Family Homes

There's some cool features for the adults, too.

Smart customizable options to solve a range of organization conundrums.

You likely have all these things lying around — or can get them on the cheap — for a fun Halloween display that will delight the kids.

204 square feet for three.

In honor of baby Cubby's first year, we gathered our favorite stories for you!

Designer Jackie Streusand has created a vintage, earthy, warm, and eclectic home in this rental house.

The coziness is unreal.

This family downsized to an apartment — here are their biggest design takeaways for small-space living.

"Go for it! Have fun! It’s just paint" is officially our motto.

It's a quick afternoon project that the kids can even get in on!

The first step in this process, according to my grandmother, isn’t doing anything to the bathroom itself, it’s all about preparing your person.

Window treatments can make or break a space — especially in kids' rooms. Here's what to look for.

It'll be easy! Promise!

We sourced our pool of experienced parents for the buys that saved them over the years.

My daughter just started school in person for the first time in over a year and I’m feeling like time is flying. I miss her already. What are three things you’re glad you did with yours to make the time count? DelanoDear Delano, My daughter just started school again (didn’t they all?!?!), but she just started high school and now isn’t coming home til after seven at night. On weekends she wants to get out and hang with her friends. She doesn’t need me anymore!

We all need this important life skill, especially with loads of playground time at school!

And why one real estate agent prefers to call it "right-sizing."

They're insanely easy to clean AND they look great. It's a parent's dream!

There's a recently renovated attic bedroom suite, a vintage library card catalog-turned-bathroom vanity, and a basement transformed into a speakeasy/brewery space.

This old-school (literally) find looks cool and vintage in its new space.

My son is super active, which I love, and I was the same way as a boy. I didn’t grow up in a family that read to their kids and I had a hard time reading myself. What’s your recommendation for my 5-year-old? John C.Dear John C., I think I went on too long last week, so I’m not going to do that this week and overload your patience. Let’s great straight to it! I’ve got four books for you and they’re just GREAT and will interest a boy or a girl (I think).

Huge bookcases, candy-colored walls, and a playroom bursting with great storage solutions — we're moving in.

A DIY redo gives this bathroom some much-needed personality.

Unlike other repellers and traps, it won’t put a damper on your dinner.

I saw another kid telling my child that she didn’t want to play with her anymore, and it was really hard to hear. My daughter was devastated. How would you approach this topic with a child?Jo AnnaDear Jo Anna,This is a tough one and I’m just going to fall back on what I learned as a teacher and not try to be a smart parent on this one. I’m rarely a smart parent, but I was a pretty good teacher.

Fall is nearly here, and we have got some brilliant, stylish ideas to upgrade your front porch!

Last year, back-to-school felt more like back-to-schoolish. My younger son was fully remote (so, fully in his pajamas), while the older one started with a hybrid schedule so complicated I needed a whiteboard to attempt to keep track. In survival mode, we missed out on the rituals: the in-person backpack shopping, the running to Staples for one more yellow folder or glue stick.

Bright colors, cute art, fun wallpapers, and whimsical accessories... Lucy Hamilton's home is incredibly happy, colorful, and pretty!

Co-Founder of Wolf + Friends Carissa Tozzi shares this home with husband Dino, their six-year-old son Wolf, and their rescue pup, Pepito.

Amazing what a coat of paint and some fresh drawer knobs can do.

This piece was created for Cubby, our weekly newsletter for families at home. Want more? Sign up here for a weekly splash of fun and good ideas for families with kids. Join us over on Instagram for more! It certainly seems there may be some kind of new normal for the upcoming school year.

My philosophy: get your system together, and let it work for you. Here's how we did it.

It’s safe to say 2020 (and 2021!) is a year we learned a lot more than we ever thought we’d know (or want to know) about disinfecting. From how to do laundry in a pandemic to how to effectively eliminate viruses from household surfaces, we all gained a lot of new wisdom about how to take care of our homes and how to take care of ourselves. And yet, chances are you’re probably still making some mistakes.

