Creating a shared room for siblings can be challenge enough when you’re trying to maximise space and utility. The home-reno headache intensifies further when you realise you’ve doubled the audience and have not one, but two stakeholders to satisfy. Yes, one of the most significant DIY hurdles to overcome is balancing the needs and individual tastes of two little humans with big opinions, in this case, 9-year old Armani and 6-year old Asha.

Luckily Hayley Herbig of @three.little.poppies pulled off her delightful room-for-two transformation with aplomb. Her secret weapon was precision planning and, in her own words, ‘storage, storage, storage, the more, the better!’

Hayley lives with husband, Daniel, and her three girls, in the small town of Littlehampton in the Adelaide Hills of South Australia. She’s a self-confessed interior addict, café manager and chef.

Join us as we explore the bespoke bedroom she has created from the drawing board, with the eye and prowess of a pro interior designer. All the more poignant, this project was a real family affair. Hayley’s father helped Haley build the bunk beds and all of the bespoke storage.

A question of balance

To the untrained eye, it may be a subtle difference, but the bed linen yields clues as to who inhabits each of the beds in this space. Hayley wanted the girls’ room to feel pretty but not overly girlie. Armani is not a stereotypical girlie girl and has an aversion to pink while Asha, in sharp contrast, is obsessed with all things feminine.

A slight tweak to the @adairskids bedding allows Armani and Asha to indulge their colour preferences and coexist in harmonious style. We love how Hayley has anchored the theme with matching animal-print bottom sheets and pastel-infused safari coverlets. Even the delicate paper wall sconce’s by Orikomi have been selected in different tones to match each of the girls’ schemes; a considered zoning technique with symmetry.

The paint selection also reminds us of the delicate balancing act with Taubman’s blue willow daubed on the panelled walls and British Paints’ Retro Peach in the ‘study’ zone. The nib walls were a must, perfect to house trinkets, keepsakes and decorative objects but also highly practical for night time drink bottles and books.

Space-saving sleep solutions

The self-built bunkbeds are instrumental to the flow and design of the room and were inspired by a similar project by US Instagram influencer, @angelarosehome. Hayley knew that she wanted to create lots of storage space in the bedroom and also incorporate the two desks that the girls craved so badly. A window seat was also high on the wish list.

Off-the-shelf bunkbeds just didn’t make the cut and the only sure way to fit in all of the key components, with excess space to play, was to make the bunkbeds literally from the ground up. Several rounds of planning, copious creative sketches and a few lengths of masking tape, and Hayley was confident she could accommodate a king single two-storey creation to cocoon her sleeping bundles. The layout also allowed the much-loved rattan peacock cabinet by Au Fait Living to stay put.

Though Hayley admits to finding the girls cuddled up in the same bed more times than she cares to remember, the round name plaques by Lennon Grace Designs serve to denote each girl’s very own space.

Comfortable Slumber

A plethora of soft furnishings combined with serene pastel hues make for optimum sleep conditions. A sleepy lion nestles amongst Kmart’s llama cushion and a subdued sage star. Immi and Indi’s mono spot cushion jazzes up proceedings and provides the requisite clash with the animal print bedding. And somehow the less populated print of Hunter and Nomad’s floor rug just looks like it belongs to the pattern party.

A Nod To Nature

Natural influences are abundant as we zone in on the rattan cabinet. Natty and Polly’s leaf wallpaper provides a botanical pastel mint backdrop, a perfectly suitable habitat for Pretty in Print Art’s framed pink cockatoo. A resting retro Bambi lamp adds a beautiful fairy tale touch to the room set, nestling in among the foliage housed in a powder pink plant pot. It’s pretty, but just per Hayley’s ambition, it’s not overly flowery or feminine.

A Class Act

Among the mandatories for this makeover project was a desk each for Asha and Armani. With space at a premium, the smart choice was these floating Svalnäs desk units from IKEA. The room’s binding colour palette is followed through with fresh pale minty stools complementing the powder peach walls.

The desks have been artfully framed with an arched colour block of soft retro peach, almost like an imaginary old school-house window to gaze at in between mathematical musings and studious sessions. Hayley’s ‘windows on the world’ are softened with a scattering of Sailah Lane’s aptly named happy flower fabric wall stickers. Such a bright and breezy space, conducive to relaxed learning and mindful moments of calm.

Again, there’s a touch of symmetry that connects the two workstations. Still, the level of personal detail invested in each space lends a unique quality for each child to enjoy and carve out their own identity. This makes Fiona Walker’s giraffe wall head all the more fitting given that just like human fingerprints, no two giraffe’s spots are the same! We love how the little fella separates the desks, a gentle adjudicator in matters of sibling rivalry.

Dotty About Detail

The attention to detail is quite extraordinary, and every piece seems to play a starring role in this exquisite production. The fabulous dalmatian pen pots from Karkoo Nursery, strategically placed next to a stack of books with a matchy-matchy print are closely guarded by @adairs ceramic wombat. Even Indie Weave’s macrame heart gets in on the dalmatian act.

The Russian matryoshka dolls (babushka dolls) have been hand-painted in the room’s designated tones, complementing Ava and Harper’s rainbow print and their ‘somewhere over the rainbow’ hanging plaque.

There’s just so much to love about Hayley’s creation. Its whole composure exudes positivity, love and hope. The composition is considered without being contrived and would not look at all out of place on the portfolio of an accomplished interior designer.

We’ve thoroughly enjoyed this room tour with its refined palette and can-do attitude. It’s the epitome of DIY dreams come true and a textbook example of self-defined style. This shared space chimes with the style direction of the rest of the Herbig household. It’s evident to see Hayley’s passion for pastels and a desire to create something distinct and ownable. And Hayley’s parting wisdom for parents wishing to design a shared kid’s room? ‘This is actually the best thing that we have ever done! The girls have become so much closer, and bedtime is a breeze (most of the time).’

SOURCE LIST

Bedding (quilts, sheets, pillows, throw) : Adairs I Deer Cushion : Boo and Bear Baby I Cocky print : Pretty in Print Art I Rattan peacock cabinet : Au Fait Living I Moon Cushion : Little Bambino Bear I Star Garland : Little Bambino Bear I Deer lamp : Heico I Door names : Nest accessories I Round name plaques : Lennon Grace Designs I Paper wall sconce : Orikomi I Ottoman : Target I Floor rug : Hunter and Nomad I Spot Cushion : Immy and Indi I Leaf wall paper :  Natty and Polly I Wooden whale :  Head in the clouds studio I Paint colours Taubman’s Blue Willow and British Paints Retro Peach I Desks and stools : Ikea I Pencil pots : Karkoo Nursery I Macramé rainbow and heart : Indie Weave I Giraffe wall head : Fiona Walker England I Rainbow and Somewhere Over The Rainbow print : Ava and Harper I Notebooks : Kmart I Llama cushion :  Kmart I Pinboards : Kmart I Babushka dolls : Hand painted I Flower wall stickers : Sailah Lane I Ceramic wombat : Adairs I Bunk beds : DIY

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