I’ve been a mom for three years now and we’ve lived in *three* houses, and so far, I’ve decorated FIVE kids rooms (really, it’s true!). By now I’ve learned a few things about how to throw together a joyful space that will look cute messy because it WILL be messy.
I have ZERO desire to train my 3- and 5-year-old to keep a perfectly tidy room at these ages. If I could Mary Poppins it, I would, but instead I am happy with my intentionally low expectations.
Real quick here are links to the previous rooms if you’re curious. Nova’s first nursery and update later on, Marigold’s nursery tour, Nova’s bedroom (this was the most difficult room to leave because we had just completed it when we decided to move) and their shared room at our previous home (this room was never fully decorated or complete, but the stars were fun!). Also, our first playroom.
We repurposed the beds, adding a matching one recently when our younger daughter outgrew her crib. These beds are excellent and have been so worth the splurge to me. I did use coupons though! 😉
The rails have to be purchased separately, but both our kids have really benefited from having them. We personally would not feel comfortable using twin-size beds without the rails because of a few accidents we experienced early on.
The other things we brought with us from previous spaces are the chandelier, which was from Nova’s nursery and also her dresser.
What we added in this home was the wallpaper, the fluffy rug (which is such a great rug for the price!) and we DIY-ed the new bookshelves and toy boxes (those will be full DIY posts coming to the blog soon!).
I found the wallpaper from a small shop called Loomwell. It’s great quality and was very easy to install. Our girls love it!
P.S. You can use the the code ABEAUTIFULMESS to take 15% off your order!
I’ve received a lot of questions about why our girls are sharing a room and whether they have the option of having their own rooms.
Yes, we have a designated room for each child. Not that I think that is essential, because I don’t. If we decided to grow our family in the future (no plans for that currently), we would definitely be looking at shared bedrooms.
My sister, Emma, and I shared a bedroom for most of our childhood and teen years, by choice, even though we had our own bedrooms starting in elementary school. We just liked sleeping together. I’m so thrilled our girls like sharing a room, too. When given the choice to share or have their own bedrooms, they enthusiastically wanted to share.
At some point that may change, and that’s no problem because as you’ve already seen I like redecorating kids’ rooms. Haha. This is another reason why I am holding off on renovating the kids’ bathrooms right now (see their mini bathroom refresh here).
I will probably remodel the girls’ bathrooms closer to their “big kid” years, but who knows! At the moment, it doesn’t feel worth it or necessary at all.
Books have always been a MAJOR part of our kids’ room decor. We swap our books often. We have a HUGE collection for fall, Halloween, Christmas, and Lunar New Year.
The rest of the year, we swap them frequently. Recently, I’ve been focusing on collecting books that teach diversity and also teach about the lives of historical figures, artists and musicians. Collecting children’s books is so incredibly satisfying and fulfilling.
Check out the DIY for these adorable bookshelves!
Book links: When Charley Met Emma, Hug Machine, David Bowie, Elton John, Dolly Parton, Clueless Picture Book, You Matter, Llama Llama Loves to Read, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Triangle.
Our children became big fans of the movie Coco this past year and ever since they’ve been obsessed with playing “the guitar” (I realize these are mostly ukuleles, but let’s let that slide, OK?) daily.
They have so much fun playing along to movies and songs. We’ll definitely be in the market for lessons soon.
P.S. I can’t wait to retire my diaper table piece, but it’s been well loved.
We used these ukulele holders to mount them to the wall. It’s one of my favorite displays and toy collections in our home!
Here’s a link to the daisy pillow.
I added a basket for each kid next to their toy box. This little vampire doll was a gift from Laura. Our family passionately watches Halloween movies year-round. If you ever catch me dazing off, there’s a good chance I’m planning Halloween costumes … hahaha.
Between the two beds we added this little rattan side table (similar here) and this gold lamp.
I recommend this sound machine all the time, but it REALLY is the best!
One last detail: We’ve been using this elephant hamper since Nova’s first nursery and we still love it SO much.
Thanks so much for following along! If I missed any links or sources, just ask me in the comments. We’re repurposing quite a bit and a lot of items in the room are from previous spaces. Hope you have a wonderful day! XX- Elsie
All sources linked: Curtains / Beds / Bed Rails / Chandelier / Dresser / Wallpaper / Daisy Pillow / Throw (Bedding is also from Target) / Baskets / Gold Lamp / Sound Machine / Elephant Hamper
P.S. Be sure to check out our Hidden Children’s Library tour and 50 Kids’ Room (and Nursery) Ideas for more inspiration!
Any plans to make changes to their room now that you’ve adjust the vision for the overall home renovations?
Hi Sophie,
Yes- I am going to redo their room(s) but probably not for a while. Kids rooms are fun to redo every few years as they grow and change. We won’t make any major (expensive) changes though unless we do their bathrooms. XX
Can you please share details for the bedding? I love it. Thanks!
Wondering where the curtains are from? On the hunt for some pretty mustard yellow in a similar width!
