We have all seen the beautiful rooms pictured in style magazines and who hasn't dreamt of having something similar?  Unfortunately, in the real world, we have pets and children just queuing up to bounce up and down on that new expensive settee, trample mud across the white carpet or have a pillow fight with the silk cushions.  Is it possible to have a beautiful, comfortable and functional home?  

You don't have to wait until the kids have grown up and left home to have a nice room, you simply have to decorate for the life you actually have not the life you wish you had. Check out a few of these tips on decorating for the way you and your family really live.

First of all decide what style you are going for i.e. a summer cottage; modern and minimal; traditional farmhouse, 1920s art-deco, etc. It will be much easier to go shopping for furniture, soft furnishings and accessories if you know whether it will fit in with your vision.

Things to consider:

General

• If you want an uncluttered look choose oversized accessories but use less of them. Large accessories have more much punch and less of them mean a less cluttered look while still filling the required space.
• You might want to think about the impact on housekeeping. Less items means less to dust and less to move to clean under/around.
• In Spain, most of us don’t have fitted carpets to hide cables under so many people are looking for wireless connectivity of computers to the internet and printers, or from the stereo to the speakers to avoid having to move the cables out of the way to mop the floor.

Carpets

• Pet claws can hook into berber and looped carpets and create runs (just like in stockings) that are not easy to repair. If your pets come inside, consider cut-pile rugs instead. Choose the colour to suit how much you like to vacuum, in other words to either hide or show the pet hair.

Practicality

• If you are decorating a lounge make sure that every seat is within reach of somewhere to put a drink otherwise you risk your guests clutching their glasses uncomfortably or putting them on the floor where they might be knocked over.
• In a bedroom, only the foot of the bed should be visible from a partially open door in order to afford some privacy to those having a lie-in.
• If you are planning a room where you are going to be reading make sure there will be sufficient light in that area. For example: if you like to read in bed, bedside lamps need to be high enough to cast light over the book

Going Shopping:

Make a little book of fabric swatches and paint colour samples that you have in your home, and carry it with you. Then, when you stumble across that perfect item, you don't have to wonder whether it will coordinate with the choices you've already made.

Measure! Measure everywhere and everything in your house: floor spaces, windows, doors and hallways. Carry your tape measure with you when you go shopping, it’s not the perfect item if it won’t fit through the door or into the space you have in mind.

If you are going for the old fashioned look and are scouring the second hand shops for bargains it’s worth sniffing the item before you buy it.  Getting the smell out of furniture isn’t always possible and if you can’t get rid of that musty attic or cat pee stench you have just wasted your money.

Make sure that you know the shop’s returns/refunds policy before you buy anything. Some stores will only replace not refund, in some cases you can only return items within a certain time period, i.e. 14 days.  Once you have made your purchase keep your receipt somewhere safe marked with the date and item purchased in case you have problems later on in the guarantee period. 

Finally:

Don’t be afraid to put some of your personality into the room, it should reflect your taste not that of magazine editors or TV decorators.  Life is short; it’s time to have the exciting, beautiful home you’ve always wanted.