Adventure Awaits: Creating a shared bedroom

Before life officially gets crazy(-er), I wanted to sit down and put together this blog post about the changes we made to our daughter's room as we get ready for the arrival of her baby brother. 

BEFORE:

AFTER:

There were two main goals in this redo: Create a space that will grow with both of them for a few years because we can not be doing this every other year...and create better storage spaces in their room, without taking up too much space for play!

Of course, the thing that was taking up the most space in her room was her bed. She had a full sized bed before the redecorating began and it took up so much space! I mean, she LOVED her big bed...but hello, we needed more floor space. 

The first thing we decided on was a bunk bed was in her future. To begin with, once the baby transitions out of his toddler bed, they'll still be sharing a room and it's a great solution. We went with the Ikea Mydal bunk bed frame (I've included links to as many items as possible at the end of this blog post) and painted it white. We purchased mattresses from Ikea as well. Her duvet cover set was from Amazon and I had just purchased it for her full sized bed, so I ended up cutting it in half and sewing it into 2 twin sized comforters. It's two-sided and really adorable.

The crib was from Ikea and I am a minimalist when it comes to cribs. Safe and comfortable are my only requirements. The Gulliver crib was exactly that. It transitions into a toddler bed, so we will get plenty of use out of it over the next few years.

I've made a few crib sheets for the crib but came across this sheet from Target in their clearance section and just had to grab it! Plus, you can't have too many crib sheets in my opinion. 

Of course, with making sure those two large pieces of furniture fit where they needed to, that didn't leave me with much room for a dresser. I looked everywhere and ended up coming back to Ikea again. I chose the Dyfjord dresser in white and changed up the hardware for a more modern feel. I knew I would be using it as a changing table as well for a while and this was the perfect height for me, perfect width for the space and the right amount of storage. 

Speaking of storage, give me organized dressers every day of the week. Seriously. I have used these Skubb boxes from Ikea for years and grabbed another set for the kid's dresser and closet. They are really great for socks, baby onesies, underwear and more!

Books. Books. And more books. 

This kiddo has more books than she has clothing....and I'm completely okay with that. We have read to her every single night she has been alive (unless of course she has fallen asleep before we get to it) so she has a large collection of books. 

Our awesome friend Bruce, created this custom window seat for us that has so much storage. Besides the two sections for her books, underneath the window seat cushion there is a hidden compartment for stuffed animals and dolls. Again, I was determined to not let an inch of space in this room to go unused. 

The window seat cushion and pillows were all sewn by me and I knew that I wanted to go with a monochromatic color scheme with pops of color throughout the room. 

Maddie has some "special books" that I wanted to find a place where they would be protected from a little brother and this space behind the door was a perfect fit for a DIY bookshelf project. I used this tutorial on Pinterest, but there are a ton out there.

I went back and forth with doing a large mural on this wall, but I also knew that my painting skills are limited, so I went with these stars from Wordy Bird Studios on Etsy and I am so happy that I did. I choose the Gold color and they are a muted gold color, so it is just enough shimmer when the sun hits them without being "too much".

The cloud lights are from Ikea and are a soft glow nightlight effect. The "cloud bookshelves" are another DIY project that I created. We used spice racks from Ikea that were used as small bookshelves when Maddie was younger and used some scrap plywood to cut out clouds. Some small finishing nails and a coat of white paint - done!

Speaking of paint - I had these two colors picked out for awhile after a random trip to Lowes one day. White Pepper (4001-1A) and Opal Slate (4001-1C) were the two colors used in this room. 

One of the sweetest things in this room, other than my babies of course, is this custom canvas from my dear friend at Pretty Clever Words. Every night we put Maddie to bed, as we are walking out of her room we say "Hey Maddie...I love you..." and then she rushes to say "I love you to the moon, the stars, the sun, and all the way back to all the planets again." ... and we say back, "I love you just like that."

I can't remember when she started saying it but it is seriously my favorite part of the day. If I have had a bad day or things are just going so wrong - her sweet little voice puts a smile on my face every time.

The moment I realized that we would be redecorating this room, this piece of artwork was one of the first things on my list and Lulu at Pretty Clever Words knew exactly what to create. It's difficult to see in the above photo, but it looks like the night sky and Maddie loves it too!

The one corner of the room that will probably get the most use - the changing table. With Maddie we used a dresser top as well and it worked great. It was the perfect height for me and once they are out of diapers - boom - back to a regular dresser. 

I created the baby mobile myself, as well as the changing pad cover (it matches the other crib sheets not pictured). The Dr. Seuss inspired artwork is from Home Goods. 

Will you look at this sweetness? Maddie is obsessed with stuffed animals. Seriously, she names each one, remembers where she bought it or who gave it to her, sleeps and plays with them all the time....seriously obsessed. She was on the hunt for the perfect stuffie for her baby brother for months. I offered some options that I thought were pretty cute...nope. Not good enough. 

Then one night I was updating our baby registry through the Target app and she was looking over my shoulder (adding her two cents) and she saw this stuffed animal set: A bigger bunny in a superhero cape holding a smaller bunny - both with their superhero masks on - ready for their next adventure. I mean, it was a done deal. 

The other thing that stays by her side every night is her "blankie" that a friend handmade for her. Besides his own stuffed animal (because let's be honest - she may not share any of her animals with her baby brother) - he needed his own blanket. We went to Joann's, she picked out the fabric, helped me cut it out and pinned it, sat on my lap as we sewed it - and it makes me so happy every time I look at it. 

So there you go!! All we need is to bring little man home and the room will officially be "complete". 

Links to Items:

Ikea Mydal Bunk Bed
Duvet Set
Ikea Gulliver Crib 
Ikea Dyfjord Dresser
Ikea Skubb boxes
Baby Mobile: Custom design by Leluna Star
Window Seat Cushion: Custom design by Leluna Star
Window Seat Pillows: Custom design by Leluna Star
Gold Stars Wall Decals by Wordy Bird Studios on Etsy
Ikea Dromsyn cloud wall lamp
Ikea Bekvam spice rack (used for cloud bookshelves)
Custom artwork by Pretty Clever Words