A kid-proof home can still be beautiful

You live with kids and you wonder: Is it even possible to have a living room free of Lego bricks or walls free of crayon marks? California-based Gabrielle Stanley Blair, who is a mother of six, blogger and author of the new book “Design Mom: How to Live with Kids,” is here to tell you that, yes, your home can be kid-proof.

“There’s definitely this feeling that ‘I have kids, and the house is going to be ugly and functional. … And then when the kids go away it will be beautiful,’ ” Blair says. “But it’s not necessary to punish yourself like that.” So, how is it done? By being realistic. Expect that the entryway could become a dumping ground and stock it with hooks and bins for organizing. Teach your kids to love beauty by having them abstract-paint a canvas with a color palette of your choice and frame it for display. Don’t wait until your kids are gone before you enjoy your house.

As interior designer Carrie Miller says: “A home is meant to be lived in, regardless of whether you have small children or if it’s just two adults. People should not fear stains — of course, you want to guard against them — but I always hope that my clients live in their homes well.”

Some suggestions:

• Blair says that parents who buy white sofas are just setting themselves up for failure. She likes leather, microfiber or — if you must have white — slipcovers. The crisp Metro Slipcover Sofa ($1,399, www.roomandboard.com) comes in white twill and many other shades and fabrics.

• One of Blair’s tricks for keeping the kitchen sparkly clean? Stacks of pretty dish towels. “Buy them in sets of three, or maybe five, or perhaps 10,” she says. “You will need them all.” She recommends the Farmhouse Mix Dish Towels, a set of eight from Sundance ($68, www.sundancecatalog.com).

• Try to get the fabric on your furniture treated to resist stains, says Miller, owner of interior design firm Lapis Ray. Or use a hardy outdoor fabric, as on Crate and Barrel’s Sunbrella Square Outdoor Pillows ($45, www.crateandbarrel.com). “Outdoor fabric doesn’t look or feel like outdoor fabric anymore,” Miller says.

• “Look for pieces that have a little patina to them,” Blair says. “A table made of barn wood, an industrial-looking side table with a weathered finish, a painted piece with edges that are sanded down a bit. These are terrific for families, because if you knock into them or scratch them, it’s all the better.” West Elm’s Emmerson Dining Table, made of reclaimed pine, would hold up well around rowdy kids ($899-$1,299, www.westelm.com).

• If a painted dining table gets scratched up by kids banging utensils, then, oh well, it’s just time to repaint, Blair says. The white Hampstead Painted Rectangular Extending Dining Table can seat six to 10 of your favorite table-banging munchkins and their friends ($1,249, www.potterybarn.com).

• When Blair and her husband were first setting up house, they bought some recycled aluminum chairs for their kitchen table, knowing that they would last well through the toddler years. Though the chairs have moved to their outdoor seating area, they are still going strong. For a similar find, there’s the metal Foundry Dining Chair ($145, www.sundance.com).

• “I always recommend ottomans instead of coffee tables because there’s nothing for the kids to bump their heads on; they can lay all over them,” Miller says. ($449-$674, www.ballarddesigns.com).