Designing the nursery or kids room is fun, but it is all too easy to find that what you have created looks good, but is flawed.

My two sons have certainly taught me about the practicality of living with kids – and surviving.

1. Be Practical – Pretty, coloured, embroidered fabrics are unlikely to fair well with either stain remover or hot washes.

Will you really need to hot wash your kids bed linen? With healthy children there is no need to always wash their linen on a boil wash. The problems lie if they get a high temperature. Fever in children can cause vomiting and nose bleeds, also the deeper sleep means that bed wetting is more likely.

2. Looking Good – Children have hectic days, and they earn a calm nights sleep. When you check on them at night it is lovely to see them in an attractive bedding set. You may not want to see Spiderman, a Power Ranger, or even Barbie looking back at you from the bed linen.

3. Affordable ” When they get a nosebleed and it leaves a stain, you dont want to be angry that your beautiful bed linen is stained. Or when they leave a pen to leak on it you want to discipline them for not putting the pens away, not for ruining the bed linen. If they dont mind that there is a stain on their duvet cover they probably wont understand why it is bothering you so much.

If your child is still at the age when they wet the bed it is worth buying bet mats. Pampers have a very good design, it is very absorbent and unlike plastic sheets, it doesnt crinkle and the kids are not even aware of its presence.

Finally, how much do you need? You can certainly get by with two sets, this allows for one to be in the wash or drying. If you are choosing two different designs then it is a good idea to keep them similar so you can mix and match pillow and duvet covers if you need to.