Family Homes That Aren't Bland: Designing Beautifully Around Young Children
Claudine Murphy, Founder and Lead Designer at Doverfield Designs, shares her functional design tips so that family friendly homes don’t have to be boring.
6th August, 2026
Doverfield is a Tunbridge Wells based interior design studio creating beautifully original homes made for living. Curated, characterful interiors across Kent, London and East Sussex.
You can have young children and still have a home full of colour and character. The idea that a family home has to be a sea of grey, wipe-clean and cautious is a myth, and it is one I spend a lot of my time gently talking people out of. The real skill is choosing materials that get better with use, colours that forgive a sticky hand, and a layout that gives the inevitable mess somewhere to live.
I'm Claudine, an interior designer based in Royal Tunbridge Wells, and most of the homes I work on are busy family ones across Kent, Sussex and London. So this is written from experience, not theory.
The false choice
Most people think they have to pick between two things. A home that survives the children, which usually means beige, hard-wearing and a bit soulless. Or a home that looks lovely, which they assume will be ruined within a month. It is a false choice. A well chosen home does both at once, and often the beautiful option is the more practical one.
A velvet sofa in the right performance fabric will outlast a "sensible" one and still look wonderful. A patterned rug hides everyday life in a way a plain one never could. A deeper, characterful wall colour bounces back from scuffs and fingerprints far better than a pale, chalky white.
How to get it right
Here are the things I come back to on almost every family project.
Choose performance fabrics, not plastic ones. Look for high rub counts and washable or removable covers rather than assuming leather or nothing. Harlequin have a great range of performance fabrics that they have tested everything from wine to ketchup and coffee on! These sit and feel like normal fabric but shrug off spills and marks left by small people.
Pick colours that forgive. Very pale walls show every mark. A warmer, slightly deeper palette hides daily wear and, honestly, feels cosier to live in. Modern durable matt emulsions wipe clean, so a characterful colour is often the more practical choice, not the risky one.
Give mess a home. Most family chaos is a storage problem in disguise. Built-in cupboards, window seats that open, baskets that live where the toys land. When everything has a place, a colourful room still reads as calm.
Soften the sharp edges. Rounded joinery, a generous rug underfoot, curved corners on a coffee table. Small choices that make a room safer for toddlers without turning it into a padded cell.
Layer pattern and texture. Pattern is your friend with children. It disguises, it adds character, and it stops a hard-wearing scheme from feeling clinical. A patterned stair runner, a textured wallpaper below a dado, a rug with a bit going on.
A real example
We love adding custom joinery to hide things away. One of the crucial elements for this is less clutter! In our Wandsworth snug project (pictured left) the joinery either side of the fireplace has low level drawers for kids toys that are easily accessible but hidden. The coffee table was chosen with board games in mind - its high enough to play from the sofa for those of us with slightly creaky knees.
Our trusted sofa suppliers also offer insurance so should any accidents happen that a quick wipe wont fix, then you have the peace of mind that your sofa will be covered for the length of the policy.
These are just a couple of details we take into consideration with each design we work on.
The short version
A family home does not have to be bland to be practical. Choose fabrics and finishes that improve with use, colours that hide everyday life, and storage that keeps the chaos in check, and you get a home that is genuinely yours and genuinely liveable. Beautiful and hard-wearing are not opposites. They are the same good decisions, made well.
If you are renovating or furnishing a family home in Kent, Sussex or the surrounding area and want it to have real character, I would love to help. You can see how I work over on our ‘Projects’ Page , or Get in Touch for a chat.
FAQ
Which sofa fabrics actually survive young children?
Performance weaves with a high rub count, and ideally washable or removable covers. They look and feel like ordinary fabric but cope far better with spills and daily use than most people expect.
Is dark or bold paint practical with children?
Often more practical than pale white. Scuffs and marks blend into a deeper colour, and modern durable matt emulsions wipe clean, so a characterful shade tends to wear better, not worse.
Can a colourful home still feel calm?
Yes. Calm comes from good storage and a considered palette, not from an absence of colour. When everything has its place and the colours work together, a characterful room reads as restful.
Do you design family homes outside Tunbridge Wells?
Yes. I work in person across Kent, East Sussex and London, and offer virtual design for clients elsewhere in the UK.
