Making Room for Baby - Shared Room for the Big Kids

When we decided to try for baby #3 we talked a lot about what that would mean for our living situation in Saudi. The house we were assigned when we moved here has three bedrooms…..the master, a decent size room that was Graham's and then a large room that was Peyton's room. There are bigger houses, different styles and you are technically allowed to request a bigger house when you have more children BUT you have to do the request after the baby arrives, it is not guaranteed (and our camp is pretty much at capacity) and unless you go through a bidding process on a specific house (more complicated and we haven't been here long enough to be competitive enough with accumulated points) you can get assigned anything and there are some house styles we aren't fond of. We love our single level house and our huge backyard for the kids/dog and our giant size playroom which is double what most people have. So, we decided that since Peyton's room was huge that we would have her and Graham share a room for now. We tried to make a game out of it and essentially directed the conversation so it became Peyton's idea and then started to put the room together.

The older kids room has been finished for a long time but I never took pictures once it was finished and then with two kids sharing a room, it always seemed like too much work to pick it up, actually make the beds nicely (the kids make their own beds every morning and do a great job for their respectful ages) and then take pictures. Finally this morning it didn't look too much of a mess and I went ahead and picked up to take some pictures. 

Peyton had mermaid decor from when we moved here and I wanted to make this room transformation as easy as possible and cost as little as possible so we looked for ways to work around that. We did repaint the room to a softer blue as opposed to a pretty bright and girly turquoise that was in there and then we put Peyton's side back together pretty much like before.

Back left corner of the room, door is behind me

The only pieces of furniture we had to buy was a larger bookcase and dresser which was awesome. We used the large bookcase as a divider and have the intention that if it becomes an issue with sides we can turn it so it cuts the room in half but since that hasn't been a problem (yet) we wanted more floor/play space.

And as you can see Graham's side is shark themed. I bought the bedding from Pottery Barn Kids and Target and then found some prints on Etsy to add above his bed including the wooden shark cutout. The Pottery Barn Kids shark themed wooden wall art was way to heavy to bring back in a suitcase, and they didn't sell it here….and this ended up being cheaper. We did find some shark wall decals to add on his side.

View from Peyton's side near the closet

View as soon as you walk in the door

And then on the opposite wall of the bookcase we bought a larger dresser. They each have a bulletin board of their crafts and mementos and then a teddy bear holder to tie some of the colors into each side. 

View of closet/Peyton's side from Graham's bed

Overall this was a pretty easy and quick conversion and thankfully pretty inexpensive! And both kids have done really well with sharing a room. Bedtime hasn't been an issue, they love playing in there together and helping each other out and it has really strengthened their already great bond. We are starting to see some issues with Peyton occasionally wanting to be left alone and have some privacy when she is having a moment/bad mood and are trying to figure out the best way/guideline for that and I know that it will get more and more complicated as she gets older but we will cross that bridge when we get there! I think we will be alright for at least a couple more years and then we will see what the sleeping arrangements will be.

View from door