Twin Talks
Decorating Bedrooms for Boy and Girl Twins

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Please be advised, this transcription was performed from a company independent of New Mommy Media, LLC. As such, translation was required which may alter the accuracy of the transcription.

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CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Pink and Blue. That's what we usually think of for girls and boys. But what if you have one of each? Do you have to decorate your baby's room in pink and blue? What other options are there? And how can you update their room as they move on to becoming preschool and school-age kids? We are here with Interior Designer Rachel Crawford to talk about decorating you boy girl twin’s nursery and bedroom. This is Twin Talks.

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CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Welcome to twin talks. Twin talks is your online on the go support group for expecting and new parents of twins. I am your host Christine Stewart-Fitzgerald.
Have you subscribed to the twin talk newsletter? It's a great way to learn about new episodes when they are released and if you want episodes automatically downloaded to your mobile device then please subscribe to our show through iTunes or download free twin talks app. Here is Sunny with details on how you can get involved with twin talks.

SUNNY GAULT: All right, hi everybody. Thank you so much for listening. We want all of the twins, triplets, quadruplets whatever you have out there parents to participate in our shows. It is so much more fun when you join us and when you are part of the conversations. The best way to do that is head over to our website on www.newmommymedia.com , there is a banner there. Click on it and you can fill out a quick little form that just tells us a little bit more about you so we can reach out to you. You can also join our Facebook group where we post all of our topics and times. The other thing that you can do is tell other multiples or parents of multiples about our show. We are really trying to get the word out there, there is not a lot of twin information online and so we think this is a great resource for parents. If you happen to be heading out and going to a play day or something like that, just mention it and you can point them to our website where we have a Facebook page, a twitter page, all that good stuff where they can check out more information. We would love to help them out as well.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: All right, let’s meet our parents who are joining our conversation today, so tell us a little bit about yourself and your family and your experience with today’s topic. Let's start with Brandy.

BRANDY: Hi, my name is Brandy and I have two sets of twins. I have six and half-year-old identical boys and I have three and a half-year-old boy-girl fraternal twins.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: So you've got a mix of everything!

BRANDY: One of each kind of set of twins

SUNNY GAULT: You have to be fair there Brandy

BRANDY: It’s a twin buffet, yes I had to be fair. This is a very timely topic for me, the older ones are in kindergarten and the younger ones are starting pre-school and we are changing up everything so I can't wait to hear what Rachel has to say.

SUNNY GAULT: I am Sunny, I am producing today's show and I'm a twin mom as well. I have two older single twins of five years old and a four-year-old. My twins are my little children, my youngest children I have identical girls who are two and a half years old. I kind of went crazy with the pink once they came around. Their room looks like it’s been doused in Pep top base mall, I was just so excited after having two boys to have two girls so I just fell into the trap. I went very gender specific with my colors and I'm sure that is going to haunt me in the future.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: I am your host, Christine Stewart-Fitzgerald, and my girls are six-year-olds, they are identical. We have sort of a green and then we went early on with trying to assign them colors for everything and of course it never works out that they want the colors we were going with orange and pink, but then they decided that their colors were pink and purple as the girls pretty stereotypical. We are actually in the process of upgrading to the pink and purple. I have a single twin who is three and I was trying to push on joint to her but she is not liking it so much so we are going to try to be inclusive. I'm trying to be not so stereotypical but you know, what can you say?
Our expert today is Rachel, I know you have been doing interior design and you are a mom yourself?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Yes, I have two boys they are five and almost four.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: I was thinking about your website Molly Quinn and I'm thinking you have a girl?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Yeah I know, a good friend of mine her daughter was Molly and my son is Quinn and at first we were making children's clothing and I have had a design in my background and I decided to move Molly Quinn into interior design, that's where Molly came in.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: I love the back story and everything, I like the name Molly Quinn, and I just think it’s catchy.

