Creative Ways to Share a Bedroom

Make your shared bedroom colorful and fun. Use a curtain to divide the room, decorate with headboards painted on the wall, and save space with end-of-the-bed storage.

What you'll need:

-Pencil

-Painter's tape

-X-Acto knife

-Credit card

-Level

-1 quart of indoor wall paint

-Roller

-Paint tray

Measure width and height of bed and mark wall with a pencil.

Using a level, lightly draw both posts about 40" tall by 4" wide.

Draw a 2"x 3" rectangle on top of each post, and trace inside of roll of painter's tape to add circular finials. Leave a ½" gap between posts and headboard, and draw center portion, as shown. Draw a 2"x3" rectangle on top of each post, and trace inside of roll of painter's tape to add circular finials. Leave a ½" gap between posts and headboard, and draw center portion, as shown.

The top of center portion should measure about 10" down from top of finial. Carefully tape off all lines; cut tape with an X-Acto blade where necessary (circles and ½" gap between posts and headboard center).

Smooth tape down thoroughly with a credit card.

Roll on a thin coat of paint within taped lines; let dry.

Apply a second coat, let dry completely and remove tape, pulling at a 45-degree angle.

Kids begin to develop their own taste earlier than you may think. Play with color and pattern in a shared bedroom to help delineate space.

You can design bedding especially for your kids. Go to roomsbyyou.com and choose from more than 2,500 fabulous fabric patterns.

Take these out of the bathroom, and polka-dot the floor with cute circular rugs that come in nine bright colors.

As kids get older, they need a nighttime reading light. Clip a colorful retro desk lamp to the bedpost or nightstand.

Press your child's finger into a colored ink pad. Scan, crop, and create a border, then upload it.

Separate the kids without creating an obtrusive barricade. Dividers can serve an additional purpose -- for storage, play, or simply decoration.

What you'll need:

-12 4' pieces and 12 22" pieces of 1" trim

-4 wooden shelf brackets

-2 quarts of indoor latex paint (1 quart each of 2 colors)

-paintbrushes or rollers

-3 48"x22" ½"-thick plywood panels

-16 12"x12" cork squares

-utility knife

-hot-glue gun

-chalkboard paint

-Rust-Oleum magnetic primer

-about 50 1&frac12" wire brads

-4 hinges

-screwdriver

-about 6 2" nails

Make it:

Paint trim and shelf brackets in the same color. Hot-glue cork squares to both sides of first panel, trim excess with utility knife. Apply chalkboard paint to both sides of second panel; let dry. Prime both sides of third panel with magnetic primer; let dry, then paint color of your choice. Use wire brads to attach trim to edges of each side of all panels. Attach hinges to inside edges between each section, about 12" from top and bottom, with screws (included). Hot-glue each set of brackets back to back and nail into both ends of screen divider with 2" nails.

Build a lightweight wall with recycled cardboard. The 24-module pack comes in nine colors and makes a 4½-foot divider.

Who wouldn't want a playground in her room? At almost 3 feet tall, it leaves space to store bedtime books underneath.

Fill a low bookcase with fabric drawers.

With two kids in a bedroom, the overflow of stuff can be unwieldy. These double-duty organization tools take a shared room from crowded to comfy.

Divide a 4-foot square pegboard in half and store your kids' gear in buckets and on hooks and pegs.

What you'll need:

-What you'll need 2 8' lengths of 1"x2" plywood

-handsaw

-4'x4' pegboard

-finishing nails

-hammer

-primer

-paintbrush or roller

-painter's tape

-4 colors of paint

-pegboard hooks

-bungee cords

-metal clips

-metal baskets

-small buckets

Prime surface of pegboard; let dry.

Use a saw to cut plywood into 4 47" pieces and nail the 1" edge to the underside edges of pegboard (about 5 nails per side).

Measure to find center of board and attach the edge of a strip of painter's tape to center line.

Paint one or two coats of first color onto one half and let dry. Remove tape by pulling at a 45-degree angle, attach it to edge of painted surface, and paint other half with one or two coats of second color; let dry completely and remove tape.

To make a painted frame, attach tape around the pegboard, about 3" from the edge.

Paint with one or two coats of corresponding third and fourth colors up to the divided line; let dry completely and remove tape.

Hang items from pegs and bungee cords and in baskets and buckets.

It's a portable table, a seat, and a step stool all in one! Available in orange, light blue, white, and black.

Put every square inch of space to use. This is a perfect spot to store extra toys or linens.

This upholstered stool tucks neatly under a desk.

Originally published in the September 2010 issue of Parents magazine.