Photos by Kristen Loken for Design Mom.
Would you like to see my daughters’ bedroom? If yes, this is the post for you. I have tons of photos and lots of details to share. This room came together slowly. There was lots of sketching of floor plans, moving of walls, trying furniture in different configurations, and pondering about closet space. We eventually took it down to a 14.5′ x 22.5′ blank canvas and created from there.
But all the work and patience paid off. The room is terrific! The girls love it. It meets their needs easily and it looks fabulous as well.
As you may remember, all four of our daughters share the same room. That wasn’t the original plan when we moved in. But we hadn’t actually seen this house in person until after we’d purchased it, so we didn’t really have a true sense of the dimensions of the rooms and the best way to use the space.
I receive quite a bit of email asking me about this shared room situation, so I thought I would start this post with a few FAQs, then, you can click through if you want to see all the details and the thinking behind the design decisions. At the end of the post, I included four shots of the room taken from each corner, so that you can get a good sense of the overall space.
Why Four Kids in One Room?
While doing renovations on this space, we could see that the bedroom in question was originally two bedrooms, and we weren’t surprised at all. Without knowing the history of the house, we considered doing the same thing — splitting the bedroom into two.
Interestingly, Maude, who has the strongest feelings among our kids about room-sharing, much preferred the idea of four people in one room, instead of two people in two rooms. When I thought about it, I felt like I understood where she was coming from. When there are two of you sharing a room, and you’re irritated about something, it’s easy to direct that irritation at your roommate. And those recurring negative experiences can make for a tense relationship. But if there are four of you in the room, the irritation gets dissipated. It’s easier to see that 3 people aren’t intentionally bugging you, that you are simply bugged and it has nothing to do with the people in the room.
That’s an oversimplification, but hopefully you understand what I mean. : )
Anyway, that’s how we ended up putting all 4 girls in one room, instead of splitting the room into two or trying some other household configuration. We also tested it out for many months before we jumped in and started renovating. By that time, it was easy to see the four-sister-in-one-room situation was working well for everybody.
But how does it work? Do the different ages make bedtime difficult?
Good question. So far, bedtime hasn’t been an issue at all. The younger two go to bed around 8:00. They go through their bedtime routines (bath, pjs, etc.), we read a book, and then they’re off to dream land. By the time the older kids come into the room the younger ones are already fast asleep.
I would say it also works for us, because we have a specific theory about kid bedrooms. We set aside bedrooms for sleeping and dressing only. We have other spaces in the house for homework and toys — even other places for reading. It’s not a strict rule — we do keep a shelf of books in the bedrooms, and the youngest ones like to have a stuffed animal or two around. But in general, our bedrooms are only used for sleeping and getting dressed/ready for the day. I realize that not every house works like this — if you have a tiny apartment, the bedroom and playroom are likely the same room!
Don’t kids need their own space as they get older?
Yes. I think they do. And we work hard to make sure the kids have personal time as needed. But I don’t think that means every child needs their own room. For most families in the world, the idea of each person getting their own space is simply not possible, and for big families like ours, sharing bedrooms is a no-brainer. In fact, I’ve shared a bedroom my whole life — with siblings, with college roommates, and with my husband. But I always figured out ways to get alone time when I craved it.
For our girls, since the bedrooms are generally empty of people during waking hours, if someone wants to be solo, their bedroom is usually the go-to option. But they can also use the reading loft, or one of our decks, or the family office, or even the master bedroom.
I suppose sharing a room is not for everyone, but it’s also not out of the ordinary in any way. And I’m confident the alternative, a sprawling house with 7 or 8 bedrooms, would not be a good fit for our family at all.
So if the idea of 4 kids in a bedroom is stressing you out, just know that you don’t have to do it. Hah! Also know that it’s working for us, and that if it stops working for us, we’ll try another solution. Simple as that.
BEDS & BEDDING
I’m going to start the tour with beds and bedding. Each girl has a standard size twin bed. The mattresses rest on a boxsprings with legs attached, and the closets act as headboards.