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SUNNY GAULT: All right, so before we dive into our episode today we like to talk about headlines that have to do with parents of multiples and this one has to do with a triplet family. At the time they didn't know they were going to be a triplet family so there was a mom from England and she happened to be in Florida at the Magic Kingdom which is the happiest place on earth, that's the tagline, and she was riding a bunch of rides and she was starting to feel nauseous and stuff like that and she blamed it on going on a bunch of rides. She just wasn't able to shake it even after getting off the rides and stuff like that and at some point, she thought it was a good idea to take a pregnancy test and that turned out to be a pregnancy with triplets.
This article was just talking about her experience a little bit, I guess she did a follow-up a while after, sharing her story after the triplets were born and she took some pictures of them and explained what happened to her and then she says she named them Mickey, Manny, and Pluto, no I'm just kidding. I think that their names are Dolly, Annie, and Jerald, no she didn't pick the Disney names. I don't know if you guys have ever experienced this, it doesn’t have anything really to do with triplets or twins but every time I go to amusement park and I get sick and it doesn’t go away after a while, I wonder, I actually think exactly what this mom thought, I'm like should I take a pregnancy test? Is this pregnancy or I'm I just not feeling very well because of this crazy ride that I was just on. So, I don't know why I do that but yeah it was just kind of a funny thing. Not to scare everyone out there because it could be a little nauseous from riding the tea cups a little bit too much but if it persists take a pregnancy test, what do you guys think, Christine?

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Yeah I know, I think the nauseous! I didn't have too much nausea and I drink a lot of ginger beer and it was good with that, but I think it was persistence, I don't know. I have to say a lot of people they do crazy stuff at roller coasters and they are going to try to blame, I mean it’s a roller coaster

SUNNY GAULT: We all know being pregnant with twins really is a roller coaster ride, right?

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CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: We are here today with Rachel Crawford who specializes in designing kid’s rooms for her company Molly Quinn and we are talking about the challenge of decorating a single room for boy girl twins. Welcome back Rachel, I know we have had you on this show a while back and we can't get enough so we need more

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Awesome, thanks for having me

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Good to have you. You know we look up a lot of stuff about decorating and it’s so easy to think okay, let’s do these colors, girls, and boys but are there any rules for shared space for the opposite sex twins?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Well, I would start off with doing a neutral-based color for your walls because that is really going to incorporate both sexes and then we can pop off colors of that so they are still included but they have their own separate color schemes if you want to add a little bit of blue but it’s totally not necessary.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: That's a good point because sometimes we think we have to paint the whole entire nursery one color. I have seen some pictures of rooms where it’s like pink and I'm just like oh my gosh, overload.

SUNNY GAULT: That would be my girls room, I actually did do some acne walls but I think one was a very light color pink and the other was a very light tint but it still came out a little darker and because everything else in the room is a light pink I still feel it’s a little too much.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Yes, so maybe you do something like a gray or even an oak is really pretty, white is really nice to just really clean everything and everything sort of pops off of that

BRANDY: Rachel what are your thoughts on boy girl twins that have a set of dividing the room into half and painting each half of the room a completely different color, and I'm not suggesting that I do this, I just saw it on the TV show Blackish because they have boy girl twins in the show and I was looking for design and maybe it just made more for TV effect than reality, so what do you think?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: I think I would like something that is including both, like the wall color to include both of them so both are in the same space otherwise I think if it's split into half like that you are really splitting them into their own spaces and it’s not so much a shared space, it’s more like a divided space even though its one room.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: So keep it open keep a neutral color and then you say like using accent colors

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Yes, using accent colors and using a lot of texture and using patterns and layering all that on top of each other, but not necessarily cutting the room in half unless it is something that is an intention that you really want to provide. The TV show might be I think it’s really striking because there is a line there and you can see both sides.

