Shared Kids Room Ideas: How We Fit Six Kids in a Small House

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We have six kids in an older one-story house with one bathroom. On paper, there aren't enough bedrooms. So we made more.

Here's how we split our rooms, who shares with who, and how we keep toys and clothes from taking over when kids share a space.

We built a wall

The people who owned our house before us added a family room. My husband and I split it in half by building a wall down the middle, and now it's two bedrooms.

My 12-year-old and 10-year-old share one side. My 8-year-old has the other side to herself.

We split the big bedroom too

We did the same thing with the main bedroom. Now my 6-year-old and my 3-year-old sleep in one half of it.

My 14-year-old has her own room. As the oldest, a little privacy goes a long way.

Keep the furniture simple

Each room has the basics: twin beds, a toddler bed for the youngest, and dressers. When two kids share a small room, there isn't space for much more, and every extra piece of furniture is one more thing to keep clean.

If a room gets one thing beyond the beds and dressers, I want it to be storage.

Where the toys live

Toys live in bins and on shelves in each room, and a few favorite plushies live on the beds. Under the beds is some of the best storage in a small room. We use under-bed storage bags for things that don't need to be out every day.

When the bins start overflowing, we sort them with the kids. I explained exactly how in my post on how to declutter toys.

What makes sharing a room easier

Everyone gets one spot that's only theirs. A shelf, a drawer or a bin. Even in a shared room, kids need something nobody else touches.

Same bedtime, same routine. Kids who share a room do better when they go to bed around the same time.

A checklist on the wall. Each of my kids has a short paper checklist on their bedroom wall for school mornings. You can read how that works in my school morning routine.

If you're working with small rooms in general, I shared more ideas in my post on organizing small spaces.

A small house doesn't mean the kids can't each have a place. Sometimes it just takes a wall, a few bins and some creativity.