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If you’ve been hanging around for a while, then you’ll remember these posts on designing a room for two, Shared Spaces & Kids Room Ideas but if you’re new around here then you might want to check them out first before reading on. Don’t worry, we’ll wait for you.

Ready? Alright, let’s go – the shared room saga continues …

At this point we’re looking at a compromise of the colorful room I envisioned for them and the race car room they want for themselves. What do you get when you mix color & race cars? I thought you’d never ask.

Allow me to introduce – Rainbow Town

It all started with this adorable Circo rug from Target
And these window panels, also from Target

These were the first two items I purchased for our new home and we still love them, so it makes perfect sense for them to be the inspiration for our room.

I thought it would be cute to use the rug as the ground level for our town and then use the furniture and accessories to make it look like they were part of the town. The walls will gravitate towards the sky and there will even be a few airplane pictures hung on the walls to enhance the effect.

I’m getting excited about using the Odda Bed from Ikea and adding some details to the footboard to make them look like police cars (black & silver decals to represent the grille, red & blue bicycle reflectors for the lights & maybe even a license plate with their names on them) and then stenciling the word POLICE down the the center of the drawers. It’s really hard to explain but in my head it is AWESOME!

I had the idea to make some cityscape pillowcases for our body pillows. One will look like rainbow colored skyscrapers, the other like a row of houses.

Like these

Right now the room is shared by a 3 year old girl & a 4 year old boy but as the kids get older we’ll switch Sweet to her own room and the boys will share this one. I’m still trying to choose a dresser that I like, each time my plan changes a bit the other pieces don’t seem to fit as well. I’m pretty certain we are moving forward with Rainbow Town and I welcome any ideas with open arms.

Can’t wait to see what all your creative types come up with …

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Do you remember this post? This was our first Kids Room design project – featured back in August. At the time KSW didn’t have many readers, we were less than one month old, but now just a few months later we have a strong followership show we thought we would revitalize this room.

A Little History

On Aug 4th, we promised to design a unique, affordable nursery inspired by Urban Outfitter’s Spectrum Chandelier. After 10 days of hand-selecting each and every item, we presented you with…the Whimiscal Sunrise Nursery. This nursery was designed for everyday people with everyday problems. We developed a room that exudes color without ever needing a drop of paint. (perfect for our readers who live in apartments or houses they can’t paint) We also chose pieces that could be personally customized for our DIY readers. (Hint, try using the wall decals to decorate the toy box. Line the back of the dresser with scrapbooking paper for an even more individual look. Why not sew a few color fabric shapes onto the wardrobe to add that last pop of color.) And finally, we planned this room to really maximize its space. (Notice every piece of furniture is focused on stoarge- the crib has a drawer underneath, multiple colored shelves to hold stuffed toys above the toy box, a wardrobe, a bookcase and even a back of the door organizer.)

And now for the best part, we designed this room all for a budget under $1,000!! Can you believe it? Want to see how we spent the money?

As pictured clockwise from top:

Badger Basket Changing Table – Target – $135
Barnslig soft toys – IKEA – $3-5
Kritter Bench – IKEA – $35
Hemnes Shelf Unit – IKEA – $109
BAGIS hangars – IKEA – $1.30 / 8 pack
SNIGLAR Wardrobe – IKEA – $45
APA Toy Box – IKEA – $15
Mary Kate And Ashley Rug – Target – $120
Dwell Studio Striped Rug – Target – $80 SOLD OUT
NOJE Door Mounted Storage – IKEA – $20
BARNSLIG curtains – IKEA – $20/2 pack
BARNSLIG crib bedding – IKEA – $13
Viktor Shelves – IKEA – $5
Dwell Studio Wall Circles – Target – $10 SOLD OUT
Spectrum Chandelier – Urban Outfitters – $36
Silver Lake Crib – Target – $300 SOLD OUT