If you’ve ever wanted your home to look like a wizard’s common room meets an apothecary meets a Wes Anderson film set, there’s a name for that: It’s called dark academia, and it encompasses incredibly moody, whimsical interiors. (Think: wall-to-wall bookcases, sculptural fireplaces, tufted sofas, collections on display, and dark, dreamy wallpaper.

I always angst over kids using public restrooms while on the road! Do you have any tips? LizzieDear Lizzie,When I saw your question come in I felt really unprepared to deal with it. But since then I’ve had to stop a number of times and take a three year old to the bathroom, and YES it gave me angst at first.

We did a complete transformation ourselves, and our daughter loves it as much as we do!

It’s nearly impossible to renovate every room of your home at once, so some spaces have to wait a little longer than others for a transformation. At Michela Andrioletti’s (@casa_in_newyork) home that she shares with her husband, that space was the entryway. “We put in the first things we could find at the most affordable budget when we moved here five years ago and then we just didn’t have time to fix it,” Michela says.

Name: Geraldine, Trevor, Jojo, and MichaelLocation: North London, UKSize: 2700 square feetType of Home: Victorian terrace houseYears Lived In: 15 years, owned If you’ve been on Instagram for awhile, you’ve probably heard of Little Big Bell. The face behind those pastel-colored squares? That’s Dr. Geraldine Tan, a medical doctor by day and an interior and lifestyle blogger by night.

Mud room organization, but make it really, really stylish. And there's even a ... dog bath?!

Okay, I never thought I would say this, but some 2-in-1 cordless stick vacuums actually make cleaning fun! As a general rule, I used to hate all household chores equally. But there’s something about using these cool devices that doesn’t feel like I’m completing a tedious task. Here’s the best analogy I can think of: If a regular vacuum cleaner is a minivan, the right 2-in-1 cordless stick vac is a sports car.

It’s one thing to renovate a home — which is a lot of work in itself — but revitalizing an entire town? That’s what you call next-level. Ben and Erin Napier, who host HGTV’s “Home Town,” took the task on in their new show “Home Town Takeover,” where they’ve chosen the lucky town of Wetumpka, Alabama, to be the star of the series.

This piece was created for Cubby, our weekly newsletter for families at home. Want more? Sign up here for a weekly splash of fun and good ideas for families with kids. Join us over on Instagram for more! I was caught off guard the first time I was struck with re-emergence anxiety. My oldest and I were about to step into Target for a quick milk-and-eggs pick up when I realized I had forgotten to grab his mask from home. My usually-stocked emergency mask stash was nowhere to be found either.

Now that you’re vaccinated, you might be wondering if you can go back to your old hand sanitizer-free days. Do you still need to wash your hands every time you return home? Do you need to be wiping down surfaces? What, exactly, do we need to keep disinfecting … if anything? This is all further complicated by back-to-school season, where exposure levels are increased all around.We asked a few infectious disease experts — Dr.

It’s not hard to understand the appeal of machine-washable rugs, especially for families. Rather than panicking when you knock over your glass of wine, your kid leaves muddy footprints, or your furry friend has an accident, you can simply throw the rug in your washing machine on the cold setting and go back to enjoying your life. So, the case for buying a washable rug is obvious, but what’s not so obvious is where to buy one.

Out with the green laminate countertops, in with a bright, modern look.

My son is starting school this year — hurrah! He’s a little nervous, so I’m hopeful you have some suggestions on fun back-to-school rituals to get him excited again?AndreaDear Andrea,Nervousness around big changes like this is totally natural and it also means that your son has a healthy regard for what is about to happen.

How busy households set up their entryways!

This piece was created for Cubby, our weekly newsletter for families at home. Want more? Sign up here for a weekly splash of fun and good ideas for families with kids. Join us over on Instagram for more! Last summer, when my daughter learned to read, I wrestled with a laughable yet persistent worry: If left to her own devices, would my then 6-year-old ever venture outside again, comfortable as she was paging through one book after another?

I’ve been finding that I use television as a rescue tool too often for my 5-year-old daughter. Do you have any easy alternatives to cure boredom and/or exhaustion that don’t involve screens?Jo AnnaDear Jo Anna,This is probably the TOUGHEST problem vexing us parents in this day and age.

