Most people think that getting their house ready for kids is as simple as creating a nursery. While it’s true that you will need to take some time to get your baby’s new room all ready, there are also a few other aspects of your home that you will need to sort out. All of this preparation is key in turning your house into a comfortable family home. Not sure how to get your house ready for kids? Here are some things that you will need to do before your first little bundle of joy arrives!

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Don’t Forget The Changing Station

Okay, so you new baby’s nursery is all ready! It’s got a crib, cute decor, and a good selection of toys. But have you also remembered to add a changing station in there? This small area is a dedicated place where you can change the baby’s nappies. Most parents forget about adding one to their nursery, which is unfortunate as it can quickly become the most important part of the entire room. To prepare your changing station, you can add either a changing table or mat. Make sure you have opened nappies and wipes close by at all times as well. When you are changing your baby, there will be a lot of mess and having all your cleaning materials opened and ready to go will be a godsend! So make sure you aren’t completely focused on your baby’s sleeping arrangements; you also need to change them too, remember!

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Pack The Freezer

This point is most important for the first few months of your baby, but if you remember to keep your freezer well stocked while you have children, it can really help you out when you have little time to prepare meals! Be sure to pack your freezer with lots of portions of meals such as lasagnes and stews. That way, you can simply take out as many portions as you need for dinner, defrost them, and reheat. You will have little time to prepare freshly home-cooked meals once the baby arrives, but stocking your freezer can help you stick to a healthy diet and not have to rely on ready meals all the time!

Create A Child-Friendly Garden

When you are trying to make your house into a family friendly home, it is also important to head out into the garden and make sure that it is safe for children. One of the main things to do is to make sure there are no poisonous plants out there. Young children will be exploring every inch of the garden once they are able to walk. To make sure they don’t put anything poisonous in their mouth while your back is turned, de-weed your garden and only add safe plants. If there are any water features or ponds in your garden, you should cover these with a net so that your kids won’t fall into them. It is also a good idea to dig up any hard flooring, such as stone patios or wooden decking. These could be dangerous if your kids are running around on them, so it’s worth replacing them with soft lawn. If your kids fall over on a lawn, they won’t hurt themselves quite so much!

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Safeguard Your Kitchen

Imagine momentarily leaving your toddler in the kitchen for a brief minute and returning to find they’ve emptied out all the lower-level cupboards and spread cereal all over the floor. This may sound like a complete nightmare, but it very often turns into reality. I’m sure that most parents have had to clean up after their kids have made a major mess in their kitchen! Thankfully, there is one way you can prevent this from happening. You just need to make sure your kitchen is fully childproof. And one of the best ways of doing so is equipping all the cupboards and drawers that are within reach with childproof locks. You can find these in most baby stores as well as online.

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Rid Your Home Of Pests

All parents want their home to be as clean as possible. A clean house is one that is free from any germs and bad bacteria that can cause various infections and illnesses. There is one main sign that your house may not be quite as clean as you want it to be. And that is if there are signs of pests or vermin living on the property. For example, if you find some rat or mouse droppings somewhere in your house, you might have a vermin problem that you need to deal with. Similarly, you could find signs in your kitchen of an ant infestation. Don’t panic if you think you do have some unwelcome housemates living with you; you can always call in a pest exterminator. You can find the contact details of your nearest exterminator online on their website.

Find More Storage Space

Think you and your partner already have a lot of things? Well, you can expect that to almost double once the baby arrives! Even though your baby will be tiny, they will need a lot of things! Most parents buy lots of clothes in various sizes. This is because babies grow so quickly, so it is very useful having plenty of spare clothes ready for them to wear once they grow. Because of this, you will need to have a lot of storage in your house for your kids. You can, of course, add lots of cupboards and chests of drawers to the nursery. But it is also a good idea adding some storage elsewhere. For instance, you could invest in beds that have drawers in the base. If you need to buy some more furniture for storage, you can always find it fairly cheaply on sites such as eBay and Craigslist.

