Furniture Choices for Small Bedrooms: Clever Ideas to Make the Most of Your Space
In our experience newer houses where developers are seeking to maximise expensive land prices that are a feature of modern day life, you will tend to find your home has smaller rooms than you would find in older ones. As times marches on, space is progressively becoming more at a premium in modern homes. However, if you have a small bedroom that doesn’t mean it has to feel cramped, cluttered or short on style.
The key to it is for you to be clever with it and make the right furniture choices, if you do then even the smallest bedroom can actually become a comfortable, practical and attractive space within your home.
The secret to making the most of your available space in any room is choosing furniture that makes the most of every bit of space you have available. You can do this by choosing items of bedroom furniture that give you clever storage solutions and help to create a sense of openness.
Regardless of whether you're furnishing a compact guest bedroom, a small double bedroom or a cosy master bedroom, you will find there are plenty of ways on offer here at Price Crash Furniture to help you maximise your space without having to compromise on style.
1. Choose an Ottoman Storage Bed
Although they are not cheap, when your space in the bedroom is limited, a bed with built-in storage has to be one of the smartest furniture investments you can make.
Ottoman beds are designed to lift and reveal generous hidden storage underneath. This additional storage space is ideal for keeping safe and out of sight any spare bedding, pillows, seasonal clothing and other belongings that you don’t need to access regularly but don’t want to have to get rid of.
They also help you to eliminate the need for additional storage furniture, keeping your bedroom looking tidy and organised.
A more budget friendly option is a wooden or metal bed frame with good clearance underneath it, this helps you to achieve a similar level of storage for any items you don’t regularly need to access, but doesn’t have the same premium look and feel as you would get with a lift up bed.
2. Make the Most of Sliding-Door or Open Wardrobes
Traditional free standing wardrobe doors need room to swing open, which you may find to be a challenge in a small bedroom.
However, sliding-door wardrobes are a good alternative for you to consider because they don't require the additional clearance, although the wardrobes are slightly deeper by around 5cm to start with to accommodate the tracks for the doors, this is more than offset with the reduced clearance needed for doors that open outwards.
If you are short of space, then our top design tip that draws on our years of experience is to consider going for mirrored wardrobe doors as they are particularly useful in smaller rooms as they reflect light and help you to create the illusion of a larger room.
Look for designs with integrated drawers, hanging rails and shelving to maximise storage.
3. Save Space with Floating Bedside Tables
Bedside cabinets whilst a key part of any bedroom do unfortunately take up valuable floor space.
Floating bedside tables, unlike traditional bedside cabinets you may be more familiar with are wall mounted and will provide you with a practical space saving alternative. They will still give you the space you need to keep your phone, book or bedside essentials close by, while also leaving the floor underneath clear. You can also achieve a similar effect as I have in the master bedroom at home by using an appropriately sized floating wall shelf for the same job
Opting for a floating bedside table will help you to create a clean, contemporary look that we believe works particularly well in modern bedrooms.
4. Consider a Wall-Mounted Dressing Table
If you find that you don't have enough room for a traditional vanity table in your bedroom, then one option you may wish to consider is to go for a wall-mounted or fold-down design.
These are clever pieces of furniture that will provide you with a useful space for getting ready without taking up too much floor space. Pair one with a small stool that can be tucked underneath when not in use.
5. Use Tall, Narrow Chests of Drawers
Whilst you may be limited on floor space, the chances are realistically you will have no issues with the height of furniture in our experience, This means that rather than choosing wide, bulky chest of drawers units or dressers, you should think vertically and maximise the height you use to preserve your limited floor space.
Tall, narrow chests of drawers, which are also known as tallboys will give you excellent use of unused wall space while providing plenty of room for clothing and accessories. Their additional height that often sees them up to 5 or 7 drawers high versus a typical chest of drawers that is normally 3 or 4 drawers high, means that you will gain additional space from their height that you would otherwise lose with them being narrower.
Our standard design advice would always be for you to choose a simple design in a light finish to keep the bedroom feeling bright and uncluttered.
6. Add a Storage Bench
An ottoman or a storage bench that you place at the foot of the bed can serve two purposes for you and provide extra seating as well as useful storage to help you maximise your available space.
Like a lift up bed that we have already mentioned they are ideal for keeping blankets, cushions, shoes and other bedroom essentials neatly tucked away.
For particularly small bedrooms, you should choose a compact bench that doesn't obstruct access around the bed. We always recommend leaving at least 60cm of free space to help give you ease of access at all times of the day without tripping over things or walking into them in the night.
7. Make Use of Wall-Mounted Shelving
As we have already discussed with our recommendations on your bedside cabinet options, when floor space is limited, walls offer valuable additional or ‘free’ storage opportunities for the room to help make it a practical and usable space.
You will find that floating shelves are ideal for this and can be used for books, photographs, decorative accessories and smaller everyday essentials.
Try and position them above a bedside table or in an otherwise unused corner. However, you should remember to avoid overcrowding them, as too many decorative items can make a small bedroom feel busy.
8. Invest in Multi-Functional Furniture
Our pro tip here would be that furniture that can serve the maximum number of purposes is particularly important in smaller homes.
Options for you to think about here would include going for wardrobes that have integrated drawers, beds with built-in storage, bedside tables with additional shelving and dressing tables that you also use as a compact desk.
If you choose wisely and go for furniture options that serve more than one purpose you will in turn reduce the number of individual items needed which will help you create a more spacious feeling environment.
Choosing the Right Colours and Finishes
Lastly, but still very important as part of all of this, your choice furniture colours and finishes can have a significant impact on how spacious a bedroom feels.
Our recommended choices for small bedrooms include:
- Light oak and white: This will help you to create a bright, fresh and also potentially timeless appearance for your room.
- Cream and beige: If you go for these colour options they will help you bring warmth and create a soft, relaxing atmosphere. As a colour choice cashmere is very much on trend at the moment and you can easily see why
- White and mirrored finishes: These finishes will naturally help you to reflect light and as such also help to make smaller rooms appear more spacious.
Overall our advice would be that lighter colours are particularly effective for you in compact bedrooms, although if you want to avoid a bland and potentially sterile feeling you can still easily introduce darker accents through accessories, soft furnishings and decorative details without compromising a feeling of light and space.
As you can see, furnishing a small bedroom is all about making sure that you go for thoughtful choices. If you invest in clever storage, space-saving furniture and versatile designs, you can easily go on to create a bedroom that feels organised, comfortable and stylish.
From ottoman beds and sliding-door wardrobes to floating bedside tables and multi-functional furniture, there are plenty of ways to make every inch count.
Remember, you don't need to fill every corner. Sometimes choosing fewer, carefully selected pieces is the best way to create a bedroom that feels bigger, brighter and more inviting.
The key is to make your furniture work for your space, rather than making your space work around your furniture.
