Thursday, March 8, 2012

Shared Bedroom Tips

Rosie and Harry have been sharing a bedroom for quite some time now and I am always on the lookout for fresh ideas for their room. If you have two children of the same gender sharing, there is an abundance of ideas out there. Unfortunately it is a little harder when you have a boy and a girl sharing! 
Harry's favourite colour is orange and Rosie's is (currently!) blue. I have yet to find co-ordinating bedding in those colours but I have been able to find a few things that work. You have a few options available to you if you are faced with this sharing situation.
1. Choose the same base colour for their bedding and switch it up a bit with accessories to make it more girly or boyish. When the kids first started sharing it was winter so I chose a red theme, which was great for brightening up the room on cold days. For Rosie I chose a cute red and white polka dot fabric to make her a pillowcase and the star cushion worked well on her bed too. For Harry I found a red and white striped pillowcase at the second hand shop which looked more masculine, to pair up with his Thread Design motorbike cushion. I still love the red and will probably use it again this winter.
2. Another option is to buy bedding that is gender neutral and pick out the feminine and masculine colours in it to emphasise. I did this with the Ikea Fabler duvet sets we have been using this summer.
The trick is to keep your eye out for bargains and if you see something that would work well, snap it up then and there. I have been looking long enough to know that you don't find options that are suitable too often, so make the most of them when you do. My most recent finds have been a second hand pair of Ikea Barnslig duvet sets in boy and girl colour options. Perfect!
I love the bright colours of these sets! Harry recently painted a picture at school of him and his dad playing soccer and the colours tie in really well with these duvets. We will be looking for some kind of way to display his painting soon as kids art is such a great, inexpensive way to personalise their rooms.
The nicest thing about sharing a bedroom is not the decorating though. It is the whispered conversations we wake up to in the mornings. It is finding Harry tucked up with Rosie in her top bunk after a bad dream. I spoke to a lady today who told me that her children (a boy and a girl) shared a bedroom for years when they were small and had a tiny house. They are now teenagers and have their own rooms...but she said they can still be found in each others' rooms chatting away and are the best of friends. I hope I can say that some day about my children! :)

3 comments:

Nicole said...

I love the way you decorate! Your kids are lucky to have you create such amazing rooms for them! And also they're lucky because you're an amazing mum :)

Tui B said...

You are so lovely Nicole! I love being a mum and I love decorating too. Poor kids though, I think they would prefer a Hannah Montana and Spiderman duvet! lol.

Rochelle said...

Love the vibe of these bedrooms so peaceful and bright at the same time. Thanks for the tips. :)