Just added a link to the post! https://rstyle.me/+gJdnSWmjtvREPSC2H495Fg 🙂
What paint color did you use for the walls? I love it!
Hi! It was custom-made to match the wallpaper 🙂
I love your blog! and everything you post. I was wondering what you guys do with all the extra books you don’t display. Do you store them out of site or do you have multiple book shelves throughout the house?
Hi! We have baskets of books in three other rooms, so we kind of just cycle through them. I keep the seasonal books in a closet.
I love the ukulele collection
I love this!! The beds are adorable!! My girls recently wanted to all share a room (my husband and I have 3). The oldest had her own room, but we have a space big enough for the three. They are loving it! Although my organization of their stuff is not the best! I love the ideas you shared!
It looks beautiful Elsie !
What lucky little girls, they must be in heaven!!!
did you link or share their bedroom paint colour before?
Id love to know the colour if you dont mind its so pretty! the perfect warm pinky shade
I recently went out and got a whole wack of swatches of white mocha by behr, to look at it in the different parts of my home.
I was looking for a perfect warm white neutral for my whole main living area, and had low and behold saw it on your previous kitchen post!
you have a real knack for choosing colours and thats where i struggle alot with making decisions, so i am looking to you to be my paint consultant at this point , haha!
( im renter and finally completely sick of living with the colour choices of previous tenants)
thanks again to you all for always having such beautiful , fun content!
I love the book shelving. Will you share the resource, please?
What an adorable room!! Where did you find those amazing personalized trunks at the end of the beds?
Adorable room! May I ask what brand/color the wall paint is? I’m looking for the perfect pink for my almost 4 year old…!
This is such an adorable room! My sisters are twins and have shared a room (and bed!) for most of their lives, even though they also had separate rooms the entire time they lived at home. They ended up rooming together at college and are still living together at 28! It’s so sweet to watch Nova and Goldie have a similar relationship!
This is a cute room and I LOVE that you say it’s got to look cute when it’s messy because it is. That’s real life unless Mum tidies up all day long so I love that you shared this aspect!! And I think all Mums wish we could have a Mary Poppins at clean up time!
This is such a fun and colorful room! I love the wallpaper. What happened to Nova’s adorable vanity? I hope you’re able to use that somewhere, it was so cute!
Hi Brittany,
Yes we still have the vanity in the other bedroom. Thank you! It’s one of my favorite projects Collin ever did!
Our boys have been sharing a bedroom since the youngest could sleep through the night. They are now 8 and 9 (22 months apart) so they like the same things most of the time. We’ve just bought a new house and we’re going from 3 to 4 bedrooms (one of which is as big as a second master) so we asked them if they preferred a smaller room all to themselves or a big shared room and they decided on splitting up for the first time. Which works out great because I can get my library/office space now 😀 Since we work from home more often now and the kids do virtual school (and likely will be for the next year), we’ll set up some space for all of us in that office (it will be great to not work and study out of the kitchen counter and dining table). And I also get to decorate two kids rooms now! I’m stoked!
This bedroom is so sweet! I also wanted to share a room with my sister until well into my teens, and then when I started high school and she was still in elementary, I finally wanted my own space. Just curious, what are you doing with the extra bedroom in the meantime? Will it be an extra guest room?
Hi Rachel!
Currently the other room has a bed set up because our kids still have to nap in separate rooms. So it’s kind of just an extra kids room for now (there’s also a lot of toys in there). Nova know it will be her room someday when she’s bigger. 🙂
What lucky little girls!!! I love every detail! Well done Elsie. I think this is my favorite kid room ever. My girls share a room by choice too. It’s such a fun experience for them.
Thank you Jean!!!!
I love love love this room Elsie! Mom question about the kids sharing – my boys are the same ages as your girls and I’m wondering how you get them to go to bed at the same time without keeping each other awake. My youngest isn’t out of a crib yet and I’m dreading the big kid bed intro. Do they sleep better/stay in bed better because of the peer pressure of the other kid being there?
We put our kids to bed about an hour early just so they can yell and play and have fun. They love it and we get an extra hour to hang out- win/win!
How sweet! Love the wall paper. Think it’s sophisticated enough for a kitchen? I’ve followed this blog a while now, because I love your color choices and style in every room. I’m curious, what does your spouse think of all the pink? Was there arm twisting involved? Asking for a friend… 😉
Hi! I do think a citrus or peach (or any fruit) print would be amazing in a kitchen or dining space!
My husband has no issue with pink. On our first house he had more opinions but over time he has grown to trust me. Also he is not that interested in decorating and he knows it’s my big passion. So he’s supportive of the pink. He’s also comfortable with it because after you live with it a while it feels like a neutral and no big deal! 🙂
Thanks for the response, Elsie! You sure are blessed with a supportive hubby, congrats! Not sure my own will go for wallpaper off the bat, but perhaps I’ll start with peach and pink accessories and work our way up to an accent wall…
As a long time reader, this reminds me of the diy painted oranges you did in the kitchen of one of your first houses! Coming full circle!
It’s true!!!!