How do you design a bedroom for twins?
Decorating a room for one child and furnishing it is much easier than doing the same for two, especially when the children are twins. Despite sharing the same birthday, each child will grow up with a sense of identity and find it hard to share a bedroom with their (un)identical sibling. Below is a short guide to decorating a bedroom for twins and creating a space they must share that still feels like it’s their own and keeps the harmony between them.
Paint in neutral colours
If you have children too young to have an opinion on the wall’s colours, paint the bedroom wall in neutral colours such as beige, grey, or creamy white. As they grow and develop their tastes, it will be easier to change the colour scheme. You can have an accent wall if the children are older and like a particular colour.
However, what about when the twins clash over the wall colours in their bedroom? It’s all about compromise and is easy to solve —paint two adjacent walls in the colour one twin likes and the other two in the colour the sibling likes. Problem solved pretty much, although, ideally, you’d want each colour to pair reasonably well with the different colours!
Have a theme
A theme can inject that splash of character and a touch of individuality into the twins’ bedroom. At the same time, it can still fit the overall look and feel of the room. If you were to have a Disney theme, for instance, and a boy and a girl were sharing the room, you could have a Minnie Mouse theme for the girl and a Mickey Mouse theme for the boy. If you had two boys, you could go with superheroes and have Batman for one and Superman for the other.
Just like the colours, you can go neutral with the theme. If you think your twins won’t see eye to eye, you can choose nature motifs or jungle ones and paint the bedroom in neutral colours. The neutral colours will allow you the flexibility to incorporate cartoon characters, superheroes, or other motifs into the décor.
Create space in the Twin’s Bedrooms by dividing them into zones.
Of course, a bedroom accommodates playing, sleeping, and other activities, so you should divide the twins’ bedrooms accordingly. Cot bunk beds and other bunk beds create a clear sleeping area, not to mention saving space in the room. You can set up a study area, or even a crafts area, by introducing a reasonably sized desk and a couple of chairs. They could also have their chillout area, with a couple of beanbags, where they can read or watch TV.
Adding room dividers can help create these zones and give each twin a little privacy or sense of their space. One way is a set of thin floor-to-ceiling curtains set up down the middle of the bedroom. It doesn’t have to be a curtain, though. A bookcase between the two beds can create a sense of two separate areas but still convey one of the open spaces within the room.
You can set up a TV area with a freestanding, folding screen to suit older twins. When organising the twins’ bedroom, please don’t get so caught up in the layout that you forget about the bedding itself. You should always make sure the children have a comfortable mattress. Comfort takes priority over other considerations. If they’re older twins, they may have to settle for more of a shared space until you have the resources to focus more on further details of the room.
Set up some storage areas.
One of the difficulties of being a twin is that the child(ren) must share almost everything. Even so, they’ll each need space for their personal belongings, so make sure you have storage options for each twin. Designate different areas for specific belongings, such as drawers in a chest of drawers for trousers. If the room is big enough, you could have a dresser per twin.
Brighten the twin’s bedroom with some accessories.
Accessories can add character to a children’s bedroom and convey different areas within the room. Cushions and rugs work a treat for this! Arranging toys differently throughout the room enhances the effect further. If the twins have separate bedrooms, a motif with their first initial above the bed can individualise their space.
Twins may not find it ideal to share a room as they get older, but needs must. As you can see, you can decorate and style the room in different ways to make it more comfortable for them and give each twin their own sense of space. The twins might be ‘double trouble,’ but with a bit of thought, decorating their room doesn’t have to be.