Updated November 9, 2026
A boy and girl shared room works when the room shares one theme and one calm palette, and each child gets one spot that's only theirs, usually the wall above their own bed.
Choose the art for both walls from the same set, or at least the same style, and the room reads as one family instead of two camps.
Paint is often where a shared-room argument starts, and I've settled that one in my post on boy and girl shared room colors. This post is about what goes on the walls once the paint is done.
Below are 10 ideas. Seven are themes both kids can share, each with prints that work on either side of the room. Three are layouts, for where the art goes depending on how the beds sit.
Jump to a section:
- How do you set up a shared room for a boy and a girl?
- Which themes work for a boy and a girl sharing a room?
- Where should the art go in a shared room?
- What about two brothers sharing a room?
- How high should art hang over two beds?
- Questions parents ask
How do you set up a shared room for a boy and a girl?
I use four steps, and the first one does most of the work.
- One theme for the whole room. Pick a subject both kids like, such as space, animals or the sea. Stitching his theme and her theme together rarely looks like a room; it looks like a border.
- One palette. Three colors, taken from the art. Keep the walls calm and let the prints carry the color.
- One wall each. The wall above each bed belongs to that child, and they choose the prints for it.
- One style across both walls. Matching frames, the same print size and art in the same look. That's what makes two different choices read as one room.
Our gallery sets do steps 3 and 4 in one go. Each set is a single look with several designs, and every print in it comes in the same size and finish.
Each child picks their own prints from the same set. Order one gallery for each bed, or a set of six and split it three and three. His wall and her wall end up different, and they still clearly belong together.
Which themes work for a boy and a girl sharing a room?
1. Space
Stars and planets don't belong to anyone in particular, which makes them easy to share.
One best seller shows two children sitting side by side in little wooden chairs on the moon, looking up at a glowing Earth. Another puts two little astronauts on a crescent moon in midnight blue and soft cream.
For each child's own wall, the Starry Cloak Polar Bears gallery has 6 designs of polar bears in jeweled starry cloaks on deep navy night skies, in navy, starlight gold and icy blue.
A mother bear and her cub walk through a starlit birch forest; another bear stands on a cloud with its cloak trailing across the stars. I'd hang the two-children print between the beds and let each kid pick three bears.
Colors: midnight blue, cream and rusty orange
Pairs well with: the sea (idea 4) and hot air balloons (idea 5).
There's more in our space wall art for kids' rooms.
2. Animal friends
Two koalas, two foxes, two bears: matching pairs are an easy way to put "you two" on the wall.
The Rosy Cheek Animal Pairs gallery is a best seller, and it's the set I'd reach for first in a shared room.
It has 30 designs of animal pairs dancing, hugging and high-fiving, koalas, foxes, bears, penguins, flamingos and llamas among them, in a soft watercolor and pencil style on clean white. With that many, each child can pick favorites without fighting over the same one.
Beside it: a girl and a boy kneeling in a golden meadow, stacking twigs while a raccoon watches. If one child loves horses, the Farm, Forest and Jungle Animals gallery has 29 gouache-style designs in cream, tan and chestnut, and seven are horses and ponies.
Colors: sage, blush and warm brown
Pairs well with: safari (idea 3) and hot air balloons (idea 5).
Browse our woodland wall art for kids' rooms.
3. Safari
Animals in hats and glasses give each child something to claim: "the giraffe is mine."
The Cream Dapper Safari Animals gallery has 19 designs. A giraffe wears round yellow glasses, a gorilla a grey flat cap, and the others have headphones, bow ties, bandanas or a daisy crown.
The bow tie and the daisy crown live in the same set, so nobody has to cross the room to find one they like. For a calmer room, the Pencil Sketch Animals gallery has 20 designs, 11 safari and 9 woodland, in warm grey-brown lines on parchment cream.
The Safari Road Trip gallery is the funny one, with 9 designs of animals in safari trucks. A sloth hugs a giraffe in the back of a pickup, and an elephant drives with a big smile.
Colors: cream, warm tan and honey
Pairs well with: animal friends (idea 2) and sports (idea 6).
More in our safari wall art for kids' rooms.
4. Under the sea
Whales, narwhals and dolphins suit any child who loves the water.
The Spotted Watercolor Animals gallery is the biggest set here, with 34 sea and land designs, from a teal narwhal and a pair of leaping dolphins to a koala on a branch and three kittens in a basket.
They share sage, teal, rust, mustard and grey-blue with black spots on cream.
Two best sellers bring the moonlight: a girl standing on a leaping whale, reaching for the stars beside a crescent moon, and a humpback whale family gliding past a full moon. Both are moonlit and blue, so they sit well together.
Colors: deep navy, teal and sand
Pairs well with: space (idea 1) and hot air balloons (idea 5).
See our ocean decor collection.
5. Hot air balloons
Floating over the clouds is a cheerful subject that doesn't lean toward either kid.
Two prints make a true pair here, one for each bed. In the first, a monkey and a giraffe ride in a stack of four balloons in sage and blush plaid, inside a border of tiny pink hearts.
In the second, a lion rides a sage and cream striped balloon over terracotta hills. Both have the same soft watercolor look on pale blue skies with clouds, and both come in the same sizes.