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Add Some Color

These days, most of the big interior styles and trends are all about very chic decor choices. For instance, the most popular color shades at the minute are cool silvers and bright creams. These sure do look great, but they aren’t exactly the most child-friendly colors. Once you have kids in your house, you will want it to be as bright as possible for them, and the best way of doing that is adding some color to your decor. You can still do this with a stylish interior design that is based on silvers and creams, though. You just need to add colorful pieces of furniture and artwork. These great injections of color will really help to make your house feel like a cozy family home!

Smooth Your Edges

One of the main causes of accidents around the home for children is sharp edges and corners. You will find that toddlers will walk around without really looking where they are going, and could end up knocking into the edges of tables and shelves. If these edges are particularly straight, they could end up feeling very sharp. To make sure your kids don’t hurt themselves too much, it could be worth smoothing the edges slightly with some sandpaper. Alternatively, you could always treat yourself to some new, round-edged furniture!

As you can see, getting your house ready for the arrival of children requires quite a bit of work on your part. But it will all be very worth it in the end! It will help your home feel a lot more comfortable than it once was, and you and your family will be very happy indeed! So what are you waiting for?

It’s sometimes hard to know what to get for your daughter’s birthday. No matter what age she is, kids’ interests are always changing and it’s difficult to know what to get. Why not try out a brand new room decoration for her next gift? Here are some tips on how to do it…

Talk To Her First

Make sure that you communicate clearly with her about what she’d like from her new bedroom. Think about what exactly she uses her bedroom for – if she likes drawing and writing stories, then make sure she has a well-lit desk area. If your family pet sleeps in her room, make sure there’s space for its bed. Talk to her about what exactly she wants to make sure that’s what she gets.

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Use It As A Bonding Experience

If you’re planning her room together, you can use it as a bonding experience. Take her out so you can choose paint colours and look at wallpaper samples together, and make a day of it by going out to lunch or dinner afterwards. If you’re planning on decorating it together, show her how to paint walls and let her play her favourite music while she helps out. Remember not to get irritated if she gets bored with decorating and wanders off – this is a gift for her, after all!

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Get Some Unique Pieces

Make the room into a really special place by investing in some unique pieces. Check out girls’ cabin beds and consider creating a canopy with pretty, floaty material. Look around antiques stores to find some pieces that are a little different from the norm and that are made out of good quality, durable materials. These are the things that she’ll end up keeping for the rest of her life and that she’ll transfer to her own apartment one day in the future – which may seem like a million years away, but which will come around more quickly than you think.

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Make Sure It’s Practical As Well As Pretty

It’s important to make sure that the room is as useful as it is pretty. Make sure there’s plenty of storage for clothes, toys and books – and that there’s some spare space for the new belongings that she’s bound to pick up over the next few years. Remember that kids are ever changing and that they grow up a lot more quickly than you’re expecting they will, so make sure that nothing is too permanent. She may have wanted a huge Frozen mural on the wall when she was four but she might not like it as much a few years later!

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Create A Grand Unveiling

Even if your daughter’s helped with some of the decoration and given you pointers about what exactly she wants, make sure that the final unveiling of what her new room looks like is a surprise. Treat her to a really special experience – put a ribbon on the door to demonstrate that it’s a gift and try to make sure it’s ready on her actual birthday. Arrange her things in a similar way to how they were in her old room and make sure that her favourite possessions are on display.

If you are working with a small space you need to take advantage of every little nook and cranny. This is even more important with children’s rooms. Sleeping s not the only thing that occurs in children’s rooms, there needs to be room for play and activities. The following article lists some great ways to help you get the most out of a small room, specifically a child’s rom. It’s easier than you think, it’s all about following a few simple design rules or tricks.

Colour

If you are starting from scratch you have a great opportunity. It’s all about tricking the eye with clever design. Start from a blank canvas by removing whatever is in the room. Choose a light colour. Don’t be afraid to ask your child what colour they would like and then negotiate, this is their room after all. Light colours reflect natural light and light makes spaces appear larger. It’s that simple.

