KEY POINTS:
Live, work and play. Rooms for all reasons. We play with our children and leave them to play on their own, listening to them and enjoying time together in silence. Our home is the one place that accommodates the needs, wants and desires of the many different personalities
that live in it.
Compromise is the key in living areas, as no matter how lovely your children's bedrooms, they will want to drag favourite toys to the place where you are. So relax and enjoy the Sunday papers on the sofa, knowing that Teddy and his friends will be sat beside you.
Develop a new skill in tiptoeing through the building blocks while balancing a magazine and a hot cup of coffee and realise that the remote control will never be where you left it. Do all of these things in the knowledge that when the time comes, the toys can be put away and the room can return to being the calm place in which you relax with friends and family.
Of course you may want to have a room that is simply off-limits to children and their many accessories. But this may pose practical issues of its own, not to mention lots of admonitions.
I don't believe in hiding precious pieces that give comfort and personalise a home. After all, communal spaces are there to be enjoyed by everyone. Indulge your senses and appreciate all those things that give your home its soul, but do so on the understanding that things can get broken. The chances are if you relax and enjoy your living space, your children will too.
It's not so much about what you have in your home, but more your attitude to it. There are many ingredients that go together to make a space work, with or without children.
Colour, pattern, texture and lighting add to the interest, warmth and comfort and ultimately determine the mood of a room. By introducing elements of your child's personality through artwork and elevating its status with beautiful frames, you give your wall space colour and your child confidence.
And by decorating in a way that appeals to you, creating a home that is true to yourself and your family, it will be all the more appealing to your children.
* Extracted from Home by Anita Kaushal, $78, published by Thames & Hudson.