do any of you manage to have a nicely decorated house?

[Jimjams]

Just wondering!

I've had to remove the bathroom lock today (ds1 fiddling with it a lot recently)- left a nasty green stain to deal with and holes in the door. Had to remove the lock on the other bathroom ages ago. Our stairs have really nice original ornate pannelling- covered with strong cardboard as ds1 tries to climb through it. Am going to have to do something with the windows in ds2's room as ds1 climbs onto them all the time. We're gradually (very gradually) trying to do up the house but half the time I feel like what's the point as it'll only get trashed.

DS1 hasn't been too destructive up to now but he is getting curious and so more destructve. Last week he threw a picture down the stairs - glass smashed everywhere and dh wanted to remove all the pictures (I said no- and that phase does seem to have passed for the moment).

Now he can reach loads of places and has the nonce to move furniture if he wants to climb- I feel like safety and autism are taking over the house.

Does it get better? Do any of you manage to combine autism friendly with nice house?

s'ok mrsF my friend's 7 year old stips their wallpaper and draws all over it (she's very artistic too). She also managed to find an ink pad (friend had no idea what it was even doing in the house) and make inky footprints (deliberately) all over the new carpet. Oh the joys of autism.

we also have a black sofa. looked lovely when dh picked it out 3yrs ago. now its just a black canvas for yogurt and milk spills, pus when dd2 projectile vomits it always get the sofa and no matter what the marks wont come out. dh wont let me replace it when a lovely wipeable leather one tho. i keep telling him it would be better for the girls skin and also my state of mind to have a clean sofa but still its a no.

right i'm off to paint babies rom with with low ordour paint so dd1 will be able to breathe ok.

Dh said this morning, 'blimey, our radiators really do look grubby, don't they? Think I need to re-pain them' (and being dh, that means me having both kids whilst he goes into DIY mode, not that I'm bitter or anything).

DD excelled herself this morning by pouring juice over the TV

We have cushion-flippers here too. I've lost count of the number of times I've had to sit on the cushions while they're on the floor while ds1 and 2 obsess about playing on the frame of the sofa. Then of course the smaller cushions get hurled across the room everytime ds2 goes into throwing-mode.

I'm sitting here looking at an interesting piece of gravy artwork that ds2 produced on the door last night. Dh thinks it looks like "The Scream" (appropriate in this household!) but I think he's reading just a little too much into it.

i hate even opening our front room curtains as then passers by can SEE as well as HEAR the riot going on.
sometimes i don't even notice it....i kind of 'tune out' and then i walk in the front room asnd Alex(5) is sat in the windowsill....face pressed up on the glass and he is usually licking the window.......and leigh is usually lead on the floor on his pillow/blanket from his bed....at home he takes them everywhere.....and then theres thomas on the PC in the corner totally oblivious to Alex at his side licking windows.

Honestly.....i don't know what people think as they go by!!!

Ds had the cushion flipping phase last year then suddenly stopped. Now he likes to climb on the back of the sofa so that it is now a squishy lump. And I only got it last year (sob)He's also ruined my electric blanket by bouncing on the bed.
We've got bookcases etc bolted to the walls as he uses them like ladders, every high surface cluttered with objects 'put out of reach' (not for much longer!) and you can't move here for safety gates. Ds is still in a cot-bed as there isn't room for two singles and my poor heart couldn't take the strain of having a bunkbed!

Oh and I sympathise about the videos, none of ours have cases either. This is because ds has a compulsion to slide his hands inside the plastic sleeves so they eventually all tear off and the cases get split. He likes the sensation of having his hands squeezed.

Thank goodness he hasn't touched the wallpaper!