Room for Improvement: Child-Proof Living Room

WSVN -- Martin Amado: "On today's Room for Improvement we're helping a young mom decorate her living room, coming up with a design that's safe for kids without compromising style for the parents."

Martin Amado: "Room for Improvement. Hello, good morning. The entire family is here. I love that. Ready for today?"

Vanessa: "Absolutely."

Martin Amado: "What's your name?

Blake: "Blake."

Martin Amado: "And your little brother?"

Blake: "Andrew."

Martin Amado: "Andrew, very well. So what is the challenge with the decorating of your living room right now?"

Vanessa: "Well, right now, for the most part, it's pretty empty, and we have a lot of sharp edges and things for the baby."

Martin Amado: "So we have a couple of challenges with the living room right now. We have no seating, and the kitchen is in plain sight. So let's reclaim space back from the kids for the entire family to enjoy."

Martin Amado: "As you can see, Vanessa loves taking pictures of her family, and she needs additional storage for all the photo albums, so I think I have just the perfect thing coming up for her."

DESIGN DILEMMA:

"Here's a tip: for a more professional look, curtain panels should always touch the floor, so let's go ahead and fix this decorating dilemma for Vanessa."

SMALL WONDER:

Martin Amado: "So, when you go to the furniture store sometimes you'll feel obligated to buy all the matching pieces that come with the set. 

But if you mix things up a bit, in this case an accent chair made out of wicker, it just creates your own personal style in your home."

DESIGN DIRECTION:

And now let's separate the kitchen from the living area a bit more, and we're actually going to do that with simple curtains."

Martin Amado: "So while Vanessa is cooking she can still supervise her kids playing here in the living room, but if she's entertaining family and friends, she can easily just close off the kitchen."

Martin Amado: "Now we have a coffee table, we have additional seating, plus storage for Vanessa and her photo albums and, at the same time, we have no sharp corners for the kids."

Martin Amado: "So the final touch is a simple basket to keep all the children's books organized and accessible to them. I Hope Vanessa likes it."

Martin Amado: "This morning the living room was a huge playground for the kids. By adding furniture that is multi-functional and has no sharp edges, we now created a space with a defined purpose for the entire family, all for under $1,000."

Martin Amado: "One, two, three open your eyes, guys."

Martin Amado: "You're going to help your mom keep it organized and neat."

Martin Amado: "What draws your attention the most here?"

Vanessa: "I love the red. It looks like I can put him down, and we don't have to worry about the edges."

Vanessa: "I love it."

Martin Amado: "From Vanessa's house, Blake's house to Andrew's house, this is another Room for Improvement. We'll see you next time."

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Contact: room@wsvn.com  
Miami-Dade: 305-576-HOME
Broward: 954-962-HOME
Martin Amado's Website: http://www.martinamado.com/