BRANDY: Would it also have the visual effect of making the room fell smaller to do that?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Yes, because you actually divide the room up in half so you've really created too many rooms

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: I'm having the image of the roommates that can't stand each other and they are drawing the line right down the middle, do not cross over this wall

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Yes, it feels very inviting to the other twin become over to the others space, like this is mine and you've got to stay over there, you are not invited, like the boys club girls club

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: So now do we have to use pink or blue or what are some other ideas?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: No, you definitely don't have to use the pink or blue. Like I said going with the neutral colors as your base then adding to it, so if you wanted to do a theme like animals or woodland or forest, there is always opportunities for all these colors to come into play. If you wanted to play more towards a girl on one side and a boy on another you can do that with the lines of the crib, so maybe the girl's crib has more of a famine feel where it’s curvy and then the boy's curve is more straight lined.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: I like that, it’s very settle.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Right, like you can tell when you look like that is where Emily is sleeping and this is where Ben sleeps just from the lines of the furniture.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: That's interesting thought, and I guess using a picture like a forest may be you have more pine trees or something and then maybe the girl's side has a few extra little flowers

RACHEL CRAWFORD: You know maybe she has like a little fairies or something is going on over on her side or maybe her marbles are more soft and floral and his is not so much it’s more of the deer, the bear so there are different ways of incorporating the feminine and the masculine without being those two colors.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: That is great, maybe you can even talk about what are some other general themes that might be really great ideas to think about like forests, what are some other ideas that work well for both boys and girls?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: The circus theme is really cute, even bringing in animals with that, you can bring in a little ballerina with that. The other thing is to look around your house because you can incorporate your own style into this space so it can be century modeling style nursery would be really cute or like a little bore hole thing or if you are like the beach and having a little beach or surfing themes. You just kind of look around the house if you are more contemporary we bring in more like queen lines and update the color pallor.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: That’s a really great point because I think so often we get in this trap like Okay I might have a very clean modern house but oh my kid's room has to be very shabby shaped

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Yes, you can modernize your nursery so that it’s more toward the personality of your family versus what you think it should be.

SUNNY GAULT: Rachel do we have any information like we all go through for this themed things but like you guys were just talking we don't necessarily do that with the rest of our house, and I'm just wondering do we have any information on do kids just really like themes, does it somehow help them when they go to their rooms? Why do we go to this themed thing, why can't it just be different colors? We are going to do strip I don't know, why do we do that?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: I think we've always done it, it’s just probably something that has passed down, we want to create and identify space for the child and we just think well they must be little baby things so we fill that stuff in there. I don't know exactly where that stuff comes from but I don't think it needs to be like that. We've seen lots of nurseries who are not doing that, who are really incorporating lifestyles of the family and the house and really making it blend because you don’t want to have your child stick out either like if their room is totally off from the rest of the house it just like you have separated them.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: So, we don't have to go down the road of having really bold bright colors in the nursery even though the rest of our house is pretty neutral.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: I would follow the lead in your home and then you can always add those fun aspects and the art or the toys because that is where you can really do it, so maybe there is a place in your home where you go, oh you know I really wanted that one but I think it is too bright for me. I am just scared of it that is the perfect place to put it.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: I think you are talking a lot about accessories and layering and so what are some of the different kinds of things that you might put in a room that might add color and let’s say we do have the neutral type of home.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Right, so you can do a piece of art in there about the crib, about the changing table another place to put something with color could be lights like if you are doing the chandelier or light in some other room that could be really fun. You could also put some colors on the ceiling like if you wanted to break color maybe you would do a bright yellow or blue or something up on the ceiling, that's not overpowering but it’s kind of fun and cocky or in an area run could also be really fun, you can do lots of color in the area rug and then when you are tired you roll it up and give it away so or pillows.

SUNNY GAULT: I never really thought about painting the ceiling, I don't know, is everyone looking up at the ceiling now, I'm like what color is, I mean it’s usually like off white or something like that. I always thought that that made it seem more I don't know, open, I don't know if there is any truth to that. I have actually painted ceilings before and it felt closer but yes, it got me thinking about that when you said to paint the ceiling.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: When you paint the ceiling it brings the ceiling down so it might not feel so big for the kid’s space just in their own personal area. We've also done wallpaper up there which is really cool because they are as a baby lying down looking up a lot of the time, as long as it's not too crazy and wild where he will not fail to get sleep but something fun or even if you have somebody paint a little scene in the corner, little surprises here and there quite cocky.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Or painting I'm thinking like the sky, you know you put something up there, and I know my girls we put up that little glow in the dark stars, but we just have a white boring ceiling. That's kind of a fun idea, the creative sky

