Practically Perfect

Ingeniows design tricksiturn thig\Jacksonville, Florida, homefintoia kid-friendly neighborhood gem.

- Carisha Swanson

Cheetos and chili seem like a weird starting point.

But designer Andrew Howard's dream was to have a welcoming home for his family of four-and all his kids' friends-where bright-orange fingers would not incite panic. "I wanted the neighborhood hangout house, where nothing was off-limits," he says. "I can be the cool dad and still have a great-looking house." So, how did he marry pretty and practical for that open-door policy? He went all in on durable and cleanable everything: scuff-proof paint, vinyl flooring, outdoor furnishings, sisal rugs ("They can handle foot traffic"), and wipeable wallcoverings.

A perfect example: the stairwell. Admittedly nostalgic, Howard wanted to fill it with sentimental images and photographs, but says, "You can't do that when you have kids under 18 dragging their hands on both sides of the wall." Instead, he commissioned a local artist to create a botanical motif directly on the staircase with an impenetrable varnish and had the banister painted in an equally easy-to-clean high-gloss finish. Now his "gallery wall" always looks perfect.

These "life-resistant" finishes appear in many rooms, including the blue-and-white kitchen, with its varnished island and large-scale wallcovering. Designed and painted with chip-resistant Scuff-X, by Benjamin Moore, the checkered walls will always look pristine (even if the boys opt to use them as a napkin).

The furnishings throughout the house needed to be just as durable, so upholstered pieces designed for the outdoors came indoors, and fabrics that weren't kid-proof were coated to withstand spills from anyone. After all, it was Howard's wife who knocked over that first bowl of chili (but it cleaned right up). Crisis averted.

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