We moved into the house we currently live in when I was about 7 months pregnant, from a furnished one-bedroom flat. So we had to get a fair bit of furniture and soft furnishings all in one go. Looking back now though I’m quite pleased that we had to do it on a budget so didn’t splash out on anything too expensive.
Our sofa is second hand and while I love it, I’m not too precious about it and don’t mind if things get spilt on it now and then. I’ve just sort of embraced the fact that this is how life is at the moment. This is the stage in life where it just doesn’t make sense to have too many ‘nice things’.
In the future though, I would love to have walls perfectly painted in Farrow and Ball and a whole house furnished with gorgeous pieces from Cox and Cox. To be honest, I would just love to buy things for the house because I love them, not because they’re practical.
For now though, it’s cheap and cheerful all the way so I don’t get too upset if things get ruined by spills and artistic creativity. I think most parents at one point or another have said these words, this is why we can’t have nice things.
I really don’t want to jinx myself here but I think we’ve got off quite lightly over the years.
Our children have been pretty good about not drawing on walls or covering furniture in stickers. We have had some accidents though, like the time I let Nerys draw while sitting on the sofa and she managed to get a nice line of black pen on the cushion.
Easily fixed by just turning the cushion over luckily.
I asked some of my parenting blogger friends for their experiences though and oh my word some of them give a whole new meaning to the phrase ‘this is why we can’t have nice things’:
Victoria from Lylia Rose
“The one that sticks in my memory the most is when my daughter came into the living room with a red patio chalk and drew a thick red chalk line all over our two sofas! I had been contemplating upgrading our sofas, but I’ll think I’ll wait until the kids are older.”
Jen from Just Average Jen
“Walls….my son has covered them in everything over the years but worst had to be permanent marker! Incidentally milk gets it off fabrics and hair spray off walls but wallpaper there’s no hope!”
Kate from Kate on Thin Ice
“2-3 year old son was quiet so I took full advantage and then got suspicious and went in lounge to see a life-sized dinosaur drawing over all my lovely walls. Day before landlord was coming to inspect the house too. So stressful – could never keep house clean and tidy with small children. Really let it get to me too convinced it meant I was the worst mum in the world.”
Chloe from Indigo Wilderness
“I treated myself to a gorgeous pair of heels a few years ago, so proud I was to have an occasion to wear something gorgeous I went upstairs to plan my outfit around my brand new, expensive shoes only to find my 2yo & 5yo “colouring in the patterns”
Eva from Captain Bobcat
“Oh everything! Basically we can’t have nice things at all. My husband painted the wall a few month ago with washable paint. 3 days later the children drew on it with ballpoint pen. That’s not coming off with anything. We put up nice stickers in their room on the same occasion on the freshly painted wall. They peeled off the stickers and with that the glossy paint…”
“Also, my son wanted to rearrange 5 quite expensive antique children’s book illustrations (we purchased them for the nursery before he was born, so really we had NO idea before the first child!) in his room the other day, dropped two and broke the glass in the frame. Nothing’s safe, not even on the walls”
Emma from Fashion Mommy
“My son was playing ‘mender man’ and smashed his wooden hammer on the TV screen. Needless to say we needed a new telly.”
I think it’s safe to say that most parents will agree that as a general rule it’s just not worth having lovely, expensive things when there are small children in the house!
One day though, things will be different.
Our walls will be free from scribbles (and drawings of dinosaurs) and sticky fingerprints. Our sofas will be safe from chalk and pen marks. Our picture frames and TV screens won’t be in danger of being smashed by well-meaning toddlers.
Things will be clean and calm and in one piece.
I wonder then, will we miss the chaos of this life stage, just a little bit?
Disclaimer: this is a collaborative post