RACHEL CRAWFORD: You could put a pattern and that's not too loud but just like a shuttle texture pattern or stripe or even an unexpected place to add a little fun

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Yeah, wow, I mean I like these ideas of something that they are relatively inexpensive they are not major investments because I think so often we see like oh my gosh I'm expecting twins and I have to go out and buy all these furniture’s and even the bedding can be so expensive when you look at all these matching sets with blankets and bumpers and the sheets and the rags and it’s like oh my gosh, so, I like that idea that sometimes you can get just blushes of color in other things that maybe they are a little bit more durable or you can use that to transition to whatever the next thing is and it’s not going to be a huge outlay of cash especially when you are buying two of it.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Yeah, and I like to use toys as decoration or accessory so it’s not just a toy but it's actually part of the decor in the room.

SUNNY GAULT: Also the other thing to keep in mind is a lot of people that may be listening to this, you may not be able to make these big changes, if you are renting your place or you are thinking about having more kids in the future and you know you are going to have to get a bigger house, I mean a lot of these painting and stuff like that, you may not be able to do that so I really like the idea of adding little things and there, little pops of color, things you can swap out pretty quickly because either you may get tired of it or probably most likely your kids are going to get tired of it and then it’s just really easy to change things without like a major commitment.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Like you know we’re talking about creating that sort of the blank space and you can add different things and I don't know, does anyone has sort of themes that they've thought of or they are considering using that might work well with the boy-girl twins?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: You could do like the black and white thing and have it be the babaa black sheep sort of theme incorporated into it which becomes cute

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Oh yeah, black and white with maybe a little splashes of color somewhere, that's cool. What about has anybody thought of like I mean sort of a western theme like may be a cowgirl cowboy kind of thing I don't know?

SUNNY GAULT: That's cute, for my kids I would like to turn it into toy story like really quickly I think. It might be cowboys and space rangers.

BRANDY: I'm actually in the process of shopping for new beddings to my youngest twins cribs converted to toddler beds and for them was just taking the front side off and now they are three-sided day bed kind of situation and we haven't changed anything, they are basically in their cribs with the same crib sheets and nothing has changed. We are ready to make that big kid beds and twin size beds and new beddings. I never did the boy-girl pink blue thing so I'm actually tempted to do it now before they have too much of an opinion about it. But especially my little girl loves everything and I feel like I want to give her something pink but not alienate my son. I actually found one set where they had a princess pink, really girl thing and the company also sold the knights with swords and shields although they were gray, it’s like a cute pink gray and we have the beige walls right now so it would be that neutral wall you were talking about Rachel. Actually, it might work well I just want to make sure they don't out grow it too soon because it needs to sort of stick with us for a while.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Speaking of those neutral walls again doing maybe the sheets that is not so themed but the grey or the pink or the white or whatever and then throwing it off with an acne pillow or a pink throw that maybe has raffles or pompons, again just throwing those accessories and making those pieces pop so that you can change that up or you are going to keep these extra sheets that you are going to keep like the duvet, you are going to keep the basics but you are going to switch out the themes.

BRANDY: That's why you are the pro, that's amazing thank you.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: I'm sure you can incorporate like castles, everybody loves castles

RACHEL CRAWFORD: You can even do like those temporary decals, you can get them on a seat or whatever and they can do a castle that you stick on your wall and then a couple of years later if they are tired of it, you just peel it off.

SUNNY GAULT: I'm a big fan of Decal and they have tons of great stuff online if you Google that

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Oh yeah, I've seen a lot of stuff, we did sort of a flower theme and with flowers and fairy's and caterpillar kind of thing but I did see like castles and I think I've even seen like space rockets and it’s like it’s all out there, you imagine it is there and that makes it so affordable that instead of having to bring in some mural artists.

SUNNY GAULT: You can also get them really personalized, I don't know if you guys have seen those online. We did that for my girls' room where their names are written in the script right above their crib and it’s like you would never know unless you got right up on it. It looks fantastic and it looks like someone came in and painted it. It was nice especially when they were younger and they really were staying in their cribs where people were helping us care for the kids or whatever, they would know who is who based on where they were, they were under their name that's their crib so yes, you can definitely personalize it and get the feel for what you want.