We kept the color scheme super simple. Black, white & red. Though really, I used very little black, and instead focused on grey and charcoal instead. The far wall is painted in Peppercorn by Sherwin-Williams. The poster is a photo of all four girls taken by Sarah Hebenstreit during our French Greys family photo shoot. It’s an inexpensive poster — the printout was made on an engineering printer at Office Depot and was only five bucks!
I wanted the bedding to be coordinating but not identical. The idea was to make each bed feel individual.
Most of the bedding is from Ikea, but I sourced accents from lots of places. Hanna Andersson recently came out with a Scandinavian-inspired home line, and lots of their wares fit the black, white, and red scheme. So I ordered several items from their collection (including the red-striped sheets, and the black-striped throw blanket pictured here).
The red & black throw pillow we’ve had since Colorado. The red herringbone blanket at the end of the far bed is from Pinecone Hill. And the handstitched red and blank Kantha quilt I ordered online.
There’s enough space between the beds and closets that the kids can walk between them, but they typically don’t. The paths that go around the beds are easier to use.
Also, there are two big cozy rugs that lie beneath the beds. My sister Jordan picked them up in Morocco. You can see them in the overall pictures at the end of the post.
Instead of bookshelves, we used this rolling cubby as a moveable library within the room. We love these Ikea carts and own 3 — two in the office and one here.
FREESTANDING CLOSETS
I’m really into the wireframe closets. They are affordable, they have an industrial vibe that I’m drawn to, they’re lightweight and easy to move around, and they’ve been really fun to customize. The girls thread scarves through the wires, use s-hooks to hang purses and bathrobes, and display tomorrow’s outfit by putting a clothes hanger on an outside door. Here, Maude shows off her cross-country medals .
To prevent them from falling over, we’ve attached them to the bed frames with zip ties.
We hung the backs of the closets, which function as headboards, with a simple curtains + hooks. The curtains keep the closet contents a bit more private and provide a simpler background for the beds.
Inside, we placed a set of wire drawers that don’t come with the closets, but look like they do. : ) They fit wonderfully to one side, and eliminate the need for separate dressers.
Another nice thing about the free-standing closets, is that if we tire of this set up, we can move them against the wall, and move the beds against the wall as well, to open up the middle of the room. Or, we can even retire a closet as sisters move to college. I love the flexibility!
DRESSING AREA
We left plenty of space between the closets and the wall to create a dressing area. The closets also become almost their own wall — giving privacy to the dressing area.
Note the giant mirror at the end of the dressing area (it used to be sliding closet door — there’s a second matching door that is hung over the vanities/desks).
These adorable hampers are as good-looking as they are functional — they’re another Hanna Andersson find. I chose one pattern with more white and one with more black, with the idea they’d be used for sorting dark and light laundry. Sometimes that works, sometimes they’re all mixed in.
Don’t laugh, but I moved the hampers so we could also get a shot in the natural light.
We rolled two red-striped wool runners through the space. They visually lengthen the area, add a cheery pop of color, and provide a soft surface for bare feet.
We’ve tried a few different jewelry storage options over the years, but I think this is our best yet by far! We tried one of the vanity drawers, but it quickly turned into a mess of knotted necklaces. Our solution: bulletin boards covered in charcoal grey fabric! We attached them directly to the wall, at a height that is accessible for all 4 girls. Standard pushpins hold the accessories.
Should the girls tire of baubles, the bulletin boards can hold notes or cards or magazine tears equally well.
LIGHTING
We wanted the dressing area to be well-lit, so we installed an overhead light in front of each closet. Ben Blair rewired them to be plug-in lights, and also rewired them to have an on/off switch at a height that even little June can reach.
Sometimes all four lights are on, but late at night, or in the early mornings, the girls can turn on only one light so it’s not disturbing to the others.
I intentionally let the cords hang out in the open against the wall because I thought they looked interesting — sort of a wild or organic feature in an otherwise orderly space.
