The Girls’ Room: Before
Even though we have an extra room upstairs, my girls share a bedroom. There are pros and cons to kids sharing rooms and every family’s situation is different. For us, the decision was based on a combination of things, like our good experiences with it as kids and teaching the girls to share and work together. But, one big reason is that Little A has always hated being alone at bedtime, which got worse at this house with her room being on a different floor than ours. Basically the only way that I could get her to stay in there was to keep promising that as soon as Baby E was old enough, they would stay in the room together to keep each other company.
We already had a second crib that was identical to the one that A used as a baby (and that we converted to her toddler bed). Even though we didn’t set up the new crib until a few months ago, we actually mapped out where all of the furniture should go when we moved in, so as to accommodate both beds. The only change was that A’s bed used to be where the crib is.
I really liked the overall design of Little A’s room at our old house. I’m using that same theme and most of the items from the old room for this new room, but with a few little changes since the layout is different.
This is one of the two windows in the room. It will definitely need window treatments. But, I haven’t decided yet what to do as far as child-proofing the window. Little A isn’t quite tall or strong enough to unlock it herself, but any suggestions would be welcome.
Baby E’s corner of the room already has her mobile that I attached using a white ceiling hook and some fishing line. Beside the crib is the storage ottoman and the girls’ book basket. They also have two toy baskets. These go back and forth to the playroom/ landing of the second floor, which is right outside the room.
I kept the ladder shelf and it fit perfectly in the little nook beside A’s bed. I already have E’s wooden letters, but I just need to get around to painting them so that I can add them to the shelf. I also want to paint Little A’s doll bed to match her real bed.
I haven’t made a final decision as to what to do with the mini-window above the bed. Maybe some bamboo blinds as a valance?
A cool feature on this wall is the high ceiling above the window. I’m trying to figure out a fun way to play up this space.
On the wall opposite E’s crib, we have the closet and the Ikea cabinet turned diaper changer. Unfortunately, the armoire that we re-purposed as a wardrobe for A’s old room was just too big to fit in here. The closet is a decent size, and I have all A’s clothes in there. Since Baby E’s clothes are mostly small and fold-able, we keep them in bins inside the diaper changer for now.
There might be an upcoming change to the round mirror in the room. The color doesn’t pop as much as it did on the warm yellowish walls of the old room. I’m planning on bringing in some personalized artwork as well as some fun prints to fill the walls.
The girls’ room has a jack-and-jill bath that connects to the spare room. Right now, the spare room still has a bunch of boxes and stuff that we need to unpack. We plan to turn it into a home office. But if the girls want their own space when they get older, one of them can always move over there.
Having a separate bathroom for the kids was one of my must-haves for our new house. In the last house, all of A’s bath items were in our hall bathroom, so we were constantly moving things around whenever we had family stay overnight. Now, we have another full bathroom on this floor between the spare room and the guestroom.
Our move coincided with Little A’s potty training, so we got her this potty ladder so that she can reach the toilet by herself. The green bowl on the tank holds extra TP and her potty book. There’s not a lot of counter space, so most of the things that we don’t need everyday are stashed in the cabinet under the sink.
The bathroom, itself, is a pretty small space, it’s basically as wide as the full-length tub, which is opposite from the sink and toilet.
The color scheme in the bathroom will be an extension of the bedroom’s theme. I’ve already purchased a couple of things in here with that in mind. It’s not overly girly, but I love that it’s colorful while still being something that can transition well from baby to young childhood.
We’ve had both girls together in their room since April, and it’s been going well overall. We were a little nervous at first since they have opposite sleep patterns (A is a night owl, and Baby E wakes up at the crack of dawn). But both are somehow able to sleep through each others’ noise once they truly get to sleep.
Our only issue has been that since we bathe and put Baby E to bed about 45 minutes before her big sister, we haven’t quite figured out how to get A bathed and ready for bed in here without disturbing the baby before she has settled in for the night. In the meantime, I usually bathe and nurse the baby to sleep downstairs while my husband gets A ready upstairs. I can then put the baby to bed while A takes in her nightly cartoon/bedtime story.
Hopefully as the baby gets older, I’ll be able to bathe and get them both ready for bed at the same time to shorten the whole process.
Now that we’ve got all the furniture in place, I’m looking forward to the decoration process. I’ve already started on the first project. Can you guess what it is? Here’s a clue:
Your turn: Do your kids share a room? Why or why not?
What are some of the ways that you’ve personalized your kids’ rooms? Share it in the comments!
-Bridget
