Moving Our Boys into a Shared Room

**The Chaos, The Bonding, and The Reality Check**

We recently moved our two boys into a shared room, and they were so excited! The novelty of bunking together hasn’t worn off yet, and while it’s only been about two weeks, we’ve already experienced the highs and lows of this big change.

The Unexpected Wins (and Shenanigans)

One of the biggest surprises? They’re bonding in a whole new way—sharing, playing, and looking out for each other more than before. But, of course, with great sibling bonding comes great mischief.

My oldest has already mastered a sneaky little trick: he eggs his younger brother on, knowing full well that the little one will be the loud one, inevitably sending my husband or me marching back into their room. And the best part? He thinks he’s completely in the clear. As if we can’t hear him whispering, "Say it louder!" before his little brother gleefully obliges.

Nice try, buddy. We hear everything.

Meanwhile, we’re still waiting for their sleep schedule to normalize—not helped by the fact that I decided to move them into a shared room the same weekend as daylight savings time. Brilliant planning on my part. Didn’t even glance at a calendar before diving in.

Why the Move?

The first question we’ve been asked: Are we expecting another little one?

Nope! Our family feels complete as a family of four.

The idea of sharing a room actually started during Thanksgiving 2024, when the boys bunked together at my in-laws’. It was, in short, chaotic. They kept each other awake, but ever since then, they (mostly my oldest) have been asking—repeatedly—when they could share a room at home.

While I love his enthusiasm, he doesn’t quite grasp that this isn’t just a simple bed swap—it required shuffling three different rooms to make it all work.

*As you can see, I’m still trying to pick an accent paint color for the room.*

The Planning Phase

Since their individual bedroom furniture wouldn’t all fit in one space, I started by mapping out the layout on graph paper. I needed to see what configurations would work with their current beds, cribs, and dressers.

The Ikea Hemnes dresser we used as a nursery changing table would have been perfect for them to share—except it was too large.
The Foundry dresser from my oldest’s room fit well but was too small for both boys.
And despite many hours of online browsing, I couldn’t find the exact dresser we have—but here’s a similar one.

The Hunt for a Dresser

Since we had just bought my oldest’s bed at the end of 2024, I knew we were working with that. My husband and I also agreed our youngest wasn’t ready to transition out of his toddler bed just yet—keeping it might make this whole process a little smoother.

So, the only major piece we needed was a dresser. And I had a very specific wishlist:

✔️ Under 48 inches
✔️ Large enough for two boys to share
✔️ Lighter-colored
✔️ Ideally under $200
✔️ Something versatile enough to work in another room just in case

Why the last two? Because what if the shared room didn’t work out? I wasn’t about to drop serious money on a dresser we might ditch in less than a year. And because I like to make my life harder than it needs to be.

After some back and forth, I ultimately decided: f*ck it, let’s just use what we have and see how it goes.

Would I love to have the perfect dresser and a Pinterest-worthy setup? Yes.
Do my kids care? Not at all.
They just want to be in the same room. The rest is a me problem that can be sorted out later.

The Big Move

I took a Friday off to tackle everything (well, mostly everything):

Moved out the guest room (which was in our largest bedroom aside from the master).
Shifted my oldest’s furniture into what is now the new guest room.
Moved my youngest’s furniture into the new shared space.
Relocated my desk from his old room into the former shared office space.
And let the bonus room temporarily house everything we need to donate, sell, or relocate.