Sophie Donelson is a design expert who has been featured on The Today Show, Good Morning America and Open. She is also the author of the best-selling book Style Secrets: What Every Room Needs. In this virtual event, she shares tips for designing a holiday rental for families.
Webinar: Designing for families
Top five takeaways
- Good sleep recipe: clean linen, bedside table, bedside lamp and nightlights, blackout curtains, shades or shutters, good mattress, fan or air conditioner
- White bed sheets and towels are, in fact, better. They can freshen up a space. Guests are conditioned to think clean and bleach when they see white linen, so just go with it!
- Ideas for a happy house: a striped ceiling, a pastel-coloured front door, freezer full of local ice cream, ready-to-roast marshmallos kit, books, bikes, hammock, record player
- Child-proofing upgrades: baby gates, plug covers, secure or tape loose cords, secure heavy furniture to walls (TV stands, bookcases, etc.), safety latches where household cleaning supplies are stored
- Make your home inclusive: No threshold or barrier-free entry, 36 inch or 91 cm wide doorways and halls, small tiles with ample grout in the bathroom, side-by-side fridge and freezer and low storage in the kitchen, kitchen counters 34 inches or 86 cm from the floor
Bonus takeaway: Children are obsessed with other people's toys! Keep them in your rental and feature them in your listing photos. Open-ended imagination toys are best, so consider doll's houses, play kitchens, blocks, puzzles and train sets.
There's this idea that we're designing for the average person, but the truth is there is no average person; there are people with all different abilities and all different mobility needs and all different ages. Instead of thinking about what is average, actually think through a toddler, through somebody that is elderly and everyone in between with varying abilities.
Sophie Donelson, Design Expert