VANITY/DESK AREA
As you come into the bedroom, immediately to your right you’ll find two simple desks that we’re using as vanities. The drawers hold things like hair brushes and lip gloss. One of the old mirrored closet doors hangs above the desk. Moving some of the grooming tasks to this space means the kids’ bathroom is less crowded on busy mornings.
In theory, the girls could use these for homework as well, but really, we have other areas in the house that are better set up for studying.
The aluminum chairs we’ve had since our New York days!
FROM ALL FOUR CORNERS
I know it’s sometimes hard to get a sense of the whole room in a tour like this, so I specifically requested photos from each corner of the room to give you a better idea of the space. I think it’s easier to see the walkways in these photos as well.
I hope you like the tour! If there’s anything I forgot to source, please let me know. And I’d love to hear what your experiences have been with shared rooms.
P.S. — You can find all the posts about our Treehouse renovations here.
I like it. I have a friend with 9 boys and 7 of them share a very large bedroom. Bunk beds everywhere. The youngest 2 are in a nursery and the rest of them share the large bedroom. Seems to be working great for them. Like you said, it’s basically just for sleeping. They have other (large, open) area’s of their house for playing, reading, learning, etc.
The room looks awesome! My three sisters and I shared a full attic room for years and we still remember those days fondly. Between my oldest sister and my youngest there is a 12 year difference but never seemed to cause a problem. I think any room with four beds is going to look somewhat dorm roomish so great idea to run with that. We also like to keep our bedrooms just clothes, beds, and books. I just had my third boy and we plan to have all three boys share a bedroom so thanks for these ideas.
So glad for this post, I’ve been curious to see. My first thought is to also neaten or hide the cords. BUT if it looks great in person and you all like it, I say forget about it! I’m a quilter and when I need some perspective on color, etc. I take a picture of what I’m working on. The mistakes jump off the screen! I’m also a Realtor and the same goes – the photos show the clutter that your eyes don’t see. So, what I’m saying is photography is unforgiving on things like this. If you like it in person, that’s all that matters.
I love this space! And it makes me want to have more kids. You make it look so do-able and fun. And beautiful!
GENIUS to use old, tired, mirrored closet doors in those ways! you can BET I’ll be keeping my eyes open at the Habitat store from now on.
Hi Gabby! I LOVE the space!! It reminds me of a room my two sisters and I shared when we were little. As the youngest, I loved getting to share a space with my big sisters — it instantly made me feel part of the group, and it really helped solidify our bond with one another. Also, it made it really easy to talk and share stories about our days and even descend into many a late-night giggle fest. Our mom didn’t love it (three young girls in hyper mode at bedtime, not easy!), but it provided us with some of our best childhood memories.
Going back to the space, every aspect of it seems so well-thought out and incredibly well designed, while still allowing your daughters to make the space their own. I was thinking about nightstands, though. I think baskets are a great idea for storing things like glasses and hair ties at night. But what would you think about mounting shelves between the closets, that just kind of “clip in” at bed height and act as a place to put a glass of water, book, or even a favorite photo? They would fill the space between the closets with something — especially since that space isn’t used to walk from the beds to the dressing area — and that would still leave room to mount pull-out drawers underneath (sort of similar to the drawers you have in each closet, but on a smaller, narrower scale) or even hang baskets above or below. It could help maintain the streamlined look of the room, which I love, while giving everyone an additional spot to place those necessary things. Does that make sense?
Love this room! The cords are weird, but I have the solution! I found this pin a few years ago and have been dreaming of the fun shapes or landscapes you could “draw” on a wall with the right cords: http://asia-and-europe.tumblr.com/post/39933092578
Love the bedding.
This is outstanding!!! When I first read 4 girls in one room I though oh this has to be chaos and was so pleasently surprised and the beauty and function. I love the idea of a house where a bedrooms are for dressing and sleeping only. We are in the market for a new home and this has come to the top of my list. I do agree that my inner neat freak would not be able to handle the exposed cords. They are so cool looking but I would have to have them built in for my own sanity. Love these house posts.
