This summer I teamed up with Safety 1st, whose products I’ve been using for years to help create safe spaces in my home for my kids, to give a very special gift to one of our military heroes.
We headed to South Carolina, for a Designing Spaces Military Makeover for the Lunt family.
When Stephen Lunt was deployed to Afghanistan, he was forced to fight an insurgent in hand-to-hand combat. During the fight, the insurgent took a pickaxe to Stephen’s head which caused a great amount of internal damage, resulted in multiple surgeries and the removal of parts of his brain, and a long and painful recovery.
Through Operation Homefront the Lunt family was provided a beautiful townhome and the team from Designing Spaces gave it an amazing makeover.
I love all makeover shows and it was fun and exciting to be in the middle of a real life, less than a week home makeover.
Ashley and Stephen have a baby boy, and Safety 1st wanted make sure he had plenty of safe spaces in their newly remodeled townhouse. We spent a hot summer day helping install safety gates, magnetic cabinet locks, corner guards and more.
After seven kids you would think I knew everything about creating safe spaces, but spending a few days with the Safety 1st team taught me a ton!
The most important thing I learned from this trip, nothing can replace parental supervision. Child safety devices are awesome and they make our job as parents so much easier, but keeping an eye on your kids works best, every single time.
Thankfully my friends at Safety 1st have tons of great products and tips to help mitigate potential hazards in your home. I’m excited to share some of the things I learned with you.
No Cost/ Low Cost Ways to Safeguard Your Home
Store harmful cleaners and chemicals out of your child’s reach.
Cleaners stored under the kitchen or laundry room sink might be easy to reach for you, but they are also easy to reach for your kids. Store them up high in a locked cabinet or closet that is inaccessible to your child.
Cost: Free!
Remove things like towels, dish rags, or potholders from the oven handle.
This is one I was doing for years, it is convenient to wipe your hands on a towel but a child could grab the child and accidentally open the oven.
Cost: Free!
Front oven lock: Under $5
Store sharp objects out of reach.
Does anyone keep their blender or food processor in a lower cabinet? I know I did! Certain kitchen tools have very sharp blades and can injure your child.
Store sharp objects up high and out of reach. Let the kids play with the plastic containers, you’ve probably already lost the lids anyway!
Cost: $0
Wires and electrical outlets should be covered or hidden.
Tuck cords and wires out of reach in living areas and bedrooms. Depending on your furniture you can keep wires out of site or use a wire hider or cord shortener to keep the in view cords safely away from curious fingers.
Cost: $0-$5
Secure furniture to the wall.
As you know, I don’t buy a lot of new furniture, but when I do, many of the pieces come with a furniture wall mount. This is critical in a house with small children.
If you don’t have furniture mounts you can purchase furniture wall straps which attach securely to a stud in your wall and keep your furniture from tipping.
Kids are curious and they will climb on furniture! Take appropriate precautions to keep them safe!
Cost: Under $5
Keep kids in child friendly areas.
If you have an extra curious toddler there is really no substitute for supervised safe spaces. You can use gates, high door latches, and door knob covers to keep them in a child friendly area.
Children do not need to be left alone in places like bathrooms, garages, and kitchens which are a filled with potential hazards.
Safety gates are available for under $50 and are a great investment. My gates lasted for years and we are still using them to keep the dog out of certain areas of the house.
The nice thing about gates, door knob covers, and outlet covers is that they are portable, so if you are traveling this month you can take them with you and create safe spaces no matter where you go.
Cost: Under $50
As you can see, creating safe spaces for your children is really about looking at the house from their perspective. This might mean crawling around on your hands and knees to find potential dangers that could otherwise go unnoticed.
You can also watch the awesome Military Makeover that was done for the Lunt family and see their reaction to the big reveal!
Leave a Reply