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Transition toddler girl room to neutral twin nursery?

last month

I'm having boy/girl twins. We plan to them move into the room currently occupied by my toddler when they're ~6 months. While I'd love to redo the room entirely, we don't have the resources (time or money) to make major changes. Without repainting the room entirely, is there anything we can do to make the room/walls feel less girly? Walls are SW Pressed Flower. Most of the furniture is neutral: Ikea pine/white dresser, Ikea birch Sniglar cribs, off-white glider. Switching out the rug/art is probably doable, if it would help.

(Sidenote: Keeping toddler in current room and moving twins to another isn't an option since our other bedroom is on a different floor of the house from ours.)

Cribs will be set up on either side of this window (short side of crib against window wall).

Rug detail

Artwork hung horizontally on wall not shown (above dresser/changing table).

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Comments (6)

tfitz1006
last month
Honestly, it doesn't ready overy girly to me at all with the blue curtains and that pretty rug. I think you're fine leaving it! Great looking space.
jck910
last month
I think it's fairly gender neutral now, so I wouldn't do anything except add a few blue items: pillow on cream chair, stuffed animal.

I think you are going to need to change the curtains when they start moving in their cribs. Those can be pulled down easily. Maybe remove them altogether now because it looks like you have a nice pleated shade on that window.
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Turning my daughter's nursery into her 'big girl' room
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I have 3 kids - my 2 girls are ages 4 and 6, so we have washed lots of bedding in the last few years! I would suggest a quilt or coverlet instead of a comforter. The Company Store, JC Penney or Target quilts have all held up as well as I have needed them to. Keep in mind when your daughter is elementary age, she may wish to make some changes in her room, and the bedding is often the easiest to change, so whatever you pick does not have to last forever. Avoid white or light colors for staining reasons and if you can find a subtle pattern, it may camouflage even further. Your MIL can certainly make some accent pillows to go on the bed - my kids love their bolster style pillows. On other thing that you may consider is adding a row of heavy-duty hooks somewhere that your daughter can reach (or can reach in a couple of years). This would be handy for hanging the PJ's that she takes off in the am and puts back on in the pm or bags with her "activity" stuff like dance shoes and leotards, karate uniform, soccer shoes, etc. Depending on your closet and/or mudroom set up this may not need to be in her room, but regardless, little girls collect lots of bags and love a place to put them. Your room is adorable now. You made great choices with paint and fabric already! Have fun with the little one. Here some unsolicited advice - take it or leave it: Also, don't fret over her moving to a big girl bed - lots of fun things are to come. It is much easier to potty train, get rid of pacis, etc, when they are in "big" beds. One other suggestion to lessen the trauma for her moving to a different bed is to set her bed up in her room and leave the crib in there. Talk up the big girl bed but keep putting her in the crib until she asks to sleep or nap in the big bed. After a few successful naps/nights, then move the crib out. With a new baby on the way, she needs to have some "Choices" and this will increase the likelihood of success. Best wishes!
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Thanks for the replies!!! LuAnn, I agree with you that a girl's room can be any color. My daughter's room is a tan/khaki color. We accessorize with color. gmp3, We don't need to use the room as a guest room. It is strictly her bedroom. It is not very big (I can get measurements later); actually, it is quite small. There are bookcases (expresso) in there but I am not married to them. I purchased a cute pink nightstand at HomeGoods a few weeks ago. I plan on having a twin bed, bookcase, and a nightstand in the room. She will also get a lil table with 2 chairs. Fun2behere, I have seen those wall decals and just went to Land of Nod to see if they still had the ones that looked like iron wrought and they don't. I am so sad!!! That is such a good idea. I am going with the idea of just putting the bed up and getting the headboard/footboard later. I was worried that the mattress would slide around on box springs or the rails wouldn't be strong enough to support but I need to get over that.....it is time to get my precious daughter out of my room :)
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Things change quickly with a baby. I wanted bright and colorful so all these subdued pastels have me ready for a nap. My nursery had nothing on the floor a toddler would want to climb on or pull over to be used to help climb. That shelving with the lamp on top--DANGER DANGER WILL ROGERS. What feeding accouterments? LOL I nursed all mine until they slept through the night. We had a dimmer switch on the overhead light--the only light in the room. At night feedings I could quietly in subdued light nurse and change baby with little or no noise or activity. Baby went right back to sleep.I had a soft sculpture (Noah's ark and several animals velcroed to the wall above baby's changing table. Language learning was important to me so baby and I did a lot of animal noises and descriptions of fur and size etc. They came on and off easily for baby as they grew and needed something to keep them busy. I too would have your chair kiddy corner. I hope it rocks. I second the no time/need for feet up but everyone is different. No cords, on drapes/shades/lamps. Safety first. Love the fun knobs idea for the dresser. I would find a shade and go with a valance. I know they aren't THE THING--but they are safest for baby. Before you blink drapes will be used to pull himself up. Drapery rods pull away fairly easily. Have fun, I so miss those years!!!
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For wall decor, think of decals. Inexpensive and easy to install and take off (they might leave a faint imprint on the wall paint when removed). Choose a motif your daughter enjoys. It can be changed with her whims every few years. You can also get some large inexpensive canvas art to hang. Etsy will have loads of these options. You can have some of your own pictures blown up and printed on canvas. The square print in your mockup is the window covering? You can take your cue from that for the wall colour. Perhaps match the neutral background colour? Your chair looks to be a cool grey on my monitor while the rug and dresser are a warm cream. They look fine together on my screen but in person, you might appreciate the mix less. Really depends on you (and the light in the room). Some people don't mind pairing cool and warm colours. Pale pink, grey or white bedding would be very pretty. Etsy - Woodland animals
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la_la Girl
last month
Congrats on the twins! For rooms with slanted ceilings, I like it when everything (walls and ceiling) is the same color, so I would be tempted to pull a color from the rug and pain everything that color - maybe a rich warm cream? Love the rug BTW
Maureen
last month
last modified: last month
Can you move the rug to your daughter’s new room and you’ll have a blank slate (without having to paint, as it can feel gender neutral with the right choices).

I’d look for wallpaper/mural wallpaper for the major wall only and be sure it includes a bit of the wall color. Then choose another shade from paper to accessorize and suggest a neutral rug to offset the busy wall, but add fun curtains.

Ruggable
Lyn Nielson
last month
you are going to be even busier down the line... I would repaint now and be done.

BM Chantilly Lace a great clean bright white.

Fresh and a blank slate for all the added stuff. Enjoy!
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
last month
last modified: last month
IMO paint is cheap and makes a world of difference in a space for an afternoons work. I agree move the rug to your other girls room since she probably has stuff that works with it . I like a very neutral wall color for kids usually because as they grow up they have a differen fave color every year. I have seen some really cute rooms where a girl and boy share a space This is cute so just cribs instaed of beds for now . I assume at some stage the girls will share a room so tackle that much later I love decals in kids rooms so easy to change form baby to toddler etc. Our friends with twins said they cried if they could not see eachother when they were small.

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