tiny teen bedroom - what needs to go in?

[09ohuh4]

Currently in the process of buying a house with a tiny box room that will be DS' as have two DDs who will have to share the big one. DS is still in primary school but thinking for the future - what did your DS absolutely had to have in their box room growing up?

A desk. We had one specially made in the corner to maximise the room.

My DD has a tiny room and has a great Ikea cabin bed with a little wardrobe and a desk underneath.

Do you have storage outside of the room for his clothes or will you need a wardrobe?

My teen boy has a bed and wardrobe and bookshelves. But we have room elsewhere in the house for him to study and game. The computer is in a communal space as is the television.

A desk.

Get a cabin bed with a desk underneath.

I've just made this for my daughter who has the box room - 2 kallax units and a piece of hardboard on top
It's quite high so she has a step. Tons of storage
You could make it lower by using the 1 x 4 size units

Cabin bed all the way. Can get a desk & drawers or kallax underneath. Shelves where he's sleeping for his clock, water etc https://amzn.eu/d/2TJ8Of7

These are great to get hanging space into small odd spaces https://amzn.eu/d/g9OxUjb

Something like this for storage and hanging bags etc. PE style bags hung up are great for lego etc.https://www.dunelm.com/product/kempton-wall-rack-1000097381?defaultSkuId=30358979&ds_c=Storage_Shelves+and+Hooks_%5BGOO-PLA-STORAGE-SHELVES%5D&gclid=CjwKCAjwqZSlBhBwEiwAfoZUIPj8rgnMtuZ042Egf21J_9HqYfKS1pKGzPiGKWrV17SbqkvKN2iL5xoCHlAQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Over the door storage https://amzn.eu/d/2aCVOUz

Stick with blinds rather than curtains and a book shelf above the window makes use of otherwise dead space.

@Sunskysea wow that looks great. Can I just ask how big the room is? DS' would be 195 x 256 so pretty damn small.

My dd is in the box room. She has a 4x2 kallax standing 2 across, 4 high which contains most of her clothes with space for books in the top 2 spaces and a lamp and fan on top. She has a small desk with her desktop and a projector so she can watch tv projected on the ceiling. We lined one wall with shelves for her knick knacks and the other bits are in the desk drawers. She has a hanging rail behind the door for some hanging clothes, the rest are in a wardrobe in my room.

Op The width of her room is 174cm which is about 5'9". A standard bed is 200 cm long so didn't fit
DD is 5'3" and very unlikely to get taller so she was happy to have a shorter bed to get best use of space. Luckily she had a foam mattress so I just cut a piece of
Units were second hand so the whole project was less than £30

I'm go against the grain WRT the cabin bed with desk under. In my view they are too cramped, especially so if you have a tall family. Cabin bed with storage under is an alternative where you could lose the wardrobe or drawers and have a desk instead.

We had a cabin bed for years but now have a bunk bed with drawers under and have boarded and carpeted the top bunk for a play space. We have a bookshelf with a drop down desk and changed the bedroom door to a sliding door so it doesn't impact on space.

Also not a fan of cabin beds in small rooms because they make everything seem smaller.

Here is the plan of DDs room which is not much bigger than yours. W= wardrobe and B = bookshelf which is also a dressing table.

IKEA slakt bed with drawers under is v good if there is no space for a cupboard.

@Lilofthevalley thank you thats really helpful. Would you be able to share how much you paid for a sliding door? We might need to do that.

In a small room, changing the door to a barn door or pocket door maybe useful?

Cabin bed is fine for small children because they are excited to sleep up high and can play underneath. We had one for DS and was fine up until around age 11. We wended up getting a built in bed with shelves over it and wardrobes built in too. So much more space now with room for a desk. If the stairs come up through the room then a built in bed works great.

I changed the door so it opened onto the hall, this created a bit more space.

It wasn’t cheap but I had Scallywag Kids furniture.

Something like this

My son has a normal single bed, with plastic underbed storage boxes from argos which fit masses in them.

A single wardrobe and a billy bookcase as they are very slim and narrow.

We found cabin beds made the space feel cramped and not suitable after about 11.

Our box room is 208x250ish. We've just cleared out the cabin bed for my teen as it was feeling cramped.

We have a bed across the width of the room, it just fits. Then a bookcase and a large chest of drawers along one side. We considered a desk but the bookcase would have to go and when there was a desk under the cabin bed it was just covered in junk and never used. If a desk becomes necessary at GCSE we will swap out. But I have a feeling she'll mostly study by lounging on the bed, and she has a desk a downstairs.

The room looks much bigger now there isn't a cabin bed. There's a lot more useable floor space all of a sudden. I think because the cabin bed had to go the length of the room to not block the window. Also because like this the bed itself is part of the useable area rather than having to climb up to it. I wish we'd done it this way from the start.

My teen son's box room is only a foot longer than his bed. He has a high rise bed with ladders at the end. Underneath we have a wall mounted TV unit that sits his TV on and computer/accessories inside. To the side of the ladder, we wall mounted some shelves to fit the gap. They have storage boxes of his things on. On the floor he has a gaming chair and gaming beanbag. Up in his 'bed space', we have a picture rail shelf for his books/phone/night light. There isn't space in there for his clothes but luckily there's space in the attic bedroom for him a chest of drawers. Although I have screwed two hooks into the wall to hang ironed school shirts on.
The high sleeper 'Solid Wood High Sleeper Loft Bed by Just Kids' and 'Ganzi TV Stand for TVs up to 65"' are similar to what we've used. I've tried to keep as much open floor space as I can and wall mounted whatever I can. This way we can have the double airbed up if his friends stay over too.

I had something like this as a teen (my dad is a carpenter and made it so not this one specifically, but along the same lines). From Googling cabin beds seem to tend to be quite low, with pull out desks? If you look up 'high sleeper with desk' there are loads of variations with shelves/seating/wardrobe/chest of drawers etc etc. Mine was high enough that I could stand under it (I'm a short arse tho!) so it didn't make the room feel cramped at all.

https://www.happybeds.co.uk/pegasus-white-and-grey-wooden-high-sleeper-frame-only-3ft-single

I'm not a fan of cabin beds either. I think the best is a normal wooden framed bed with really good solid wooden drawers, which stand on the floor on castors. Divan bed drawers often aren't made to hold much weight and cabin beds often only use the front half of the space.

It depends on the teen but mine could never keep a desk clear to work at so we got rid. She works on a lap tray thing on her bed. Wall mounted shelves are the one thing she wouldn't do without. Can't spare floor space for them but book storage is essential

I wouldn’t do cabin bed either as can feel cramped.

190cm bed across the shorter part of room, in front of window usually makes the most of the space. Ikea with drawers underneath might fit.

Chest of drawers for most clothes fine for boys. Hooks on wall or back of door for blazer/ school shirt if needed.

If you have lower bed and not cabin, look at ideas but many then can wall mount tv at the bottom of bed on wall when older or add shelves or other storage

Same size as DD's room. Day bed with shelves over and drawers under, desk with small bookcase next to it on opposite wall. She uses day bed as a sofa and puts laptop on desk to watch TV.