Baby Room

Derod and I have been considering when it would be appropriate for gabe to be relocated to his own room. Although he's been sleeping in his cot, the current arrangement still consists of him being in the same room as us.

Let me make a mental list of pros and cons to this status quo.

Advantages: I only have to get up from my bed to reach him when he cries for milk at 5 or 6am; I can still keep a close eye on him when he wakes in the morning at 8 or 9am; and if I'm lazing on the bed and not pick him up immediately, I can still keep an eye on him; if I take a nap with him in the afternoon, ditto that for convenience.

Disadvantages: Well, your kid will have to sleep on his own someday and the later we drag this, the more agonizing it is for the parents when you have to put the process in place.

So since he's about to move in, I've been thinking of how to "decorate" the boy's room. You know how design savvy we two are so it's not too difficult to imagine us being stuck at the how-to without changing much of the current condition i.e. I'm not looking at painting, major change of curtains, installments, etc. The set of ikea drawers that stores all of gabe's stuff goes against one wall. The sofa bed takes the opposite wall. We have to relocate the ironing board and the clothes rack, which is another headache in itself. So that leaves the window-wall (not much of a wall) and a "free" wall, which logically would be where the cot would be placed against.

The other issue is the dust. Being on a low floor and at a traffic junction seriously increases the amount of dust in the house. Having a baby around increases the pressure to keep the place spick and span. If gabe is anywhere near inheriting both our genes, chances of him with a sensitive nose are rather high. How do you make it more colorful and yet low maintenance at the same time?!

I was browsing the blog of this lady in Australia called Karen Cheng and although the picture attached to one particular post has got absolutely nothing to do with her baby room, I couldn't help but notice how baby-room the room was. Isn't it nice to grow up in an environment like that, with bright sunshine flooding your room, such a sweet crib and mobiles attached on top, with everything looking so clean and comfortable?

Then I think of my poor little gabriel...

Any help out there???