The room above the stairs with the ‘box’

[Pogmella]

Do you know what I mean? Like a big shelf built in to allow head room on the stairs.

Considering remodelling our house and was hoping for super innovative solutions to maximise this space. Will be a nursery/toddler’s room of that helps.

We found a small wardrobe that fitted perfectly on top of the box! So measure the box up and see if you can find something like that.

Ooh I’m wondering whether to rip it out and see if it needs to be hip height now- if it were lower we’d have more options...

In ours the top of the box has been partially boxed in to make a shelf, with a small wardrobe and cupboard above. Fine for baby/toddler clothes or shirts. Then there's a built in bed with drawers below, cupboards above and then tall skinny bookshelves at the window end. It was done by the previous owners so we kept it.
Only downside is we had to get bespoke mattress and sheets, and you have to have a blind rather than curtains and I don't really like blinds. Not sure what we'll do when youngest gets too big for it though!

Mines opposite my bed and has my tv on it - not very exciting

We've built my DS a bed deck across this area - ie dead space as you go up the stairs, if that's what you mean. Carpenter did all the woodwork, got the bed off the floor which made way for a desk. Much better use of the space. I can post pictures.

The one in our house was made into a really deep cupboard / wardrobe by a previous owner. It's very handy.

At the moment, mine is a changing table with shelves above. When we're past that stage i'll be building a cabin bed type thing over it like the pic upthread

@bananacakerox i'd be interested to see your pics! That sounds ideal!

We couldn't build a bed across ours as it directly faced both the window and radiator. We've ended up buying a Ikea bookcase-with-doors (don't know how else to describe it! slim like a bookcase, doors like a sideboard) and fixing that on top of the bulkhead as clothes storage. The bed then goes along the long wall, and random toys are thrown into the corner created by the bulkhead.

Ours is in the bathroom and the end of the bath that slopes fits over it. I know this is no use to you but thought I'd post in case it's useful to anyone else. In my family home my brothers bed was built over it like the pictures above.

@Pogmella I could try to attach a picture of mine. So you can see whats under before you take it apart (we did that in December and it is still waiting action ie a wardrope to box it in 😂)

Ours was just the box when we moved in. DP used the space to make a wardrobe and a step DD could reach her clothes. Please excuse her mess, she isn't the tidiest of 12 year olds

Ours is quite high unfortunately, whether it makes sense to put a bed on top depends on where the window is and if you need a wardrobe in there.

Eg, if putting the bed over the box will mean the only place left to put a wardrobe is in front of the window.

Definitely have as low a bed as possible, makes a huge difference to how big the room looks.

We turned ours into a changing station. It was at the right height and I had nappies, wipes, cream, spare vests, baby grows all stacked and placed on the shelving above the mat. It was amazing, was bloody godsend with two babies. Really missed it when we moved.

We have one of these and I'm loving the idea of making it into a bed! Is it doable myself?

@bananacakerox I'd love to see pics of what you've done please!

I've never seen one of these boxes. What kind/era of house are they in?

Our was quite a simple frame @bobstersmum, think a basic wooden bed frame but the legs at one end were further down (about 3cm from the end of the boxed-in part). Ours pulled out so we could hoover underneath, we stored baskets of toys underneath.

@W0rriedMum it's not so much the age of the house, but the size. Smaller houses tend to have them. My PIL have a 60s council house. My Dsis has a 15YO house and we're just about to move into a brand spanking new build house. All of them have 'the box'.

@W0rriedMum, the “boxes” we’re talking about is the bulkhead above the stairs. Yiu usually get them unless you've got really high ceilings.

Ours is just the right size to fit a load of Ikea kallax units on top of filled with toys, books and storage baskets

We had a built in style wardrobe fitted (a cupboard style with bifold doors and shelves and hanging rails)

Thanks for educating me @BikeRunSki and @Fatted!

It's not like I've only been hanging out in country houses but thinking back, all my homes have had high ceilings even when pretty small. Total bugger to heat of course - I'd rather the box!

We use it as storage space so the only thing taking up actual floor space is the bed as it’s a very small room

Ours was hidden inside some fitted wardrobes. Made good use of the space as it wasn't long enough to fit a full-sized bed over.