Keeping the Peace in a Shared Bedroom

When Evie decided to make her entrance into our lives, we realized that the two older girls would need to share a room.  My husband and mother–the famed Mama Teeta–both felt that since we have a four bedroom house, why shouldn’t each girl get her own room?  And my response was that we gave up 1000 square feet of space, including closet space, when we moved to the Bay Area, and the girls could share for the time being while we used the fourth bedroom for a playroom/guest room and storage.  And I think it was the hubby and grandma who balked more than the kids because the girls were completely hip to the idea of sharing.  They are only two years apart, so that definitely helps, but most importantly was that we’ve made sharing a fun thing for them to do.

The room was already red and tan with white chair rail and trim, and since Red is Sadie’s favorite color, the paint stayed (with a little bit of touching-up).

Next it was time to figure out what to do about beds.  We have this very cool old brass bed that I bought for $90 at an antiques fair when I was young, in college, and just getting hooked on antiques (the fault of parents who have filled 3500 square feet with old things), and that was what Sadie had been sleeping in until we moved her out of that room and into this room with her sister, Abbie.  That bed ended up getting the shaft because it would mean that the girls would have to share an actual bed, and we didn’t see that that would enhance our lives any…nor theirs…especially at nap time.  Bunk beds? we asked ourselves.  Nope.  Can’t put kids in those until they are old enough to keep from decapitating themselves by yelling “Hey, look at me!” and then jumping like a flying squirrel into the air and landing on the railings, the bottom bunk, the floor, the ceiling fan, you name it.

So, what we finally decided was that if you build it, they will sleep.  Jack, the handyman, and my father–Papa Genn (hard “g” sound)–worked furiously one weekend right before the baby came to build what you see as our version of captain’s beds.  It just so happened that the dimensions of the room fit two, end-to-end twin-sized mattresses perfectly, so we designed them to sit up high to provide storage, sit under the bay window (which you can’t see because the blinds are closed in this picture), and give each girl a sense of her own space.  The beds are built of simple 2×4 lumber, and there is storage space not only in the front where the bins are but also in the back for the more unsightly long-term storage.  We painted it the same red color, slapped some baseboard trim on it, and filled it with terrific strapping floor bins from Land of Nod that hold pajamas for each girl, a vast array of dress-up clothes, future and past shoe options, and other sundry items.  The girls have to use a little step stool to get up in bed, but they love being up high…Abbie likes it a little too much since she has a habit of crawling under the blinds and sitting in the bay window when she’s not supposed to be there.

Here’s the run-down of other items seen in the photo:

•  Those adorable wall decals were found on ebay, but you can easily locate them here at Etsy.

•  The woven wood blinds from Blinds.com are backed with black-out shades that help keep the western sunlight out of the room in the afternoon and also allow little eyes to be tricked into darkness and, thereby, close in sleepy slumber.

•  The rug, blankets, bedding, curtains, and fabric on the cornice box are all from Ikea’s Fabler series of children’s textiles.

•  The bed rails are a product we get asked about a lot.  Good bed rails are difficult to come by, and these are great.  They are two different sizes, purchased at two different times, but they work the same:  they have a little metal disk that you throw to the other side, under the mattress, and then you can just fold down the bed rails when you are trying to make the bed or need to get to your kid who is climbing the walls and won’t come down.  They don’t fold down easily for the beds we’ve made because they sit on wood slats, inside a frame instead of just sticking out from the mattress; however, for most other beds they fold down just fine.  Here they are:  Dex Bed Rails at Amazon.

•  Oh, and the child is mine.  That’s Abbie showing off her adorable smile from Mom.

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