BRANDY: I was going to say another thing I came across too because all I'm doing in my searching is just looking at all these websites to see what is out there and then sort of piece it together because that to me is easier than I think I would love to have x y z and then I can't even find it. Another thing that I came across were a boy girl bedding they were in the same colors but had different themes to them. The boy was grey-black and red fire tracks and the girl was gray black and red ladybugs. So the whole room would be red, black, gray, white but two different themes. I haven't been willing to pull the trigger on that one because I just don't know if that would just be too much for a small space because they share a small space.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Rachel, what are your thoughts?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: The thing that I won't think there would be a lot is the red, so maybe minimizing how much red goes into that space because red is a really active color and especially for sleeping. So I would just be aware of where the red actually goes. Maybe not doing red sheets and beddings but maybe there is a red decoy or something that is necessarily near the bed. I would just minimize the red.

BRANDY: I don't need anybody more hyper than they already are Rachel

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: That is true Rachel, we should mention that you also do adult spaces as well as kids spaces and you are certified in fanctue, sorry if I pronounced it wrong, so when you are making these recommendations you are looking at it kind of just from the energy level as well, those dynamics so yes, we don't want kids bouncing off the walls during nap times

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Calming colors

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Calm colors

BRANDY: If you hang in Rachel, what are the calm colors, you got to tell me, what are they?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: They are the blues, the greens, anything that kind of reminds you of water, anything watery, calm. Think of the calm oceans and water. So reds are really active, yellow are anxious, orange is also really active. So kind of stay with the fiery hot colors but go more for the cool ones. Not to say you can't put red in somewhere there, I mean you can just be aware of where you are placing it and not to do too much to it.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Thank you. So, right now we know star wars is really hot so I've been seeing like star wars look in the air like everywhere in for twins, have you done anything or seen anything as far as incorporating some of the fun twin pairs into bedrooms?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: I haven't personally done any of the star wars but I can still bring in the stars and the galaxy and kind of that sort of fun and then if you want to bring in the characters maybe they come in maybe like the marbles, the dark stars something out enough to make fun, accessories like the toys putting them in certain areas of the room but I can really see the whole night sky cosmos thing taking off.

SUNNY GAULT: We did something for a play room. It wasn’t for bedroom situation but a play room. We had some light colors in there and we got back to the Decal’s because I'm such a big fan of Decal’s. We got a bunch of decoys for Sesame Street and it was really cool because the colors in the room were pretty neutral. We didn’t go crazy like red walls or anything like that but naturally Sesame Street has these amazing colors for all their characters and it was really cool. These were like huge decals like the big bird was literally like a big bird almost so it really was a cool way to incorporate characters but like I said without really having to go all out with crazy paints.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: It all sounds like Rachel when you talk about sort of creating the space, I mean like star wars is really hot right now but maybe three years from now people would be like "ah I'm bored with it, I want something new", with your suggestions if you would create sort of that neutral background and do stars then maybe three years from now you could make it into just different kinds of space or you know if you've got just a neutral place, it could morph or evolve into something else and you are not locked into just these characters.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Right, and that is also where those decoys come in I mean even looking online and there are really some cool star wars decals that are pretty impressive and then once you are tired of that I would just take that off and maybe put a different decal along or maybe just change it completely with different colors, all the beddings, the pillows and window panels and whatever.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: That's great and again it makes it a lot more affordable.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: But even if the colors of star wars models skill because you are only going to use that for the first year or two so that is going to come out anyway just looking at things that are temporary

SUNNY GAULT: The one thing I will say about decals though and one thing that we struggled with and actually still do is if you put him in the kids room when they are too young and they don't really appreciate it necessarily and it's at their level like it’s too low, I spent tons of time I would get so upset because I would go in there and cooky mum was still in a bowl and I always just I'm like are you kidding me? Thankfully we have like textured walls so I could take it smoothen it out and no one would know any differently but that's one I will say if you've got kids that love to take stuff off walls just make sure they can't reach it or there is something stopping them from getting a little too close to those decals and destroying them.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: That's an excellent point we went with the forced theme and flowers and used to have a lot more butterflies that it does now.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Oh my gosh

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: We are going to take a break and when we come back we are going to talk about how to change rooms up when they get a little bit older.

