Have you thought about having your kids share a room? We know if we add to our family that that will likely be a reality for us in our home, so I wanted to do some research on how to best make that transition when we are ready, because I know we need to update Walker’s room soon, and it makes sense to make it easily changeable to a room for him and Jack. What can I say – I’m a planner! ha. I reached out to several friends with kids sharing room for advice on siblings sharing a room. All the advice, and some gorgeous shared rooms are rounded up in this post, so be sure to check out all these talented ladies while you’re reading!
My goal with these blurbs of advice is to give you some insight on advice for making sibling shared rooms work, as well as give you some great resources of amazing moms you can follow along with that have siblings sharing rooms that would undoubtedly give you more advice when you need it!
Noelle Bryant Shared Room for Sisters
I reached out Noelle to give me a little advice to pass along on shared rooms. She has 2 little girls that share a gorgeous room, with these DIY Beds, and has many photos of their room HERE to check out when you’re done!!
“Deciding to put our girls together in one room came easy for us. They love being together and when we found out we were expecting our twins we knew it would be best to put the girls together sooner than later. Their bond has grown immensely since they’ve been together and we plan to keep them together for a while!
We chose to do two twin beds over a bunk bed because the girls were so young still (3&2 years old at the time) and we are huge fans of the Montessori Floor Bed style beds. We took the idea of the Montessori floor-bed and transformed that into these super adorable house frame floor beds which we provide the DIY for as well! These are functional and aesthetically pleasing so it’s a win-win for me! “
Noelle on Instagram // Noelle’s Blog
I love How Noelle just knew it would be a good fit for her girls, and totally believe that its probably true that it helps create an amazing bond long term! My next blogger weighing in is my friend Courtney. She is SO sweet, and one of my favorite accounts to follow on Instagram, so I knew I needed her advice. She gives some great tips on how to make it work best, and why they set up their room the way they did!
Courtney Spena Advice on Siblings Sharing a Room
I first asked Courtney at what ages she moved her girls into the same room. Her response was
“Okay, so we moved Mabel into Abigail’s bedroom shortly after she turned 2 (Abigail was 6.5). Ideally, I would have waited longer- maybe more like 2.5/3 years? But we needed her out of the crib so we could get it ready for little brother who was coming! The first few nights were tricky, but after that- it has been a wonderful experience! The girls love sharing a room together and always talk together after we leave the room. Abigail falls asleep much faster than Mabel, and always wakes up before her, but they have adjusted well to being together.”
Next I asked if she had one big piece of advice to pass along. She Responded with –
“My biggest advice is to use one of those “ready to wake” clocks- ours is a stop light, but I have seen a few different versions! (It also helps to have child #2 sharing with obedient, rule following first born to get the lay of the land :p )” (thank goodness for me, My Jack is definitely an obedient first born too! ha)
And last, one thing I really wanted opinions on was the bunk bed or single bed decision. Her answer to why they went with sing beds was:
“While, Abigail would have loved to have had bunk beds- we just felt that Mabel was too young for that set up. So we went with the adorable Ikea Minnen beds. They are so sweet and simple and I love the style and look of them in their rooms. They are twin sized, so they will be able to use them and sleep on them for years to come!”
Courtney’s Blog // Courtney’s post on the room transition // Courtney’s Instagram
Next up I had a super fun opportunity to ask one of my best friends for some advice. She has run the gamut on room sharing. When her third was born they chose to have their daughters share a room as soon as their youngest moved out of their bedroom. The girls are only 18 months apart, so at the time had one in a crib and one in a bed. She has since moved into a town home in transition between homes, and has successfully transitioned her THREE KIDS into sharing a room. She is going to share some advice with you all, but also shares tons on her Instagram stories, so is definitely one to follow if you’re looking for great ongoing advice!
Navy Patten Advice on Siblings sharing a Room
“I have had my kids have their own rooms and share rooms. As much as I was scared to have them share each time, it has been a super easy transition! We’ve had twin beds, a twin bed and a trundle, bunk beds and a triple bunk bed! So far we are LOVING the triple bunk, the only negative is making the top bunks, but since we were going for having all three kids share a room its been great!
My kids LOVEEEE their shared bunk beds and love all sharing a room. Josh and I love it too! It gives their room a ton of play room and I love the way it looks when all the beds are made. We use a music machine every night and they all go down at the same time. We’ve rarely had a time where they are keeping each other up, or waking the other sibling up (my kids are heavy sleepers and know when its bedtime, its BEDTIME).
When we move I think I will keep a bunk bed in Jacks room because he loves the bunk beds so much, but the girls I will switch over to twin beds. Twin beds are obviously a lot easier to make and I would be lying if I said it didn’t drive me to the crazy house when I have to make the middle bunk and smack my head 1000 times!”
Navy’s Blog // Navy’s Instagram
Next up is my friend Michelle. She has 2 girls that share a room, and I was so excited to get her advice, because similar to myself her girls that share are her first and third, so there is a bit bigger age gap than some!
