In a rare turn of events that no one saw coming (note the sarcasm), I have decided to abandon my self-imposed “one project at a time” rule and work on the girls’ shared bedroom over spring break WHILE Colby works on the greenhouse—just living life on the wild side over here. But when grandma offers to take the kids for three days and two nights while we’re on staycation and Colby is home from work, plans change. So while the girls are away, I’m cleaning out their room and trying to paint it. But to do that, I needed to finalize the girls’ shared room design plan and quadruple-check that they like it.
Without further ado, the kid-approved design plan. And by kid-approved, I mean BOTH children (currently ages 4 and 9) have approved of the room design.
Sources:
- Chambray Blackout Curtains (Target)
- Gold Curtain Rods (Amazon)
- Drum Light Fixture (CB2)
- Paint: Morristown Cream (Benjamin Moore)
- Geo Carved Green Rug (Crate & Barrel)
- Wallpaper: Pastel Rainbow Stripe (Spoonflower)
- Twin Bed (Vintage)
- Dresser (Crate & Kids)
- Laundry Basket (Pottery Barn Kids)
- Canopy (Etsy)
- Dog Lamp (Anthropologie)
- Golden Snitch Clock (PB Teen)
- Golden Linen Pillow (Anthropologie)
- Pink Floral Sheet Set (PB Kids)
- Cat Pillow (Target)
- Unicorn Quilt (Crate & Barrel)
- Granny Squares Throw Blanket (Etsy)
- Chella Checkered Blanket (Anthropologie)
- Trunk (PB Teen)
- Strawberry Art Print (Minted)
- Cheetah Art Print (Minted)
- Narwhal Art Print (Minted)
- Unicorn Art Print (Minted)
- Rainbow Art Print (Minted)
This mood board is just a jumping-off point, and I’m sure things will change along the way. But I wanted to make sure the girls and I all loved the main items. Things like the beds, wallpaper, paint color choices, and a rug. Those are the most important to get started.
The Room Saga Recap
For those of you who are new around here, how about a little trip down memory lane and a girls’ bedroom recap? I’ll do it Readers’ Digest style and try to keep it as short as possible.
The bedroom redesign started about three years ago when it was just our eldest daughter, Rowan’s room. I believe she was six at the time and had a two-year-old baby sister who was in the nursery, which was far too small for a bedroom. We started by coming up with a plan for finishing Rowan’s room as her own room.
Shortly after, we realized our youngest daughter, Bea, needed to move somewhere within the next year. There are three bedrooms in our home, two upstairs and one downstairs. Since we prefer everyone sleeping upstairs at the girls’ ages, we quickly moved towards a shared bedroom plan.
The plan involved bunkbeds, which we thankfully were given a hand-me-down set. We set up the bunks, moved everyone into the room, and got both girls to agree on the design plan. Wallpaper samples were ordered, they chose a favorite, and we were full steam ahead. Until no one liked the wallpaper or the design plan anymore and wanted to move in another direction. AND we decided as a family that bunk beds just aren’t for us. Plan officially scrapped.
Behind the scenes, we found a new home for the bunks, secured a matching pair of twin beds, and made small tweaks to the plan. The hardest part was finding a basic wallpaper pattern for their room that would give it lots of character, grow with them and their (what feels like daily) changing tastes, and make everyone happy. After MANY reiterations, both girls are absolutely in love with the current plan and haven’t wavered for a few months.
Here’s what their room looks like right now, in the interim.
We’ve purchased a pair of vintage twin beds, which they’ve had for about six months and LOVE. And also found some clearance Target bedding as a for now option. I’m hoping to make them matching quilts and blankets after the painting and wallpapering are done.
What A Girl Wants
There are a few major features and requests that the girls want (including this girl…mama).
A Pink Ceiling With Glow In The Dark Stars
Rowan loves thumbing through my design books and was so excited to peruse them when she wanted inspiration for her room. She was obsessed with this hot pink ceiling with gold stars on it. We decided to color-drench their room all in the same pink and try making our own DIY gold stars that also glow in the dark.
Lots Of Fluffy Pillows And Blankets
The girls love their layers, whether it’s with their clothes or on their beds. They’ve both requested many pillows and many blankets. I’m hoping to source some good-quality pillow inserts, instead of buying cheap pillows, and make covers for them. In theory, I feel like they would last longer. So many pillows in our home are sad and need to be tossed. I’m also hoping to knit, crochet, and quilt lots of blankets for their beds.
Dress Rack For Bea’s Dresses
Bea’s clothes mostly fit in the dresser between their beds, with the exception of her dress collection. It’s an extensive collection, and efforts to minimize it have been met with four-year-old meltdowns. So, a dress rack we shall build. Here’s a better shot of the dresser and their new twin beds (plus all the wall damage from the old shelves that need repairing).
Canopy Over The Bed
A non-negotiable for both girls is a canopy over their beds to make it like a tent. The design style in the mood board is their favorite. We plan to DIY one.
Separate Reading Lighting
Bea is 4-1/2 years younger than Rowan. Bea is a morning person, and Rowan is a night owl. Thus, they have vastly different sleeping hours. They want individual reading lights so they can read in bed while not bothering their sister.
Cleanable Rug
The current rug in their room may be one of the biggest rug purchasing mistakes I’ve ever made. It was cheap, I’ll give it that, but it is impossible to clean, and it looks awful. It falls apart every time it’s vacuumed or cleaned, and I cannot make it NOT look dungy. I want a good quality rug for the girls’ room. One that we can clean, vacuum, and that will last.
Make Their Own Art
Both girls are obsessed with art and creative projects (be still my heart!). So it was no surprise that they wanted to make their own paintings for their room. They’ve been perusing the kids’ room art on Minted to get lots of ideas.
Bring Back The Book Display
The girls miss the seasonal book display shelves in their room. And who am I kidding, so do I. We had to take down the shelves to fit the two twin beds, but we kept them and have a new spot for them. We may need to cut them down in length, but also add a couple more for floor-to-ceiling shelves.
Accessories According To Their Interests
What held us up so much in the design process was that they wanted a themed room, and their tastes kept changing. They still change. But to get them to move forward with our design plan, I asked them to keep the major things un-themed. Then we can add and change out accessories and art to fit their personal tastes. For instance, one loves Harry Potter and dogs, while the other prefers cats and babies. One wants a cozy bed perfect for reading late into the night, while the other wants to make forts. So we’ll be bringing in lots of blankets for fort building, cat/dog art and accessories, a baby bed, reading lights, book storage, and more, all to suit their interests.
Next Steps
The girls helped me this afternoon clean up their room and start taking things out of it in preparation for painting. I could not believe the amount of toys, stuffed animals, books, and various missing household items we took out of there. All four pairs of kitchen scissors were found. Funny how that happens.
The next few steps, which I’m hoping to make progress on this week, include:
- Clear out the furniture, rug, and curtains
- Patch the walls
- Paint the ceiling pink
- Re-paint the walls (possibly…there are a few spots I’m not sure I can clean the kid art off)
- Repair and finish the beds (they’re antique and needed some modifications to make them work with modern mattresses…aka…they needed slats added to the frame, which aren’t quite finished yet)
- Bring back the basics to make the room usable
- Play around with star making
- Save up money for crown molding, wallpaper, and a new rug (we’re on a tight budget…here’s where we left our 2026 home improvement budget)
Thankfully, I don’t need to buy paint since I bought it back in November to paint their ceiling. But I do need some supplies for patching the walls. At least that doesn’t cost much. And as of completing this post, the girls are heading off, and tonight…we ride! I mean, paint! Actually, I should probably repair the walls first.
