Shared

A shared bedroom fit for two adventurous little boys!
I have been working on a little room refresh for our youngest two boys, Conway (3) and Stone (2). The inspiration for their room came from some vintage postcards we bought while on vacation and it has since evolved into a National Park/adventure themed room.
Their room cannot accommodate two twin beds without sacrificing on play space, so I opted for bunk beds! We love how the bunk beds have allowed the boys to have a nice, big area to play and run around. One of the biggest things I did before starting their room refresh was minimize toys. Toys accumulate so quickly around here! The boys have one toy storage cabinet with 9 small, felt bins that holds all of their toys and isn’t an eye sore for their room. If there is one thing I have learned with my boys’ rooms, it’s that less is more!
The star of the room is definitely the Hot Air Balloon wallpaper from Livette’s. Isn’t it darling?! I love the vintage feel it brings to the room and it plays along so well with the National Park theme. I chose to go with hot air balloons to always remind my boys to seek adventure, be brave and fearless and to always “fly” wherever the Lord leads them in life.

This basement playroom project started off with a completely blank canvas; the ask was to create a cozy, comfortable, colourful & functional space for a very busy toddler! I wanted this playroom to feel bold and adventurous yet soft enough to work with the rest of the home. So we opted for a wonderful muted jungle wallpaper and an oversized muted geometric area rug to ground the space. These elements inspired a blue, green and yellow colour palette which we layered with interesting shapes, patterns and textures for an elevated feel.
Playrooms always need a solid organizational systems, one that’s easy to stick to! So we made sure to integrate both open and closed storage for this family — the closed cabinetry is perfect for art supplies, puzzles and toy collections divided into clear bins, while the open shelf encourages autonomous play with easy-to-access toys on rotation. Creating designated purposeful areas is probably the single most important aspect of any playroom design.
My clients already had a great dining table, so we used it to create an arts & crafts zone with beautiful soft green chairs. These are my favourite ones to use in kid’s spaces because they are wipeable, have a closed back and are light enough for kids to move around themselves.
To promote imaginative play we added a fun kid’s play couch, a canvas playhouse with the sweetest little windows and a wooden climber. A low coffee table is the perfect spot to play with building blocks, puzzles and trucks! Fun decorative touches bring so much personality to the room, like knotted floor cushions, pom pom bins, a flag bunting and wool wall hangings. The end result is a colourful fun-filled playroom with endless layers of fun to explore!
Photography: Heidi Lau

We have waited a long time for our baby girl to be here – years of infertility and failed treatments so the idea of getting to share a room with her big sister who is exactly 6 years older was very special to us and even her! I had a vision in my head for a long time of having a feature wall behind their beds that was a deep shade of green and the floral wallpaper that I fell in love with.
My biggest piece of advice for people planning a space is don’t be afraid to pivot. I had an idea in my head of matching beds for now – basically a crib that coordinates and is in the same furniture line as the big girl bed, but because of Covid delays or not wanting to spend billions on beds, I had to pivot and got matching beds for later and beds that compliment one another now, but aren’t in the same line.
The full reveal, the design plans, how I handled things being out of stock and all my sources are on my site, Livingletterhome.com!

A modern Spanish twist on a sweet playroom. This space has seating for seven, storage for tons of toys, an art station with supply storage built-in, and a lot of color!

Designing a shared kid’s room is no easy feat… not only are you creating a space that siblings will literally remember forever, it also requires extra consideration and functionality to suit the needs of two individual sets of interests!
The first step in creating this fun and functional room, was to introduce tons of storage that would work for my mini Clients well into their tweens. We ripped out the room’s old fireplace and installed a full wall of custom cabinetry, with open shelving and drawers along the middle for books, toys, nick nacks and painted masterpieces. We even incorporated hanging space and drawers on either side for each of the kids’ clothes; all behind closed door. I can’t get over how much stuff these built-ins can hold — it’s unreal! I even proposed turning an unused closet into a built-in desk nook, which turned out to be the perfect spot for virtual learning during this years’ pandemic.
We agreed on a fresh blue and pink colour palette and after several rounds of wallpaper sourcing, landed on the whimsical Cole & Son woods and stars wallpaper. The metallic star accents are a thing of beauty and add so much depth to the space. We layered in soft blues and pinks through textiles and a variety of decor pieces; like a robin blue desk chair, pastel toned bunting banner and gorgeous art prints. I really wanted to amp up the texture with items like this stunning Leanne Ford geometric wool rug and 100% Flax linen bedding from Dreams Jumper. I just adore how the colours and patterns work together in a very relaxed and whimsical way; from stars and moons, to rainbows and flowers… it’s now a wondrous room for two very imaginative kiddos!

My boys are 2 years apart and as soon as my youngest was out of the crib I wanted my boys to share a room! After having toddler beds for a few years, it was time to upgrade to twin beds. I immediately knew I wanted a black metal bed for my boys and a pop of color! That was my starting point. I also wanted to use as much from both of their nurseries as possible because I still loved the woodland/mountain/outdoor theme but wanted to add a NEW color to change it up a bit! I found a vintage washed green quilt from the target pillowfort collection and knew that was the color I wanted to use. My advice would be find the items you really love that make the room unique but don’t feel like you have to buy everything brand new to create an entirely different look! I try to buy decor items that can grow with my kids and can be used for a long time. For an example, when I got their toddler bed comforters I already had in mind that I would use them across the end of a twin bed one day! Take a look at Beckett’s Adventure Nursery and Bowen’s Woodland Nursery to see all of the items I incorporated from their nurseries into their big boy room!