Comments on: Sharing Bedrooms, Keeping Privacy

By: Kathi

Kathi — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 13:44:57 +0000

We have 8 children: 5 boys and 3 girls. Two boys are in each room together. In one room, I have the bunk beds unstacked and connecting together near a corner of a room. This has created an open space in the corner for privacy….it’s small the the 7 year old loves his little cubby space. The 5 year old has an area under his bed. His bed is a few feet off the floor. If you just unstack the beds, you’ll have one higher than the other. This is the way I prefer to keep it. I made curtains to go around the beds years ago and now the curtains hang from the 5 year old’s bed to the floor. He has his own private kingdom under there and loves it! When the beds are stacked, each bed has curtain around it for privacy. I pick up a safety light at IKEA for each child and they have a reading area on their beds.

My older boys have always shared. We’ve changed their arrangements over the years to accomodate privacy. Currently they have 2 matching beds with drawers under. They are all very tall, over 6 feet and we had some issues of the beds being too small. The sleep on platform beds I found at Big Lots. They have a nightstand between the beds to hold their stuff and each has a small trunk to throw in their “treasures.” The closet has an organizer in it with each having their own side. We don’t have dressers in the children’s rooms because they take up too much space and honestly, the children stuff their clothes in them and they are a mess. Instead, we use closet organizers or open books shelves from Big Lots with baskets to hold socks, underpants and PJs.

The two girls share a Queen bed – by request. They have a window seat to store their “treasures.” They each have a vanity. They share a large walk in closet. The closet has a couple of bookshelf organizers with the baskets to contain their stuff. On these, I also store their seasonal clothes. They have their bed up on lifts to store even more stuff under it. My girls have way too much stuff!

The baby – 16 months old- has her “own” room. She has a queen bed in it ready for guests or our college son to return home. He doesn’t mind too much sleeping in a pink, frilly room! She’s a light sleeper and isn’t ready to have someone in her room with her yet. Eventually she may move in with an older sister….or better yet, BECOME and older sister!

No pictures….I didn’t say we were CLEAN and organized!

By: Christine

Christine — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 03:16:02 +0000

The thought of the captain’s bed made me think about a trundle bed – when there’s one bed under another that you pull out when you need and when they wake up push back in under the other bed.

I haven’t used one, and my kids aren’t old enought for me to be thinking about this, so I don’t know if they are practical or not, but they seem to save space.

By: Grandma Elaine

Grandma Elaine — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 19:25:40 +0000

At my household growing up, A 7 year younger sister slept with me, but all her clothes, toys and etc were in a younger sisters room. That was her room, except for sleeping. They didn’t blend well at night, but same interests during the day. This worked fine.

By: amy v

amy v — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 12:38:46 +0000

One space saver that I love, but that is not cheap, is to buy “captian’s beds.” The twin beds have a set of drawers under them. This has helped us because my kids do not like bunk beds. The one who had to sleep did not feel secure.

By: Theresia

Theresia — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 12:02:22 +0000

Our 16yo and 13yo boys have shared a room forever and I plan to keep it that way awhile longer even though a bedroom has cleared with the eldest at college. Now, having 6 boys, I do understand the personality thing about room sharing. Our eldest two were so different but I wonder now if having them share a room might have been good in the long run. (always second guessing). Anyway, ‘privacy’ hasn’t really been an issue. They do want space to put their own things and they do wish the littles wouldn’t get into it too! I wonder if your son’s are worried about ‘privacy’? Is it really simply a matter of having a space to put their things that no one else is allowed to touch without permission? I guess I would hesitate to put up some sort of physical barrier in the room. I don’t care for that ‘my side, your side’ business.

Each of our children have one underbed storage box for ‘things’ a dresser top space and the 16yo and 13yo share a book shelf too. so far not much of an issue unless some culprit invades….

Our 2yo little darling is still in our room in a pack n play. When we move her out it could mean a major overhaul of bedrooms and I’m not ready or convinced how to manage that. Our 17yo dshas a small bedroom. Our 10 yo dd has a little bedroom – not even a closet. Our 16 and 13yo share. Our 8 and 5yo boys share. sigh. 10yo dd bedroom is too small to even fit a toddler bed in for little sister. I may bunk the 5 and 8yo and put baby Anne in with them – it is right next to our bedroom – actually attached by a direct door so I can keep an eye on my babe. Wonder how those boys would like it? For awhile I think they’d think it was great but….. For now it would literally be moving her to the other side of the door that she is sleeping up against so why bother…. life is too short and I’m way too busy….

By: Molly

Molly — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 10:21:18 +0000

I actually second Colleen’s idea of considering letting the two older boys share a room and the two youngers in their own room. The toys are more likely to be similar, as well as books and bedtimes.

By: snowshoe

snowshoe — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 05:43:36 +0000

We have 4 boys in a room (ages 10,9,5,and3) and they all do fine. The older boys definitely want to have their own stuff, but they seemed to desire space of their own outside of the bedroom. So they have some space on the workbench in the garage for their valuable chunks of metal and other junk, and they each have their own space outside for keeping those wonderful sticks and other treasures that we wouldn’t let them keep in their bedrooms anyway.

By: mcm

mcm — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 02:40:22 +0000

yeah, i was going to suggest a bookshelf as well. one that might work well is an open one that can be set up with some things facing one child and some facing the other child. i got mine from target. it’s a closet organizer shelf i think, you can hook them together to make a large open bookshelf. it works great. i also put my oldest and youngest together and my two “middle” children my daughter and second son, they just get along really well, and, before he now has his own room, my oldest got along very well with the (then) baby (now 3) he still felt like he had his own space. so, it just has to be whatever works. anyway, that’s my suggestion. i am into getting them nice bedding too, so it might be great to get them fun bedspreads that match their personalities if it’s in the budget. the bookshelves from target are very budget friendly. Good luck!

By: Elizabeth

Elizabeth — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 01:53:06 +0000

If they have seperate beds the room could be divided some by a dresser and/or bookcase in the middle. It makes it feel more private.

By: Robin

Robin — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 00:04:16 +0000

hmmm…For girls canopies or drapes would work well of course but for boys something similar to a tent perhaps suspended from the ceiling would be very cool I think. I have seen them sold too. They rest atop the bed post. It would make me claustrophobic but turtlenecks do that too so… My son, though he has his own room made a Fortress of solitude on his bottom bunk at one point (it’s a Superman thing). Blessings!Robin