Our Kids Gender Neutral Shared Bedroom
I never thought I would have to deal with figuring out how to have our kids share a bedroom. When we bought this 1917 craftsman home, we bought it thinking it was the prefect size for our family of 4. A 3 bedroom home, housing so much character and a bedroom for each of us. But 2 months later, I found myself pregnant. Our perfect starter home now became a lot smaller.
Once we had Emmitt, we knew he would need to have his own space. we had done sleep training 2 times prior and if he was sharing room through that process, it would just be way harder than it needed to be.
But, with Emmitt getting a room to himself, it put the older kids together, Our first idea was bunk beds, to maximize the floor space but still have them share a room. Unfortunately, Aubrey is a very active sleeper, and poppy is a light sleeper, so as he tossed and turned, she would wake up and was ending up sleeping most nights in our bed.
On top of the bed issues, we found that their room lacked the character that the rest of the home had and I could never really figure out how to decorate it where it just didn't look thrown together. I wanted to add interest and decor to the space without actually having to decorate it. I also wanted it to have character but be gender neutral so that if Emmitt eventually went in there, it could be comfortable as a boys room, but also for the time being, a girls room as well.
The answer was wall treatments, so we did a quick and easy board and batten 4 ft wall treatment using $100 worth of 3x1 MDF baseboards. We then found the perfect French ticking striped wallpaper in a lovely grey from York Wallpaper. It was easy to install as it was prelude so you literally just need to add water to the back to activate the glue.
Next we needed to trade in the bunk beds for a bed for each of them as well as storage for their toys. We turned to Ikea for this (see room tour on their Youtube channel here). We love their Price point when it comes to decor and furniture for an a kids room. If you remember anything about your childhood, I'm sure there were many moments where you ruined your furniture in your bedroom with markers and stickers. We don't want to invest a ton of money into pieces for our kids room until the fear of the stickers, markers or etching has passed. Ikea had everything we needed to add personality to the space.
It's actually funny because the kids spend way more time in their room now compared to before. I'm not sure if it's because they have their own space with their beds, or if the room just feels more warm than it did before, but even with less floor space to play, the enjoy the space more.
To help with all your questions, I am linking everything from the room below for you.
Wallpaper: York Wall Coverings
Dresser: Antique