Designing Shared Bedroom Space for Kids

Try these decorating ideas to create a conflict-free zone in shared bedrooms without compromising on personal space.

Interview the Kids
Designing a child's room is difficult enough when there's only one imaginative inhabitant. But when children must share their most private space in the home, the chance there will be conflict along with cluttered chaos increases.

The solution is to create personal spaces in the shared room. While parents dealing with design drama between two night-and-day personalities may think one space will never make both kids happy, the truth is that getting to that shared utopia is simpler than you think.

One of the keys to good design in any child's room is identifying what they want for their space. Even if you think you know what your children want, As a parent, you need to "Get down on their level. Sit on the floor with them, and just hang out." Do this with both children to get your own ideas about what will work for each child. Even if one sibling is more outspoken or opinionated, talking individually will allow both children to have a say in the design.

Importantly during the interview process it is essential for parents to begin to understand what will work in the shared space. And if a child isn't forthcoming about what he or she would prefer, Parents can switch to asking fun questions, thereby getting a better idea of what their child will like. "I always like to ask what a child's favorite ice cream is because usually a children's favorite ice cream flavor is also their favorite color."

Don't pitch Tom against Jerry
After parents have "researched" their children to get their design ideas and preferences; it's time to think about how to practically apply this knowledge in the given space. Parents often make the mistake of physically dividing a room with a barrier. It will however create more harmony if parents don’t try to cut a room in half" but try to keep the room as a unified place and just create small areas within the room for each child."
Using color as your divider can bring even the most divergent decorating preferences together in one space. "Say you have one child who's into soccer and another who is still in that princess stage” Using black, white and pink as the basis for the colors in the room will give each child what they want, while you're still using colors that look great together." You will also be able to prevent Tom and Jerry from getting into divide and conquer mode

 Bring Harmony with Paint Colors

When working on a shared room, "Color is the key to creating a cohesive environment,"

Colors can complement and create a cohabitation-friendly palette that uses paint to create separate areas can also be an aesthetically attractive idea.

On the other hand teens and teenagers should "think bold with a wall color: orange or bright blue, and then build up each individual area." For parents who don't want to paint wild colors on the walls, consider murals. Murals Your Way has many artistic impressions that can be customized for individual areas. There are many child-friendly designs to choose from, but you can even upload your own art and the company will create a mural just for your space. And when it's time to take it down and move on, your walls will be left intact, unlike with wallpaper.

Let Kids Express Themselves
Giving kids a place in their bedroom where they can express their personality is important, particularly in shared rooms, says designer Jennifer Delonge, who shies away from bunk beds for that very reason.

"Bunks just don't seem very individual to me," Delonge says, adding that when you choose twin or double beds, you can create unique spaces within the room by tailoring design for each child's sleep area. For example, give kids an area to express themselves with a corkboard above their bed, she says.

Giving children a place to display their own photos, artwork or posters is an inexpensive and easy way to pump up the personal style in a room, "Creating a 'brag' space for each child, like a wire clothesline to hang the day's artwork, can be the ultimate in personalization,"

 Encouraging Clean Cohabitation
When one child wants to stay tidy and the other makes a mess, creating a "clean consensus" can be difficult in shared spaces. "Good clean use of space will always help limit conflicts I will suggest "The more things that are strewn around, the more chaos there will be."

To help create a clean cohabitation parents can address this conflict by making it as simple as possible to keep the room clutter-free. Creating a place for everything will help children learn to keep everything in its place. "Have lots of small- and medium-size storage baskets and bins," which will make putting away toys and other items easier and less stressful for busy-bee kids.