If one child wants more pink and the other more blue, here's the trick: the first leans blush, the second leans sky blue, and both share sage.
The two walls still talk to each other. Between the beds, a best seller ties them together: a crescent-moon balloon carrying a fawn, an owl and a squirrel, with terracotta and sage bunting.
Colors: sage, sky blue and blush
Pairs well with: space (idea 1) and animal friends (idea 2).
More in our hot air balloon collection.
6. Sports and play
Kids who throw a ball around together can share a wall about it.
One of my favorite prints for a shared room shows a girl in a yellow dress and a boy in a number 5 shirt playing catch in a sunny park, with a golden dog joining in. For each child's own wall, choose one of two galleries.
Beige Sports Day Animals has 15 designs, with a beaver rowing a wooden boat and a giraffe going up for a slam dunk.
Sporty Animal Athletes has 20 in a soft pencil-sketch look, including a fox drawing back a bow and a monkey dunking a basketball.
Colors: warm tan, grass green and red
Pairs well with: safari (idea 3) and dinosaurs (idea 7).
Browse our sports wall art collection.
7. Dinosaurs
Hugs are the theme here, and every kid gets one.
Two best sellers make a true pair. One shows a girl with a flower in her hair hugging a mint-green dinosaur among pastel flowers. The other shows a boy in a striped sweater hugging a big smiling dinosaur under little gold stars.
Same scene, same storybook look, and they come in the same sizes, so you can hang one over each bed. Between them, a third best seller: three dinosaurs looking up at a full moon and stars over misty hills.
Colors: sage green, warm tan and cream
Pairs well with: sports (idea 6) and space (idea 1).
More in our dinosaur wall art for kids' rooms.
Where should the art go in a shared room?
8. Twin beds side by side
Two beds with a nightstand between them is the classic setup, and the art should mirror it.
Hang each child's prints centered over their own bed, in the same size and frame, at the same height. A print they share, like one of the two-children scenes in ideas 1, 2 and 6, can go over the nightstand.
If both beds sit along one long wall, treat it as one gallery: three prints over each bed, every center on one line.
9. Beds on opposite walls
When the beds face each other, each child falls asleep looking at the other one's wall.
Use the same frames on both walls and pick both sets from one look, so neither wall looks like it belongs in another house.
10. Bunk beds
A bunk leaves no wall above the bed, so the art moves beside it.
Hang it on the side wall or on the wall across from the bunk, centered at about 48 inches, where both kids can see it. Keep frames clear of the ladder and out of reach of the top bunk, where a child sitting up could knock one.
What about two brothers sharing a room?
Two boys in one room need the same three things: one theme, a wall each and one style across both. The harder part is often the age gap.
An older brother may not want a baby's wall, so pick a theme he already likes and let the younger one grow into it.
Old planes and race cars work well for that. The Vintage Airfield Animals gallery has 12 painterly designs that put a wild animal beside an old plane, from a giraffe bending down to peek at a small plane to a panda reaching up to a big propeller.
The Retro Racing Cars gallery has 6 designs in a bold ink-line and watercolor-style look, among them a blue No. 20 car rounding a coastal curve and a green No. 18 car spraying water on a stormy track.
Between the beds, one print says the rest: two brothers, one big and one little, walking along the shore together in matching orange swim trunks. Two dragons flying side by side over sunny fields would do the same job.
For more ideas for his side, see my Boys' bedroom ideas. If two sisters are sharing instead, my Little girl's bedroom ideas has the looks I'd start from.
How high should art hang over two beds?
In a child's room, I center wall art about 48 inches from the floor, and it can stay there as they grow. The 57 inches you'll often read is meant for grown-up rooms, where people stand (Architectural Digest).
Leave 6 to 8 inches between the bottom of the frame and any furniture below it. Over a bed, measure that gap from the top of the headboard.
Over a bed, hang art securely with proper hardware, never tape or one small nail. I'd also choose kid-safe plexi over glass, since kids sit up, bounce and throw pillows.
If one of them is still in a crib, keep the crib empty except for a fitted sheet (NIH Safe to Sleep), and for art over the crib choose the framed version with kid-safe plexi, not glass. Anchor dressers and bookcases to the wall too (CPSC).
Our frames come in natural oak, walnut, white and black, with kid-safe plexi or real glass. In a shared room, one frame color for both walls is what makes it look planned.
Shared room questions parents ask
How do you divide a room for a boy and a girl?
Give each child the wall above their own bed, plus a shelf or a drawer that's theirs, and keep everything else shared. A split you can see on the wall is fairer than a line painted down the middle.
Can a boy and a girl with a big age gap share a room?
Yes. Pick the theme the older child likes and choose art with a real scene in it, not baby animals in bonnets. The younger one grows into it, and the older one doesn't feel the room went backwards.
Should the art on both sides match?
One family, yes. Identical, no. The same frames, the same size and the same style are enough. Inside that, let each child choose their own pictures.
What colors work for a boy and girl shared room?
Choose one calm paint they can both live with, then take three accents from the art. My boy and girl shared room colors post goes into the paint in detail.