Sometimes I come across a kids room with so many great ideas and inspiration that it doesn’t matter whether it is from a small or larger home. That is the case here with Natalie’s girls’ room. I also love when families choose to have the kids share a room even if they don’t need to. I personally believe sharing a room has helped our kids learn to share and think of each other more than if they didn’t share. And I say that coming from a family where as the oldest and only girl, I always had my own room and my brothers shared. They are best friends and always have been.

Natalie, who you can find HERE shares her creative and thoughtful shared kid’s room below. I am often inspired by Natalie’s beautiful home renovations and design. And I truly appreciate her taking the time to take photos and share the sources of this fun, organized and creative space for kids. Thanks again Natalie! And I’ll leave you with her below…

Can you tell me a bit about yourself and your family?

We are a little family of 4 with a dog and two cats living in Woodlands North Vancouver, a little community up Indian Arm by the water. I was born and raised in Deep Cove as well as my husband Jason. I’m a freelance stylist mainly focusing on event and interior design and Jason is a commercial wood framing contractor. We have two beautiful girls, Penny who is 8 and June almost 5 years old. 

Love your kids room style. What's your favourite part?

My favorite part of their room is the bunk bed Jason and I designed. I searched for hours trying to find a nice modern bunk bed online that was reasonably priced and couldn’t find anything I liked. So usually when that happens, I ask Jason to build it, HA. Poor guy gets lots of project on the weekends.

Can you tell us how you designed and built their bed?

I sketched something out for Jason and we used material left over from our renovations in the summer to build the structure. Then we finished it off with some nice plywood in the front and sides and of course a fresh coat of white paint. By using what we had on hand we saved a ton and so we spent a little more on the plywood to face the bunkbeds. We also made sure there was lots of room for toy storage underneath.


Do your kids need to share a room or are you choosing to? 

When we moved in, they were originally going to share the smaller room that we currently have but we put them in the main bedroom to give them more room to play. There are only two bedrooms upstairs and one down so we plan on moving Penny (8) downstairs when she is ready.


I receive a lot of messages from parents worried about their kids sharing a room. Do you have any advice you could share about what has worked for you? 

We lived in a 2000 sqft Townhouse before this house and had a ton of space and both kids had their own room so I was scared of putting them into a room together. Scared as in… I’ll never sleep again. We had to rent a 2-bedroom suite during our reno on the house so they started sharing a room then. It was a bit of a nightmare situation for about a week but then they got used to being together and now love it.  (ed. note: Love to hear it! I always say every adjustment equals one bad week. Need to remind myself of that now during our move). Putting them to bed at separate times works best for us. June goes to bed early and then I sneak Penny an hour later.

It's been a challenging year for most families, wondering if you wanted to share anything that has entertained your family being home so often? Especially during the pandemic or winter months?

Dance parties and more dance parties! When it’s raining and we can’t do much, we dance out their energy and it’s also good exercise for us! You can also make a ton of different games at home with just one balloon. Yes, it’s been challenging and not always fun and I’ve turned to screens more than I want to but you have to look at the good in everyday and think of that as a huge accomplishment. It’s tough for the kids too so you can’t put too much pressure on yourself. I’ve also realized I used to overschedule the kids and since Covid it’s been nice to really reconnect and spend time in the woods and just slow down.


If you can share any sources from your room that would be great!

We love IKEA! So, most of the items in their room and in the rest of the house are from there. We just elevate them with custom work in the room so it doesn’t look like an IKEA showroom. Ikea is just so affordable and the kids grow up so fast and then the room changes, so it’s my go to place.  (ed. note: same!)

Natalie kindly put together a list of sources for us.

IKEA

• Storage shelf

• Storage baskets

• Rug

• White wall shelves

• Book holders

• Storage containers under the bed (ed note. I have the same under bed bins!)

• Mirror

• Globe lamp (ed. note. Love this lamp too!)

Dollhouse

• I found this at a thrift store and fixed it up and added wall paper and furniture when Penny was little. I love having it mounted to the wall because this allows you to store all their little critters for the dollhouse underneath. Also, a stool to sit on while they are playing.

Lighting

• Ceiling and wall lights are all from the Illuminatevintage shop on Etsy (affiliate link)

Wall decals

• Urban wall decals

If you are looking to move to the area (Deep Cove is truly one of the most beautiful places in BC in my humble opinion) Natalie let me know they are listing this gorgeous home they poured their hearts into.