Name: The Three Amigos (3 year old, and twin 5 year olds) Location: Vancouver, Canada After Melissa snatched up a pretty cute playhouse from Costco, she started dreaming up an adorable upgrade. Life got in the way, as it so often does, so it took awhile for the playhouse to get an upgrade. Combine one weekend, a super creative mom, white paint and elbow grease and you get the kind of playhouse that childhood dreams are made of.

This piece was created for Cubby, our weekly newsletter for families at home. Want more? Sign up here for a weekly splash of fun and good ideas for families with kids. Join us over on Instagram for more! My wife and I live with our three young daughters in a 700-square-foot railroad style apartment in New York City. We enjoy the simplicity of living in a small space and creatively thinking about how to make the most of it.

My husband and I have really different parenting styles: he tends to be really rules-oriented, while I take a less disciplined approach. Do you have any tips on meeting in the middle?BethDear Beth,First of all, I think it’s great that you have different parenting styles and that is a real strength in terms of allowing your kids to experience and understand two different perspectives and approaches to problems that they will one day solve for themselves.

How do we incorporate allowances — and what, if any, alignment should the money have with their chores or other responsibilities? JennyDear Jenny,I have really struggled over this one too, particularly when I’m tired on a Sunday, my daughter hasn’t been the best kid in the world that day, and she says, “You haven’t given me my allowance yet!

This piece was created for Cubby, our weekly newsletter for families at home. Want more? Sign up here for a weekly splash of fun and good ideas for families with kids. Join us over on Instagram for more! Living outside the United States changed me and my family life in both mundane and profound ways. Like many Americans abroad, we adopted local and regional foods, festivals, and language in our new home of Singapore.

This piece was created for Cubby, our weekly newsletter for families at home. Want more? Sign up here for a weekly splash of fun and good ideas for families with kids. Join us over on Instagram for more! My son Luke loves bath time. And after bath, he loves to streak from the tub to his bedroom — with or without his Prince George-inspired bathrobe. This nightly cuteness turned my hallway into a Slip and Slide, and not in a good way.

I need help and ideas on how to get kids involved in helping around the house — especially because we’re all here all the time.Michelle(Hi all! I’m working behind the scenes to get ahead and taking some vacation with my daughter – three of her friends are coming for the weekend this weekend! – so I’m re-running a few of the most READ Q&A’s from the past year. See you in a few weeks!

Going on vacation is supposed to be relaxing and fun. But there is always so much to worry about before you leave — and even while you’re away! You need to check your luggage to make sure you packed everything you meant to. Then when you’re actually on vacation, you are worrying about your house and your pets, hoping that they are being good for the sitter. And how many times have you stressed about turning the stove off before you left the house? Did you turn it off?

This piece was created for Cubby, our weekly newsletter for families at home. Want more? Sign up here for a weekly splash of fun and good ideas for families with kids. Join us over on Instagram for more! Looking to create a resort-like backyard but can’t squeeze an in-ground pool into the plans? Worse yet: maybe your pool options have sold out already. You might want to take a trip down to the local farm supply store to check out their selection of stock tanks.

This piece was created for Cubby, our weekly newsletter for families at home. Want more? Sign up here for a weekly splash of fun and good ideas for families with kids. Join us over on Instagram for more! “Mama, I’ll be able to see my friends’ happy faces again!” my 5-year-old exclaimed when I told him his school planned to instate a mask-optional policy outdoors.

Keeping working from home and virtual learning presents undeniable organizational challenges for parents. Luckily, Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin — the dynamic duo also known as The Home Edit, Instagram’s beloved home organizers — shared their easy, doable tip for helping to keep clutter at bay in shared spaces.The pair dished on how to keep home classrooms and offices well-organized, even if those two spaces are now one and the same.

You often have to get creative with the way you lay out and allocate your square footage in a smaller home. Every nook and cranny counts, and for Ella Hall, founder of Stitchroom, the cluttered problem corner in her bedroom actually became the solution to her home’s lack of space for a dedicated nursery. “When I found out I was pregnant, I knew I needed a spot for the baby, and we have limited space in our Brooklyn apartment,” says Hall.

