YOUR first consideration should be what materials you will use. At first, it may be cute to create a room that will be a nursery for the new baby. This room will usually consist of pale pastel colours and delicate lacey fabrics.

But what happens as the baby grows older, and becomes a toddler? Suddenly, those pastel colours of pink, blue, yellow and green and delicate fabrics of silky cottons may no longer be practical.

When designing a room for that little one, a certain amount of thinking and planning is required. This means whatever you bring into the room must be easy to care for — washable and durable, and can be easily changed as the child grows older and his/her tastes changes. Some teenagers will not want the frilly curtains, or pastel bedspread.

Storage is another factor to be considered. Babies grow out of their clothes, so you end up accumulating clothes, shoes and accessories. Storing these items can present an ever growing problem. Ask yourself: How much closet space is available in the room? How much closet space is going to be required? Is the room big enough to house a child’s toy box? Will the room easily be able to incorporate built-ins, and if so, where will these go in the room?

Wall shelving that can be adjusted in height offers great flexibility in terms of storage. Here again, space is easily provided for items that will range from large children books, stuffed toys, and then later on for school books, CDs, stereo equipment, computer paraphernalia, collectibles, or whatever hobby the child or teenager may be involved in at the time.

Hardwood or even vinyl floors are best as far as keeping a child’s room neat and clean. Also go for non-skid rugs that can be easily washed, instead of having wall-to-wall carpeting. Once the carpet gets stained, it will be difficult to keep it looking nice. And various cleaning agents may actually prove harmful to a child, especially a child with a serious allergy problem. Besides, carpets hold on to dust mites which again can aggravate or even trigger an allergic reaction in a child.

Regarding window treatments, curtains, consider easy-to-clean materials. Dangling cords from blinds may pose a danger, even though safety devices are available for these cords. You might be safer just using curtains.

Furniture painted in a lighter colour can later be changed to a darker or bright colour. Consequently, the same bureau can be used as the child gets older. Also, furniture that is easy to clean, such as the ones that have laminated tops are a good choice for any child’s room.

Painting the walls one colour, then using pre-cut stencils is one more way to decorate a child’s room inexpensively, yet again easy enough to be changed later on to meet the child’s changing tastes.

With a little bit of planning ahead, this will ensure that the room is versatile enough to meet a child’s ever changing preferences.
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