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CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Welcome back, today we are talking with Rachel Crawford of Molly Quinn about decorating boy girl twin’s rooms and switching them up as they grow. We've been talking about the toddler, well baby and toddler twins but as they grow usually we have to change up the furniture like Brandy mentioned we go from cribs to toddler beds and then to bigger size beds, are there sort of modifications that we need to make as they get bigger and move in preschool and school age?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: I would think the only thing that will strike me is bringing in a desk for the little ones because you might already have a shared table and chair so maybe we do their own individual desk so that they have their own space and maybe there is a part in the closet that is actually one's or the others so that they can put their clothes and the shoes and their things separated. The only other thing is like the changing tables, I think early on I like to use more like dressers so that you don't have an actual changing table then getting rid of it and buying a dresser so if you start that at the beginning then you don't have to switch too much besides the bed.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: We did the same thing too, we strapped on the changing pad on top of the dresser and now it is just the dresser. You know it’s your point about the closet space I know my girls are six now and I've been really pushing them to clean up after themselves and the biggest challenge we have is picking things up off the floor. I just feel like I'm pulling my hair out just like pick up your clothes, hang them up so I don't know if you have any suggestions about how to help facilitate them be independent in that way and picking things up.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Yes, like for their clothes I would just make sure that they are at a height where they can actually reach and put things away because if they can't actually put it away because it is too high they are not going to and then dividing up okay this is where your sheets go this is where your shoes go so that they are not blaming each other while it’s her stuff and it's going back and forth on it, so if they are responsible for their own individual stuff and they have an actual place where everything goes, everything needs to have a home because without that then it gets really confusing and then making sure they are all at the level where that they can reach.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Accessibility, yes and I think we had stairs like step stools throughout the house when they were really little and trying to get up to counters and now they are tall but then I realize they still need like a step for their closet. We haven't got around to putting in like two poles in their closet so well I know we are a bit behind on that

BRANDY: Christine I would say now that I have a girl, I understand that girl things need to be hang more often than not just the way they are but what we've largely tried to do is get drawers inside the closets at those lower levels and then just lay their clothes flat in the draws and I have labels on the draws so they can read. So if it doesn't necessarily have to hang then we don't and it’s easier for them.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: I was curious Brandy, do you have separate draws for each kid? How do you do that?

BRANDY: For the identical I do not, they share and share a lot so there is a drawer for long sleeve shirts and short sleeve shirts and pants and jeans and shorts

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Yes, I get It., I get the idea

BRANDY: But for the boy-girl I do, I have one column of drawers is for all of the girl clothes and one column is all for the boy's clothes.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Okay, so that’s clearly labeled so this is your side, this is his side

BRANDY: We actually went really inexpensive and bought them some of the plastic draws that you can buy at a home improvement store or a big box store so that we didn't have a large investment in furniture in the closet, we just went with the plastic tabs then I figured when they were done using those may be they move to the playroom for some of their school supplies or something.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: That's smart, I love the idea of re-purposing things. We buy a lot of stuff up-front, let’s keep using it in a different way. So, Rachel now that our school age kids we talked about from the decorating standpoint and having neutral theme walls and then using decals and things, are there any fun themes for more like the school age kids that have been really popular?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: I would really play as to into what it is that they are liking at the moment so if they are really in we go back into space and if they are into learning about that or nature it’s a good one to fall back on. There is another one that's like so happy together we could say and those could be based on complementary colors, so maybe we base it on one's favorite color and we make sure that they work together but that would be fun to kind of play off of that then we bring in accessories and art that go in with the color theme because they change their minds so often we don't really want to get too theme(y) I guess so it’s a little bit broader, it's more about bringing in different parts of their personality into the space.

