ideas to decorate shared boy and girl room please!

[eeky]

We have a very dilapidated house which we have been waiting to renovate for over 5 yrs, delayed due to an awful period of ill-health for dh and myself and unemployment. We were however lucky enough to have our fantastic dd (4.5y) and ds (2.5y) in that time. Dd is in a bedroom but it is not really "her own" - sadly never been able to afford to do the nursery decoration thing and it has a lot of our stuff stored in there. Ds is still in a cot in our dining room .

However, things are looking up! I have a new, permanent job which will give us stability and the money to renovate and extend over the next couple of years. In the meantime we are busy trying to convert dh and my bedroom for the dcs to move into in the next few weeks. We have layers and layers of old wallpaper and strange ?dampproof layer on the walls which dh has pretty much given up trying to strip. Can't afford to replaster but it's not awful. We are planning to clean and repaper the walls in something neutral such as cream or white, and new carpet likewise. Sanding and repainting the woodwork is a fairly straightforward job.
They have an extending bed each from Ikea to go in there (thanks eBay!).
After that - any ideas for decorating on a low-moderate budget? Children's wallpaper? Wall stickers? Good ideas for storage, possibly an ikea modular wardrobe with sliding doors in one of 2 large chimney alcoves?

Have you all just had a girl's or boy's duvet etc or tried to find something neutral, such as red gingham or green nature theme, farms etc? It's a huge room (currently has a super king size bed with plenty of space to spare) so I am thinking of a cosy corner with beanbags/cushions and books, maybe even a small tv if they persuade me... Some cheap fairy lights and drawer units for toys (Ikea Trofast, I think?)

Sorry, such a long post, but it's so nice to feel excited about starting to improve the house !

www.ikea.com/gb/en/catalog/categories/departments/childrens_ikea/tools/childrens_ikea_rooms_ideas/undefined/gather.html/visual/20121_chrs02a_01/

Something like this... Maybe use a neutral base colour but with a boy/girl motif?

Personally I'd go with white walls and get some Djeco wall stickers. The Knight and Princess ones look interchangeable.

Or Ikea do similar ones in Children's Ikea, can't find online but there are some here

Or these

Or these

My twins share a room. Most of it is neutral, old pine/ white furniture and then duvet covers specific to their interests (pink and dinosaurs). dd also has one of those princess curtain-y things that she was dying to have (she's 3). You could use pictures too.

60 minute makeover did something interesting once . Each child had an end of the room. The paint was neutral and they used stripey curtains, bedding etc. identical pattern but one end was blue green and one end was pink orange. Looked really good actually.

When it comes to decorating I go for neutral paint and add colour through furniture, soft furnishings, paintings etc.

Trofast etc. beanbags are a great idea.

Ds has a pale green room with a yellow or green duvet cover and seaside theme (not a childrens print, sort of New England) curtains.

Why do duvets and decoration need to be boy and girl specific ?

we did an under the sea theme for dd and ds. plain blue walls (not a boyish blue) and wall mural/paper off ebay. we then added lots of shells, sharks and mermaids. beach anf sea themef stuff are easy to find especially bathroom stuff.

Dd and Ds share a room. I LOVE their room! We kept it simple with off white walls, wooden floors and white shutters on their windows. They have matching white iron beds and a green duvet from Inea with dogs all over it. Then Dd has a pink and green quilt across and Ds has a blue and green quilt across (same design).

They have a big b&w photo above their beds of each of our dogs. And they have a bookcase each and toy storage at the end of their beds. Big green fluffy rug and different bedside tables and little reading chairs.

I steered clear of anything too gender specific and it really works.

Thanks all, lots of great ideas. CMOT, I don't think decorations have to be gender specific - that's why I was asking for unisex suggestions. Mind you, dd absolutely loves pink, purple and princesses, so she may request something along those lines nevertheless.

TheCat, your dc's room sounds particularly lovely - I will definitely be taking some inspiration from your description.

Thank you for advice and for not making me feel like an idiot! Dh and I are slowly getting our confidence back and looking forward to improving house for dc's first.