Shared kids' room wallpaper: one wall for two ages

1. What a shared wall has to do.

When a baby moves in with an older sibling, or two children share a room, the wallpaper has to work for both of them at once, and for a few years after. That narrows the choice to designs that do three things.

• Stay calm for the younger child. A soft palette and an even repeat, so the room still works for naps.
• Give the older child something to look at. Animals, letters or planets they can find and name.
• Last. A design neither child will call babyish in three years, so you are not papering again when the baby becomes a toddler.

All of the designs below come from our kids’ collections, and none of them leans pink or blue, so they suit siblings of any age and gender.

2. Quiet repeats both can grow into.

The easiest shared wall is one that reads as texture: calm for a baby, and plain enough that the older child’s posters and art can sit around it.

• Stars: small gray stars scattered evenly across white. From across the room it reads as a light texture, and it sits in our big-kid collection, so it outlasts the nursery.
• Clouds: rounded white clouds on a soft gray ground. It appears in both our nursery and big-kid collections, which makes it a natural fit for two ages in one room.

3. Something to point at and name.

If the older child is a toddler, a wall with things to find gives them a part of the room that feels like theirs. These designs do that in soft colors that still suit a baby.

• Animal alphabet: a pastel animal alphabet with soft green accents. A toddler names the animals now and the letters later; the baby grows into it.
• Woodland nursery: woodland creatures gathered in leafy wreaths on a warm beige ground, a storybook wall for both children.
• Ocean life: watercolor fish and sea plants in easy blues and greens, for a room that wants a little more color.

4. A wall for a shared bedtime.

Two children in one room means one bedtime routine. A night-sky wall gives it a theme both can share.

• Moon and bunny nursery: rabbits resting on crescent moons with stars, in soft gray and white. It leans young, so it suits a baby and a toddler best.
• Watercolor solar system: smiling planets and stars in a loose watercolor solar system on warm gray. It suits a wider age gap, from a baby to a school-age sibling.

5. Which wall in a shared room.

A shared room fills up fast, so the wall you paper is usually decided by the furniture.

• The wall behind both beds. If the crib and the bed sit side by side, the wall behind them is the one both children see as theirs.
• The wall both beds face. If the beds sit on opposite walls, paper the one between them that each child sees from bed.
• Not the wall of storage. A wall mostly covered by a wardrobe or shelves hides the pattern; leave it plain.

Measure the wall before you move the furniture back. Our nursery accent wall guide covers full-height and lower-wall options, and the toddler room refresh and ideas by age guides help when the older child is moving out of the nursery stage.

6. Plan the wall.

Every kids’ design comes in 30-inch-wide panels in nine heights, priced $90 to $180 per panel. Divide the wall width by 30 and round up for the panel count. Add 4 inches to the wall height for trim and alignment, then choose the shortest panel height that covers it.

Prices are before tax, with free US shipping. A wall just over a multiple of 30 inches adds a whole panel, so measure carefully. The nursery wallpaper calculator does the same math for your own walls.

7. Start with a $15 sample.

In a shared room, two children get a say. Before you order panels, order a sample of each finalist from our samples page, or straight from a design: Stars sample, Clouds sample, Animal alphabet sample or Watercolor solar system sample. Each is $15 with free US shipping.

• Tape the samples on the wall you plan to paper, between where the two beds will go.
• Look at them in daylight and by the lamp you use for the bedtime story.
• Let the older child point to the one they like; it helps the room feel shared.

Ordering your wall after the sample? Use code SAMPLE15 for $15 off orders of $300 or more (one use per customer).

Questions

What wallpaper suits a baby and a toddler sharing a room?

A design calm enough for naps that still gives the older child something to look at. Stars and Clouds stay quiet for the baby and last into the big-kid years; Animal alphabet, Woodland nursery and Ocean life give a toddler animals and letters to point at in soft colors.

Should each child get their own wallpapered wall?

Usually one wall is enough. Two patterns in one room compete, and a shared room already holds two sets of furniture and toys. Paper the wall both beds face or sit against, and give each child their own corner with bedding, art and a shelf.

How many panels does a shared room accent wall take?

WallJoy panels are 30 inches wide, so divide the wall width in inches by 30 and round up. A 12-foot wall behind a crib and a toddler bed, on an 8-foot ceiling, takes five 108-inch panels at $120 each for our kids' designs, $600 before tax with free US shipping.