Need Decorating Ideas for Son/daughter Sharing a Room

Updated on March 31, 2011
M.S. asks from Albany, CA
15 answers

Hello! My son and daughter (3&2) share a room and have for about 18 months now. When they first started sharing a room, we painted the walls a soft green and they both had coordinating jungle bedding. It was very cute and they they thought it was fun! Now, my son is out of his toddler bed and in a twin and my daughter is out of the crib and into the toddler bed. When we transitioned them into their new beds we let them pick out bedding. Now we have green walls, blue airplanes, and pink princesses and IT DRIVES ME CRAZY! I'm not sure why it annoys me so much, but it does, and we are going to "redecorate". I need some ideas. I am going to keep their bedding, but I would like to find something fun to do with their walls so it all coordinates a little better. Any body have any ideas?

EDIT - We will only be in this house for another year while our house it built. Then the kids will have their own room.

Thank you.

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M.S.

answers from San Francisco on

Since you only have another year in the house, maybe you could just pick a nice neutral color and decorate with wall adhesives?

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A.N.

answers from Los Angeles on

I would paint the walls white or a neutral color and get stick on decals for each of the kids that match their bedding and put them on their side of the room. Since you won't be there much longer, and some people may not want green walls, it would be beneficial to paint a neutral color now and not have to repaint again once you move. The decals easily come off and you can get whatever your kids like and they are not expensive. Or you could do something both of them would like, maybe glow in the dark stars and planets?? I have 2 boys so I'm very simple in my decorating:)

1 mom found this helpful
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E.M.

answers from Bakersfield on

Hi Momma-

Gosh, that would drive me crazy, too! If you are only going to be there another year, do something that is easily transformable and easy on the new owners/renters.
I suggest a soft creamy color OR anything neutral to be your base wall color. Then, decorate in fantasy land. Both Knights and Princesses live there, so use that--your son can be the prince/dragon slayer and bravest man alive, your daughter the beauty of the land. Do removable applique's such as trees, castles, mountains, flowers...the forest and the glenn....anything like that would be really fun and you can just peel off....for the flying machines like airplanes, get some old kite style "contraptions" and put those as pics on the walls, too.
A spin off of medieval fairy tale land is to go fantasy with imaginary characters like fairies and toads and sprites and fawns and gnomes.....anything to get their imagination going that falls under one theme.

How about under the sea? Mermaids, sailors, airmen....

Or clouds. Do the whole room clouds and the bedding can be just be separate.

Another idea is to go futuristic.

One last thought is to separate the room with a book shelf. Each kid gets half. Then paint it white when you leave. My husband and his sister grew up sharing a room in a very small house, and they had a floor to almost ceiling bookshelf that gave them their own space for decorating, etc., with a small walkway in front that allowed them both access to the bedroom door. That way, one side can be airplanes, one side can be princesses!

Hopefully that is helpful!
Good luck
-E.

M.H.

answers from Raleigh on

I would probably pick a more neutral color like yellow or beige to make things less crazy. From there, you can always accessorize each side of the room to fit the matching bedding. Good luck!

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S.H.

answers from Honolulu on

I would do something, that will be easily changed.

At a certain age, they will need to be in their own rooms, anyway.

Use removable wall decals. (do a Google search for 'removable kids wall decals).
Area rugs.
A non-gender paint color.

What about a jungle theme?
Planets?
Animals?
A zoo?
ABC's
a nice saying/quote on the wall?

Because, once they hit a certain age, they will need/want their own rooms and their own decor.

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S.H.

answers from Phoenix on

I would do pink/brown and blue/brown for the bedding, something simple like stripes or polkadots.

C.T.

answers from Santa Fe on

I'd just go primary colors - no "theme" like princesses or airplanes. Check out ideas on the IKEA website - they used to have cute pics of their kids rooms. I'd go cream colored walls (not so exciting but it will go with everything).

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B.R.

answers from Sacramento on

Because you are only going to be in the house for another year, I'd simply re-paint the walls a nice off white that will be generic and no problem for the next occupants of the house.

L.M.

answers from Dover on

Go with something completely nuetral like white, off white, gray...it won't clash with either. Also you see if there is any color on both sheet sets that you could either paint the walls or trim with.

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T.V.

answers from San Francisco on

Get a divider screen so they can feel a little privacy and spend your money on decorating the new house.

Blessings.....

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R.M.

answers from San Francisco on

My kids were a little older (ages 3-9) when they were sharing a room, but this should still work:

We actually had 3 kids in a room, so one loft bed and one bunk bed, but what I did was enclose all of the beds in curtains. I attached wooden extenders to all four posts of each bed, then made wire "rods" to hang curtains on (actually sheets). My kids loved the privacy and it was like they each had their own little fort to play in. During the day we pulled the curtains to the side, but whenever they were sleeping we let the curtains down. It was so much fun for them, and they each had their own little private play (and sleep) space.

You could also screw something into the ceiling to hang the curtains from if you don't want to do anything to the beds.

Good luck!

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R.K.

answers from Appleton on

Soft green is a neutral color. Think nature we have both pink and blue flowers on a green stem surrounded by green grass. I wouldn't put too much into redecorating since you are moving soon. When I was house hunting I hated the fact that so many of the houses I looked at were all painted white inside. I wanted color, I lived in too many rental properties that were devoid of color. When I looked at all that white, all I saw was the tons of work ahead of me repainting over all that fresh paint. Talk about a waste of time and money. If you know the next owner is going to re-paint; why paint it to sell? I know most realtors will disagree with me, but that's my opinion.

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A.B.

answers from San Francisco on

I like the idea of the neutral walls. I know you said you don't want to change the bedding. I saw a room that was so cute, I just wanted to share. It was a bedroom with 2 boys and a girl. The boys had bunkbeds with camo bedding and the girl had pink camoflauge on her bed.

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J.B.

answers from Los Angeles on

maybe do a soft yellow or blue in thier room. get some wall decals for each of them that go with the bedding and put it on the wall by their bed. keep the curtains neutral etc.

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M.B.

answers from San Francisco on

I have two ideas. You could do a jungle print and use animals and camoflauge and Monkeys swinging etc. Both Boys and girls love it.
Or you could use those Disney wall adhesives that peel off and don't peel off the paint and do Buzz Lightyear, or spiderman etc for him and other disney characters for her that are not just princesses etc. Lion King, or some of the new Pixar movies. Good Luck and have fun!

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