Decorating a child's room can be great fun and with a little imagination, you can have rooms that are not only pretty but very practical.

How fast does your baby grow? Any parent will answer "too fast" and this applies to the practical side as well as the emotional, far too soon has baby outgrown their baby clothes and crib. Clothes can always be handed down to a younger family member or friend, but a room must grow with the child...and it often becomes a room shared by two.

If planned with care, your child's room can be transformed from nursery to toddler's room right up to a teenage boys hideout with a minimum of work and expense. Other than the crib, most of the furniture from your child's room can be retained. A few extra pieces of furniture, a new color on the walls, an area rug, imaginative accessories and the room grows with the child.

When decorating a child's room, it is important to keep it simple and easy to clean. Paint walls in bright colors that will appeal to your child. Most important of all, put down a hard wearing, easy to clean vinyl floor. Curtains should be light and airy with a simple shade to dim the room. Hopefully the chests and tables, chairs or bookshelves from younger days will still be suitable for many years to come.

A child's room should be decorated so that it grows with the child. You should be able to make changes as he/she gets older. Floor and wall coverings should be chosen with wear ability in mind.

Teen-Age Rooms

Teenage living in the middle of a family can pose many problems, particularly if overall space in the home is small. Yet all teenagers want a degree of privacy, including a room of their own, in which they can pursue their activities, to study and to entertain friends.

The solution to this is to furnish a teenagers bedroom as a studio or den bedroom that works during the day and serves these purposes. For instance, a studio bed works as a sofa during the day, looks even better if it is fitted into an alcove; wall hung shelves and cabinets hold books, computer and home entertainment accessories.

Decorating a teenager's room can be fun for all concerned. Once the shell of the room and basic furniture have been planned, let the teenage occupant of the room add the finishing touches. Imaginative teenagers have specific notions of what they want and ingenious ways of displaying their possessions.