I just painted me boys' room, age 6 and 3. I wanted something fun and bright, but was hestitant to go with a theme because they will outgrow it before I have time to paint again. I did a really rich blue wall (medium to dark color - I just found a blue shirt I really liked, then used it to pick a paint color.) The blue really pops with the trim I painted white, their white dresser and warm pine colored beds. Then, I painted 3 stripes about 1 foot from the ceiling - thin white (about 1 inch thick), then a thin band of the wall color, then red (about 10 inches thick), then a band of the wall color, then thin white again. It goes all the way around the room, and adds some serious pizzaz and helps to make the space appear larger. I did the same stripe in my last house at chair rail height, and stenciled some Dr Seuss words on it for a more juvenile effect. You could stencil any shapes you wanted, or use those wall stickups if you wanted a theme. Then I added red/blue plaid quilts, and some fun artwork, some red/blue striped curtains with white curtain rod, etc. It is super cute and they won't outgrow it anytime soon, I hope! To the person looking for surfboards, I saw one seller who makes them on ebay if you search, and they are super cute. I looked at her surfboards and ended up just making my own with plywood and a jigsaw. Not that hard of a project, and I was able to personalize them for my girls.

Yes, this is definitely a temporary fix, although there are many temporary fixes still hanging on 5 years later around here, so I'd like to make the most of it in case this ends up being a 5 year project. I do enjoy symmetry, but it's not necessary if other layouts work out better. I've been doing some shopping around just to see what might work and compare bunk beds and look at trundles. A neighbor stopped by last night to make our weekly goods trade and we were discussing beds, and she mentioned she had bought a day bed with a trundle that can be locked in a raised position to make a king for her spare bedroom. My sister-in-law mentioned futons, which would be easy to move around and could fold up to couches when they needed the floor space, but I'm not sure how great they would be for sleeping in every night. noellabelle- my kids love camping out too! They've been camping in the tipi at my in-laws all summer. Their room turned out great, and like you, I want something they can grow into. While they all love the frilly princess pastels and playhouse beds now, my oldest is already showing signs of outgrowing the look. I think I can do a more modest look they can enjoy for years to come, and can hopefully reuse most of it when they move to their future bedrooms. geokid-I've been looking at the TV cabinets as well. There are hundreds on CL this week. I like the idea of having one for each child too. I'm keeping my eyes out, although dh is not excited about trying to get them upstairs. We had to knock out the closet at the top of the stairs to get our mattress up there lol. bostonpam- I will definitely check out the Ikea system. Even if it won't work in this room, I'd like to put some type of storage in the laundry room/entry. I'm kind of curious as to how many of you have children who share or have shared a bed in the past. How long did they share a bed? I don't want for them to feel forced to share a bed if they don't want to.If I could get away with two beds for now, the girls would have a lot more floor space which would be nice at their ages now and I could satisfy my need to hide the clutter with more storage. nosoccermom- I love those hanging beds! I want one for our bedroom lol AnnieDeighnaugh- I hadn't considered hanging curtains or fabric over the clothes. That would be such a simple fix even until we get everything straightened out! I think I will gather up all of our curtains and try to make something work today!

I wouldn't get too carried away with any "theme" but these animals prints are so cute. You could perhaps paint the walls w/ a color pulled from the prints. The same bright green appears in the giraffe, zebra, rabbit, and hippo prints. I'd pull out that green -- maybe BM Pale Sea Mist or Dill Pickle, if you like bright colors. Just a thought. Here is a link that might be useful: cute animal prints

My inclination would be to paint the walls bright white and let the rest of the accents be the color players. White is the backdrop I've often seen, or been drawn to, when I look up bohemian pictures. I'd also put a really large area rug in the room that only left a few inches of bare floor around the perimeter of the room. This way, no matter which way the room is arranged, the rug is always the right size. If your daughter is anything like I was, the room will be rearranged many times during her teen years! : ) You could still layer her little rug over the large rug for her reading nook. You might like to plug the room into homestyler.com for working on the layout. Your kitties might be disappointed, but muscles with thank you. : ) If you save a snapshot of the homestyler layout to your computer, you can upload it onto here using the photo link. That would allow us to see the plan overview, and will make it easier for us to help with the arrangement.