This room really bothered me. It had too many functions and nearly nothing got done except my girls making another mess in one more room! So that was it, this past Friday night I just dug right in. I had too, how often do you stare at a mess in your house and pretend that a little elf named Rosie will fly in, wink, and Poof your mess is gone! It’s never going to happen and your husband isn’t going to magically clean it up either. I’ve learned in marriage to at least start the project and my husband naturally follows and offers help and support where needed.
My daughters had a playdate that day and I didn’t want to cancel. Here is my go at keeping things together and managing all the fires in the skillet while attempting to keep my daughters emotionally healthy……
First, I get my daughters excited about having their own rooms! I ask them for help and surprisingly they seem interested at first and so they begin to help and here this is the key, after their attention span starts to wane, they find something else they like to do and leave! Thus giving me and my hubby the time to tear apart the “craft room” and organize the soon-to-be bedroom-giving it it’s one and only function, a separate sleeping space for our older twin (by four minutes).
In the book “Emotionally Healthy Twins” author Joan Friedman, Ph.D says to “give elementary school-age twins as much emotional and physical space as possible. If they can’t have their own rooms, provide space for individual expression within their shared room.”
I couldn’t agree more. I wish I had granted them their own rooms earlier but at age six this is a ripe age to explore who they are and what they love in deciding who they will become!
To start we pulled everything out of the closet and took down the classic wire shelving and then we went to Home Depot. This allowed us to look at the closet in an honest way to gauge how we wanted to approach the space.
Not sure these would work?
I’m at Home Depot a lot and it stresses me. I don’t blame Home Depot it’s just I’m a creative person and I also love their gardening center (most of the time) so if I know I’m going there, I just have to have strong coffee. I thank my husband for the amazing Starbucks espresso I had while pondering this purchase-just holding the cup gave me some calm!
We ended up finding some pressed boards by Rubbermaid and decided to use two, one for extra storage up top and another for shoes. I didn’t want to add a manufactured shoe rack or hang anything on her door. The room has a closet that is on the smaller side so I wanted to maximize the space inside the closet which the pressed boards allowed.
I’m not the handy man (woman) in the relationship. I’m the idea person and the decorator. We putty the holes from previous work installs and lightly sand for a smooth surface. We like our mouse sander because it can handle medium work around the house in addition to pieces of furniture I sand in my garage.
The paint I choose for the closet is Behr Ultra in Wispy Pink. I wanted to paint the inside of the closet to bring some depth in. It was just enough color to set off the closet. With a basket for dirty clothes in a soft grey with liner for texture (another great find at Marshall’s!) and a little organization, my twins physical space is now created!
Behr my go to paint
A cleaner more polished closet
With just a couple of additions, new curtains from IKEA and some basic white frames for artwork, I had a room Sophie could fall in love with! The curtains are awesome-they wash well, they’re cheap and look great in her room! I love curtains to puddle and at 98″ in length, these curtains were the perfect addition to a room where a castle is the backdrop! I wanted the room to have an air of whimsy and the curtains plus the fresh bedding gave it that touch!
When I add the “art” side of the room, I will post a blog on how the frames and artwork and photos come together for a simplified art display. Thank you again for reading and by the way, Sophie Grace loves her new room!
thesweetlydecoratedlifedotcom.wordpress.com 
2 thoughts on “Giving Young Twins a New Space, Growing Individuality”