I’m always inspired by your ideas and this room is no different! I love your ideas with a blank canvas and think your girls will remember their years spent together in this special space for the rest of their lives. We have 6 bedrooms and 5 kids but we have our boys share (twins in one room, other two boys in another – only daughter has her own room :). It’s never occurred to them to want their own space and they love being together. We created built-in beds along one wall in one of the boys bedroom and I think it’s just the perfect space for making childhood memories. And, the shared bedrooms leaves us with an office AND a guest room (we have lots of out-of-town guests) so it works for us and creates memories for them. Thanks for always being willing to share your ideas with us. Well done, Gabrielle!!
WOW, I love the simplicity and function you have created for your girls. It is very inspiring.
Please don’t change the cords! They are my favorite part. I love how they playfully contrast the sharp lines elsewhere in the room. Your entire house is memorable, unique and (above all else) just cool.
LOVE LOVE LOVE!!! We have 4 boys in a 2 bedroom house so of course, they share. We will build in underneath the house but they will likely have a similar set up to your girls-so fun. Thankyou for showing this!!
I love this!
I totally get the sharing and the line about doing it until it doesn’t work. We have three daughters and room rearranging and bed-morphing is something we do a lot. There are few instances when I would say no to them bunking together, they call it a slumber party. I just feel the foundation of love and not-being alone that it gives them will be a constant reassurance throughout their whole lives.
I think the ways you’ve decorated and organized are simply wonderful!
This room illustrates your family’s flexibility – it’s different, fresh, fun and cozy, and it works for you which is the important thing. I really love the poster as the focal point looking across the beds, and I love to think of the contrast between your lives at La Cressoniere and The Treehouse. Each place so different, yet you made them your own. Also love the way you used those big mirror doors to make the space bigger and brighter. It will be fun to see how this room evolves for the girls.
Pingback: Saturday Morning (or afternoon) Coffee – Saturday, January 31st Edition | A Tree Grows in Boulder
Design mom you inspire me!! Thank you for showing of your girls room. We are shared spaces over here too, so I like to see how others make it work.
Pingback: Love Links | in backyards
I appreciate your sharing, lovely room, I’m also drawn to the Ikea closets and the Hanna Anderson Home collection, the color scheme choice and the dark wall with the big mirror, plus the rugs, it makes feel so airy, longer, nicely done. Could you please tell the source of the wire drawers inside the closet? Thank you!
Wonderful room, makes me think of setting up a shared bedroom for my kids too. But am too worried about one waking up the other during the night ;-)
I have one question about the metalic closets. Since being attached to the beds and functioning as bedheads – do they make any noises when a girl is stirring in her sleep? The metal hangers hanging on the wire in the closets and being moved? The closets don’t look very sturdy. I do imagine some clinging noises at night time…
Gabrielle!
The room is incredible and brilliant! you know, my sisters and I didn’t officially share a room after I was 5 or so, but we spent so much time in the sleeping in one another’s rooms, doing homework together, etc. I… I think even without necessity, there is so much value in learning to share space, and the closeness that comes when you do. Plus, you’ve done a BEAUTIFUL job.
An wow, Maude is an incredible kid – her thoughts on sharing w/ 2 vs. 4 are so insightful!
xox
Elena
So pretty and clever, Gabrielle! Sharing a room with my three sisters sounds like heaven to my only-child self. I’m not sure alone time is all it’s cracked up to be.
I thought for sure when I clicked the link for the Kantha blanket it would be from Dignify..it seems right up your alley:) Supporting women in work while creating a beautiful product.
Love this! We have 4 kiddos and until recently, 3 of them were sharing a room. Now we have a girls’ room and a boys’ room and honestly, my son was sad to leave his sisters. The bedrooms are so small though, I don’t know how we could fit all 4 kids together. Your post gave me all kinds of decorating ideas. I loved reading the answers to the FAQs, thanks for sharing!