BRANDY: All of us here in the conversation we have school aged children right, so here is something I was thinking of looking for betting going into that next phase of life for my little two, backpacks get thrown on their beds even though that's not where they go but are there all the time and shoes end up on the bedding all the time with my boys, so something I caught myself just the other day was looking at the printers or ballerina whatever the themes that I'm looking at and they were all beautiful and white

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Oh what a good thinking

BRANDY: But I was like don't do it, don't get sucked in, don't do it. I need to think about the darker colors because this has to last awhile

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Even if you do it maybe we put a thrill at the end of the beds so if anything does get thrown on it goes on the thrill and that can go on the wall

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: I'm so with you, my girls do gymnastics and they like to end up doing things on the floor and they like to go outside and do cat wheels so their feet are dirty and their pants are dirty and it just ends up coming in and I'm like oh, thank God for oxy clean. Yeah, I'm so with you on lets maybe not do the really late and bright painterly kind of colors that don't clean up well. I think Rachel to your point earlier about having a throw rug that you can change out, it’s not a huge investment and you can have different colors of like a throw rug which creates an acne color and use it for a few years and you don't feel bad when it’s all worn out and dingy it’s like okay, time for a new one.

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Even with art, if there is something that they are really into like my little pony or whatever it is may be with frame or poster, we frame something cute or something that they color, kind of incorporating anything that they've made or even like

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: I also wanted to touch on to when we talked about school age kids and their interests and yes, I totally agree that they are changing out, they are interested in butterflies one day and then it’s like oh no I don't like butterflies I like dragonflies, it’s like okay, great. Maybe Rachel from your experience how do you get kids engaged in the process of designing their room and finding things that they don't get tired of or we can agree on?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: What I would do is I mean they like choice, I would pre-select three choices for them to go from especially with the twins if you've got the space and one wants something that way out here and the other person wants something at the end of the spectrum but together they kind of fight, but if you pre-plan where you go like these will work for you these will work for you and then know together that anyone of those that they chose is going to work together. It’s just about the pre stuff but still giving them a choice, they still feel like they have an option but I would just limit to three

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Brandy how about you, have you talked to your older son about that?

BRANDY: No, I didn't give them a choice, the first time we surprised them with the big boy beds and I had everything purchased and prepared and one kid in my house didn't like the dinosaurs back then so we were all good but this time around with the boy girl twins I'm actually letting them do exactly what Rachel just said, I'm only showing them the ones that have noted down to and I sort of sell the one a little bit more than maybe mommy wouldn't mind looking at for the next few years

RACHEL CRAWFORD: If the choices are open and unlimited it can get pretty hard and crazy

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: I guess it’s like food it’s like we sort of pre-select our food choices and here is some range you can choose from and so here you go and then probably at some level it's okay, if you don't like the three then you'll learn to like it

BRANDY: Well just as Rachel because I'm in the practical aspects of looking for the bedding and re-decorating the rooms now, do you have any advice as far as a duvet versus a comforter versus a quilt, those are all my choices at the moment?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: I like duvets just because their cover and I would get an insert that's like a polyfill so it’s like an alternative to down so you can wash them both but with the duvet you can get other duvets and switch it up more easily than if you would get a comforter. If you are getting a comforter or a quilt you are kind of stuck with that. So if in the future you want to do another theme or whatever you can still keep the insert but just change off the duvet.

SUNNY GAULT: I almost feel like we have to break down what these terms are because I'm picturing a duvet so I think I understand that what were the two quilts and comforter, what's the difference between the two?

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Comforter is more, I want to say it’s puffier, it’s kind of those bed in the bags sort of deal, and it is more like those fabrics that are closer together and it a bit more flat and not so thick

BRANDY: It has all the stitching in it

RACHEL CRAWFORD: Its more labor intensive and you would probably get a quilt handmade or a comforter or something more than you would find in a Payette or a big box store or something