Michelle Diltz Shared Room Advice
When I asked her why she went with shared rooms for her girls her answer was:
“We decided to have the girls share a room and use our extra room for a playroom. I shared a room with my sister growing up and I have so many fond memories. Oh and it totally made it easier for me to steal her clothes.. It definitely works for us right now with the girls being 3 & 6. When they get a little older we will let them decide if they’d like their own space.”
And I again wanted to find out why she went with single beds over bunk beds her answer was:
“We went with single beds because I really liked the style of the beds and it worked with the overall style and design I envisioned for their room. I do think Bunk Beds would work as well in this space and the girls are already begging for them so we might just try that out in the near future.”
I love that there has been a great mix of reasons (both great reasons) for bunk vs single beds so far. I think for me I love the look of single beds, but think bunk beds are SO functional, but definitely know that Walker wouldn’t be ready, so it was great to read someone else was in the same boat.
Next up I have advice from my friend Jennifer. She shares so much gorgeous decor on her blog, and is a mom to FIVE littles, so I knew she would have amazing advice to share. She recently redid her boys room and shares some advice on them sharing a room.
Jennifer Maune’s Shared Room advice for Siblings
Lynneah Bennett Shared Room advice for Twins
As said above I asked Lynneah, of Twins and Coffee Mama, for some shared room advice from the perspective of a twin mom! She is a mom of boy girl twins living in the PNW with big dreams of helping millennial mothers learn to embrace the chaos of motherhood through realistic expectations and a whole lotta coffee.
Her Advice was:
“I am all about realistic parenting. And to me, that means my twins sharing a bedroom. For the obvious reasons, of course. The question I get most often about their sleeping situation is “do they wake each other up?” And no. They don’t.
I was actually fairly surprised about that, but when we found out about the twins the last thing we could afford was a bigger home. So sharing a bedroom it was. It turned out to be the easier thing, especially when you’re dealing with two sleeping infants. It is so much easier to stumble in mombie mode over to one room to soothe both babies, than it would be to get to both rooms.
Room sharing was probably the hardest when we decided to sleep train. At that point in time, they didn’t wake each other up by crying. Instead I would wake the other up just by going into their room to soothe the one that was awake. Sometimes I wonder how I got through those kind of nights! But now that they’re getting into toddlerhood, the room sharing has turned out to be a blessing. More often than not, half of their nap times are spent babbling and talking to each other through their cribs.
We used to have their cribs side by side, but just recently moved them across the room from each other because they would sit there and play for what seemed like hours instead of going to sleep. We also keep their clothing combined as they’re the same size, and it helps me keep less things around. Marie Kondo is all the rage right now and I’d be lying if I told you she hadn’t made her way into my home!
So far, the twins sharing a room has been great for our family. It all comes down to making do with what you have.”
Lynneah’s Blog // Lynneah’s Instagram
Last I have some fantastic advice from JeeYoung. Her boys share a room with both a bed and a crib, which I think is a great option for SO many moms out there!!
JeeYoung’s Shared Room Advice
JeeYoung has a blog post on her boy’s shared room and talks about them sharing. She shares that it a was fairly spur of the moment decision. The boys adjusted really quickly, and have done really well sleeping through the rare nights where someone wakes in the middle of the night. (WHICH IS TOTALLY MY BIGGEST FEAR. Check out her post here for more about how her boys transition went!
JeeYoung’s Blog // JeeYoung’s Instagram.
And NOW FOR MY SHARED ROOM ADVICE
The time has come…I officially have my two boys sharing a bedroom too. Ages 6.5 and almost 2, and so far so good. We went with 2 twin beds as you can see, because my younger son definitely doesn’t need access to a bunk bed yet. They go to bed at different times, so for the most part all things have gone well, but I think my biggest piece of advice so far is to let them enjoy it. Know that the room is creating amazing memories.
We did a low fuss room to keep less distractions, and less nightlights than prior rooms so they were encouraged to sleep, and that has been super helpful! Check out the full room tour here!
Over all, I hope this post gives you some great advice on ways you can room your kids together. Along with that some great resources in ladies to follow along with that are in similar positions! If you’re looking for some of my other rooms I have decorated check them out below. Jack’s room has bunk bed’s so is a great room for shared room insiration!
Jack’s Bunk Bed Room // Avé’s Toddler Room // Walker’s Nursery
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I love long walks in the spring with my toddler and husband; all of the fresh greenery is so refreshing after a long, cold winter!
@alexislmartin
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I like how you said that using bunk beds gives the kids’ rooms more space to play. My husband and I have twin daughters that will need new beds soon. Your article helped me see that bunk beds would be the best option for our limited space.
Daphne,
Thank you so much!! I bet your girls will love having the bunk beds and all that play space! I think if we had twins we would do the same!
I have two girls 12 and 8 who absolutely HATE sharing a room. The problem we are having, is that our house is really small and there is absolutely zero storage space. We did the bunkbeds and now we have two loft beds in there, which none of us like that either. Now we are thinking about corner beds with storage underneath!!!!