An Expert Explains The Best Ways To Organize Your Small Bedroom
Your bedroom is the place you go after a long day to rest and recharge. Consequently, you never want it to feel cluttered and chaotic as this could impact your sleep, explains Parachute Home. Staring at an abundance of clutter while you're laying in bed has the biggest impact, but even spotting items like tech devices charging nearby or stacks of books and papers might affect your state of mind. This is why organizing your bedroom is crucial for making the space feel like a peaceful oasis.
If you're working with a relatively small space, that can be a big challenge. First of all, beds themselves take up quite a bit of room. Most people also want a few additional furniture pieces like nightstands and a dresser. When you don't have much additional square footage to work with, you might assume that having a perfectly organized bedroom just isn't in the cards with so many necessary pieces of furniture. However, all you really need to do is think outside the box.
In an exclusive interview with House Digest, Kirsten Fisher, certified professional organizer and founder of Imagine Home Organization, shares her expert tips for organizing even the most compact of bedrooms to make it feel like a sanctuary where you can begin and end every day. "When organizing a small bedroom it is important to be creative with your use of space," she notes.
Maximize your bed space
Whether you're working with a small double bed or a massive king-size bed, the bed is typically the largest piece of furniture in your bedroom. It's also the focal point, which is why so many opt to style their bed with carefully chosen linens, throw pillows, and more. However, don't overlook the bed as a place with plenty of sneaky storage.
"There are many ways to use under the bed storage," advises Fisher. "Bed frames can be purchased with built in drawers. You can purchase drawers to be placed under the bed. You can use specially designed under bed storage containers. These even have wheels and a top where half the lid opens at a time so you don't have to completely remove it to access your items."
It may be a bit of an investment to either purchase a new bed frame with built in storage or an assortment of under bed storage containers, but the amount of additional storage space it provides is invaluable. Better yet, since everything is tucked away underneath you, all those items aren't even visible while you're laying in bed. For those who are worried about under bed storage solutions that aren't aesthetically appealing, don't worry. "If you can see under your bed and you are hesitant to use plastic, you can purchase a decorative basket," Fisher recommends.
Utilize vertical space
Many people's first inclination when thinking of storage is to go horizontal. In your bedroom, you might eye the small amount of space atop your dresser and nightstands and conclude that there's not much you can fit. As Kirsten Fisher recommends, you want to consider another orientation as well. "Think about your vertical space. You can achieve this with a bookshelf or etagere, but you can also add shelving to your walls — above a dresser or in a place where you need the footprint on the floor but have space above." Per Fisher's expertise, wall-mounted storage solutions won't create as crowded an atmosphere in a small bedroom because they're not taking up any room on the floor. Instead, they're helping make smarter use of the empty wall space that you likely ignored when you thought of organizational solutions.
If you do decide to invest in a larger piece like a bookshelf for extra storage in a small bedroom, make sure you keep a few key things in mind. "When choosing a bookshelf, ensure you get one that has enough shelves and that's the right height between shelves for what you want to store," warns Fisher. "Often there is wasted space between shelves if there are only four shelves on your bookcase." Remember too that a bookshelf isn't just for storing books — with some well-chosen bins or baskets, you can neatly contain a ton of different items you may want to keep close at hand.
Get creative with furniture storage
Similar to Fisher's advice for incorporating extra storage under your bed, you also want to be thoughtful about all the other furniture pieces in a small bedroom. That's because when every square inch of floor space counts, each piece can make a big difference in terms of the total amount of storage you have to work with. "Ensure that all of your furniture has storage," Fisher suggests. "Even small bedside tables can have drawers or cabinets so you can store items at the bedside." Since most drawers or cabinets have front sections, the items stored within won't add visual clutter, as you'll be able to shut them away out of sight. Furniture with open shelving is another option, but may require a bit more organization since the contents are always visible.
Finally, while you may be hesitant to add any additional furniture for fear of the room feeling cramped, there are certain items that contain a serious amount of storage within a relatively compact piece of furniture. "Often there is space at the end of the bed and a storage bench can be used for linens, blankets, winter sweaters, or memorabilia," notes Fisher. This is another reason it's useful to evaluate what exactly you want to store in your bedroom before you start organizing. If you lack a linen closet and don't want to sacrifice space in your main bedroom closet, for example, a storage bench might prove to be a great option.
Be smart about layout
With bedrooms in particular, people often default to certain layouts, for example, a bed centered with the headboard in the middle of the main wall, flanked by nightstands. However, it's a mistake not to consider all the potential arrangement options before making a final decision. "In a small bedroom you want to give a lot of thought to the layout of the room. I recommend getting the smallest bed in which you feel comfortable sleeping rather than the largest that will fit in the room," says Fisher. "Depending on the number of people using the room, you may choose to put the bed along a wall and use only one bedside table."
Some furniture layouts that may not be the first to come to mind could actually end up yielding a bit of extra storage space, helping you organize the room. Though you may be hesitant to situate a bed along the wall as Fisher suggests, you may find it more valuable to have access to certain areas of the room than to both sides of the bed. "Generally you will want to arrange the furniture in such a way as to create the most space to move and walk within the room," says Fisher. "You don't want to place anything that will block a path or access to doors and closets," she adds. So a bed floating right in the middle is probably not the way to go.
Get the most out of your closet
Once you figure out how to optimize the space in your bedroom and set up an organizational system that works well, the closet is a natural next space to tackle. Your closet is one of the biggest organizational areas to tackle in any bedroom because of the sheer number of things you often want to fit into the small space. There's no advantage to having everything tucked away to the point that it takes 10 minutes to fish out a single sweater, so you'll need a system to make anything you want to wear on a regular basis relatively accessible.
If you're working with a very small bedroom with limited storage options in the room itself, getting the most out of your closet is even more important, as there may be certain items besides clothes that you wish to store within it. Luckily, Fisher has already given us an inside scoop on how to tackle this particularly important space within your bedroom. "Maximize your closet using our tips to maximize the closet!" she advises. You can read all about them here.