Designing a shared bedroom for two children close in age can be tricky; add to that one child being a girl & the other a boy, and a room that only measures 10' x 12' makes for a fun design challenge. In this project my aim was to give the children a fresh and fun room that celebrates color, pattern and is gender neutral. The design also needs to allow for the children to have their own space and personality.
Color is used extensively to unify the room; the use of blue, off white and raspberry red are the default hues that play very nicely with splashes of saturated secondary colors. Breaking up the walls by adding the dado running the perimeter and using the patterned wallpaper from Harlequin on the lower 2 thirds of the wall space adds buckets of interest without over doing it.
Bunk beds help to open up the floor space and the wallpaper has the additional benefit of being wipeable and more resistant to grubby finger prints, rogue markers, and nicks & dings - which will keep the room looking fresher for longer than using just paint on the walls.
Inexpensive shelving from ikea and baskets for clothing makes it easy for the two children (both under 5) to access to their clothes without squishing fingers in drawers. The shelves also provide more storage space for all the extra things parents seem to need with toddlers & preschoolers, transitioning to more permanent furniture pieces and perhaps separate bedrooms further down the road.
