Decorating a Boy-and-Girl Shared Nursery

Whether you are having opposite sex twins or having two children close together of the opposite sex and limited space, creating a beautiful nursery or bedroom for a boy and girl to share can be exciting and fun! There are various ways you can choose to decorate the room, so have fun and be creative. So, where do I start, you may ask.

1. Begin with a theme in mind or a color that you want to use. You can choose to use gingham, stripes, polka dots, Jack and Jill, Winnie the Pooh, etc. The opportunities are limitless. After choosing your theme, choose the colors that you want. Maybe you want blue and white stripes or gingham for your son's crib bedding, and pink and white stripes or gingham for your daughter's bedding.

2. Wall décor. Popular choices are yellow and white stripes, or solid green walls, as these colors are very gender neutral. Another idea is blue wallpaper or paint on one side and pink on the other, and whichever variation of colors that you want for your children. You could choose to place wall décor on the walls, instead of paint to express the gender of your children. Examples are having tutus, teacups, or other girly items hanging from the girl's side of the room, and having a sports theme decorated on the boy's side.

3. Furniture. Matching cribs are very cute, and easy to accessorize around. However, it's not necessary to have exactly matching cribs. A good idea is to have the same style crib in different colors. One couple that I know have their daughter in a white Jenny Lind crib, and their son in an espresso colored Jenny Lind crib. The girl's matching furniture is white, and the boy's is espresso. They shared the same room, but had distinct separations between their furniture and décor, but it still tied together nicely.

4. Be creative. The possibilities are endless. A great idea is having two closets, with the doors removed, so their clothes and other cute accessories are visible. Two wooden toy chests with their names carved on them is a fantastic idea. You could add a blue cushion to the boy's chest, and a pink cushjon to the top of the girl's chest. How about a large, comfortable rocking chair that has pink and blue stripes? Or, two different fabrics to reflect the children's gender? If you have a changing table or another place to keep storage, why not baskets that have blue gingham on one side of the storage space and baskets with pink gingham line the other part of the space?

Decorating a Boy/Girl nursery can be a great time to challenge your creativity. Try to have as much fun with decorating it as possible, because you will more than likely be spending a lot of time in there as well. Creating a beautiful nursery for your children doesn't have to be too difficult. With proper planning and a focus on details, you can create a nursery that visitors will ooh and aah over.