My daughters, Lux and Poppy are 17 months apart. When we realized that two kids made our family full we decided to have them share a room at some point- when Poppy slept through the night consistently. I have fond memories of sharing a room with my own sister, only 15 months younger than me, so with that and other factors we thought it would be a good idea. With Poppy at 18 months and Lux almost 3, we decided it was time for them to move in together.

The girls have been sharing a room for almost two months now and I’m happy to share that it’s been going really well! Our immediate challenges were decor and the new bedtime routine and our ongoing challenges are still bedtime.( I vlogged the move-in here and the room tour and update here if you would like a video version). If you saw my vlog about the process you’ll know that Lux’s room was light and pink and Poppy’s was dark and neutral as we decorated it before we started our family. We also didn’t have any sort of concrete plan for a new bedtime because the girls’ go to bed so differently. Wes and I always divided and conquered so we didn’t know what teaming would look like and how the girls would react.

Decorating

My decorating challenge was to combine the rooms on a budget and change it enough so it would feel like a new room but not so different that the girl’s didn’t recognize where they were. I also wanted to make use of almost everything we already had but it was hard for me to visualize until it was all in one room so there was trial and error.

I don’t use a lot of colour in my home and life in general so combining navy and pink was out of my comfort zone. I used the cubby/bookshelf from Lux’s room and the pink baskets that came with it and we placed Lux’s faux fur rug on top to make the area cozy. It was way too much pink and drove me crazy but I didn’t plan to change the baskets because it was an unnecessary expense. Buying 4 new baskets is expensive! Luckily I got new baskets for it on clearance!

We pulled the tufted grey ottomans from Wes and my closet that I thought were a good idea but we realized took up too much room. By placing them in the corner it extended their cute seating area and my buyer’s remorse was gone! The ottomans open up for storage and has been the perfect containers for stuffed animals and extra blankets.

One of the biggest challenges was art for their headboard wall. Poppy is still in a crib and Lux is in a toddler bed so my goal was to marry the two different beds in a cohesive way. I had a couple different art options but we landed on these wooden letters from target framed by second-hand frames that I had lying around the house waiting to be used. I couldn’t believe how perfectly this worked out! I’m so happy with how the wall looks and I think this is the best possible result I could’ve asked for.

The opposite wall had an art gallery on it that was in an organic shape. To keep the room feeling more polished I decided to replace it with six matching frames placed evenly apart. Art was the next step! I purchased art from one of my favourite artists, Claire Elsaesser, a gorgeous print that reminds me of sisterly affection. Along with this whimsical tree house print by Becca Stadtlander, which I think is so much fun to look at and dream about- who lives in these houses? As much as I would love to have my walls adorned by my favourite artists I wanted to do a DIY project which I could hopefully elevate when framed. We gave Lux two thin canvases from the dollar store along with acrylic paint in the colours of her room, pink, navy, and gold and told her to create something for her new space. Lux absolutely loves painting so this was a great project for her and allowed her to feel excited about her new room.

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Shop Art

Tips for Combining Rooms

This is what worked for us

1. Talking often about the change with both girls about a month move in. We also talked about why it’s a good idea and asked them what they thought. We discussed with both girls that it’s going to be so much fun to share a room and how I used to share one with my sister growing up.
2. Slowly combine their bedtime routines. The girl’s are 17 months apart and have obviously had different bedtime routines since Poppy was born. Even at this point Poppy was going to bed about 20 minutes earlier so we slowly stretched out her bedtime so the girls could bath together and get dressed together.
3. Develop a project that one or both kids can do that’s specific for their new room. As mentioned above we asked Lux to make art for her walls and she absolutely loved the project.
4. Having the girls be as much part of the “move-in day” as possible. You’ll see in the vlog that it was definitely a challenge.
5. If your kids nap try to change the layout of the beds before they nap. Although we moved the crib before Poppy’s afternoon nap, it was still disrupted bedtime was much easier.
6. Be flexible and know it’s not going to be perfect…for a long time, maybe ever. Wes and I aren’t minute-by-minute planners so we weren’t sure what the new bedtime routine would look like. Bedtime is still a challenge but happily sleeping through the night has rarely been a problem.

The New Bedtime Routine 

Our ideal would be Wes reads them books as both girls listen intently sitting on Lux’s big girl bed and Poppy sits nicely drinking her bedtime bottle. However the reality is Lux sits quietly listening to Wes reading while Poppy runs around the room picking up books, throwing her bottle, and tossing the sound machine. I then sing the girl’s a song while I rock Poppy. Lux stays in bed trying to talk me into one more book or claiming she has to go to the washroom/blow her nose/get a drink and eventually I leave the room. Sometimes we have to go in again and sometimes we don’t.

Conclusion

Now, a couple months later I can see their bond growing and although bedtime is still chaotic in my eyes I think this was a great decision.

I hope you enjoyed this post! Stay tuned for a spring/summer kid’s haul via my youtube channel.