Child-Proof Your Walls with These 4 Painting Tricks

You love your children’s tiny hands and feet. You can’t get enough of each little finger, and you kiss each bruised toe with gentleness and care.

But sometimes your children’s hands and feet make all sorts of messes. They fling food, smear dirt and rub who-knows-what into your furniture.

While you know that your children won’t stay small for long, you also wonder what you can do to keep your home’s interior pristine and inviting. The walls, in particular, seem to have borne the brunt of the damage-are those footprints literally climbing up the hallways?

You decide that a fresh coat of paint will do the job. But to make sure your paint looks great for years (rather than months or weeks) don’t forget to follow these four steps.

1. Pick a Washable Paint

Traditionally, if you wanted to keep your walls clean, you’d have to choose a high quality, low-VOC paint with a semi-gloss or shiny satin finish. While these high-sheen paints let you scrub them to your satisfaction, they tend to create a moody or intimidating atmosphere that conflicts with your family-friendly home.

Fortunately, paint manufacturers recognise that many homeowners prefer eggshell flats and matte paints over glosses. And to meet the demand, they now produce easy-to-clean flat finishes in a variety of eye-catching colours. All you have to do is check the paint label for “washable” before you buy that first bucket.

2. Opt for Kid-Friendly Colours

While gleaming white walls make your home look sparkling on a good day, they also make your home look old and grimy on a bad day. Your guests will easily and quickly spot fingerprints (and footprints) that happen to grace your home.

Rather than clean your walls every hour on the hour, give yourself a break with colours that hide dirt and smudges. Beige, grey or any other neutral colour will mask fingerprints, while brighter colours such as orange, yellow, and red will attract the eye upward (and away from smudges down below).

3. Choose Rag Rolling or Faux Finish

Solid colours look great with almost any architectural style, but they don’t hide stains or dirt well. Crayon markings or apple sauce smears will stand out against your walls like an arrow in a bullseye.

To keep your guests from spotting smudges several metres away, choose a faux finish for your wall, such as rag rolling or sponging. These techniques not only create a lively atmosphere, but they also camouflage fingerprints much more effectively than solid colours.

And if you can’t scrub away a stubborn stain, simply dab over the affected area rather than repainting the entire wall. The new spot will blend in with the swirling pattern and look intentional rather than desperate.

4. Create a Kid-Friendly Chalkboard

If you know your kids will draw on the walls for a few more years, you may feel as though you have to fight a losing battle. Whatever paint you choose now will only cover up the problem rather than solve it.

Fortunately, you can use this idiom for guidance: “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.”

Don’t hide all your children’s chalk and artistic materials. Instead, let them express their creativity through chalkboard paint. Paint a small section of their bedroom with this unique material, and your little artists can play to their heart’s content without damaging the rest of your house.

If you don’t feel comfortable painting the wall directly, secure a chalkboard to the walk, as close to the floor as possible. That way your children can still decorate without reaching or straining.

Need Additional Tips and Tricks?

These are just a few ways you can make your home look stunning without the extra clean up. For more painting tips and techniques, check our blog regularly. Our painting experts will keep you in the loop on the latest methods for beautifying your home.