Safe and Stylish
October is Child Safety Month by the Window Covering Safety Council and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Take the opportunity to make your home safer for your little ones… without sacrificing excellent style. Here are seven handy tips!
Cleaning supplies
There are two ways to make sure your cleaning supplies don’t hurt your kids. First, use non-toxic, environmentally-friendly options. Plain vinegar mixed with water will clean most surfaces, for instance; baking soda is great for deep-cleaning porcelain and metal. If you like your supplies pre-made, plenty of natural cleansers are available if you’re willing look outside big-box stores. For your few leftover toxic specialty supplies, store them strategically in a hard-to-reach place. Bonus points if there are no lower shelves to climb up!
Art
Whether you live in earthquake country or just want to make sure that print over the crib doesn’t come crashing down when Junior gets big enough to reach it, you can take two kinds of precautions. First, make your art less breakable. Choose Plexiglas instead of regular glass on framed works, or opt for unframed canvas or cloth tapestries. Next, for greatest stability, use wire across the back of your frames and sink the right size of picture hook (or two) into the wall, tailored to the picture’s weight. Or, get creative: paint a scene directly on the wall or use stick-on wall art in kids’ rooms.
Pills
Pills are a classic ingestion risk for kids, especially those under six years old. They can be colourful and candy-like, so make them less tempting: keep them in opaque bottles, or put clear prescription bottles into an opaque container. Store pills outside the bathroom so the kids don’t get a glimpse of them at bedtime – after all, it’s damp in there, never a good thing for powders and gelcaps! Keep medications you don’t use often in a basket at the back of your linen closet’s top shelf. If you take regular medication at bedtime, store it in an attractive locked box in the bedroom. If it’s a morning thing, same idea, but in the kitchen on a high shelf.
Blinds
Dangling window blind cords are a serious strangulation danger, not to mention being unsightly. Go for a stylish and convenient solution: cordless technology such as the touch-activated LiteRise system, or an automated system that you can control with a hand-held remote, a wall switch, or an iPad app. Indi: link to appropriate Decorview page?
Rugs
Slippery rugs can cause spectacular accidents for adults and kids alike. Use non-slip rug pads, and cut them to about an inch smaller than the rug itself so they don’t peek.
Furniture
Sharp table corners and counter edges can be head injury risks for small ones. Choose designs that minimize this risk for toddlers and short kids. Opt for round edges on your coffee tables and countertops.
Plants
From chrysanthemums to rhododendrons, many common species of garden plants and houseplants are in fact highly toxic if eaten. Do a little research before you plant! Colourful bromeliad, stripy zebra plant, bright African violets, and the classic spider plant – all these and more are totally safe.
