Decorating your kid's room can be fun and exciting. You can totally indulge your inner child with the colours and prints you get to play around with. However, it's important to remember that the occupant is going to be a kid. As interior designer Renu Chainani says, It can also be a very challenging task. Since kids are in their growing years, they need all the space in the world to run, jump and play without hurting themselves.

While you focus on making the room look all cute and beautiful, you also need to pay absolute attention to safety. Actor Sudhanshu Pandey — father of two young and boisterous sons — Nirvaan and Vivaan says, Kids will be kids. No matter how much you try to protect them, they will run, jump, fall and hurt themselves. As parents it is our responsibility to ensure that there is nothing in the room that can cause them bodily harm.

So what are the most important factors that you need to heed while planning out your kids room Safety, space and storage, says Renu adding, There's just no excuse where safety is concerned. No sharp corners and edges. That was precisely what TV actress Gouri Tonnk did in her daughter Pari's room. She's a growing girl and would often have her friends over. Hence, we decided to give her a dedicated room. Safety was our first concern.

All her furniture- bed, study table, cupboard, etc have rounded corners and the walls, soft, rounded edges. The floor has skid proof tiles, she says. Still on the point of safety, electrical fittings are an extremely important consideration. Keep plug points at safe heights. Also, ensure that you go in for safety sockets so kids cannot push their pencils or toys into them, Renu warns. Another important factor, as Sudhanshu points out, is window heights. Windows in kids rooms should either be placed relatively higher or should be well shielded with a properly fitted grill, he says.

Space is another big consideration. In cities, space is the biggest constraint. An ideal way to ensure space in a kid's room is to opt for compact beds— pull-out, bunk or wall-mounted. This way, during the day time, there is plenty of space for them to play, says Renu. That's exactly what Gouri and Sudhanshu have done. While Gouri got the room equipped with a sliding bed, Sudhanshu opted for bunk beds for his boys. Personally, this is the best feature of their room. The boys have so much fun in them, says the actor.

Last, but definitely no less in importance, is the consideration for storage space. Says Renu, For kids no space, however big it is, seems enough. And Gouri couldn't disagree. We have made a lot of provision for space. There are plenty of drawers in Pari's room that are placed at her level, she says.

There's pride in her voice when Gauri talks about her daughter's room. So we can't resist but ask her what part of the room she personally loves. There's a small cabinet over her study table filled with all her Barbie dolls and one Barbie Prince dolls. It's my favourite because even I love dolls, she says laughing.

Source: Times of India

BDST: 1657 HRS, JUNE 30, 2015
Edited by:  Sharmina Islam, Lifestyle Editor