We have had a baby in our room for the better part of 7 years. I don’t mind this most of the time, except when it means not sleeping for the better part of 7 years. However, due to living in a small Bungalow house & overly loving elder children moving D-man into another room right now isn’t going to happen. By overly loving, I mean “Hey, let’s give D-man some little toys that he could choke on.” Both Hubby & I have the tremendous fear that putting him in the same room with such helpful siblings could lead to an accident that no one even wants to imagine. This means he is staying in our room for just a little while longer.
Therefore, until then we decided to be creative. We created a separated space for D-man in our room, it’s a big enough space that we can divide it out. In fact, I think there was a family here who once had something like 8 kids up there. OK, I have no idea if that’s true but my Grandma always tells me how my Great-Aunt raised something like 52 kids in a house this size so I am SURE it’s possible.
We hung a wire curtain line up in the room. Little hooks are used to attach a curtain. We went with a comprise curtain, I wanted something fun & bright, my husband something dark & plain. We settled on something like Golden Girls meets Magnum, P.I. but for the new millennium. They create an instant space, an extra room within a room. That I am sure will work even if we have 53 kids in this house. I take your 52 & raise you one.
There is enough space for me to actually walk all around the crib & it’s far enough away from the wall & the curtain to keep him from pulling on anything. I don’t know why we didn’t do something sooner. You’d like we would have figured this out something like 48 kids ago. It would have made for an easier transition, instead of us tipping toeing into the room at night. We’ve thought that in the future the space could be used as a sitting area.
And as for how D-man likes it. It seems he loves it. The curtains are dark enough to block out the extra light when closed to create a cozier space for him. He has been sleeping longer & at night we’ve been able to have him wake less. Only once, versus before this change it was something like eleven-billionity times. Give or take a billion. And let me tell you, when he wakes he is not all sunshine & roses. I have no idea where he gets that from, and Mom NO you can’t call me to tell me it’s from me, if you do you’ll just sound like that dude who I married.
This is also part of the bigger reorganize of the house we are slowly but surely working on. Since we started Project Organize in the house, we’ve gotten rid of a Mack Truck’s worth of things that we had no use for or were outgrown, broken, or hadn’t seen the light of day since Milli Vanilli won their Grammy, before the scandal of their cropped pants caused them to fall from grace. OK the lip syncing cause the fall, but the cropped pants on men is a bad idea. Can we all at least agree on that??? And that even if you don’t have 67 kids in a house feeling like everything has a space is nice? Because I know I’m really digging it.
For those wondering where the curtains & wire system came from. We made yet another trip to IKEA. A place that you could get lost in for hours & wonder what you did when you were there for so long.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
I have a son who has had some sensory issues during his life and we hung a thick curtain all around his bed a few years ago. He loved it. And so did the brother he was forced to room with!
I really wish we’d done this with our 1st, he had major sensory issues & I think it would have helped so much.
We did a similar thing with my son when we were living in an apartment. We converted the never used dining room into a bedroom for him and hung a curtain similar to what you’ve done.
It looks great!
Thanks! It’s great to see the creative ways we can use our spaces, we had an apartment we made a lot more use of with limited space.
Beth ~ I don’t have children in the house anymore but the Milli Vanilli reference nearly choked me! YOU are hysterical! BTW – LOVE IKEA – The Professor is happy that it’s a 2-1/2 drive each way or we’d be so broke . . .
I’m still upset to find out that they didn’t sing Blame it on the Rain. I mean I was so in, minus the cropped pants that is.
Nice job, great idea! This takes me back to the farm house I grew up in. Parents had to share their bedroom with a crib for many years. I slept on a roll-away bed in the living room for several years until I got to move upstairs to a room like yours with the slanted walls. These days most kids (and parents) would think they were being tortured if they had to sleep in a “public” space like that! I didn’t know any better. LOL
If you decide you’d like to put some “art” on those slanted wall take a peek at my Uppercase Living website (decorative vinyl expressions). I remember it was hard to hang anything on them. In my teen years I had posters taped to the slanted parts that would fall off during the night on top of me in bed. Sacred the heck out of me!
It is funny how our culture has gotten so use to the need for “private” space & the idea of room sharing is something people aren’t sure of. I mean think of all the cultures around the world where they share so much more space as a family or community.
I will also have to check out the *art* because I’m thinking of some ideas.
well. everyone does need a space of his own! love it!
Agreed, I think he is relishing his own space as are we.
Great idea! I wish we had that kind of space! We just moved our baby out (at 13 months) and into his big brother’s room. It was so liberating to not have to tiptoe in – and to be able to turn on the lights and watch some TV before bed has made me feel like a new woman!
I know the tiptoe dance is not fun. You want to be able to just use your room & not go in as if it’s a secret mission every night, LOL