Post by Colleen of Lemon Thistle

When it was time to move our twins out of cribs, we decided their whole room needed a bit of a facelift. We wanted to inject some of their personalities into the space, and until now it was a gender neutral (navy) blank canvas. Having boy/girl twins can make decorating a bit challenging, so we decided on a neutral pallet of grey walls with black and white detail and wooden furniture. We brought color in with bedding and decorations.

Although we gave E navy and grey bedding and A aqua and pink- we kept them similar by choosing velvet Snug as a Bug quilts for them both as well as matching sheets. I’m totally in love with those gorgeous With a Chance Sheet Sets– they have a Scandinavian feel that I just can’t get enough of. The black in them also helps tie together the other black details we’d had in their room previously (metal book baskets, that arrow shelf, and the storage pouf with matching curtains) without adding more colors and patterns that are difficult to coordinate with. Adding a Fair Weather Garland carried the cloud element on in the room.

Without really meaning to, we ended up with a bit of a ‘sky’ theme to the room with the cloud sheets and garland as well as the constellation lamp and map, and the Twinkle Twinkle Wall Hook. The navy and aqua play into that theme as well.

One of the things we really needed to tackle in this room was storage. How can kids have so much stuff? The Take Five Wall Bin was the first thing I decided on for the room- I love how it gets all those stuffed animals off the floor without looking like a big pile of clutter. When they grow out of stuffed animals (although I don’t see that happening any time soon), it works great for books as well. The Bon Voyage Suitcases house smaller toys (and all my daughter’s necklaces!) while adding a pop of color to the space. I loved the colors in the suitcases so much I painted the morse code garland over the curtains (it says ‘love you’) in coordinating colors. The Rhino Bookends are also great to make a stack of books look under control.

This room is so special for us to see them enjoy. Being DIY’ers at heart, we put a lot of love into building the beds and nightstands special for them, sewing the curtains, storage pouf, and lettered pillows for them, as well as creating other special details (the hand lettered art, yarn and wood wall letters, and door feathers.)

We also wanted to make sure they would feel proud of their new ‘big kid’s space. When we moved them into their new beds, it was the first time they slept with pillows and had their own big quilts. They insist on tucking themselves in each night now that they are ‘big kids’. We also let them have porcelain nightlights (E chose a squirrel and A chose a bunny from the Woodland Mini Nightlight collection). Knowing that they are porcelain, they have been so responsible at carrying them only with two hands and want to show them off to everyone who comes through our doors. They love that they get to display the most recent art they created on the clipboards. The other piece of child’s art is the framed geometric painting. I love that one so won’t be switching it out like the clipboards.

We have a few more projects we want to complete before we call this room totally ‘done’, including a handmade rag rug (I think I’m crazy), under bed storage, and a closet organizer. But those are really all just bonus- it is so good to have this room done for them. We have a new baby coming in the next month or so and we wanted to make sure they didn’t feel like the baby was stealing their crib and all their baby stuff. For now, I’m glad that they’re so proud of their space and am really enjoying how their pride is translating into cleaning it! That’s all a mama can hope for, right?

Colleen is a wife, Mama to twins with one on the way, and the DIY and lifestyle blogger behind Lemon Thistle where she shares printable art and hands on tutorials for DIY home decor, parties and gifts. Colleen believes you can have a beautiful life, home, and party without spending a lot- we’re keeping it real on a budget so everyone can join in on the fun.