Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Room Sharing and "Big Boy" Spaces

Before I begin, I sort of feel like I should preface this post with... "No, I am not sponsored by Ikea, nor is this a review of Ikea."  Ha!  Seriously though, it wasn't until I started taking pictures this afternoon that I realized how much Ikea goodness the room is filled with.  Don't get me wrong, I would LOVE to receive some Ikea product and be an ambassador for their brand, but as of yet, I haven't gotten that amazing phone call. I'm not quite yet a "big timer" in the blogger world.  ;)

Anyway, it's been about a week and a half now since our 2 biggest boys (Leeland, age 5 and Hayden, age 3) started sharing a room together.  The space they are currently sharing is the upstairs bedroom that Daniel and I used to be in.  We took literally every single second of an entire weekend, to get our room cleaned out and moved downstairs and their rooms moved together and upstairs.  It was quite the chore!  We knew when we purchased the house 2 1/2 years ago that the upstairs room is NOT meant to be a master and that we would eventually move the boys upstairs, but when we first moved here both boys were still in diapers and with Daniel working night shifts, it just seemed easier to me for everything I needed to be at my fingertips downstairs with small children while Daniel snoozed the days away upstairs.

Room sharing on the other hand, became a more recent topic of discussion. Surprisingly to many we began talking about the big boys sharing a room even before we found out that we were pregnant with baby Joel.  Our house is 3 bedrooms plus a bonus room (and 2 bathrooms) and we've liked the idea of having a guest space, and also really like the idea of having a homeschool room.  Is a homeschool room necessary?  Absolutely not! I actually always imagined us doing our schoolwork at the kitchen table, but the thought of clearing the table 3 times a day for meals and not having a space to hang our schoolwork or store things away conveniently in our small eat-in kitchen overwhelms me.  So for now, we've almost completely flipped our house upside down, moved both boys upstairs, us downstairs to reclaim the master that was Leeland's room and the playroom, and we've also created a combined nursery and guest space.  All that's left of our upstairs is to paint the bathroom and it will be like a completely new floor of our house!  Amazing how much a little paint and rearranging can change the look of your house.

So here's the space that we've set up for our big boys to room share.  Maybe we can play a little game called, "can you spot the 3 year old playing possum?"


The slanted ceilings make it impossible to do bunk beds upstairs, but thankfully the room is long enough to have both beds in there.  Hayden's bed looks tiny, but it's only because it's still technically a toddler bed.  It's the length of a twin, but it has very little height to it just in case he rolls off.  He's such little fellow, so he really loves it and could probably sleep in it another 2 years.  (It's the Ikea Singular Bed without the side rail)  The toddler bed was Leeland's at one point, and I'm sure in a few years it will be Joel's. 


The boys picked out the beige fabric with the "ABC's" all over it just the other day for their curtains.  It's a cute choice and matches well with the neutral walls. 


More Ikea furniture.... Their dressers are from the Ikea Brimnes Series, but it doesn't look like they make them anymore to where all 3 drawers are see through.  We've had these dressers a very long time.  I will say, they are cheap and not the sturdiest for adult clothes (we've tried it) but they've been perfect for kid clothes!


Little reading nook with an Ikea Latt table that the boys got for Christmas a couple years ago.  The white bookshelf full of books, and their dress up costumes hanging.  They both got the really cute dress up costumes for their birthdays from their Grandma this year- there are 4 in all, police, firefighter, construction worker and doctor.  They love playing dress up... and even more so love "under arresting" each other with the police costume. 


The other side of the room....



The lego table that the boys got for Christmas this past year from us is made from the Ikea Trofast storage system.  We used some very strong glue to secure Lego base boards to the top.  We've had the Lego table in the living room since Christmas because the boys play with it literally every single day, but moving it upstairs was really needing to happen before baby is born.  Little Legos will be quite the choking hazard for baby Joel, so it's best the boys learn now to keep them in their room before baby Joel arrives.  I LOVE that it has been such an awesome gift though.  I don't think we've ever had a Christmas present be such a big hit.... I mean, how many kids are still playing with their Christmas presents 5 months later every single day?  Legos for the win!!


On the other hand, the overflowing toy box that I frequently purge and get rid of things out of it when I can sneak them out.  In my defense, it looks like a lot but it's mostly because it's large items.  AND I'm sure my OCD friends are freaking that it isn't closed, but it's for the best.... we discovered that when the toy box opens and closes up against the wall, it scratches the paint very badly, so for now, it can stay open to avoid damaging anymore walls.  

.... Anyway, a week and half later and the big boys are LOVING their room and loving being together.  They are only 22 months apart in age, so they have always been very close.  They have literally "grown up" together.  I can only pray that Joel grows up to be just as close to the 2 of them.  They have done SO well at night thus far, just a little bit of chatter for about 20 minutes or so heard on the monitor before they pass out.  We are still separating them for nap time because during nap time, with the daylight and all the toys around, they aren't quite as apt to pass right out.  With Leeland being 5 years old, I'm sure that in the next year or two, he will be done with naps anyway and it won't be an issue.  I have to say, I'm definitely an advocate for room sharing!  These boys share a brotherly bond and friendship that they won't have with anyone else and I'm so happy that they have each other.  

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