5K and really enjoy it vs. spending $30-50K and stressing about kids ruining it.

[Anonymous]

No way am I waiting till 45 or 50 to live life with beautiful furniture. Upper elementary is the max I would wait.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a lot of hand-me-down furniture. Some is over 100 years old and doing fine. It's built so much better than most of the new stuff.

Same. I call my decorating style Vintage Swedish Fusion (a/k/a, we're about 1/2 family antiques, 1/3 Ikea, and 1/6 other). My great-grandfather is from a small town that had a handmade furniture factory for yeas, and then my granddad's best friend owned a high-quality furniture store and sold to him at cost... so we run a furniture exchange in the family when someone moves or redecorates. When we moved into our current home, we got an extra bedroom, and I just emailed a couple family members to see who was ready for a change or wanted to offload a solid wood bed. We swapped - my mom gave me a bed from her house, and she took one that she'd always liked better from my aunt's collection. My aunt has my good coffee table for now because the Ikea one is better for the kids, and I gave my mom back my small, eat-in sized pedestal table when we needed a larger, rectangular one for the space in our new house.

My daughter has solid wood furniture that belonged to my mom and then me, so it was free. My son's set is more modern but still higher quality (30-year-old Stanley/NC) - we got that from craigslist. I did splurge and get myself a brand new, handmade wooden bed and dresser a few years ago because no one had an antique king and I couldn't find anything I really liked at estate/antique/craigslist sales.

Couches are the problem, for us. My spouse tall, Midwestern farm stock who is rough on upholstery, and we have two tweens and two cats (also rough on upholstry). Right now, we're sourcing those from Ikea and Costco rather than spending a lot on them.

[Anonymous]

We have a couple rooms that are furnished nicely and are generally not high-traffic with the kids, mostly our office and formal dining and living rooms. The kitchen, family room, den, bedrooms, etc. are furnished cheaply and absolutely trashed. IKEA couches with washable covers, marker-covered MDF, cheap area rugs that I can't wait to get rid of. I would have been a nervous wreck if we had nice things in these areas. I'll hopefully replace the family room furniture when youngest is in MS but even then it won't be 'nice', it just won't be destroyed.

[Anonymous]

You will have to replace the sofa every ten years regardless. So do what you want on that.

With the tables: if you buy nice once you'll get water marks. But what's the alternative? Never have nice furniture?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I Have never had any furniture item that was decent and im 15 and going into high school so i think others shouldnt have to hate there furniture in there room until high school

LOL to this almost 10-year old thread being revived by a 15 year who wants nice furniture. Girl, I hear you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If West Elm and Pottery Barn-type stores are nice, then no--we didn't wait. As a young family, I wouldn't buy priceless antiques (not that I'd want them) for the house, but I want to live in a place that makes me feel happy and at home. To me, that means decorating nicely. It's my house too, not just my kids' home.

And listen, I don't have any experience with anyones kids but my own, but we raise them to respect belongings and it has worked since they were babies. With the exception of baby proofing cleaning supplies and the like, we didn't change anything about our home and its never been a problem. Will there be a crayon drawn on the wall or couch? Sure, occasionally, but everyone slips up and then they help clean the mess.

I wouldn't buy a white or cream sofa though. Partly because I would likely spill red wine on it, regardless of what the kids would do

I will say I have never understood people who use kids as an excuse as to why their house is dirty or messy. It is absolutely possibly to have a clean and tidy home with young children. If you don't want to clean and pick-up, just own it, lol.

I don't think it's about cleaning and picking up. It's more about constant close supervision for your kids to make sure they never ruin the furnishings.


We did sort of in between furnishings. We have new, nice-looking but not expensive sofas and accessories. Now's not the time for a $12K sofa for us because we have little kids. I can find sofa pillows that I like for under $40 each. We have a really nice antique buffet in the dining room, but it's not like the kids use it. We have a modern upholstered bedframe, but it cost hundreds, not thousands. Duvet sets from Anthropologie, Restoration Hardware, or Pottery Barn on sale. We buy mid-range window treatments. I really don't see spending thousands per room on window treatments with my little kids, but I prefer simple panels anyway. We paint, put up wallpaper, accessorize, etc., so we're not living like recent college grads. I can decorate a room for $3-5K and really enjoy it vs. spending $30-50K and stressing about kids ruining it.

My toddler does not require close constant supervision in order for us to keep the house tidy, though I've made sure most of her toys are of the puzzle and toy house variety. Art supplies I keep a closer eye on, but I have the power to choose when those come out. And of course, we don't get anything not 100% washable.

Each family may be different, but I also know most of my friends--who I adore--who have "trashed" houses have no desire to pick up after the kids go to bed. That would drive me nuts, but I'm a neat-nick. Just don't think having a nice, tidy house with young kids is as impossible as people make it out to be. Expect in more extreme personality situations this more about personal preferences and parenting style.