its so much fun to listen to them talk each other to sleep (but not so great when they wake the other up too early in the morning. . .

we have a boy-girl shared bedroom for our two oldest (ages 5 & 3). photos here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/annaleahart/sets/72157624640074369/with/4340785107/

These are all adorable rooms. We are getting ready to convert our toddler's room to a shared room in a few months. The challenge for me is making the room not feel as if it's stuffed to the gills with furniture... a bed, a crib, 2 dressers and a rocking chair and that's about all I can fit in there! Anyone care to weigh in on how the waking each other up at night or early in the morning thing is best handled?

love these rooms! my girls (almost 2 and 4) share a room and we wouldn't have it any other way!

robinm-- i think it depends so much on personality, age, and sleep patterns. i think you just have to let it play out a bit and then go from there. luckily, our oldest is sound sleeper, so a fitful sleeping baby doesn't seem to bother her much. and if she does happen to get up in the night or earlier in the morning, she understands that she has to be super quiet for her sister's sake.

good luck! if you can figure out the intricacies, it's definitely worth it :)

Hey robinm I have a 2yr old and a month old boys and although they technically share a room the baby doesn't sleep in the room @ night. He sleeps in our room in a bassinet till he starts sleeping through the night. So far the baby's sleep is getting better... right now he is sleeping 5 - 7 hrs and he started at 3 -5 hrs a night. I know this might not work for all parents but it is working for us. The reason we are doing it this way is because one I don't want the baby to wake our other son up and two I don't want to walk to the other room to feed the baby. The bassinet is next to me and I have diapers, wipes and his formula ready to prepare when he wakes up.

I'm thinking of bunk beds for my girls room, but just don't like the height of standard bunk sets (for safety and for changing the fitted sheet.) Does anyone have ideas for a lower set? I think I'd also like an L-shaped one, but can't find any that are reasonably priced (under $500.) Also because space is the issue, I want a twin over twin (and not a futon or a double) and don't need a desk or storage added to the ends of the unit. Sounds like I am picky, but really I am just practical. :-) For me, practicality and function trumps all else when designing a space.

Here is a bunk that I like, but it is too spendy:
http://www.wendyusa.com/32jtl-w.html

I just want to say if at first you don't succeed, try, try again. We tried to have our girls share a room at 6 months/2 years and then again at 18 months/3 years. It was a disaster both times. But about a month ago (inspired by a post on Ohdeedoh), we gave it another shot and it's going great. They're 5 and almost 3 now.

robinm: I've just started converting our tiny second bedroom into a shared space for my 2.5 year daughter and my baby boy (arriving January). I had to lose the rocker, as it no longer fits. Our original shelving plan needed revisiting too, but I gained storage with the new solution. And surprisingly the room feels so much more spacious! So don't be too bummed by a small space, it might actually surprise you in the end.

I'm reading the comments now to see how the sleeping arrangements are working for others.

@jenkseattle: I have a lot of friends who have loved the bunk bed from IKEA where the bottom child is on a mattress on the floor, so the upper child is like 3 or 4 feet off the ground. I couldn't find it on the website today, though.

The other option I've thought about if we have to add a 3rd child to the shared room before we move is a trundle. That way neither child is that high off the ground, and it can be rolled or pushed back under the bed during the day to add extra space. In my head I have the plans all ready, too so that we don't have to buy a massively expensive one: my oldest is on a twin bed that we got off craigslist, and was the top half of a bunkbed. So there's no box spring and PLENTY of room under. I think I would get a large rolling under-bed box from IKEA, add caster wheels to the bottom, reinforce the box, and have a piece of foam cut to size.

I love having our kids share, though - 1-year-old girl and 4-year-old boy. I never would have done it if it weren't a necessity, but now that we have it that way, I'm thinking in our someday-bigger-house, I might still have kids share. They get along SO well, don't wake each other up, go to bed at the same time, and just have the sweetest bond with each other. I know it doesn't always go that way...but most of the kids in the world share rooms. Own bedrooms are NOT necessary.

My boys 51/2 and 2 share a room and have done for about 1 1/2 years. My eldest sleeps one while his brother cries in the night. My 2 yo will wake up in the night and come into our bed and climb in with us so mornings have never been a problem. That said, my eldest will get his brother breakfast if they wake up to early and mama needs a sleep in :)

This bed?

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10123996

This was my thought too. Not truly a bunk bed, but you can put a mattress on the floor underneath.

Oy... we just bought a house 6 months ago, in the boonies. Hubby got sent to India for work. Me, no car, in the boonies with 2 small kids (8 and 3). Sold our house, which was 1600 sq ft, with finished basement. Bought the first decent house we found close to family- 860 sq ft, 2 bedroom. From a 4 bedroom to a 2 bedroom. I'm freaking out. Our son is 8, daughter is 3, and I have NO clue how I'm going to make it work. But I have ALWAYS loved SMALL houses, and it sits right across from a huge playground... I am just not sure how to go about their bedroom... our son is Mr Neat n tidy, Scientific orderly dude, our daughter plays dressup, parties, dances, makes huge messes and is generally a party animal.
I just don't know what to do. sigh. But am slightly excited about the design challenge it poses!