For Kids - A Room Of Their Own

       A lot of people these days want to have separate rooms for their children. It is an interesting concept since it inculcates a feeling of independence in the children from the very beginning. If you also share this thinking then this article can be helpful to you. In this article I have given a few pointers that you should keep in mind while decorating your child’s room.

Flooring and painting are the first steps that you should decide on.
For Flooring: Hard wood or wooden laminate flooring, Marble and rubber tiles are good options for your child’s room. Do not use carpeting as in India it is a really bad options for a kids’ room. Carpets are difficult to maintain and can be sheltering dust mites and hence give your child allergies. Area rugs and playmats can make a child’s room safer and more playful.

Rubber tile flooring

I would suggest not to decorate the whole room according to a theme as your child might outgrow the theme and you might still not be ready to redecorate the room. You can have influences from that theme showing in instances. Highlight the theme using accessories like lampshades, curtains, cushions or bedspreads. Also your child will create his or her own theme as they grow up.

Paints: The next step is to decide on paints for the walls. Let us crossover the ‘blue for boys and pink for girls’ threshold. You have to experiment with other colours. Green, dark blue, earthy tones like beige in combination with dark browns can be good choices for boys. For girls, go for pastels like sea green, peach, violet, etc. with flashes of bright colours. For finish, use durable and washable paints. Another good idea is to use stencil borders or painting an image on the wall that your child would not outgrow soon enough.

You can also use IDEAPAINTS, which is “a patent-pending single-coat roller-applied paint that transforms any smooth surface into a high performance dry-erase writing surface.” It is available with Futura Concepts, Dinkar Chellaram(dchellaram@futuraconcepts.net).

Storage is very important for children’s room and is never enough for those toys, clothes and later books. Closed storage as well as open shelves are a must for children’s rooms. Storage can be quite interesting and colourful in a child’s room. Place a wicker basket in a corner for it makes for attractive storage and can be used for keeping the toys and the oddments when a quick cleaning is required. Keep in mind that the furniture and accessories do not have sharp corners and edges. The curtains should not have strings as your child might fancy using it to swing.

Do not over crowd the room with either furniture or accessories. Your child is quite capable of keeping the room looking full with his/her toys and other curios. You can hang the child’s artwork or photographs of the child alone and with various family members on the walls. If possible, place a blackboard for his creative scribbles or a bulletin board so that you can keep the walls neat. Also too many frills can make the room look childish and cluttered.

Do involve your child in various decisions like selecting the room’s colour scheme and choosing furniture. Be experimental and at the same time practical while decorating your child’s room and I am sure you would create a dreamy haven for your little one.

Dining Tables Should Look Like This!

DINING TABLES SHOULD LOOK LIKE THIS!

           And guess what?? Your Dining table can very easily look like this. You need not buy designer, and hence overtly expensive dining tables to have them looking refined and attractive. Just follow some simple steps to make your ordinary dining table look like the ones in the pictures I have shown above.

           The first thing I would like you to do is remove all the stuff from your Dining table. That’s right, ALL THE STUFF, and that means your table covers go as well. Now if your table looks decent without the cover, that means if it is in good shape and without visible scratches and marks, and also if you do not have toddlers in your house then I would tell you to get rid of the Table Cover. But if you find your table unsuitable to be without a cover then do use a Dining table cover but it has to be in a single colour depending on the colour scheme of the room. DO NOT GET TABLE COVERS IN PRINTS.
           The next step is to follow the principles of Minimalism. ‘Less is More’ is so true in this case. Get a nice vase with some flowers or attractive candles as centre pieces for your table. Some other Accessories, though totally optional, for your Dining table would be a chic napkin holder and a set of salt and pepper cellar. You can also use a cloth runner for adding character to your Dining table. Some examples for these Accessories are shown in the following pictures.

          After you are done with these steps, I would advise you to stop right there. No more stuff on the Dining table. Accessories like toothpick holder, coasters, cutlery stand, placemats, etc. can be placed inside your crockery cabinet (or storage of the dining table) and can be taken out when required. Hence these accessories need not be permanent fixtures on the Dining table. You can also have an interesting ceiling-mounted lamp above your Dining table for a luxurious feeling.

           Another thing you need to remember is the most important rule for maintaining the sophisticated look of your Dining table. The word ‘Replace’ says it all. There are so many attractive things in the market that you want for your Dining table. Do buy them if you want to, but before placing it on the Dining table remove one thing that was already on it. If it’s a centre piece then remove the previous one. That’s easy to do and keeps your Dream Dining table clutter free.
           Remember to follow these simple steps and I am sure you will ‘Dine in style’ every time.