The twins bedroom is one of the rooms in our home I’ve been most excited to share since we’ve started living more minimally. I think because people often ask me how we live minimally with kids. They don’t understand how we can have such a minimal toy/clothing collection for two active three-year-old boys. But I actually LOVE the challenge of keeping their wardrobe as small as possible. I mean, the seasons change constantly where we live and they grow out of the things we buy them before the next time that season rolls around again.  And while I understand that some items (t-shirts, jeans etc.,) can be worn for multiple seasons, living minimally I like them to have a small collection of basic and neutral items that can be worn multiple times/week and be mixed and matched well with each other instead of just having a massive amount of clothes. It does take some planning ahead and not just grabbing things of the sale rack because they’re on sale.  But for us, it really pays off and keeps their closet organized and to a minimum. I’ll explain more about what their wardrobe entails further down.

I blogged here about our playroom and how we keep the boys toy collection to a minimum. In that same post, I explained the benefits of this as well. It’s been a game changer in the way our kids play and interact with each other. The bins in their closet are the only toys we keep in their bedroom. Actually, they’re the only toys we keep on our main level. One is filled with lego, one with duplo, one with some other building toys and then they have a bin for little figurines they collect. My kids are SO into figurines (their collection involves some from disney, paw patrol, peppa pig etc., some from mcdonalds and some from the dollar store,)  but we have to keep this collection under control so I currently do a monthly purge for smaller toys they don’t care for or play with much anymore. The boys help me with this. As I mentioned in the playroom post, I love that from a young age they are learning not to be too attached to material things. They’re starting to tell me now that they think another child would play with this or use this item more than they do and we add it to the “to give away” pile for that month. I love this.

As you can see, the twins art station is right in their bedroom.  Since around the age of two, they have both been my little artists. They love coloring, painting, cutting and pasting. So this little station is a recent addition to their bedroom and they’re obsessed. We keep a pile of paper in one of the top green bins in their closet and at least twice a day, the house goes quiet for a good 20 minutes or so and you can find them in their room doing art together. I get that this may not be the best idea for every 3 year old out there but we’ve taught them to be responsible with their art supplies from the start and so far, we haven’t had any issues. (knock on wood!)

Now to chat more in detail about their clothing collection. What is hanging up in the closet and the two shelves of folded items is all they have for the spring/summer season. We don’t have another hidden dresser or anything like that. As I mentioned above, we keep everything pretty neutral. Below is what they each have:

• 3 pairs of shorts – 1 denim, 1 navy/grey, 1 faded striped
• 2 pairs of leggings – 1 grey, 1 navy and grey striped
• 1 pair of skinny jeans
• 5 t-shirts
• 2 tanks
• 3 dress shirts – 1 denim, 1 light wash, 1 striped
• 1 zip-up hoodie
• 1 sweater cardigan
• 3 pairs of p.j.s each
• 1 pair of running shoes
• 1 pair of rubber boots

Since this has become my master list for shopping and each new season I’ll look at what they’ve grown out of or what won’t work for the weather ahead and replace those things with some new/different items. For example, for the fall, we would replace the shorts with a few pairs of new pants, and the tanks with a few new long sleeves /sweaters/cardigans. Otherwise, everything else would remain much the same.  My favourite stores for different clothing items for boys are as follows:

• Jeans/pants/shorts – H&M (I love skinny pants on my boys and I find theirs are always the slimmest and best fit)
• T-shirts/tanks – Old Navy, Zara (affordable and
• Sweaters and cardigans – GAP, H&M (the GAP is obviously more $$ but the boys will get SO much use out of a neutral sweater or cardigan so I don’t mind)
• Jackets – Zara
• Leggings – Os and Oakes, Zara, Von-bon
• Shoes – Footlocker Kids (Cute kids shoes is one thing I’m a little obsessed with and again don’t mind splurging on a bit because they get such good use of them for an extended period of time. They each had a pair of Converse for a good year and a bit and we recently just got them both new Vans.)

The bunk beds are another fun new addition to their bedroom. It was time we moved them out of their cribs(turned toddler beds) and into something more long term. They LOVE the bunk beds but the funny part is that they have decided they want to take turns sleeping on the top bunk every other night so that’s a bit challenging to keep track of but that’s what we’re doing for now! The duvet covers are from an awesome company we recently came across called Ooh Noo. I wanted to find something neutral but fun and they love the robots on this design! Linking the rest of their room items below.

Bunk beds – Ikea/Light fixture – Ikea/ Duvet covers – Ooh Noo/ Discover pillow covers –Land of Nod/ Alphabet Print – This Modern Life/Art Table – Ikea/ Chairs – Hobby Lobby/ Wall organizer- Homesense/Closet shelf organizer – Ikea/ Never Stop Exploring Print- Kardz Couture / Monster stuffies – This Modern Life

 

 

Thanks so much for reading!