CityView Magazine

26 | October/November • 2009 Fine Living I f a man's home is his castle, a child's room is his sanctuary. So the Gates children – Carson, Tucker, Amelia and Alex – watched with trepidation as their parents carted out all of their worldly possessions in preparation for an "extreme" makeover of the bedrooms they shared. Shani and Keith Gates strictly enforced a no-peeking rule, even booting the kids outside to live in the family RV for an entire month. As insurance, they brought in grandparents for decorating reinforcement and pretended to slip in accessories they knew their kids would hate. Shani tackled the girls' room. Keith took on the boys. And on Christmas morning, they unveiled the results: two rooms that are the perfect fit for their four children's personalities. "Originally, it was a gift for them," Shani said. "But it was a gift for us as well." Sophisticated or sweet, bookish or all boy, these rooms have flair. Three families, seven children, five rooms. But perhaps none as dramatic as the makeover at the Gates home. For the month of December, Shani and Keith Gates did nothing but eat, sleep and remodel. They loved their lakeside home off Cliffdale Road, but their four children had long outgrown their old rooms. It was past time but the timing never seemed right, until now. Shani's concrete curbing business typically slows down in the winter. Keith MARVELOUS MAKEOVERS BY A L LISO N WIL LI A M S Above | Keith and Shani Gates staged a top-secret makeover of their children's rooms. They wanted to give each of their four kids a space to call their own. Right | Daughters Amelia, left, and Alex say they love the finished result: private bunks with places to work and play.

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