Don't you love it! You finally get the house you want. A nice big living room with the decor and furniture you want. All the little knick-knacks and collectible stuff all arranged to your liking. Next thing you know...

You have kids! And they will get into everything. What decor once worked for your home just may be extremely hazardous for small children.

Not to worry though, armed with these simple tips you can make sure your living room decor is much safer for and even from children.

Walkways and Traffic Patterns

One of the most dangerous things that can happen is a child getting underfoot. Stepping on a child is bad enough but loosing your balance and falling on a child can be worse.

Take a look at your traffic pattern in your living room. Sketch our your living room on a piece of paper if you have to. Be sure to add the decor and doorways and take different colors and sketch each of the MAJOR traffic walkways.

Take notice of where your children sit and play most frequently. For example: Do they sit in front of the TV or in the corner somewhere?

Draw circles around the major play areas which is the area + 2 feet around where a child usually sits and plays. Next widen your circle a bit for a "wandering" area (usually 4-5 feet from play center). This is an area where children usually will wander around while they are playing.

Next look at your sketch. Determine the major pathways of foot traffic. The rule of thumb is the quickest route between doorways and major seating tends to be the path most traveled.

Now look at the relationship of foot traffic and the play area. You do not want any foot traffic pathways to cross in the the major play areas. You can have foot traffic in wandering areas but try to make sure it is light traffic with a single path.

If you need to adjust the furniture, that is fine. Just remember that paths will change.

Coffee Tables - End Tables - Entertainment Centers

Another living room decorating hazard is furniture. With furniture you must make sure each piece does not have any sharp edges or pointy corners or that it can break easily such as glass. You should also test each piece so that it does not tip over easily.

Couches - Footstools - Recliners

When old enough, kids love to try and get themselves up on chairs and couches. This can be dangerous because they can easily roll or even bounce right off of them.

Footstools usually are not quite as high as couches and chairs but still can be a hazard. Little children often have poor balance when seated. It does not take much before them to tip over. Often times just a turn of their head can make them fall. Since footstools have no backs or armrests for boundaries, once a fall starts there is nothing stopping them from hitting the floor.

Keep in mind that low footstools will sooner or later be used as a ladder to higher furniture. As soon as a child can pull themselves up to their feet, get rid of the footstool. Cover it and put it out in the garage until the child gets a bit older.

When your living room decor includes a recliner, watch out! Since they have moving parts it is a hazard. Little ones crawling around may get finger or even heads lodged and crushed underneath.

You should remove the chair from the room and replace it with a solid stable chair from another room if you can. Usually this will be temporary so don't worry. It is better to be safe than sorry.

Knick-knacks

Everyone loves knick-knacks. But many times they are a decorating hazard in a room with small children. For the most part they are breakable and contain small parts.

Anyone with kids knows that once a knick-knack is spotted by a child, he or she will try to get it and keep trying day in and day out.

It is suggested to put them all away. Yes it may make for a bare room, but you are doing yourself, your child, and your knick-knack a favor. Remember, it is only temporary!

Picture and Frames

Pictures that stand on tables where they can be reached by little hands should be removed.

The bad thing is picture frames usually has a glass face. When broken you can imagine how dangerous that can become. Even at that some pictures cannot easily replaced. So protect those memories.

Table Lamps - Super Decor Hazard.

While table lamps may be required in a darker room, they are so very dangerous in a room with small children.

First, table lamps tend to be heavy. Do anything you can too keep it secured in one spot. The last thing you want is for a child to pull it right off the table and it land on him or her.

Second, table lamps usually are made of glass, ceramic, and even contain a glass light. Imagine a lamp getting shattered on the floor and how a child can get severely injured from the pieces!

Third, table lamps use electricity! Since a lamp uses electricity it has an electrical chord. If a child were to get to this cord they could bite into it, choke, or hang themselves with it. If they can get to the plug in they may pull the plug out far enough and stick their finger in between the prongs.

Hardwood Floors

Hardwood floors may look lovely but have you seen a child fall and hit their head on one?

A special play mat or rug is especially helpful on living rooms with hardwood floors. Many times they can soften the fall of a child where they would have been seriously hurt falling on the hardwood floor. What is also nice about them is that you can easily roll them up and hide them when company comes!

These mats and should be padded, comfortable, and soft yet not interfere with toy playing. The mat should have a non-slip coating on the bottom so it does not slide around when stepped on. If it doesn't have a non-slip coating on the bottom you can place a non-slip piece of material to apply between the floor and the mat.

Teach a child not to run on the mat. Even if the is a non-slip coating or material it still may slide given enough pressure. You don't want a child to run and it gives under their feet.

Another use of a mat is in front of the TV were older children usually sit and watch. If your children sit too close to the TV you can place a mat at a safe distance. Instruct that if there is any TV watching you must not be any closer than the mat. If they do get closer let them know that you will turn the TV off.