Sprucing up the house a Family (Day) affair
February 17, 2011
Adrienne Brown
SPECIAL TO YOURHOME.CA
This February 21, spend Family Day as it was intended: as a family. You can choose a project ahead of time and spend the whole day working on something as a team.
Just be sure to engage your kids, rather than make them feel like your project is a chore.
“Ask for their input,” says DIY design blogger Kate Riley ( www.centsationalgirl.com) who often enlists her kids’ opinions and help on home decor projects. “Which shade of paint do they like? Then they can take credit for choosing the final colour on the wall” and they’ll stay interested longer.
Also consider safety issues and what sorts of tasks they can handle on their own — and take extra precautions to protect your floors and furniture, especially if paint is involved!
Try some of these one-day projects around the house this Family Day:
Chalk it up
Riley suggests letting kids get creative and have fun with a chalkboard wall. “You’re no longer stuck with elementary school green,” she says, adding chalkboard walls are always a winner in kid-friendly spaces.
“I’d go with a kitchen wall so you can write your weekly menu on it,” says Karen Bertelsen ( www.theartofdoingstuff.com), host of HGTV’s Handyman Superstar Challenge and Designer Superstar Challenge. Kids will love being able to write all over the wall without getting in trouble!
Most major home retailers, such as Home Depot, carry chalkboard paint. And if you’re not ready to commit to painting a whole wall, says Bertelsen, you can also buy sheets of chalk board that you can mount on the wall instead.
How does your garden grow?
Even though the ground is still usually covered in a thick layer of snow, this is the time of year to start thinking about your garden.
“This is a really good way to get kids to eat vegetables,” says Bertelsen. “If they grow the vegetable right from seed and take care of it as it grows, they’re way more likely to eat it.”
Just before Family Day, head out to your local garden centre and gather your supplies (or dig out what you can from the garage or shed), then on the 21st you can get down to business starting seeds and planning your summer garden. Bertelsen has had great success with tomatoes, squash, pumpkins and herbs, but let the kids pick and choose what they’d like to grow (and eat)!
Encourage your little bookworms
What parent doesn’t love to see his or her child engrossed in a book?
Get all your page-turners out in the open and organized by putting up a wall of bookshelves.
Bertelsen suggests Billy bookcases from Ikea because they “hold an amazing amount of stuff” and don’t take up too much space. Plus, you can add more as your collection grows. Whatever you choose, be sure to purchase your materials ahead of time because most stores will be closed on Family Day.
Have your kids gather up all the books around the house and decide as a family how you’ll organize them. For smaller kids, consider putting their favourites on lower shelves where they can reach them and keep adult books up top. Otherwise, you can alphabetize your collection or group them by colour.
Create a gallery wall
As much as you love your kids’ artistic endeavours, it can’t all fit on the fridge. Tidy it up and keep it cohesive by creating your own gallery.
“If you’re designing a wall gallery with kids in mind, choose the frames and the placement, but let them choose the art that goes inside,” says Riley.
Pick up a variety of frames at second-hand stores, flea markets or on discount at craft and home decor stores. You can always paint them to create whatever effect you want.
The best part about this project is that it can constantly change. Maybe next Family Day, you can go through all the pieces and update them to more recent works of art.