Mini Tour: A Shared Gender-Neutral Space

As anyone with more than one child can tell you, when you add more children to your family, organizing who sleeps where can turn into an ad hoc affair. We caught this room -- shared by Jeremiah (2.5 years) and Mia (2 months) -- in the middle of a makeover, and we were impressed at how gracefully it's transitioning from one to two occupants.

Jeremiah and Mia's mom, Deborah, gave us a quick tour:

After learning we'd be welcoming a little girl to our family, the decision was made to put together a more gender-neutral room for our son and daughter to share. With that being said, you've caught their room in the middle of a make-over. At the moment, we've only gotten as far as purchasing a twin size bed for Jeremiah (2.5 years) and a similar crib for Mia (2 months). Aside from the artwork over the crib, which is begging for a more extravagant frame, everything else in the room was pre-existing. We've also planned to paint the room a pale shade of blue. The addition of a cozy area rug and Expedit shelving to replace and add more storage space are in our near future as well.

Other sources:

Furniture and bedding: West Elm, Target, Babies R Us
Artwork above crib: A painting by my mother, made up of drawings I did as a toddler

Comments (12)

How do you like the Amy Coe crib? It's what we have picked out for our future nursery. . .

posted by mere1975 on September 25th 2009 at 1:35pm
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I'll be interested to see how this turns out - so far it looks quite good! Although I might be biased because the blue looks like the same blue as I have for the trim in my son's room. I often think about what we would do with the room if we had another child, especially a girl, so I'm curious to see how you end up finishing it.

posted by badmamajama on September 25th 2009 at 3:21pm
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i love the dark blue walls with the crisp white, my bedroom walls are a similar color.

mere1975 we have that amy coe crib and love it. it's so compact it doesn't overwhelm the room like some cribs can and the storage underneath is quite handy.

posted by kategal25 on September 25th 2009 at 5:31pm
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I would like to know where the striped bedding on the twin bed is from?

posted by Mrs Olkid on September 25th 2009 at 5:39pm
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my toddler has that same bedding!

it's from target, its circos monsters bedding
http://tinyurl.com/yade92f

posted by erinpearce on September 25th 2009 at 8:17pm
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It seems unfinished and not very gender neutral, nice though.

I've got my own dilemmas myself though with my son. He will be 16 months old when my second child (sex unknown) is born, I have no idea what I'm going to do in their room.

posted by boxerchick on September 26th 2009 at 6:30pm
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I'm just curious how the 2.5 year old sleeps when the 2 month old gets hungry and starts crying.

posted by mmead on September 27th 2009 at 4:31pm
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@mmead: Heh. As the mom to two boys who share a room, let me tell you what an amazing blessing it is to have an older kid who can sleep through ANYTHING. I never stop being grateful for this. :)

posted by TammyE on September 27th 2009 at 5:59pm
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mere1975- i like the amy coe crib quite well. its sturdy, takes up a small footprint, and has under storage... awesome for the price point. my only complaint, its a bit annoying to put together.

Mrs Olkid- the twin bedding is circos monster bedding, as mentioned before. ive got the monster side down in the posted photos.

boxerchick- the walls will eventually be a less "boy" shade of blue, making it, in my opinion, more gender neutral. :) also, the walls are without art and we are in serious lack of girl toys.. id imagine that when Mia gets older there will be some serious girl flare in this room, but for now its all boy. when all is said and done, im hoping the end result will be a much softer look suitable for both my kids.

mmead- aaah, sleep. weve had a hard enough time trying to get our son out of our bed that when our daughter was born he found his way back in our room most nights. they actually have yet to sleep in the same room peacefully.. all in due time, im sure.

TammyE- ive actually been trying to condition my daughter to sleep through noise. then maybe i wont have to tip toe out of their room every night while theyre sleeping, haha.

posted by deeboyayay on September 28th 2009 at 1:08pm
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mmead - my 3-year-old son BEGGED for months to have his little sister (now 5 months) sleep in his room. We moved her over at 4 months (she was in our bedroom until then), and he's been one happy camper ever since. He actually sleeps better, even through feedings - I think he likes having another body in the room.

posted by fresh.air on September 30th 2009 at 12:48am
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i'm a big fan of gender neutral spaces, regardless of the kidlets. this room gets great light, and the wood floors are really nice. it just seems like such a warm play space.

(and that drum set look like ohsomuch fun!!!)

kelly
http://tearinguphouses.blogspot.com

posted by k51279 on October 3rd 2009 at 1:32pm
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I'm sure it will be great in time, even I know a room can't be done in a day.

posted by boxerchick on October 4th 2009 at 1:32pm
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