Teen boys in same room - divider ideas/ experience

[geroveryersen]

Am facing moving from the former family home into a 2 bed flat in a similar area (tied because of schools). DS are in year 7 and 8 and are going to be well peeved at potentially sharing again but the money just isn't there for a 3 bed place. Am looking at them sharing the bigger of what ever bedrooms we get so hoping it would be at least 12' x 10'.

Am looking on pintrest and there's some ideas but we'd need to fit in 2 beds (obviously!) and 2 desks minimum, plus some way of zoning the room and providing privacy and separate lighting - anyone any experience or pics they could share that have worked IRL please? Thank you!

We put a bunk bed in the middle of the room. Top bunk has one half, bottom bunk has the other. Neither child is allowed to get out of bed on the other child's half of the room.

Each child has a single hanging rail and set of drawers on their side of the room - we had no room for a desk but could swap out the drawers for desk. They only have to worry about tidying their half of the room.

It works pretty well. Boys are in years 6 and 8. The girls have the same set up and are in year 6 and 10.

To add, they don't have screening but bottom bunk sometimes ticks a blanket along bed for privacy from top bunk brother. They also both use a small usb lamp for low level lighting in the evenings after bedroom light goes out. It's sufficient to read or work by without disturbing the other - eldest dd often does homework or watches Netflix at night on her laptop without disturbing younger sister on top bunk.

No personal experience whatsoever but I always think these setups look quite good...

Sort your life out on Iplayer have done this is a couple of episodes.

One of my school friends shared a room which had been divided using wardrobes. They were placed next to each other down the centre of the room, but each one faced in the opposite direction. Beds were positioned against the back of the other wardrobe. It worked well as a divider as the height gave the impression of a proper wall and increased privacy.

We used Billy bookcases back to back to create a divider- it worked perfectly!

I've got 15 and 16yo DSs sharing. We swapped rooms last year to give them the bigger room, as they were still in bunk beds.
We've got a bed each side of the room and 2 large kallax down the middle which gives them enough privacy without losing space as the units are also their clothes storage. The room is quite big though. They're much happier with this set up I wish I'd done it years ago but DH was wedded to the idea that parents should have the biggest room! Which doesn't make sense, as they spend a lot more time in theirs.

Next door have done the same. Similar age DCs but also have an adult DC in their box room (returned home as can't afford rent here) and a DC in primary and they currently have a double bunk bed, with parents on the bottom and youngest child on top! I don't know how they cope.

We're moving hundreds of miles away next year so we can buy a 4 bedroom, as I don't want to be in that situation. We're also moving somewhere with cheaper rents so our DCs can actually leave home.

That's clever, I like that. Kallax don't quote have the height, though that also means they don't block the light.

I was going to suggest Kallax as a divider too.

You can also get a table that attaches so dependent on room size you can use those as desks.

www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/kallax-linnmon-desk-combination-white-white-stained-oak-effect-s89481699/#content

Kallax come in all sizes so you can pick what suits you and have a table each side.

B&Q do good dividers, or you could look at putting up a stud wall? We're going to divide the largest bedroom for our twins in the long run and turn it into two small rooms. The room we'll use has two windows so we can do that.The rooms will be small but they are boy/girl twins so not much choice!

www.diy.com/ranges/building-ranges/alara

Here are the range I mean

is it possible to use the living room as 3rd bedroom for yourself?

www.studybed.co.uk/about/george-clark-video/

Not cheap, but my two boys had these to give desk and bed in the same space

And they had ikea shelf unit as divider. Think it was the Kallax

I have seen block out blinds used once to divide a room. It blocked light not sound.
I have also seen cuboards as an ideal separation. One can put storage boxes on top to fully cut out light.
I think older kids grow out of liking bunk beds.

Shower usage will go up massively, probably cheaper to buy a mansion.😉

@yummyscummymummy01 oh I like that B&Q divider, thank you! Especially as it's a thin option, rather than the Kallax /other storages option and I don't know any potential room dimensions yet so this would work on a longer / thinner room. But Am not keen on them sharing bunks as it didn't work well when they were younger - ds2 is a VERY fidgety sleeper.

@Persipan that looks fab but no doubt £££ to get someone to do, although I do know a good carpenter come to think of it.

@greenacrylicpaint as this is a future move, and I don't know the property yet, this is something that I've not discounted but would definitely be a last option as I've identified in my potential budget (assuming 50/50 split of FMH) there are plenty of 2 double bedroom flat options around with quite an active market.

@Nolongera if them sharing a room results in more showering, I'll take that, for whatever reason 😆

That's what my friend's got

On the opposite wall to the chimney breast/chest of drawers/alcoves with the beds in, there's a fitted wardrobe with a desk built in to the middle that dd2 uses and a wardrobe either side that they use on the same side as their beds