I will just say right off the bat that I will NOT be sharing my boys’ bedroom this week. Maybe ever. ‘Nuff said. Instead, here are some photos of my girls’ charming (in my eyes and theirs, anyway) bedroom. Formerly this was the CHILDRENS’ bedroom, as in, all four of them shared it. My amazing husband built a MASSIVE double bunkbed (two full size mattresses) which took up the majority of the space (the room is just 9 feet square, including the closet (which is now sleeping quarters.) I’ll tell you more about what’s there, how it came to be and what it used to look like as we go along.
Standing in the doorway at the end of the hallway; to the right you can see the end of the changing table:

Standing just inside the room with the doorway at my back. You can see more of the changing table as well as the window and my beloved Pooh print, given to me by my parents when I was a teenager. We’re not huge fans of Disney stuff but I have always loved Pooh and this is so much more subdued than your average Disney Pooh stuff that I let it into the girls’ room. They love it but MJ wants to know when we can finish coloring it in. Yikes! You can also see part of the “pet net” in the upper right hand corner:

Here’s Baby EP’s area. Her clothes are stored here, the giraffe belongs to her and she gets changed and dressed here most of the time. As small as our house is, a changing table seems like a bit of a waste of space, but I LOVE having just one spot to store all of her things. So much nicer than trying to find a diaper from one of many hidey holes around the house. The butterflies were a present to MJ from the “J’s” ((my brother and his fiancée) on her last birthday. She decorated them with glitter and rhinestones and we hung them here at her request. I crammed myself in amongst the hanging clothes to take this shot:

Next we have the toy kitchen and a better view of the pet net which is overstuffed but I can’t do a cull here until the kids are away or very busy somewhere else. Also two of the several baby beds. You need a lot of baby beds when your pet net is this full. The wooden cradle was mine when I was a girl (for my dolls) and my folks repainted it and made new bedding for it for MJ’s second birthday. I found the tiny Moses basket at Good Will. I made the cushion to go inside of it and RK got it for her third birthday.
Now we have the girls’ beds which are built into the former closet. We took the malfunctioning doors off years ago and just had Mom and Dad’s clothes hanging there. One of my jobs for this project was to get the hanging clothes to a level that would fit in the space just to the left of here (which you’ll see next.) Underneath are the big girls’ drawers- one for each of them. They’re just one of the “charming” built-ins from the original trailer. The same closet set-up is in the boys’ room and their beds are done the same way. The very top shelf is currently storage for whatever. I plan to paint inside the bed area someday and probably the drawer fronts and the surrounding wood as well.

Next we have the remaining closet in the house. The whole family’s hanging clothes are here. Originally there was a built-in desk with mirror here. Then we took out the desk and put the crib here when RK was big enough for a crib. It’s a slightly smaller than average (but still safe, I checked!) older crib. A standard modern crib would not fit here. When we packed away the crib, we put in another clothes bar to fit everyone’s stuff in here. Underneath we have most of the diapers from our baby shower (we were blessed with over 500!) plus the cloth diapers that we’ll use once the paper ones have run out (still a couple months off) and some random junk that I need to sort through and put away. At least it’s all in a box though!

This view is just inside the doorway, taken from underneath the pet net. This shelf was the same color as the drawers and was originally in the living room, under the giant mirror. It was also built-in. We had movies and a few books on it for a long time, then transferred it in here. We took it back down so I could paint it this cute turquoise color a couple months ago (when EP was brand new) and Hubby rehung it for me, because he’s nice
Now it has a bunch of little girl treasures on it. Those “Growing Up Girls” belong to MJ and I have been pretty good about getting them on each of her birthdays. I always wanted a set of those growing up but it just didn’t happen (Plenty of other stuff happened so don’t pity me for a lame childhood or anything. I probably never even told my mother I wanted them.) She loves them as much as I always thought I would. Now I am trying to decide whether to get sets for the other girls or not. The only have blonde and brunette. RK is definitely more blonde than MJ. EP looks to be headed the same direction as MJ but I don’t know what to do yet. More doll beds here too. The bunkbeds were my sister’s when she was little (7 years after I was little) and they went through the same treatment as the cradle for MJ’s second birthday. The Little House books on the shelf here are my second set. The first set is in my room, worn and read to shreds. This set is for more general consumption.

Aside: a comment about the flooring in here. Just a few months ago there was REVOLTING shaggy orange and brown carpet in here and it smelled awful. Blame that last bit on the Chihuahua. We pulled it out to find that there was kind of cute original flooring still in here and the boys’ bedroom. I kind of like the look in the boys’ room and theirs is in better shape. There are a lot of bad spots in here though so I plan to have Hubby paint it at some point. Until then, it’s beige, so it kind of blends in when you’re looking at it every day. It is light years beyond the old floor so I am NOT complaining.
Finally we have the doorway again. The shoe holder was a thrift store find and has done a good job of keeping the kids’ shoes corralled for several years. I recently emptied about 12 pairs of outgrown shoes from it so it looks much better now.

Now a word about how it all USED to look. In addition to clothes where the bunks are and a crib where the clothes are, there was also a giant double bunkbed where the changing table, toy kitchen, toy boxes and window are. There were about 24 inches of space between the long edge of the bed and the drawers/closet area. There were about 18 inches of space at the foot of the bed from the doorway most of the way to the current closet. “Cramped” may not be quite accurate. However, we were happy to have a place for all 4 children to sleep comfortably and without being afraid of anything (because who can be scared with 3 other people in the room and their parents in the next room?)
And now that you’ve read way too much about my kids’ bedroom, please go read what the Four Moms have to say about their other bedrooms!
and Kimberly
It’s so much fun!!

The quilt above the headboard is from my infancy, made by an aunt in 1978, from pieces of doubleknit polyester pants suits. It’s super thick and an excellent floor quilt for babies, but I keep it on the wall now. My mom made the afghan on the headboard and the matching pillows. I love them! And here! Isn’t she nice? And talented?
(I have no idea why that photo insists on staying on its side. It’s right on Photobucket but won’t behave itself here on HSB no matter how many times I change the orientation and recopy the link. Oh well. Just tilt your head to the left. Thanks.)






