HELP! three children - two bedrooms! need ideas!

[mom to little e]

Baby #3 is coming in July and we have two bedrooms for the kiddos. I've debated long and hard about who should share. I was really hoping that Baby 3 would be a girl and I could justify a boy room (for DS who is 4) and a girl room (for DD who is 2 and baby-to-be). Of course, the US shows that Baby 3 is clearly a boy. The sex of the baby really doesn't dictate who should share - I just thought it would be easier/nicer if it was a girl and DD could share....anyway...

With a lot of thought and conversations with DH, I guess it makes most sense to have DS and DD room together and give the baby his own room. I think it will be better for everyone's sleep this way (I hope!!)

SO...my questions are this:

1) How do I decorate for a shared BOY and GIRL room???

2) I know bunkbeds are not recommended until age 6, but the room to be shared really can't accomodate two seperate beds and a dresser and bookcase (no where else to move those things either). I was thinking about a twin over a full bunk bed.

Any thoughts...PLEASE!!??

[jenmcadams]

What about something like Flexa or Matrix furniture...could do low lofts with dressers and bookcases underneath or some type twin over full configuration. They also have some cute linens and accessories in bright colors that could be relatively gender neutral.

The other thing to keep in mind is that if you stay in your current house long term, you might eventually have the boys together and you might keep that in mind when trying to figure out what furniture/linens to use

[kijip]

I'd keep the baby in your room for a bit and then your oldest will be closer to being old enough for a bunk bed. Then you can transition two of the kids to sharing when the baby is a bit older. We have thought about this a bit because if we have another child we have 2 kids and only 1 bedroom that can be used for kids. We decided we would keep baby in our room for a couple of years. When they are small, they don't notice or care that they don't have a bedroom.

[C99]

We also have 2 small bedrooms, 2 boys and 1 girl. We played musical bedrooms while we figured it out. DS2 co-slept with us for about 3-4 months and in the interim, I decorated 1 boy room and 1 girl room with the intention that the boys would share. But DS2 was not a sleeper and that just didn't work. For awhile, he slept in a crib in our room, but that didn't really work either. Although DD was very attached to her crib and a good sleeper, she actually transitioned amazingly well to sleeping in the bottom "bunk" of the IKEA KURA bed we bought for DS1's room. DS1 has no problem sleeping in the top bunk.

For now, DS1 and DD share a room. And DS2 is in DD's room. When DS2 is a bit older and sleeping better, I plan to switch them.

ETA: If you'd like to see photos of what we did and how it worked, I'd be happy to e-mail them to you. Just send me an e-mail or PM.

[kayte]

It won't work immediately... but have you considered making one room for sleeping and the other play? We have friends with three children (boy, girl, boy) and they are (8, 6, 5) and were in the same boat at you --trying to figure out how who should share and who had the right to their own room --the eldest or the girl . They decided on the 'sleeping porch" scenario two years ago and it has worked out really well. They do have bunk beds now, but started with two twins and trundle. They have clothes in the sleeping room closet -- two poles-- every thing hangs and then a small gizmo from Elfa to hold underwear, pjs and socks. In the play room there is a table and 3 chairs, bookshelves, big floor pillows and a closet storage system that houses a good bit of the toys and it can be closed off.

Like I said it's not something that will work right away --- you can't throw a baby into a mix like that, and it won't work forever--one day Savannah is going to want a room without brothers, but it works for them now--just thought you would want another option.

[brittone2]

We currently live in a 3BR home with two kids. I'm not sure if we'll be staying in this house long term or not. We just did a bedroom for DD (our desk is also in there for now) but I anticipate her cosleeping for quite a while longer. We did DS's bedroom about a year ago.

DS is newly 4, and she's 14 months. He really, really *wants* to share a room w/ her. I'm totally open to doing that and then making the other bedroom a playroom if that's what they want eventually. He may change his mind by the time she's ready to give up cosleeping.

For room inspiration, Flickr has some very cool interior decorating pools. There's one called gotoyourroom:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/kids_rooms/pool/

there are also these:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/the_nursery/pool/
http://www.flickr.com/groups/modernnursery/pool/
http://www.flickr.com/groups/handpai...swallart/pool/

eta:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/vintageplayroom/pool/

Lots of eye candy and inspiration. There are several photos of kids that share rooms that might be helpful in terms of layout/design ideas. I've noticed that the pics of European and Asian bedrooms (some from magazines, some from "real" people that post on Flickr) tend to be good for this type of inspiration because these regions tend to have fewer McMansion types of homes, so there's a lot more of small space decorating or siblings sharing rooms, kwim?