When decorating baby rooms and children spaces there are many considerations to take into account to satisfy your need to create the "WOW" factor. There are color choices to be made, paint techniques and finishes to be decided on, the needs of the room have to be identified, safety issues addressed, window treatments selected. Of course creating a room that your child and others love is also high on your list of priorities. All of this has to be accomplished within a set budget.

One question I hear being debated frequently is, "Should I use Primary colors or Pastel colors for my baby room/child space?". Much information is available on the ability of Primary colors to stimulate cognitive processing and development. Babies can perceive bright, primary colors long before they can focus on pastel colors. That's a fact. Parents want to provide a stimulating environment for their children. That's also a fact. It's part of the 'morphing' process that takes place within you when your child is born - you change from a somewhat egotistical individual to being totally self-sacrificing for the needs of your child - it goes with the territory of being a parent.

So instead of visualizing powder blue, or misty pink, you think about Magenta, or Tangy Tangerine or Aegean Blue. You tell yourself that even though the rest of your home is finished in Barely Beige, it's not as if it'll be the first room you see when you enter the house, and you can always paint it over if you really don't like it. If it's best for your baby or child you'll talk yourself into anything!

Then you talk to other Moms, read some parenting magazines and chat to your friend who works in Childcare. You hear about "fussy" babies, who have trouble settling to sleep, who seem to cry all the time and grow into toddlers who need to be constantly entertained. You hear the words "over-stimulated" and you gasp! Once again you're visualizing Powder Blue and Misty Pink as your preferred color choice for your baby room or child space.

You've experienced your first taste of conflicting advice on parenting outcomes and providing the best environment for your child. It's seems whichever way you choose - Primary color or Pastel color - it appears your child may be disadvantaged.

Don't despair, there's a simple decorating technique used by professionals that offers a solution to your dilemma. Your baby room should contain 3 distinct spaces or areas:- a sleep area; a work area; and a play area. In the initial planning stages of your decorating project for your baby/childs room, draw the room layout on some grid paper, marking in windows, doors and closets. Next, mark in the proposed sleep area, work area and play area.

A sleep area will contain a crib or bed, a bedside table, perhaps a lamp. It is an area designed for sleep, relaxation, dreams and rejuvinating the body and mind. It should inspire a feeling of comfort and security for your child. Sleep areas are well-suited to the soothing effect of Pastel colors.

A work area will initially contain a diaper change space, diaper bucket, drawers or cupboards for clothing, storage for infant-care products, and a feeding chair which will evolve with your baby's growth into a toddler to becoming an area where your child can develop their fine-motor skills e.g. by drawing, painting, manipulating playdoh or construction. Your feeding chair becomes a story sharing place for you and your child, a place to build magic and imagination. Work areas need to be fully washable and easy to maintain - this is the area of the room that will suffer the most "accidents"; from baby vomit, to spilled paint, to playdoh squished into the floor. Using Neutral colors in your work area, highlighted with accessories using 2 or 3 colors from the rest of the room allows you to easily identify and attend to any "spillage" accidents that may occur here.

A play area for an infant may simply be an area where you keep cuddle toys, hang mobiles and shelve books. As your baby grows into a toddler this area of their room can become the most- used high-traffic area in your home. Your child will be playing with blocks, a dollhouse, making "cubby" spaces, playing pirates or cowboys or schools in this area. Your toddler will use their hands on the walls to aid their physical stability as they play, and toys will be constantly bumped into walls as their gross motor skills develop fine tuning, so keep durability in mind when choosing a finish for the walls here. The best Play areas are inviting and stimulating, and provoke excitement and imagination. Play areas are well-suited to the invigorating effects of Primary colors.

By identifying the 3 distinct needs of your child's room - sleep, work, play - and decorating appropriately, you'll be giving your child the "best of both worlds" without having to choose.

Decorating and best-practice parenting choices just became a whole lot easier!

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