Monday, July 12, 2010

Creating a Shared Toddler/Newborn Room

We've officially decided that Ella and her baby brother will be sharing a room. That was an easy decision. Now comes the hard part . . . I'm too picky, but maybe even more so, too indecisive. I'm struggling with how I actually want to decorate the room. I'm hoping you will be able to help me out with some creative ideas! I need all the help I can get!!

First off, let me give you the basics.

  • The bed situation:
    • Ella will be staying in her crib (which will be converted to a toddler bed at some point, but keeps the same size mattress), so I either need to keep her current bedding or get new crib/toddler bedding.
    • Baby brother will be in a crib as well (duh!, right?). It will be the same color wood as Ella's but a slightly different style.
  • The color situation:
    • I like the yellow (currently in Ella's room, see pictures below), but I'm really in the mood to do something different in the room.
    • I'm not against doing something creative like painting one side of the room one color and the other side of the room another color (the room could actually be split in a very natural way). See some of the photos of the twin rooms to get an idea of what I'm talking about here.
    • I'm not a fan of a bunch of pink. Some pink is OK, but I'm not going to do lots of pink.
  • The theme situation:
    • It can have a theme or not, I don't really care one way or the other. But . . . 
    • I don't want to do anything with cartoons.
  • Miscellaneous things:
    • It does not have to be a matchy-matchy room, but I would like everything to look good together.
    • I made Ella's name letters, and I'll make new ones for her (if the current ones don't match) and new ones for baby brother.

If you've made it this far through the post, thank you for your patience as you read through all my pickiness. :) Here are some photos of Ella's current stuff. The colors in the first photo are much truer to the real colors in the room (these are some old photos and Ella is sleeping right now, so I'm not going to take any new ones). Her bedding has bees and stars (the stars are on the bed skirt and her lamp - they are not easily seen in the photos).
nursery1

nursery2

Thank you for your creative input! :)