Styling a small bedroom can be hard. Many of us are used to certain layouts, which corresponds to certain comforts. When you’re working with a smaller bedroom, you often won’t have room to include everything you want, which can mean sacrificing some things that might seem essential. But a small bedroom layout doesn’t have to be the end of the world – while you might not be able to include a small couch for the bedroom, you can still include many of the things you want and need to make your bedroom a comfortable living space that you can do more than just sleep in. Here are some small bedroom ideas for making the most of your space.
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Pick the Right Bed
Designing a bedroom starts with the right bed. After all, it’s in the name. Your bed will often take up most of the space in your room, which makes it especially important that you minimize its impact if you want to enjoy a lot of space in your room. This starts with the size of your bed. Think about what the minimum size bed you’ll need to be happy is and consider whether you’re willing to sacrifice additional bed size to allow for other things to be placed in your room. By changing your bed’s size to a twin or full, you might have room for a small desk for your bedroom or an end table that’s more accessible.
If you’re not willing to go with a smaller bed, whether you sleep with another person, a pet or just prefer more room to roll around, there are still options for beds that help you manage your space. The right bedframe will go a long way – an elevated bedframe allows you to store items underneath your bed, and some bedframes even feature drawers that make things easier. The placement of your bed is also important. While it might be tempting to put your bed in the middle of your wall facing outwards, this can drastically minimize your bedroom’s space. Consider placing your bed in a corner and opting for minimal nightstand or bedside table space.
Go Up, Not Across
While floor space might be hard to come by in your bedroom, that doesn’t mean that vertical space is lacking as well. Many furniture options can save space by being taller, allowing for you to style upwards instead of across – saving you floor space in the long run. This is especially true for dressers, which can be an essential part of your room if you don’t have a large closet or drawers built into your bed. Many vertical dressers offer as much or even more space than larger bureaus, meaning that the right vertical dresser can make a world of difference.
You might also want to consider investing in a wardrobe or other cabinet that extends upwards instead of sideways. By condensing your clothing storage and item storage into one large wardrobe, you can save space elsewhere. As for decorating and styling your room, a bookshelf is a wonderful way to add decorations while still using your space effectively in a way that minimizes floor space – but be careful to not overstuff your room.
Wall Space is Your Friend
Similarly, taking advantage of your wall space is a great way to keep things off the floor. This doesn’t just mean investing in paintings and decorations that can be placed upon your wall or ceiling instead of your floor, but also affects other things that can be hung up, such as television sets, mirrors and shelving. A wall-mounted television keeps you from needing a separate television stand or table to place it on and keeps other surfaces free for decorating and storage. A wall-mounted mirror can be an attractive addition to a small room that uses space effectively. Wall-mounted shelving is perfect for decorations as well as storage and can often be placed above other furniture items to save space overall in your room.
Keep Things Minimal
While it might be tempting to add a lot of furniture items and decorations to your room wherever they fit, this can be detrimental when it comes to styling your room in a beautiful way. Too many furniture items and decorations can cause your small room to feel overstuffed and overwhelmed. Think about the things that you absolutely need in the small room, and the things you can do without. It’s worth considering whether items can be placed elsewhere in your house or apartment – this is important for furniture and decorations.
Keeping things minimal isn’t just about keeping your small room stylish, either. You’ll want floor space to be able to move around in, while you might be able to get by with a single avenue that you can walk through between your furniture items, it feels better in theory than in practice. Make sure that you have enough room to move around comfortably, get dressed and relax in.
Stick to a Limited Color Palette
Finally, one important aspect of styling a small room cohesively is to know how you’re going to do it. With less furniture items, you have less opportunities to explore unique decorating ideas and color palettes. As a result, it’s recommended to stick to a single-color palette that’s satisfying and well-executed. Save the extravagance for another room where you can place additional furniture and explore further options – in a small bedroom, just one or two colors will suffice.
With these tips, you can turn your small room into a comfortable, beautiful space to be in any time of day. Our bedrooms are important, they’re where we spend a third of our lives, but just because your room is small does not mean that you have to have a disappointing or unappealing space. Find beautiful furniture at Chairish and execute the decoration of your room the way you want it.
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Lead photo design by Denise McGaha Interiors / Photo by Stephen Karlisch