I'd say the nook will make a great guest bed and the play loft a wonderful study area. I think if you replace the bed as she gets older (or take off the top) the room will grow nicely with your daughter. Beautiful window seat and I really like your inspiration pictures. For your toddler son, how about a jungle and maps, kind of an Indiana Jones theme? You could play up the jungle aspect, but maybe use the maps with the gold (rather than blue) background...they look more vintage and play up the 'Indy' theme. Have fun! April-Lorraine, Great ideas...thanks for sharing! Ncamy- Your daughter must have loved that room...it sounds charming :)

I'm taking a different point of view. I was one of seven children--five boys, two girls. There are very few eight bedroom houses out there. We all shared rooms until the older kids started going off to college. When we were little, I shared a room with my older brothers. Once I got a baby sister--eight years younger--I shared a room with her. True, it was a pain in the neck sometimes, having to go to bed and get undressed in my room without turning the lights on because she went to bed earlier than I did, but it did not scar me for life. My take would be that in a few years, your daughter should get her own room. That could happen when your older son goes off to college, or the two boys could share a room, if there's someplace else for the older boy to do his homework, etc., after the little one goes to bed. But I would also look around the house and see if there was any other space that could be used for your office. Maybe 1/3 of the garage, leaving a two car garage? (I think a one car garage just wouldn't fly today.) Or the dining room, or your bedroom? And talk to your kids and see what they say. My cousin had three kids in five years and for a while they all slept in the same room. When she wanted to move the two girls into their own room, they were upset--they didn't want to leave their baby brother all alone at night. So the parents had to work out a schedule to transition them all to the new sleeping arrangement.

What a great idea! We actually had something similar in my son's room when he was little. Then we just had a bunk with a dresser under it instead of an extra bed. It worked out great. Now his old room is our office, has been for 9 years now and I have plenty of room for an L shaped area for 2 desks & computers. I just don't know what he was complaining about all those years....LOL. Our bedroom is also very small but we remedied the need for storage with a pier group headboard and an extra dresser. I think I have pictures of our room that show just how small it is but we did block the window with our headboard. Sure makes it nice in the mornings as that's an eastern window and so the sun doesn't wake you up. And the Guest room is very small but my daughter never complained, unlike her brother. She just filled her space with shelves and furniture and lived there until 3 years ago when she bought the place next door to us. Now that we're official empty-nesters, I think I've got plenty of room. Marilyn in NM Here is a link that might be useful: Master bedroom

I shared a room with my sister from the time she was 6 months old until I was in high school. I think the first thing to do is determine what you want the girls to do in their room. Sleep, obviously. But what else? Will this be their main play area, or just a place for toy storage? Do they need a place to color and do crafts, which could turn into a homework spot in a few years? Do you need to store all their clothing in their room, or is there space for out of season clothing elsewhere? Where will you store the older kid's outgrown clothes until her younger sister is big enough to wear them? Do they need a little, quiet reading nook, or a noisy play space (with the baby coming, it might work to have a shut door between the kids during nap time)?What toys need to be stored in the room? Big ones that need floor space? Smaller ones that can go on shelves? Will you need bins or boxes for things that have multiply parts? For the clothes, I'd more or less divide the closet in half, and store each child's clothing separate from the other. If you have a central column of drawers, the top half goes to one and the bottom half to the other. You might want to have things as low as possible so that the 4 year old, at least, could put her own things away, and get dressed by herself. And this might not work for your circumstances, but I have to share what my sister-in-law did with three kids under 5. She took a large, walk-in closet that was near the laundry room and put all the kids' clothes in it. The kids come downstairs in their pajamas in the morning, get dressed in the closet, and at night, they get changed into their PJs in the closet. It's just a few steps to the laundry room and the hamper. And when she has a load of clean clothes to put away, she just walks to the closet and stands in one place and puts it all away. There's a combination of hanging rods, shelves and those plastic drawer units (for underwear and socks). The kids know exactly where their clothes go. The only laundry that gets carried up and down stairs is the parents' and sheets and towels. The kids' bedroom closets get used for storing all their sheets and blankets and their toys.