I’ve had my room set up like so for the past 6 years.
I hate it, I have absolutely no floor space – and it’s a big room (417x395cm)! Ultimately, I want to re-do the closet and create some built-in shelving, but for now this is what I have to work with. For the present I have a couple ideas, but nothing that I really like.
For now, I’d like to open up the space and possibly have a reading corner, with a chair and the two bookcases. Any thoughts on how to best set this up? I really am pants at thinking spatially.
I like idea 3 best, but would swap the vanity and bookcase next to the bed. That way you don’t have a tall bookcase blocking the bed. But I do like this version as it frees up the window, which makes a big impact in a room. And also because the bed is in a corner, which means it *doesn’t *make a big impact.
Have you thought of ditching the bookcases and going for hanging bookshelves instead? My old bedroom, which was about that size, had four strips of chest-to-ceiling bookselves. Right now my mother uses it as an office; she has the computer desk under one of the strips, with the lowest shelf removed to make room for the monitor. You can get as much book-space, while freeing the floor somewhat. I’m thinking of something similar to #3, with shelves above the bed instead of bookcases.
Definitely don’t angle any furniture; heck, you gain space just by pushing the vanity up to the wall from its current position.
I see two best choices. In the first, I’d modify #3 by pulling the bed up along that wall towards the door by about 2 feet, and moving the bookcases to that now-free wall so they sit alongside the vanity.
That accomplishes two things: it visually frees up some wall space and makes the entry area less cramped (no bookcase right there in your face), while partially hiding the bookcases behind your bed; and it relieves the congestion between your cedar chest and vanity (it looks like you might have difficulty with full or easy access to the chest, but move it over to the right by 2 feet, and that problem is solved).
Another way to go is this series of modifications of the status quo: pull the bed away from the window, putting it against the wall where the cedar chest is, and put the vanity at the foot (or head, if you reorient your bed) of the bed facing the closets. (If that’s a problem with respect to a chair paired with the vanity being too close to the closets, then swap the cedar chest with the vanity.) Then you can arrange the cedar chest (or vanity) and bookcases where you see fit (the cedar chest could fit in the corner where the bed is now, or be along a walls between the bed and the door), but you’d have options for that, since by pairing the vanity with the bed you’d be freeing up that much wall space. This would open the room up visually with respect to the [floor-to-ceiling or sliding-glass-door?] window by not blocking it as much. And with all the room to the left of the bed, the vanity would probably be the best choice there, along with one or both bookcases.
Is buying some new furniture an option? Ikea would have some options for under 1000 bucks that would allow you to do everything you want with your room and more. I’m thinking, for instance, of a loft bed like this, and like **Nava **said, a few hanging bookshelves for the books you want to read most often, and to put the rest in a box somewhere where they take up less space. Linky
If you found some Ikea furnuture you like, try finding your Malm or Iskebrot or whatever second hand on Craigslist to save money.
And what is in the chest? Couldn’t it be stored better in some bigger wall closet, like Pax?
Underbed storage boxes are worth peanuts at any large supermarkets. The ones I got for my teeeeny weeeny room in the university dorms are transparent, too, so I could tell which one had “the other weather’s clothing”, which one held shoes and which one other stuff before taking them out.
Just glanced at your layouts and I wanted to comment on the bed placement: We had both kids’ beds along a wall (the side of the bed, not the head) and I really, REALLY hated it. It freed up middle-of-the-room floorspace, but making the bed turns out to be a real bitch.
Is there a reason you want the bed against a wall like that? I have my bed with the back against the wall, and a nightstand on either side. To me, this opens up the space more. I would recommend moving the bed to where you have a bookcase on either side maybe, and then creating a reading corner on one side of the bed rather than shoving the bed into a corner.
I actually use the bookcase next to my bed as a night-table – both bookcases are fairly low, a little less then waist-height
The furniture I’ve got right now, I’m sorta stuck with – I love the furniture, it’s all antique and heavy and mahogany.
The cedar chest is storing blankets and off-season clothes. Yes, I could ditch it and put the stuff in under-bed storage, but (a) I would like to keep it, as it was a birthday present and (b) my under-bed storage is already maxed out with shoes, bags, and my old stuffed animals, all of which need to stay in my room (or else the smaller siblings will permanently borrow them).
I’m using something very similar to Icovia called Room Arranger, the thing’s a godsend.
Consensus so far seems to be for #3, or a modified version? Which is terribly convenient, as I like this one the best, too I liked the suggestion to pull the bed out of the corner and stick the bookcases along the back wall, but I’m concerned that it would…stifle the entry way? I mean, you walk in, and there’s boom! huge fourposter bed right there.
I might just have to build a scale model to actually get a good visualization…
If you’re worried about there being a huge bed right there… put the bed facing out, back to the wall opposite the door, put a bookcase on the right side, all the way against the wall, and then the bed directly next to that bookcase. That should give you room on the other side of the bed for the second bookcase and possibly a chair and small table for a reading corner. Then put the cedar chest at the foot of the bed, and leave the bureau where it’s at in drawing 3.
That’s what I’m visualizing in my head if that makes sense and sounds like it’d give you the space you’re wanting. I usually measure everything and draw out my rooms before I rearrange furniture, too…
