9 Creative Ideas for Shared Kids’ Rooms
March 9, 2021If you are planning to include a shared bedroom in your custom home design, you have a lot of creative design and decor ideas available to enhance the room in a way that looks great and provides efficiency. Here are a few creative ideas for shared kids’ rooms:
- Opt for a creative twist on standard bunk beds.
- Create separation and symmetry with a mirrored layout.
- Build in some privacy.
- Color-code personal spaces and items.
- Choose dual-purpose furniture.
- Include names in decor.
- Design around a theme.
- Make the most of the corners.
- Create a loft.
1. Opt For a Creative Twist on Standard Bunk Beds
Bunk beds are great space savers in a shared bedroom. They can be an efficient use of the available square footage and can free up floor and wall space for other things. Bunk beds can also help to create a better aesthetic in a bedroom designed for children.
The best part is that you don’t have to go for a standard bunk bed setup if you don’t want to. Various options for bunk bed configurations are available, and each can offer its own set of benefits. You can even combine bunk bed and alcove bed ideas to make the most of your room layout. L-shaped layouts or loft-style bunks provide a good place for a small writing desk or chest of drawers underneath them.
Putting a desk under a bunk bed is one of the built-in desk ideas that can help you make the most of individual spaces in a shared room. Back-to-back bunk beds can save a bit of floor space by providing separate beds on the same side of the bedroom. This leaves the other side of the room open for other pieces of bedroom furniture and decor.
2. Create Separation and Symmetry With a Mirrored Layout
Even though they may have a shared bedroom, you can still create some separation within the room for each child. If you have the space, a mirror layout can help you divide the room and create a separate space for each individual.
Simply align each child’s bed, nightstand, dresser, and light fixtures opposite one another as if they were a reflection. This can provide a feeling of having independent living quarters despite ultimately sharing the space, and allows for some individual expression through decorating. Plus, it creates symmetry in the room, which is aesthetically pleasing.
3. Build in Some Privacy
There are ways to provide a sense of privacy and security even when a room is shared. Room dividers are like portable walls and come in many shapes, colors, sizes, and styles. They are also classic ways to define open spaces in an open-concept floor plan, a shared bedroom, or other rooms.
Plus, because there are so many options available, there is certainly one out there that would suit your aesthetic and needs. These dividers can be used in different areas of the room, such as a reading nook, changing area, or beside the bed. You can also create a divider by using a two-sided or shared bookshelf or with other furniture. Curtains and canopies can provide some privacy as well, especially in sleeping areas.
4. Color-Code Personal Spaces and Items
A common difficulty with children sharing a bedroom is when their individual items get mixed together in the shared environment. One potential solution to this is to color-code each child’s space and belongings. Have each child participate in the selection of their color or color palette and use that as the base for their own personal decor and bedding.
Their color can also be used to identify where their own items are stored, such as toy storage, bins, shelving, organizational totes/baskets, etc. This will help with knowing what belongs to whom, which teaches respect for another’s property and assures each child the comfort of having a place for their personal effects.
5. Choose Dual-Purpose Furniture
Thanks to it consistently being one of the interior design trends year after year, there are a number of options available for dual-purpose or multifunctional furniture that can provide storage, privacy, and even allow for more space in a shared bedroom.
There are numerous styles of beds, bunk-beds, and headboards that have built-in storage to keep things tidy without adding more furniture to the room for the sake of storage. Furniture like this, large closets, and other interior storage details are great ways to incorporate more storage.
An open shelving unit or pair of bookshelves in a somewhat larger space can divide the room while allowing for the storage of multiple personal items. A futon, pullout couch, or trundle bed can be an easy way to ensure that the next sleepover is comfortable for the guests as well.
6. Include Names in Decor
Another one of the creative ideas for shared kids’ rooms is to include names in decor. Using each child’s name in the room decor has multiple benefits. It allows for the aesthetic style to be personalized and unique.
Sometimes, using names in the decor can designate spaces that are “reserved” for an individual child, such as above their bed, in a reading nook, or above that child’s dresser. This is also another way to make each child feel special and like they have their own designated areas, even within a shared space.
7. Design Around a Theme
For a creative interior design in a shared kids’ room, you can work with them to design around a specific theme. This can be easier if the children have a consistent, shared interest like animals, space, the ocean, superheroes, etc.
This can allow you to get creative and experiment with decor around a theme that all the kids living in the room will enjoy. If themes are an attractive option, but it’s difficult to narrow down to one, you could allow each child to design and decorate around a theme within their individual space and then stick to something more neutral or complementary in shared spaces within the room.
However, if your kids tend to have a lot of interests and fall in and out of them quickly, it might be better to stick with a color palette instead of a specific jungle, ocean, or other theme in more permanent design features. This avoids getting stuck with a theme a child is no longer interested in, while still allowing kids to explore a theme in decor that is easier to switch and replace if needed.
8. Make the Most of the Corners
Corners can sometimes be difficult to decorate and use in some rooms. In a space like a shared bedroom, not being able to make use of any space in the room is a mistake. Don’t ignore the corners; instead, make the most of them.
At the very least, using corner shelves for extra storage can help you make use of otherwise wasted space in a useful, functional way. This is a classic way to decorate corners in living rooms, bedrooms, and other rooms. Depending on the space that will be available and what else is already included in the room design, other options can be an extra workspace, a hobby area, a reading nook, a comfortable sitting area, an extension of the play area, and more.
If the plan is to extend a play area to make use of a corner, you can enhance the walls in the corner to be interactive with blackboards or whiteboards, acrylic wallpaper for peel-and-stick interactions, and more. You can even put up LEGO panels on the walls to allow kids to build vertically. Or, turn the walls of a corner into a game, like Tic-Tac-Toe, Connect Four, chess, checkers, etc. This is an accent wall idea that can elevate the look, feel, and function of a kids’ room.
9. Create a Loft
Provided you have the vertical space to do so within the room and the kids are old enough to navigate a ladder or steps safely on their own, you can build up and create a loft on an upper level or suspended for a unique and useful design element in a kids’ room. Additionally, if you’ll be using a staircase instead of a ladder for loft access, you could make the stairs multifunctional and incorporate staircase storage options.
A loft can add a relaxation space in a way that doesn’t take up floor space or other areas, and allows you to incorporate loft decor ideas, too. This can be a great option for shared rooms with higher ceilings. Depending on the room design and layout, you could have loft beds or bunk beds with vertical height on one side and an adjacent loft or a loft on the other side of the room.
In this case, you would still be able to play with bunk bed configurations and create other spaces under top-level bunks in addition to having the loft. Or, if all beds will be standard, ground-level beds, a loft can be a great way to take advantage of available vertical space, while adding a more livable, functional, and useful shared space to the room.
Are You Ready to Build a Custom Home?
These are just a few creative ideas for shared kids’ rooms that can help save space, create some privacy and separation, and make a unique living space for your children. These can also be used as inspiration for kids’ bedroom design ideas, whether it will be a shared room or not. If you’re ready to make your home design official and make it a reality, contact Custom Home Group at 717-284-4090!