When it comes to home interiors, we all want a living space we can relax and create happy memories in. Sometimes the hardest part is figuring out a way to create a stylish living space that actually works for the whole family AND the family budget!

With kids around your home has to be safe and practical, so how do you combine the two and design a well balanced, stylish and creative space that everyone can enjoy? Interior designer Keita Turner believes it’s important to remember that “children like to engage and be visually stimulated” so whether it’s a colorful piece of art or a homemade chalkboard, try and incorporate a fun, interactive and sociable element to your home design.

Here are some really fun ways YOU can create a fun, budget-friendly, inspired home!

Safety Comes First

Safety has to be a priority when introducing a new design to your home. Make sure any bookcases or shelving are securely attached to the wall and furniture has rounded edges where possible. Practicality is also important to ensure everyone enjoys the space. Hard wearing flooring and durable, easy to clean furniture and accessories will contribute to a relaxing and happy environment. But practical doesn’t have to be boring, with interesting, modern furniture available that’s been specifically designed with kids in mind.

Open plan areas work well and create family friendly, sociable spaces. They give a sense of space and by incorporating clever storage options can reduce clutter too. Low, large, comfortable seating can enhance the design and a dedicated play area will help contain any mess. Multifunctional furniture is good, from a sofa that can be used as an additional sleeping area to footstools and beanbags which provide additional seating options.

Do Your Research

Sometimes I have the itch to create something fun and new in our home but I’m not exactly sure what to do. That’s when it’s best to start pinning! Create a vision board (on pinterest) or with magazines, or simply create your own drawing. Find colors, patterns, and materials that will speak to your family.

Check out these really awesome Vision Boards for awesome living spaces that work for the whole family!

• Toy Room Inspiration
• Farmhouse decor on a budget
• Best Home Renovations you can do yourself 
• Family Office Ideas
• Super cute Decor Ideas
• Laundry Room / Craft Room Inspo

Time To Have Some Fun

But don’t forget the fun elements too. Color, pattern and texture are all essential to create an inviting, engaging family friendly design. This can be achieved through accessories such as blankets, knitted pouffes, rugs and cushions. Or through bold paint colors or interesting wallpaper. Showcasing art and photography can also help personalize your living space and stimulate conversation.

If your family’s love is the outdoors, use family friendly cotton blends and wool for soft furnishings and natural materials such as wood and stone. To make the space even more interactive, you could introduce a beautiful indoor water fountain. And if your taste is little more eclectic, a hammock can provide a place for relaxation and add interest.

Make it bright & LIVING

There are so many ways to create a stylish living space and the two things that set you apart from the rest will be to make your space feel bright. That doesn’t mean a bright yellow wall. I’m talking, find ways to add in extra natural light. Find ways to improve lighting so it feels fresh and bright and happy.

Another super inexpensive trick to brightening your space is adding plants. I’m not sure what it does but real plants add a whole new level of fresh and bright and LIVING to the area.

Think Outside the Box

I’m all for NOT following “normal” traditions. Why try and conform, when it’s exciting and freeing to be YOU!

Some of the ways I’ve thought outside of the box to create a stylish living space are:

• find ‘knock-off’ products that are cheeper,
• paint old furniture to add a bright accent
• Create a fun design with Sharpie on the wall
• Move the furniture around, it makes a huge difference
• Do an accent wall – they make ALL the difference
• get that super cheap contact paper that can either turn into a chalkboard or a white board – the kiddos LOVE this
• create an inspiration wall! This is my fav space in the whole house. Just find (or make) pieces that speak to your heart!
• Put fabric on the wall

Honesty, there are so many ways to find ways to express who YOU are in beautiful, inexpensive ways to create a stylish living space that functions for everyone in the family.

Make Your Space Work for YOU, Not for the Next Family

This is something I’ve found over the last 7 years with 4 different homes. You are living in the space now. Make it function for YOU.

Let me share an example. The “normal” thing to do is to put carpet in a playroom/living room. It’s warmer, it reduces sound, it’s softer and more inviting. Right? No matter how much I could admit those things, I couldn’t help but face the facts for our family. We have three young kids and have a extended family with tons of cousins. So my floor had to be SUPER kid friendly. Waterproof, dent resistant, easy to clean, inexpensive, and easy to install our selves (we are total DIY-ers). And to be honest, I don’t mind when my kids eat outside the kitchen. I don’t mind when they get themselves a snack. But that means there are more stains on carpet. It’s just a fact. So for us, we chose to install LVP (Luxury Vinyl Plank) all throughout the house (minus the 5 bedrooms). It lines our kitchen, our dining, our toyroom, our bathrooms, our and living room. It functions for us. But I had to really get over the mindset of what is “normal” and find what works for us.

This could apply to paint color, dividing a living space in half to create two different zones, it could apply to the kitchen – do you like open shelving but worried about what the mother-in-law will think?

Just do what works for you and don’t worry so much about if it’s “normal” or not.

In the end, it normally ends up being something really amazing that sets your house apart from the rest.

Beautifully Budgeted

Oh money. If only we could all have enough to do all we wanted.

Actually, I think no matter how money you have, you always have to learn how to LIVE WITHIN that budget. Doesn’t matter if you make $10,000 a month or $1,000. The fundamentals of staying within budget are the same and need to be applied to EVERYONE. Since all of us have to stay within budget when creating a BEAUTIFUL HOME, let’s make it work for us, not against us. My husband and I have found a really great way to make our budget function for our spending priorities – it’s just that, make it a priority.

So my husband and I set a “reno” / “decor” budget for each month. We do what we can within that budget and if our project is over that we save that and add it to the next month. An example – we have been finishing our basement for about a year now. It was (and is) important to us not to get into debt so we set a monthly budget of what we could spend on finishing the budget. Some months that goes a long way, some months we save that amount to the next month to finish that portion of the basement.

When you work this way you know that you are CREATING a beautiful, stylish, living space for the whole fam. That doesn’t mean you create-D, you are creat-ING. It’s a process. And that’s okay. Sometimes we get stuck in what we see on Instagram and Pinterest and think every other family already has everything already done. That isn’t true. It’s a process for everyone, that’s just not normally highlighted.

So – be okay with staying aligned to your budget. It will make for a much happier family now & in the future.

Stop Thinking

The last piece of advice I have for creating a stylish living space that works for the whole family is to just stop thinking about it. Just do it.

• Paint that wall the color YOU want. Not what would re-sell well if you happen to resell the house.
• Put up those gold vinyl stickers even though they are bold.
• Move that furniture around.

Try it out. Why not? What do you have to lose?

Your home is truly your haven, your safe place from the world. Make it unique to you & your family needs and you’ll forever feel “at home”.