Style at Home contributing design editor Christine Hanlon goes bold when decorating the shared cottage bedroom of her daughter, Sophie, 10, and son, Henry, 7.

Christine wanted to bring a playful gender-neutral energy to the bedroom shared by her two kids on cottage weekends. “I found the dark grey and white polka-dot bedding at IKEA and immediately fell in love with it. The pattern is youthful but not too sweet,” she says. While Christine didn’t have Dalmatians in mind at first, she “went with it” by accenting with plush dog toys after the theme materialized.

These bunk beds make perfect sense for this room for several reasons. “They’re incredibly affordable and remarkably sturdy – the kids use them like a jungle gym,” says Christine. And when she’s hosting other families at the cottage, the bunk beds are an ideal sleep solution.
 

Since this is a second home, Christine didn’t want to commit to any expensive kid-specific furnishings. For example, she repurposed a lovely wood-trimmed suitcase found curbside into a night- stand. “It’s the perfect height and width for a shared nightstand because the bunk beds are quite low to the ground,” she explains.

Decorating advice from Christine
"Decorate kids’ bedrooms without making major commitments. In less than an hour, I could give this space a completely different look on a relatively small budget.”