To ask for your amazing box room solutions?

[Islands81]

Poor dd2 drew the short straw and has the tiniest box room in the world. We’ve been here 5 years and I’m currently in the process of binning/donating pretty much all the stuff she had that she never plays with (12 bin bags and counting!).

She refuses to sleep in her high up bed anymore because she once saw a spider (she’s being assessed for ASD and gets a bed in her bonnet about stuff) , so at her request I’ve now bought her a day bed, which has drawers and a pull out trundle underneath. So the big bed is going which is going to create a storage nightmare.

She still has a fuck ton of stuff she claims she can’t part with which is in my room at the moment. Toys, organised into big storage boxes, books, games, the biggest hamster cage in the world, sparkly bags and all that shit. Currently her clothes are not in her room and I can’t see that changing. Where the feck am I going to put all this stuff?

I’ve included a pic so you can see my problem. Please don’t judge the mess (it’s a work in progress!) or the hideous pink walls (she chose them a few years ago and they’re going).

Please share any box room storage miracles that you have!

I meant in the 26cm gap.

I bought the hemnes bed second hand, and I could only fit half of it in my car yesterday, and was going to pick up the rest of it later with my friend who has a van. There was another person who was desperate to buy it so I phoned the lady this morning and explained my conundrum, and said if she could pass my number on to the other person maybe we could drop it straight to them later if they still want it. She’s been lovely and said the easiest thing would be if I just bought the other bits back, and she’d deal with it, but she needs to speak to her dh and get back to me.

How kind of her. That should be sorted then and your chosen bed is a great price. Looks like you'd get decent storage under it too.

I like that metal IKEA one as it has a bit of a day bed look to it, which is what she originally wanted (I did actually buy a regular size day bed second hand which has been sat in my friend’s shed - I sold that one for what I paid for it yesterday). So this one will be third time lucky on the new bed front

I would get a shorty single bed, divan type so drawers under, I bet that would fit under the window, dd had one and I slept in it myself, I'm 5ft3 and my feet only just went over the end.

Haven't read every post on here. How about bunk beds, but put slats over the top bunk and use it as storage/play platform?

DD has the same kind of room and I've often considered this solution (she's ok for now though).

I've made a bed using a kallax as SymbollocksInteractionism, suggested upthread. It is good, but you don't get as much storage as you would with full depth drawers.

I've also used Ikea fold down tables as desks.

I do student rentals and have some similar sized rooms, spent ages on the design, but I think they came out pretty well and the students are happy.

Ikea also does cube like shelving called KALLAXShelving units which are great,sturdy and can be scattered big up around room

AlannaOfTrebond lovely room

DD has a 8 x 6 room.
We got fitted by www.spacemakerfurniture.co.uk/showrooms/spacemakers
it wasnt cheap but worth every penny

Her bed is along the 6ft wall, pefect fit. She has fitted cupboards above the bed
double door wardrobe with drawers and shelves etc
a desk with drawers
wide chest of drawers
book shelf over the drawers that goes to ceiling

it is the Portland range from Spacemakers

We had a space that was a couple of cm too short for a mattress (wanted to use it as a day bed). I bought the foam mattress from ikea and sliced a couple of cm off the end - it’s in a zip case so you can’t really tell

You could get a carpenter to make a shelf (sort of) for the bed to go under the window - could then make it a bit higher than a standard bed to fit storage boxes for all your DD toys

Websites like www.bedguru.co.uk supply shorter beds. The bed frames are 190cm long, the mattress 183cm long - they call them short singles.
www.bedguru.co.uk/studio-pine-bed-frame
www.bedguru.co.uk/shaker-low-foot-pine-bed-frame
www.bedguru.co.uk/sprung-plus-mattress

I had the box room growing up and also agree that having the bed across the room under the window made the room look bigger.

Also if you have a box over the stairs you might also find that you can cut most of the box out and build over it. My Dad built a wardrobe over the small floor slope after the box was removed.



What is the piece of furniture at the front right of the picture? Is it a desk?

Can the new bed get placed away from the window into that space where that piece of furniture is?

If so, you can create two tall units either side of the wardrobe and a low storage unit under the window.

The door wouldn't be able to close with the trundle out but that's ok.

But yes, if you can get a bed to run under the window that would be best.

Your best bet is probably a bog standard divan (with drawers) - found several which are 190cm long, which will be fine with a standard single mattress. Then get a wall mounted headboard if desired, which will basically use up the skirting board depth.

Love this thread!! We have a small box room too.. only 5ft 8 across so no chance of a single under our window. Saw a previous poster say theyd had a mattress made. Could you post a link to the company please

As the middle child, with two brothers, I had the box room. It was a proper box room, with the stairs beneath it, so there was a box about 3ft square behind the door. My dad was handy, so he extended the box to make a platform big enough to take a single mattress. Beneath the platform were huge deep drawers, they were very strong so I could pull them out to climb up. It was a massive amount of storage for clothes and toys!

At the end of the platform was a single wardrobe with sliding doors. On the opposite wall I had bookshelves, a dressing table and a small chest of drawers.

It worked well, it was my room until I left home aged 21!

Mobile shelving unit. Runners floor and ceiling, so you have three or four sets of shelves and you open the one you want to access then push back together when done.
Like old fashioned library shelving.

Re: cuddly toys - DS2 has about a million. They are in a beanbag, in his bed and some on the wall in an Ikea scarf hanger - one of those ones that is lots of interlocking circles. I shove their heads through the circle bit - it looks quite good.

Also used a lot of the Ikea spice rack shelves for v.small cuddles and for Pop Vinyl figures.

I see you've got your answer, but just in case, I also had the short straw for a small room and managed to get a small double in there when I lived with my parents.

Years ago my dad built a platform, it was literally 6ft 2 x 4ft and about 70cm high from the ground. I then bought a small double mattress which was just squeezable. Left me with enough space for the standard 1m x 0.5cm wardrobe in the room next to the bed. I had loads of storage space for boxes under the bed and shelves about the door where the picture rail was. Probably not explaining the best, but def a good idea when she's older and wants a bigger bed.

Apologies for the poor quality of the photo but I mentioned upthread the book storage my children have in their rooms. This is my dd’s room and it’s space directly behind the door that couldn’t be used for anything else, plus the room looks clean when the door is open and cosy with it shut.