I shared a few weeks ago about my friend, Amanda, and her adorable boys’ room, with the boys having a several-year age difference. I’m back with Sarah, whose daughters share a room despite a five year age gap. This tour is adorable, girly, and full of great ideas for sharing a room. Enjoy!
Please tell me about the two people who use this room:
This room is shared by my two daughters,
Parker (7) is very colorful and spunky. She’s never met a stranger and will talk to anyone who will listen. She has an active imagination (sometimes combining truth with made up stories!), she’s very creative and likes crafting & arts, babies, mysteries, and peanut butter & honey sandwiches.
Zoie (1 1/2) is also a spirited child. She knows what she likes and doesn’t like, and she’s not shy about letting me know! She likes climbing, trains, babies, Peppa Pig and shoes!
What helped you decide to let them share a room?
When Zoie was born, we lived in a different house where she had her own room. However, when we moved, we lacked the space in our new house for my husband’s and my hobbies and had to make some decisions about what we can put away and how to use the bedroom spaces appropriately. We discussed the shared room idea with Parker and she thought it would be really fun to share with Zoie (especially if they could have bunk beds 😉 ) One of the rooms in the new house had two separate closets and was large enough for all of the girls furniture, so that’s when we decided we’d try a shared room situation.
How did you come up with the colors?
I basically combined the colors from the girls’ previous two rooms. Parker has always loved pink, and I had used watermelon and tropical pink colors in Zoie’s nursery originally, so combining the two was very easy.
I loved creating a very feminine room for my girly-girls. What little girl wouldn’t want a pink room???
When does this room work best?
This room works best when the girls are playing nicely together in their room and when they’re asleep! Sharing limits the amount of rooms that need cleaned after play and the amount of fans/heaters and music needed at night. Other than that, the girls aren’t in their room much as it tends to get very warm in the summer and pretty cold in the winter.
What do you wish you could change?
Aside from giving the girls their own rooms, I look forward to the day when we can move the crib out and add in the very desired bunkbed. I’m also excited to change some of the other furniture pieces, such as the bookshelf and dressers, for a more cohesive flow and to give the room more open space.
Any advice for moms out there combining rooms with a big age gap?
Check all of the big siblings toys and tuck the small pieces away in a tub or bucket up high so the little sibling won’t be tempted to swallow something they shouldn’t. We separated some of the potentially risky toys into their own bins and put them in the top of Parker’s bookshelf: i.e. Barbies & accessories, “little guys”, marbles & rocks….
In addition to tucking away the potentially hazardous toys, Paker and I cleared out some of her “baby toys” and stuffed animals and created a toy box just for Zoie. Less to buy as well as a lesson in sharing.
Make a space in the room for each child that they can call their own; whether it be a reading corner, or small play space in the closet. Playing together is great, but for most children, they need to have a small slice to call their own.
In addition, I would recommend taking the time to think through the sleep schedule. This is one aspect of a shared room that I knew would be a bit harder for us. Parker is a great sleeper and needs undisturbed sleep, especially during the school year. Zoie tends to wake up a couple times a night (STILL!!!) and screams out. I try to run in and soothe her before she wakes Parker, but that’s not always how it works. Thankfully Parker has no problem falling back to sleep.
Thank you, Sarah, for the glimpse into a beautiful girly room!
The Messy Creative 