I LOVE it. Such wonderful ideas. I now wish I had 3 sisters, and were younger (much younger), and still lived at home. Oh well, I’ll live vicariously through your well put together girls’ bedroom. Thank you so much for sharing!
Pingback: Worthy of the Week - Oh Hey
Can you tell me about the drawers you added to the closet? Are they a set from the container store? I think this closet design will solve my problem. Can you also give me the measurement of the drawers so I order the right one.
You are genius!
Mary-Ellen
Pingback: 4 Girls, 1 Bedroom - The Sewing Rabbit
So interesting! I like the look, but I agree with previous posts about attaching the cords to the wall – maybe in geometric patterns?
The question I most want to ask is this: how do you keep it so neat? I have two girls, and we always seem to drown in clutter. Mementos, special rocks, diaries, art and craft pieces, notebooks, games, knick-knacks, school stuff… Do you keep it elsewhere in your house, or somehow manage to stem the tide coming in? Also, what happens to clothes that have been worn, but don’t need a wash yet? I would love my kids’ room to be so uncluttered… Sigh.
Pingback: Rookie Moms – Links rookie moms should know about (February 2015)
Pingback: Design News / The Love List
Pingback: 25 Modern Kids Bedroom Decor Ideas You Must See
When I came across 20 Creative Ideas to Hid the Wires I immediately thought of all the comments on this post about your hanging light cords, and had to share.
http://www.woohome.com/ideas/20-creative-diy-ideas-to-hide-the-wires-in-the-wall-room
Gabby, I thought you’d appreciate the cityscape. I love the giant recessed light bulb on the ceiling.
Absolutely wonderful! These girls have an amazing bedroom setup and are going to have wonderful memories living in such an awesome bedroom with eachother.
Just wanted to leave a quick note about how much I love this. I have to laugh at how vocal the people are who don’t… and why they would feel the need to tell you… but anyway! Looks fabulous and has given me some inspiration. I am remodeling and redecorating a sorority house right now (the same one I lived in a million years ago) and this concept would work really well for us and the girls would absolutely love it.
LOVE that poster in the girls’ room (and love discovering new, economical ways to display photography)! But I’m wondering (and noticed that a couple other commenters had questions about this too): how did you hang the poster so that it stays nice and flat against the wall?
(And p.s. I just listened to your interview on The Lively Show and found many of your comments really useful and refreshingly honest! :))
do the girls mind sharing? its a great design,clever use of space i would never have thought of something like that
That’s a very interesting room and it’s great for siblings to share a room and really “live” together. But I wondered how old your girls were and what happens if one of them starts having a boyfriend who comes to sleep at your house…or just to have friends sleep over in general.
Pingback: Stitch Blog
Pingback: Boutique Blog
The bedding and the laundry baskets are my favorites.
I love the room & wish I had had sisters growing up to share such a room. I do have one concern…living in the Bay Area myself, specifically Napa, I worry about the closets and earthquakes. I’m assuming they are anchored somehow, but if they aren’t they need to to be RIGHT NOW!
Just an opinion from a mom who’s lived through 3 major quakes; one with my three boys – not fun.
My absolute favorite part of this room are the bedding linens. And the beds look so large and comfy, my girls would love this! I absolutely love how the linens match but are not the same. You have a genius eye for this.
I also am a fan of the rugs, color schemes (that work amazingly-well but you don’t see in every design blog) and overall organization that creates ease, comfort and excitement. I just discovered this blog after searching Google for most popular women’s blogs. This and Cup of Jo are my fav’s so far. I will be checking in daily :)
I love the floors here and in your family room. So pretty and practical. We will soon be replacing the floor in the family room of our 1950s split level, and I think this would be perfect while in keeping with the original era of the house. Could you share what color tiles you chose for these spaces? Thank you so much!
Hi, I know this is an older post but our family is thinking about using this idea and I was wondering if the closets were magnetic. If they are locker accessories such as mirrors and white boards could be used. Thank you for such great ideas!
Amazing use of space!