If you are decorating a kids room its easy to forget the fine line between play and sleep! The way you end up decorating the kids room is largely up to you and of course dependent on the sex of the children that will inhabit it, but whatever the size, style and intention of the room, here are our top 5 tips to help you along.

1.) Colors

Colors a great in kids rooms, but be warned! Colors affect mood, and with some colors, less is more. If you want your children to be hyperactive and full of energy, then go for oranges which are well known to stimulate and wake up anyone who sits in a room with orange in it. Orange aside, colors can be bright, but mixed with white in order to restore some form of energy balance, so your children can sleep. Cartoons, murals and other wall art work well in kids rooms but should be limited to sections or corners to prevent overstimulation at bedtime. If the room is too meek, and pale or dark then you are likely to get more night terrors as there is too much blank space for your child’s mind to experiment with. Any area where your children will be sleeping should be kept calm and separate from the rest of the room so that you children can switch off and wind down at bedtime.

2.) Furniture

The children’s furniture you choose should be based on how easy and accessible it is for your children (or how accessible you want it to be!) rather than aesthetics alone. As pretty as certain children’s furniture sets can be, they will quickly annoy you if you are constantly being summoned by your children for them to get access to the things they want or need.

3.) Lighting

Lighting is an essential part of any room, and even more so in a kids room. Nightlights in the form of glow in the dark plugins will keep your little ones comforted during the nighttime. Dimmer switches are good if your children are very small and prefer a greater degree of light and you will be grateful for them when you have to check in on the kids in the middle of the evening without blasting them with full force light. Plenty of natural light is good, so make good use of any windows and natural light areas to give the kids a good boost of vitamin D at every opportunity, and lighting hire displays in the form of starlights that sing and make light shows can also be incredibly comforting for little people.

4.) Storage

When you are decorating a kids room, think about storage very carefully. Not only will the room have to transform from play area to sleep area many times over the course of a single day, it will also have to keep many things in tidy and working order. Any items of furniture that come with drawers, units and boxes are excellent for kids rooms, as are shelves and cabinets that will allow you to put the mess away easily, only to start again the day after!

5.) Handles, corners and other sharps

Your children will fall over, bang their heads and injure themselves more times than you can count no matter how diligent you are with sharp edges and corners, however wherever you can: think about the heights of handles, and the edges of boxes, cupboards and drawers. Its quite amazing how easily children can transform a safe environment into a danger zone because of badly thought out dcor.