The family home [antikvár]

INTRODUCTION When children enter your life, your perspective of the world shifts dramatically. One minute you are coasting - going to work, dashing to catch a movie, arranging dinner with friends or embarking on a weekend of decorating a room. Travel occurs whenever time and money allow, and weekends can be spent in indulgent entertainment, exercise or shopping. Then Junior appears and parental responsibility stares you in the face. There are always far too many things to do, and you lurch from one time-management compromise to another. You learn a whole new vocabulary and lifestyle. Within weeks you are weighing up one make of nappy against another, and deliberating long and hard over the relative merits of different buggies. You begin fretting about education and schools and you bore friends with the natural genius of your offspring. Life becomes one big routine, on a loop. And then there is your home. When babies appear, previously serene spaces become cluttered with baby gyms, building blocks and gaudy plastic toys. Precious upholstery and rugs seem to develop a semi-permanent coating of dried biscuit crumbs. Glass-topped tables assume life-threatening status, trailing stereo wires become trapezes and display china is suddenly a huge liability. The easiest solution is simply to remove all the hazards. LEFT: This converted barn provides ample space for children to dash about safely, while parents can relax, knowing they have adopted a damage-limitation approach to decorating. Using colour on walls to enliven and define a space in which furniture is childproof and understated is a good low-maintenance solution. BELOW: Altering a living space so that it divides loosely into separate zones, each with its own function, means you can go with the organic flow of a home. Adapting each space as children grow and the family's needs change obviates ttie need to move every few years.