And then when I saw it I thought, Oh, this is actually going to be quite hard to live with.' So, Hicks laughs, 'the graffiti ended up getting repainted.' Tip: Stick to repaint-able surfacesĪnd that's an important lesson, too: So long as the art is on a surface you could technically paint over, it's never really permanent, an important consideration for parents wondering how much freedom to give their kids.

'And at first I thought this sounds really cool. 'I've got four boys, two of them share a room, and some years ago when they were younger, they had the brilliant idea that they were going to graffiti all over the desk,' she recalls. It was a more successful project, the designer admits, than some that have taken over her creative household. She started painting on her own, and that was it.' With that as a guideline, Domino went to work: 'She drew it out completely on her own,' Hicks says. 'I'm probably not going to let her paint my sitting room, but her own door is perfectly fine,' quips Hicks. Hicks notes that she set some boundaries: 'I did say, 'Why don't we focus it into one area,' because I know these projects can get bigger and take longer than we imagine.' Plus, not only does setting a (literal) parameter discourage too much freedom of expression in certain areas, but it gives children ownership of their own spaces.

So when she says, 'I'm going to do a project,' I kind of trust her,' says mom.

I mean, she was the best assistant I ever had. 'My view, basically, whether you're in quarantine or not, is that kids drawing on the walls is fantastic-at a certain age,' she tells House Beautiful.Īs for her daughter? 'She's 12, she's pretty together, she's incredibly organized. But, for any parents out there wondering if they should leave their children alone with paints and pens and the home as their canvas, Hicks has some thoughts. 'She said, 'I want to paint cow print all over my room.' And clearly, her mother obliged. 'It was totally her idea,' Hicks says of her daughter.

Child drawing of house