Its so interesting to me that the concept of children sharing a room is extraordinary, that the idea of each child having his or her own room has become the norm. I shared a room through out my childhood, first with a younger brother when our ages excluded any awkwardness and later with my older sister (I'm sure she was put out initially, but soon recovered). My mom came from a family with 6 kids and in a 3 bedroom house the kids were split 3 girls and 3 boys to a room. My father and his 4 siblings shared a single bedroom. Lets rediscover all those modest sized family homes built in that era, if they could do it, why not us? Reduce your foot print.

^^ I agree completely. I have a friend, very upper-middle-class, who insisted her two daughters share a room. To be fair, the girls' shared room was large and had an adjoining bathroom: still all the convenience of a room in an upper-middle-class home - just for two. Today, both of the young women in question credit having to share a room throughout their childhood for their very close relationship.

This room is so cute. Very well designed! And I agree with the above comments. My 3 sisters and I shared a room from childhood through high school. As a matter of fact, I shared a queen sized bed with my older sister for four years. Attribute this to a 2 bedroom apartment in a big and expensive city--not everyone can get their own room!

my brother and I shared a room until I was 12 and needed some space as I was maturing, I felt very close to my brother and still do... It didn't do me any harm!

I credit sharing a room as a child to being able to share easily as a married adult. My husband and I both shared rooms as children and as adults, the transition was easy and the compromise came naturally. My older sister (who never shared) struggled with roommate situations and now gripes about her husband's habits. My husband is so much neater than the sister I shared with that I don't even notice things to gripe about!

Right on to all of the above. When did sharing rooms become odd? When design blogs said so or was it the shelter mags?

This is a beautiful room, but what I don't understand is where all the kids' clothes and other stuff is. Do they have a big closet that is not shown in either these pics or the one on Stephmodo's tour? I always wonder about that in these cute multi-kid room tours, especially the ones without bunk or lofted beds.

Maybe it's just because I live in an old house with small rooms and no closets, but I sometimes struggle with comfortable/attractive ways to fit even one kid per room. In my 4 year old daughter's room, for instance, there is a toddler bed, a dresser and armoire (both full, although I don't deny she has too many clothes/blankets, most of which we receive as gifts or hand-me-downs), a bookshelf (containing almost all her books and toys), a nightstand, and a rocking chair, and the room is already about as full as it can comfortably get. She's about to outgrow her toddler bed, and when we bring in a twin, we're going to have to boot one or more of the current pieces of furniture in order to fit it. Lord only knows how we'll fit a desk once she's old enough to need some peace and quiet to do homework. We may have to break down and put in a closet, which I think allows for much more efficient storage, floor to ceiling. What we lack in floor space is compensated somewhat by high ceilings....

Great points, HYZEN. Kids DO generate a lot of stuff, no matter how simple you try to live. We've got two kiddos in the same room (both below the age of 2), and if another one comes alone, we'll have to figure out a way to squeeze them in there as well!