Being the youngest member of the family, it’s no surprise that Jasper bagged himself the smallest bedroom in our house. Its not quite as compact as a typical UK box room, but it’s not far off.
Even though his bedroom is small (roughly 2m x 2.5m), it still needed to accommodate all the bedroom essentials, including a single bed, clothes storage and a desk for his PC.
In order to fit all these items into a rather snug footprint. I had to rustle up a sleek design that didn’t overpower the room or leave it feeling cramped, dark or unwelcoming. Because let’s be honest, nobody wants to use those 3 words when describing their bedroom do they?
Armed with a pretty vague design brief from my soon-to-be 9 year old of a ‘green, blue and orange gamer bedroom’, I had plenty of scope to let my creativity flow with this fun bedroom makeover.
But before we got to the exciting decorating part and began the colourful transformation. I created 3 different designs using SketchUp, to see which would give us the best use of floor and wall space.
Let’s take a look at the designs I created, and I’ll explain why we chose the one we did. Along with some design tips on how to make a box room or tiny bedroom look as big as possible.
In this article...
Deciding on the best small room layout
Due to the door placement, a single bed only fit’s in this bedroom in two places; along the back wall or under the window. We opted for the latter as it had the best flow, whilst the others felt more disjointed. Apologies if that’s terrible Feng shui, we don’t have many options in here!
A popular recommendation for getting the most use of space (and I completely understand why) was to use a cabin bed. But I personally feel they are so solid and heavy looking that they can be overpowering in a small box room. Sometimes even making pokey rooms feel increasingly tight and enclosed.
Plus, in either placement a cabin bed would have partially covered the window which never looks great and can emphasise that the room is small and cramped.
Which means I had to come up with a better plan, and ultimately ask James if he could build me something bespoke for this little room…
First layout: Bed along the back wall
Here is the first design I created on SketchUp. This one shows the bed along the back wall of the room, which I really liked. However, having the bed this way meant we needed to have the desk tucked in behind the door and a chest of drawers to the right as you entered the room. It also created a gap at the end of the bed which was too dinky to be of any use.
We felt this layout was very bitty in a such a small room, plus the door always felt like it was right in the way when opened. There’s also a small radiator under the window which caused a few additional issues; like not being able to open a chest of drawers if we put one behind the door.
Just to double check this was actually the case. I removed his large chest of drawers from his box room, and dragged his bed into this position to see how it worked. After looking at it in real life, we both agreed that it made his room feel smaller. Especially as it was now just his bed in the room and no other furniture.
Layout two: Maximum Storage
For this design the bed was moved back under the window. Then I worked on a layout that would fit a slim wardrobe to provide the maximum amount of wall storage
The wardrobe had to go in the back corner as it would have covered over the light switch at the other end of the room. We also felt having such a huge item of furniture right at the entrance would have been overpowering in a small space.
But by placing the wardrobe in the far corner, that meant the desk had to move towards the front of the room. This layout would have resulted in the desk chair (when in use) being right in the way of the door opening. Again, not ideal and I think it would have made the room feel super cramped.
This basically ruled out the possibility of squeezing a wardrobe into his little bedroom.
Third layout: Desk and chest of drawers
For this design the bed stays under the window, but the desk moves to a better position over in the far corner away from the door. To keep a nice flow in the room, I then designed the desk to run straight into the chest of drawers so there are no gaps or height differences between the two surfaces. This continuous stretch helped lengthen the room, creating the illusion that it’s longer than it actually is.
Although you don’t get quite as much storage as the wardrobe option. The chest of drawers was going to have a total of 8 drawers which is plenty for what Jasper needed. We also planned to add some sort of narrow book shelf above it. Where he could display some photos along with his favourite Lego creations and knick-knacks.
This was our favourite design and the one we went with.
Best furniture to use in a small box bedroom
Now that we had settled on the best layout, we needed to do everything we could to keep the room feeling as light and spacious as possible. For this, the main thing to consider is how ‘heavy’ certain types of furniture can look, especially when they are placed inside a small bedroom.
One trick you can use to keep the room feeling bigger, is to maximise the appearance of floor space. To be honest, it’s a bit of an optical illusion. But ultimately; the more floor space you can see, the bigger a room will appear!
You can achieve this by using as much floating furniture as possible. Their weightless appearance keeps them looking light, and maximises how much floor space you can see running beneath them.
For example, a deep divan bed with drawers may be great for additional storage, and wins top marks for practicality. But because the bed frame goes all the way to the floor, it cuts the flow of the room. Not only does it make that piece of furniture appear bigger, but it looks like it takes up more space in a room. Whereas a more delicate looking bed frame on slender legs, lets you see beneath the bed and keeps it looking spacious.
You’ll want to try and incorporate as many airy pieces of furniture as possible. Think floating bedside tables and furniture on legs. It all helps maximise how much floor you can see, which in turn keeps the room looking airier.
Accessories & fabrics that help a small space appear bigger
Mirrors, mirrors, mirrors. It’s a well know design tip, but they have an ability to help bounce light around a room as-well as adding depth. This creates the feeling of a bigger space, so if you can hang a large mirror on one of the walls then go for it!
Another thing to consider is clutter. Clutter just makes a room feel busy and overwhelming, so try and keep the box room mess free and only display things that you really need.
As for fabrics, instead of hanging thick heavy curtains. You may find using a light flowy curtain will make the room feel larger. Or you could try removing curtains and switching them for any type of blind to help free up the wall space.
We ended up using wooden slatted binds from Swift Direct Blinds in every room of our house! 2.5 years in and they are still looking fantastic.
Room makeover
If you’ve been pulling your hair out, trying to find a design that works in a tricky box bedroom, then I hope these layouts have helped you! I’m not a designer, but I do love interior design and transforming the rooms in our home.
His bedroom makeover is now complete and i’m so happy with how it all turned out. If you’re interested to see how these plans came to life, then take a look at his gamer bedroom makeover!
If you’re interested in some other home DIY’s we’ve done, why not take a read of:
- How to build alcove cupboard and shelves
- How to build a floating dressing table
- How to build a false chimney breast
- How to build a chevron sliding barn door
- How we grew our own lawn and saved £700!
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