three to a room - update (and bunks!)

We've had our three kids sharing a room for over a year now, and things are still great! Our kids continue to love sharing a room and can't imagine things any other way. There's more noise at bedtime than if they all slept in separate rooms, but a) we will never have a five bedroom house and b) their relationships are thriving so they're having fun - there are worse things. A few months ago Chloe went through a horrible bout of gastro and was vomiting in the night. When we went in to take her out of the crib the older two were distraught. They were begging us to keep Chloe with them and thought we were punishing them by taking her away! They fight like the best of them, but they really and truly love each other.

We're also enjoying how their close ages have recently downsized a lot of their toy collection. They all play with the same things now, more or less. The big kids get to play with kinetic sand and playdoh and Chloe doesn't, but everything else is shared. Fewer toys = more space, which any city parent or small-living parent knows is the double rainbow.

The most noticeable change in the kid's room these days? We got bunk beds!!

The kids are head over heals. We bought the Ikea MYDAL bunk bed which was on sale for $135 (it's regular $159) and we sold our old twin bed for $100, making it a fairly inexpensive swap. I love the MYDAL bunk for the price and simplicity of style, but the natural pine was on the yellow side. I stained the whole bunk bed (assembled) with water-based white wash wood stain, which was $15. I really like how the wood has a lighter look but you can still see the knots. The whole staining project took close to two hours and was dry within four. Brad said assembling it was a beast though - consider yourselves warned!

We're finding the kids are really comfortable in their room, even though there are three of them in there. Chloe's crib doesn't take up too much space, but soon she'll be out of it and on the trundle beneath the bunk bed. Our older kids were both evicted from the crib before two years of age, since a new sibling was soon to need it, but that's not the case with Clover (insert all the feelings). When that day does come, we're planning to buy the super low SVARTA trundle bed from IKEA. Our other trundle was too high to fit under this particular bunk bed, and we'll have to get a thinner mattress so everything fits. I'm not in a hurry to have her out of the crib because I know what a handful she'll be at bedtime unconfined, but whenever that day comes we'll be swimming in space! Or at least it will feel that way :)

We recently got Beddy's for the bunk beds (not pictured). Lily's top bunk (which she refers to as the bird's nest) has the white ruffle beddy and Oli's bottom bunk (the bat cave, obviously), has modern grey. The grey bedding on the bottom does darken the room a bit, so I'm thinking of switching the kid's bunks if they'll let me!

As far as bunk bed safety, this has taken some training. We have a couple rules like only one person on the top bunk at a time and had to have a hour-long ladder climbing session one afternoon, but the bunks haven't proved dangerous. They're quite low as far as bunk beds go and I have no hesitations about my long-legged 4.5 year old on the top.