I love that my children share bedrooms, even when it causes friction about personal space and ownership. Which. It. Does. For instance, Blythe prefers neat and tidy spaces and values privacy. Olive on the other hand, values playful fun and loathes cleaning. She also has little reason for personal space and tends to feel rejected when others want privacy. Naturally, this causes friction about everything from clothes on the floor to alone time. It also offers plenty of conversation-starters about gentleness, patience, consideration, and respect. Still, as the girls both grown older––Blythe will be ten this fall––we needed to rework their room to grow with them, to give each a little space of her own, a personal bed and work space to manage and keep as they will (within reason, of course).
Enter: loft beds. Playful enough for Oli and private enough for Blythe, a personal treehouse for the both of them.
We had just the right amount of space on both sides of the window to build one for each. And since we have ten foot ceilings–one of my favorite features in our old home–we opted to design the beds ourselves and take advantage of the height. I wanted the lofts to feel like little cubbies in the sky, a place for sleeping, reading, or drawing, with plenty of head room underneath, so we opted to build walls instead of stilt legs to create a sense of coziness within the larger room.
I hung the self-adhesive Chasing Paper wallpaper, with a few minor mistakes due to our old, uneven walls and floors (insert: forced smile), but you can only tell with up-close looks. Sigh. The floating leaves in shades of grey, blue, and green are exactly how I wanted the space to feel: whimsical, feminine, organic, and with a touch of history. We used a soft putty grey cabinet paint on the wood to finish them out and a compliment to the wallpaper. I also added a fresh coat of “White Dove”, which has a bit more ochre in it than the “Chantilly Lace” that was there before. It’s a softer white.
After scouring online classifieds and estate sales for months, I found this Vintage iron bed on Craigslist to keep as a guest bed. Fist bumps and high-fives. We kept the linens simple, a white coverlet previously on our bed, a new linen throw, and floral pillowcases. I still need to add lighting in the room, near the guest bed and in the girls’ sleep space for bedtime reading. I also plan to repaint and change the hardware on the armoire, but seriously there are always finishing projects to do. for the time, we pulled out twinkle lights from our Christmas boxes and strung them underneath for a delicate, warm glow.
Although we still do much school work together at the table, sofa, or lawn, we’re moving to years where the kids want personal study/work space. They now each have desk space with small shelf space for their art supplies and books. The armoire is awkwardly placed in front of the door for now, to block the door to the boys’ room. Let’s just say it acts as a peacemaker. Wink.
SOURCES
Chasing Paper Removable Wallpaper: West Elm
Loft Bed Paint Color: Benjamin Moore Revere Pewter
Wall Paint Color: Benjamin Moore White Dove
Antique Bed: Craigslist, similar here
Floral Pillowcases: Target, similar here
Striped Linen Throw: MUR Lifestyle
Cavallini Penmanship Poster : Amazon
Cavallini “Papillon” Poster : Amazon
Black Cross Mini Banner : Matriarch Handmade
Dahlia Painting : Vintage Cloud Shop
Print of “La Rue Montorgueil” by Claude Monet (1878) : a keepsake from Paris, similar here
Drawing Paper Roll : IKEA, similar to purchase online here
Art Pencils: (Olive’s desk) Amazon; (Blythe’s desk) mixture of vintage pencils and these
Camden Rose Wood Paint Jar Holder : Amazon
Play Kitchen : Craigslist
book baskets : Target, similar here and here
Armoire : inherited antique, planning to change paint and hardware
Olive’s Vintage Desk : Craigslist
Blythe’s Desk : made with legs from our first breakfast [antique] table that broke, plywood top
Comments
Such a lovely, creative space! I noticed that in several rooms of your house you use the same white window coverings (that seem to clip up??). Did you make them? I love how simple they are and would love to find something similar:)
Haha, yes! They’re $5 paper blinds found at Home Depot or Lowes. They were intended to be temporary, and almost three years later, they’re still up! ? I do have plans to replace them, but it always seems there are other home projects needing the resources. ;)
Ha! That’s awesome:) I know how that is! I’m sitting in a room with no window coverings….and it’s been this way for 4 years. Ugh.
This is great! We are in the same process with our girls’ room, only mine are a bit younger. I love your idea of the wall on the loft instead of see through legs – we will definitely be using that!
We have super high ceilings and my sons have tall lofts like yours – it has been totally worth the climb! But speaking from experience, if anyone is giving you that stomach bug vibe, put them on the couch for the night ;-P lol.
Oh goodness, Anna! I can only imagine. Thanks for the tip. xx
I bet they love their individual spaces! My 9- and 8-year-old daughters share a room and have very different personalities, like yours. One likes to clean/keep it clean and the other couldn’t care less. :)
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Just beautiful…am sure they love it!
Beautiful and lovely space for your girls!! Creative and functional in many ways. Wonderful job mama! ;)
What a beautiful and whimsical room, Bethany. I love how cozy it all feels.
Ronnie xo
oh, my! this is nothing short of magical. what a wonderful space. i can’t say i’m surprised you did what you did. amazed, yes. surprised, no. absolutely wonder-ful, bethany!
Everything looks so good! I love your style, and mix of resourcefulness, ingenuity, and simplicity. I think you achieved a cozy yet spacious feel, well done!