SUNNY GAULT: So, I have to say I didn't do this with my twin girls but for my two single teens that are older they share a room and so they obviously have the same theme and stuff and we started when my first was born. We started with this kind of sporty kind of theme and I purchased a quilt more like a quilt for him, it wasn't handmade but it looked very quilt okay and it worked really well. It has basketballs and baseballs and stuff like that on it and then when my middle guy when he got old enough when he graduated from his crib and now they are in bunk beds I just ordered the exact same quilt and I have to say I love it, I don't know if it’s because they are boys and they are dirty but I know the quilts are fantastic. If you have any potty training issues it is so easy to throw those things and you know they are like twin size or whatever so you throw them in the washer and it’s really easy, they come out looking great. They were expensive to buy I have to admit but they have saved me so much heartache because the boys are so rough on it, anything in their room honestly but especially the bedding

RACHEL CRAWFORD: I feel like the quilts probably last a little bit longer than say a comforter and they have a lot of extra stitching

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: I have to say we've been spoilt, my mother in law is a quilter and so she has actually made at least three quilts for each of my girls and so they probably keep it on their beds and it was great that she asked me ahead of time like what colors do you want to incorporate in it, so it works with the general theme so it been nice, That's been sort of our acne color so the walls are fairly neutral but then we've got like a little strip along the side then the quilt pop with the colors. Quilts are an investment our were a gift but I know for handmade quilts it really is an investment so you probably do want to get something that you can live with for a long time because you can't really get them every year.
Thanks so much to Rachel and our parents for joining us today. Be sure to visit our episode page on our website for more information about decorating twin rooms, as well we have links to additional resources. This conversation continues for members of our twin talks club and after the show, we'll talk about when you should think about separating you boy girl twins may be. For more information about the twin talks club visit our website www.newmommymedia.com.

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SUNNY GAULT: All right, so we have a “Twin Oops” that I wanted to share with everyone. This is a segment where we encourage everyone that's listening to participate in our show so this is a segment you can get involved with. We all have those crazy things that happen while we are caring for our twins and this is involving caring for little bitsy twin’s right when they came home from the hospital. It comes from Bryanna and she posted this on the Multiples of America Facebook page when I posted something looking for twin oops stories. So here is what Bryanna says, this is nice and short, she says " I told my fiancé to get the other baby for a middle of the night feeding and he went to the closet, grabbed a flip flap and put it on the bed sleep deprivation at its finest", all twin moms know how it is. So, not quite the baby, not the right location, I’m picturing this and figuring in my head like oh my gosh. Crazy things we do

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Autopilot

SUNNY GAULT: But a flip-flop? Like not even like a pillow or something that is like the size of a baby

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Are you sure he wasn't sleepwalking?

SUNNY GAULT: She doesn’t say, I don't think he was. I just think he probably just forgot what she said.

BRANDY: Well kudos to the mom who knew the difference because she is sleep deprived too

SUNNY GAULT: At least she didn't take it and put it on to the breast. Oh my gosh, well Bryanna thanks so much for sending this in. If you are listening and you have a twin oops story we would love to hear it. You can go to our website at www.newmommymidia.com and click on the contact link and email it to us. Also through the website you can actually send it as a voice mail which is great because then you can share your own stories, so go to the website and then there is a little banner on the side of all the pages on our website it says send voice mail and you can send it that way.

CHRISTINE STEWART-FITZGERALD: Well that wraps up our show for today. We appreciate your listening to twin talks.
Don’t forget to check out our sister show:
• Preggie Pals for expecting parents
• The Boob Group for moms who give breast milk to their babies
• Parent Savers for moms and dads with toddlers, and
• Newbies for newly postpartum moms

This is twin talks, parenting times two.

[Disclaimer]

This has been a New Mommy Media production. The information and material contained in this episode are presented for educational purposes only. Statements and opinions expressed in this episode are not necessarily those of New Mommy Media and should not be considered facts. While such information and materials are believed to be accurate, it is not intended to replace or substitute for professional, medical advice or care and should not be used for diagnosing or treating health care problem or disease or prescribing any medications. If you have questions or concerns regarding your physical or mental health or the health of your baby, please seek assistance from a qualified health care provider.

SUNNY GAULT: How would you like to have your own show on the New Mommy Media Network? We are expanding our line-up and looking for great content. If you’re a business, or organization interested in learning more about our co-branded podcast, visit our website at www.NewMommyMedia.com.

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