My husband and his two brothers grew up with their own bedrooms. I shared a bedroom for over a decade with my little sis who is six years younger than I am. So when it came to designing our own children’s spaces for the new house, the husband and I had “some discussions.” Of course he wanted separate bedrooms for the kidlettes and I wanted a shared sleeping arrangement . In the end, I won. Because shared bedrooms build character. And… we didn’t have the space for separate bedrooms without chopping our already tiny footprint into a mess of hallways and unnecessary closed doors. We needed to be smart about our first floor layout.
Children are adaptable. They get what they get and they survive. It’s a first world problem really. Some families share one bedroom. Heck we did it for 3 years! Our kidlettes currently share a bedroom, they always have. My older one at the age of 4 going on 5 cuddles in his brother’s bed almost on a nightly basis. The younger one, who just turned two just graduated from his converted crib into a big boy bed and he loves having his big bro’s foot or butt in his face every night. Ok, no he doesn’t like it and usually ends up curled up on the floor. But again, building character.
Of all the rooms in the house, I designed the kidlette’s bedroom first. (In my head.) Theirs will be a small, yet perfectly curated room. Black and White schemed. Simple. I know it will not always look perfect as our daily lives commence, but gosh darn, when it is made up for move in day, it’s going to be amazing. The beds will be made-up with crisp white sheets with perfect matching accent pillows. All the toys will be concealed behind closed closet doors. The walls will be smudge free and devoid of “artistic” crayon markings. The curtains will hang effortlessly and the rug… (which I have guiltily already purchased – thank you Anthropologie!) will be devoid of sand and dirty footprints. Soft and inviting for their little feet to plod upon.
Dreams. I know there may be a smirk on your face as reality is quite different from a magazine photo existance. But I’m going to dream a bit longer, because as much as this new home is for our whole family, my children running through its spaces is the mental image that warms my heart the most. So within their four shared walls, my children will grow, and build their individual characters, and dream side-by-side.
Just a bit longer.
-K