What would you do with this space above the bed?

[ChristusG]

First, excuse the messy bed....I don't do making beds LOL. Second, we have a family bedroom, so we have two beds side by side. The queen bed that you can barely see in the photo is mine and DH's. It has something above it. But there's this big blank area above the kids bed. What would you do with it? I've considered several things....

 

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1. Letting the kids pick wall "stickers" in the theme of their choice and let them put those above their bed so it will seem a little like "their" own space. Con....Princess wall stickers are really not my type of decor LOL.

 

2. Putting rain gutter bookshelves there. They could put favorite books and small animals on them. Con....will the kids bonk their heads on them when they sit up? Do they have sharp edges? The people in the link put them above their kids bed. I'm just always afraid of things falling on me/the kids when we sleep....so I don't keep anything heavier on the walls above the bed.

 

3. Put these planters on the walls to hold stuffed animals. Again, the con would be something to fall on them or possibly bonk their head on?

 

4. Something else that's neat that I haven't thought about.

 

Any ideas or suggestions?

[Mabeline]

I vote for the gutter bookshelves. I put them above my boys' bunk beds. They love them. They don't really have any sharp edges. They are plastic so they give a little if your girls bonk themselves on them. I put them up only about 6 inches above the bed so they don't really hit their heads on them. Although I have heard them get kicked in the middle of the night. My boys love to put books and other "treasures" in them. They are great!

[amo_mea_filiis.]

That's cool. I'm going to do both!

[Janie Grace]

I could see doing rain gutter shelves along the length of the bed, but somehow over the head of the bed, it seems like they'd look crammed in there/messy.

 

So my vote is rain gutter shelves along the side of the bed, then a pretty well-anchored mirror over the head of their bed... something that ties into the decor already on that wall and says "this is still the master bedroom." Then again, I have never done the family bedroom thing. I have done co-sleeping but it was still OUR room, KWIM? So maybe if the feel of this family bedroom thing really is that it is everyone's room, I really like the stuffed animal planters too. Just no princess stickers!!!

[amo_mea_filiis.]

I didn't read it all, sorry!

 

I'm going to put some gutter shelves above the bed, some planters somewhere, and let them decorate a corner with stickers.

[goodgollycr]

These are like the gutter shelves, but softer.

[emcap]

I vote for rain gutters - just please make sure you get them into studs!!! I just put anchors in (good ones, though) and my kids aren't terribly rough, but they have pulled out of the wall in a couple places. I think the rain gutters could make kind of a cool headboard type look.

I also think you should hang something fun and pretty over their area. Fun for them, pretty for you. Japanese lanterns in coordinating colors? Or something. Maybe a pretty, but more grown up mobile from etsy? Just to kind of give them a "tent" feeling, like their own space.

Have fun!

 

ETA: Ohh the previous posters link to the cloth shelves made from pretty fabric, three or so rows high, would be pretty!

[Sue G in PA]

Instead of gutters, if you have an IKEA near you...get the spice racks for $4. They work just like the gutters so you can put the books facing out but are a bit more pleasing to the eye. You can paint them any color you want.

[justasque]

My sister was in a serious, early morning earthquake once, and had to quickly escape; because of that experience we think long and hard about hanging things above a bed (as well as bookshelves that would block a door from opening if they fell over). My vote is stickers, or a cork strip with a rotating display of children's artwork.

[Stacia]

How about a wall/reading lamp above where each kid is? Then, they could keep books on a nightstand or in a magazine rack beside the bed.

 

It is nice to tack down wall lamp cords w/ the little holder thingies (technical term, I know, I know.... ;)). (Thingys or thingies?)

[Samiam]

I vote for an educational Wallie. You know, wallies are those big wall pictures, that go on like stickers, can peel off and be moved again.

 

By educational, I mean, like a USA map, or World Map, or some other. I have seen the USA and World Map Wallies on Amazon.

Here ya go: http://www.amazon.com/Easy-Instant-Decoration-Sticker-Decal/dp/B003VPLVEU/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1313895908&sr=8-7 and notice all of the fun options that show up on that same page, solar system, etc.

 

Great educational conversation piece as you lay in bed snuggling with a nightlight just bright enough to see it.

 

Imagine what is retained in the minds of sleepy children!

And hey, at such a decent price, change it out every 6 months to a year, and learn something else!

 

I never realized what you learn when you look at, and read, something repeatedly but absent-mindly. We have "ocean themed bathroom" downstairs, and on the wall right in front of the toilet, I have a nice framed poster size thing about how to swim out/survive a riptide (we used to live in FL, and go to the ocean weekly, so this was much more relevant than it is now where we live, lol). Apparently every day, I read it without thinking about it. Now, also without thinking about it, I can also tell you how to survive a riptide ocean current. I won't, of course, lol. When I mentioned it to DH, he laughed cuz he had recently had the same thought, lol!!

[kalanamak]

Bulletin board (cork).