Bridget Asked...

How do I decorate a room for my son and daughter to share?

This is a tricky and requires a lot of thought and planning.  I came up with a few things to consider.

1.  Function is the most important thing.  First decide what must be stored in the bedroom in addition to clothes.  Is there a book collection or board games? Will they need to store toys in their bedroom?  This will determine what pieces of furniture are necessary.  You'll need twin beds or a bunk however, if the closet is large enough for shelves, drawers and hanging you could sacrifice a dresser for a bookcase.  Is the room wide?  Maybe a small dresser can fit in between the beds instead of a nightstand which is light on storage.  Is the room deep?  Maybe you can fit a chest or a small desk at the foot of each bed.  Don't forget to utilize under the bed.  Assuming you read my earlier post on children's rooms, you must remember they only collect more and more over the years so you must be ruthless in editing and vigilant on cleaning out clutter.  Let them each have a good size basket to store their favorite toys of the moment and put the others elsewhere.

2.  The easiest route and the one I think most people would take is to pick a color palette or accessorize with things that are appropriate for  both boys and girls such as animals or maps and globes.  Again, in my last post I talked about letting each childs personality shine through.  I think this is even more important when they share a room.  Even if it's two kids of the same sex, you can't assume they will like the same things.  Don't get caught up in a theme and focus on who your children are.

3.  Don't follow any rules.  As long as you don't try to overdecorate, meaning color on the walls, a clashing color in the bedding, tons of accessories, mismatched furniture etc.   You have to decide what element you want to play with.  Do you want to get creative with the furniture and finishes or do you want to match their beds and switch up their bedding like in the picture?  If one day they may have their own rooms, you may want to give them different style beds in the same finish.  When mixing fabrics remember they should still coordinate.  Keep something on the quite side such as white walls and maybe just hang their artwork or display their books on one wall.  Leave the other walls bear and use the colors from the art to play with fabrics and furniture pieces.