Amazon Prime Day isn’t the only major sale happening this week. Some of your favorite retailers and brands are getting in on the fun by offering huge savings of their own on home and kitchen essentials, TVs and tech, and large and small appliances. Add Prime Day to an already sale-heavy week, and you’ve got a perfect storm of *epic* deals. To help you find the best stuff fast, we’ve compiled all the competing Prime Day sales here.

This piece was created for Cubby, our weekly newsletter for families at home. Want more? Sign up here for a weekly splash of fun and good ideas for families with kids. Join us over on Instagram for more! Summer camp — it’s downright magical. The memories of sleeping in tents, racing to plunge in cold ponds, and learning to ride horses among towering pine trees are the stuff of novels. And for some reason, those friendship bracelets were more powerful at creating BFFs in IRL.

This piece was created for Cubby, our weekly newsletter for families at home. Want more? Sign up here for a weekly splash of fun and good ideas for families with kids. Join us over on Instagram for more! The day has arrived — a day of unbelievably good deals, especially for parents and caregivers shopping for their kids. Amazon Prime Day kicked off this morning, June 21, and will run through tomorrow, June 22.

This piece was created for Cubby, our weekly newsletter for families at home. Want more? Sign up here for a weekly splash of fun and good ideas for families with kids. Join us over on Instagram for more! When I close my eyes and conjure the best elements of my childhood summers, there’s one beloved activity that bubbles up again and again. No, it’s not the Slip n’ Slide. Or the waterpark (although those are totes fun). It’s fort-building.

We’ve always had a car sickness problem — would love help with that!RobinDear Robin, We’re about to head out to a wedding in Iowa this week, so your question is perfect. With plane travel and a rented car, we’re going to be logging some long travel hours and my daughter, Ursula, regularly dislikes car rides (though she’s never been a thrower-upper).

When we decided to sell our three-bedroom, 2,100-square foot ranch, my husband and I had a few non-negotiables for our next home. We wanted a two-level house and a somewhat open main-floor layout. We’re not fixer-uppers, so a recently renovated kitchen was a must. A fenced-in backyard would be nice, we decided, and so would a finished basement. One thing that wasn’t on our must-have list? More square feet.

This piece was created for Cubby, our weekly newsletter for families at home. Want more? Sign up here for a weekly splash of fun and good ideas for families with kids. Let me paint you a pre-pandemic picture: our family of three is walking through Disney World amidst the swell of a late-summer heat wave. We wait in line for hours to see the gliding princesses and slinking villains, all clad in their (sweaty-looking) costumes.

Cottagecore, the No. 1 decor trend on TikTok for two years running, is marked by its vintage-inspired shabby-chicness. Floral wallpaper, patchwork quilts, doilies, and other whimsical, woodlands-y accessories (think: mushroom decor and dried flowers), which a few years ago you might have only found in a Hobbit hole or a very cute bed and breakfast, are now back in the mainstream — and they can add charming, cozy, comforting vibes to any space.

Name: Brooke Fitts, with my partner, and my 10-year-old daughter. We also live with our two dogs, Marley and Otis.Location: White Center, Seattle Size: 957 square feetType of Home: Two-bedroom, one-bathroom mid-century house Years lived in: 1 year, owned I found my home on Redfin! I had a great real estate agent, but had a clear idea of what I wanted and didn’t want so kept a roving eye on the market.

This piece was created for Cubby, our weekly newsletter for families at home. Want more? Sign up here for a weekly splash of fun and good ideas for families with kids. My couches are my constant. My pair of Room & Board André sofas have seen me through a new apartment, a new husband, a new job, and a newborn. I bought them long before I thought I would be a father. I lived with IKEA as-is finds and furniture dragged in off the street for my first 10 years in Brooklyn.

This piece was created for Cubby, our weekly newsletter for families at home. Want more? Sign up here for a weekly splash of fun and good ideas for families with kids. Piled among the many challenges of parenthood lie those desperate bedtime blues that leave families exhausted and just a bit defeated. Maybe you know what I’m talking about?