10 Ways To Make Your Small Bedroom Feel More Spacious

 

Jack and I love our 1940s, small home. We love how cute and cozy it is, and we feel very comfortable here. However, it took a while to organize and design the small rooms in a way that felt right. We are still playing around with what works; design takes time.

 It’s so easy to get carried away with furniture and random nick-nacks you think you need in a room and then all the sudden it feels cramped instead of cosy. Also, the cute pieces you carefully picked go unnoticed because there is too much to look at.

The space we are most happy with in our small home is our bedroom. We have a small bedroom, and I wanted to share the things we did that helped open up our space.

1)       Get rid of your dresser.

I own a lot of clothes, and even more clothes when we first moved it. Hence, I always thought I needed a dresser, I couldn’t possibly hang everything. Well, getting rid of our dresser totally transformed the space. I now hang all my clothing in the closet and have a small wicker tall boy that holds things like underwear, socks and pyjamas. (Need help organizing your closet? I have a post on that…)

2)      Get a bed with no headboard.

Headboards are often bulky, they take up more space than you might think, and any unnecessary items taking up space in your small bedroom are noticeable. Since getting our new bed, we have received so many compliments on our bedroom. The word spacious was even used!

3)      Get a bed that has storage underneath.

There are so many different options! You can have hidden storage or open shelves, either way, it allows for more items to be hidden away such as clothing or linens and extra blankets. I opted for open storage cubbies because we didn’t have a lot of space in our house for books and the books look really cute at the base of our bed on their shelf.

4)      Choose blinds instead of curtains for your windows.

Curtains offer more unnecessary bulk, whereas blinds are less noticeable and bring attention the shape of the windows themselves.

5)      Paint the walls a light colour.

Don’t get me wrong, a deeper richer wall colour can be cosy. But if airy and spacious is what you’re going for, the deep hues don’t offer that. Light or white walls uplift a room.

6)      Choose small side tables and don’t pack them with crap!

I used to pack my bedside table chalk-full of whatever books I was reading (I always have seven on the go), lip chap, body butter, water bottle and other random odds and ends that just ended up there. I strongly recommend against this. Find a new home for these bits; otherwise, the mess will way down your room. A smaller side table makes it harder to ignore the build-up of crap; or, at least, that’s been the case for me.

7)      Get sconces instead of tables lamps.

I actually haven’t done this yet. I haven’t found the right piece. Sidenote: It took me seven months to pick a new bed for our room, I’m sharing this because I don’t want you to rush to replace everything, take your time picking items you really love. Anyway, we got rid of my husband’s table lamp because he never used it. Mine currently takes up a lot of space on my tiny side table and I’m sure it will feel less cluttered to have something on the wall.

8)      Get rid of your closet door.

This suggestion is not for everyone however it worked really well in our space. The door to our closet was like the door to our bedroom and when it opened out, it meant a useful corner couldn’t be used. We removed the door and replaced it with a pretty curtain. Now, where the door used to open out, I’ve put a full-length mirror; a must for me, when I’m picking out my outfits.

9)      Don’t pack the walls full of art.

Choose 1 or 2 pieces you love. You don’t need to pack every empty spot; this will take away from the pieces you love.

10)   Be thoughtful with the placement of your bed.

We changed the position of our bed three times. The first two just didn’t feel right. Then my husband read up on feng shui and it helped us choose the position of our bed. I’m not an expert in this area but wanted to add it, to encourage you to play around with the placement of the bed. It a small bedroom, your bed should be the focal point.

I’ve included a photo of our bedroom. This is not a perfectly curated photo. Yes, I have gathered inspiration from amazing design photos on Pinterest etcetera, but I don’t think a lot of us have the drive to steam our bed linens. This is our bedroom on a normal day; there is a baby book and a book I’m reading on the ground beside our bed, because I like to read my son stories in here sometimes. There is an empty teacup on my side of the bed because I drink my tea and work on this blog in bed during my son’s naps mostly. I am not a pristinely tidy person, I often don’t clean up after myself, however I am trying to make the bed every day. I manage to do it about 75% of the time. It makes me feel like I’ve accomplished something even on the bleakest and most tiring days where I feel like all I’ve done is jiggle a baby and be a lump. I hope you’ve gathered some inspiration from this post.

 

Sending you all love,

Sarah