Tiling for a home with children

When it comes to creating a home that’ll serve your family for many years, there’s one surface in particular that’ll help you out immeasurably. That, of course, is tile. Versatile, decorative, practical, and durable, tiles can make life with kids a little easier, and here’s how to make them work for you.

Open plan living

An open-plan home offers clear sightlines, allowing you to keep an eye on little ones from many vantage points. To avoid your space from feeling like a vast auditorium or hotel lobby, breaking up the space with differing surfaces or finishes and creating designated zones can add comfort and allow for more creative layouts. Journey from a wood-effect seating area to a patterned kitchen floor, or add a checkerboard frame around a dining table.

Mudrooms

After a day full of messy activities, coming home to a space that can take whatever is thrown at it can reduce the stress associated with potential damage and clean up. A tiled mudroom or hallway is the perfect place to remove wet coats and muddy boots or shoes filled with sand. Whatever drips or tumbles onto the floor isn’t going to cause any water damage, get stuck in carpet fibres, or stain light colours. The unwanted mess can wait right there until you find a moment to get out a dustpan, mop or vacuum.

Kitchen mess

For young children learning to feed themselves, or somehow managing to get into tubs of peanut butter, an easy to clean, low fuss surface is imperative. The kitchen should always be a space where hygiene is easy to come by, but when it comes to little ones, there’s one choice in particular you’ll thank yourself for later. Grout lines can be wonderful for adding dimension and decoration, but if you want to clean in a hurry, you might want to minimise the grout lines visible in your space. Use large format tiles or tiles that can be placed close together.

A home that grows

From spit-up to nappy leaks, and nosebleeds to spilt paint, over time the messes will change and you want your home to be able to handle it all. Design your space to grow with your family - choose finishes that can work with any colour scheme, pick anti-slip tiles for safety, porcelain tiles for durability, and large format tiles for easy clean up.

Don’t shy away from sophistication

Just because your children dropped a bag of flour or walked through the house dropping crumbs, that doesn’t mean you can’t also host an adult dinner party in the same space. The beauty of tile is in how forgiving it is. A little mop or vacuum and your home is good as new, so don’t forget about yourself when designing. Pick a surface that can do everything - resist stains, avoid scratches, clean easily, and look fantastic.