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Light

Light is the best way to make a room appear spacious. Try to take advantage of natural light as much as you can, it can be as simple as replacing your blinds to something that covers less of the window when retracted. When it comes to artificial light, don’t be afraid to have more than one light in the room. You should have at least a ceiling light and a lamp at your child’s desk. For younger children you may want to also include a night light.

Storage

The best way to make a space appear larger is to not cram it full of items. That’s where storage comes along.Clever storage will not only keep your child’s room neat but also keep them organised. They will actually know where their belongings are and you won’t have to constantly pick up after them. It’s like a dream come true. Try to think outside of the box. Shelves are good but you want all the furniture in the room to serve more than one function. You don’t want to waste space on a boring bed, go for a bed with drawers underneath it instead.

Furniture

Like I just said above, you want the furniture that you choose to serve more than one function. There are great amount of different designs of beds that really utilise the space you have. For example bunk beds without the bottom bunk. This is a great way to create a study or chill out area. Go to http://www.bunkers.com.au/ to see what I am talking about. If you have enough space for a chair or bench try one that has hidden storage or shelves on the side. Look for smart furniture, it’s out there.

Designing the interior of your own home isn’t easy, and there are a number of things that can go wrong while you’re in the planning stages. Paying an interior designer can be an exorbitant cost that many families simply cannot justify. The do-it-yourself approach can save thousands of dollars, and really allows you to give the place a very personal touch. It pays to be vigilant, particularly when concerning your kid’s bedroom, after all, an important part of their early lives will be spent in the room that you create for them. To avoid disaster, here are 5 common mistakes that are made when designing a kid’s bedroom.

Poor Paint Choice

This is the first and often the most difficult step when designing a bedroom for your kids. It is far easier to match furniture, bedding and decorations to your paint colour than it is to try and do the reverse. When selecting colours, be sure to consider the effect that it will have on the room. While white is clean and bright, it can look clinical and unfriendly. Darker colours will make a room feel smaller, and can be claustrophobic. Picking something in between will allow the room to look spacious without feeling empty, and will add to the ambiance of the room.

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Lacklustre Lighting

Once you have everything painted, you can focus on choosing the lighting that will best complement your colour scheme. Lighting can make or break the ambiance of your room, so try and choose globes that will provide a feeling of cosiness and comfort, while still being bright enough to read by. Consider additional bedside lamps to save energy and be more accessible for the kids at night time.

Disposable Decoration

While Dora the Explorer or Thomas the Tank may be your child’s favourite theme at the moment, next year might bring something completely different. Instead of decorating with specific characters, try and find things that your kids will love for a longer period of time. Once you have all decided on furniture and bedding, a great way to keep the kids happy is to use wall stickers. These look amazing, come in a variety of designs, and can be easily removed without damaging the paint. This will allow you to keep up with your kids ever-changing tastes, while keeping the fundamental (and expensive!) aspects of the room the same.

Be Cautious of Clutter

Kids need room to play. Make sure you keep this in mind when designing the room, and give them an area of floor space which is not hindered by furniture or storage boxes. It is also important to keep high traffic areas clear, such as near the cupboard and all around the bed so it is easy to make every day. A well set-out room that is free of clutter is inviting and comfortable for children of all ages.

A Family Affair

If your kids are old enough to help out, make sure you involve them in the process. If you don’t take on their opinions, you may end up with a room that they won’t want to spend any time in. While it may not be practical to follow all of their suggestions, having them help you out will ensure that the end result is something you will all love. If they have had a hand in choosing furniture and decorating the place, chances are they will look after everything better as well.Now you know what to watch out for: choose your paint first, focus on quality ambient lighting, decorate with the long-term in mind, keep clutter to a minimum and get the kids involved in every step of the design process. With these important aspects in mind, you can go ahead and start designing a room that your kids will love for years to come.