What to do, frustrating layout.

[Treesandsheepeverywhere]

This is our new bedroom, 3.84x 3.58m/12'7 x 11'9.

Please help with how you'd lay it out as we'd like to open up the fireplace but flummoxed on how to fit a king bed, small dressing table and chair plus have wardrobe space for two.

You walk in from the hallway.
Other side of the radiator wall is the smaller spare bedroom.

Currently, table and chair are by the window with the bed headboard where the boarded fireplace is.

Not sure 're wardrobe either as glass looks dated and inside too.

Thanks.

Sorry for AU, more for traffic as need to let builder know asap.

Built in wardrobes either side of the fireplace, creating space for the bed where the old ones are?

Yes this sounds like a good option. Also can the radiator be moved?

I would move the radiator to under the window and move the wardrobe to the radiator to the wall where the radiator was. The bed can go where the wardrobe is currently. This still should give you space for a dressing table to fit beside the fireplace.

If you've had a bedroom with an open fireplace in it before, then steam straight ahead with whatever suggestion you prefer. However, if you haven't had a bedroom with an open fireplace in it before, think very carefully about whether you want to keep it.

I don't have any central heating, only open fireplaces, so have had quite a bit of experience with them over the past 30 years. They produce huge amounts of dust - when in use. Doesn't matter what shape chimney you've got or what kind of cowl, on a stormy night the sound, including rain being driven down the stack by high winds, will wake you up. Have you checked what the 'draw' is like, i.e. is it happy to light or will you have to become an expert in the ancient art of getting things to burn that don't want to burn? Related to this, are you content with a house full of smoke, alarms going off and developing an almost religious zeal when it comes to checking your carbon monoxide monitors? There's also the tricky issue that you really should leave about 1 metre from a fire to any other furniture, essentially shrinking your bedroom to around 2.5 metres.

I bricked mine up (200 year old) and my super king headboard happily rests against it. As it goes, the stacks running up that side of my house mean that the lounge fire heats up the chimney breast anyway so it's always nice and cosy.

Do you have to have a dressing table and chair? Quite old-fashioned.

If the room isn't big enough, a shelf and mirror suffice.

Yes, unless OP or OH have a disability, not sure why this is needed. I have a pretty big bedroom with more than enough space for a dressing table and chair but made do with a large mirror only.

I actually got a valet stand with mirror from IKEA, with little trays to hold stuff like make up/hair brush eg. with rods on the back to hang your outfit for the next day or scarfs etc which I think will be even more helpful when I downsize!

I agree with others re moving the radiator and wardrobe and reconsidering the open fireplace and dressing table. If the door is hinged on the left hand side (as viewed from the hallway), I’d rehang it on the right side so it opens towards the wall opposite the window.

Thank you all.

We'd have a stove instead of an open fire @ThisKindAmberLemur .

I like the look of a dressing table, it reminds me of my mum but realise it may not be practical.

Good shout with the door as currently open onto the side of the built in wardrobe.

Doesn't help that the bedside tables are 60cm each.

Put a box or something of a similar size where the stove will go, then measure 1 metre from all around it, that's how much space you'll lose. As burners / stoves stand proud from the chimney breast, there's a good chance you'll be losing 1.5 metres from the overall length of the room and some from the width.

I really would consider using boxes to plan out your room in real space. I ended up taking out a wall to have one of my fires (which has also been a burner at one point, but then we reverted back) as I found I needed 17ft in my lounge to have a big sofa.

I personally wouldn’t bother with installing a functional fire place or a stove even as will it be used functionally and it takes a lot of space. If you really like the aesthetic then consider a decorative mantel only?

i wondered if you use the spare room as your main dressing room, in which case your bedroom can be more streamlined.

instead of side tables (unless you already have them, consider a headboard with storage and side shelves?

it might be worth moving the radiator? Or having a tall slim fit one instead?

A wood burning / multifuel stove? It'll be fucking roasting in there, even with a tiny one. Or do you mean one of those electric ones with a 'flame' effect?

Thanks again @ThisKindAmberLemur Seems might have to abondon the stove if 1 metre needed around it, had no idea and wouldn't have the space.
Guess they'd have had just tje bed and a wardrobe when they were first put in.
We have a stove instead the living room which is flush with the wall, hoped this would be the same, but no way of knowing until knocked through.

@AbzMoz , thanks. The spare room is 3.48 x 3.19m/ 11'5" x 10'6, and although no regular guests, would be tight if anyone staying over.
Currently have the spare room with a bed, bedside tables and a wardrobe which is part storage and rest empty for visitors.

Thanks @PeapodMcgee , a real one but was thinking we wouldn't have the heating on and just use the stove.

Your basic room layout is almost identical to ours in terms of door, window etc. We have fitted wardrobes either side of the chimney breast and shelves in the middle (all behind doors) on your outside wall as the fireplace was removed long ago. I was hoping to find it hidden behind the 70s wardrobes we pulled out but it had clearly long gone. Our bedhead is on the wall with the door, with a bedside table either side. Chest of drawers on the wall opposite the window. Radiator is under the window.

I think this is why a lot of radiators are under windows. It keeps the other walls free for furniture.

I think to get the most "stuff" in you could build in a dressing table into the left hand alcove and run wardrobes alone the radiator wall, having moved the rad.

Change the bedside tables to fit the room, not the other way round. If you need big bedsides for the storage then you could swap for smaller ones and more/better wardrobe storage.

Thanks @Maray1967, unfortunately the built-in wardrobe space is 254 cm so bed 160cm plus bedside tables 60cm x2 won't fit.

Hopefully can move radiator to under the window.

Edit: That's also a worry, finding the fireplace destroyed.

Apologies - yes, not possible unless you can remove that wardrobe and build on the opposite wall? We did that in the back room as what was there was blocking any sensible layout.

Thanks@Garbera It's such a bad plan for sure not having free walls, especially in a small room.

We already had the bedside tables.
Guess we could sell them but would be at a loss.

I would move the radiator further along the wall into the corner, maybe even put it on the exterior wall, to free up the wallspace where the current radiator sits. That would then be where I'd site the bed. The dressing table I'd put by the window so that sitting there you'd get daylight on your face to do your makeup.

There are a lot of nice vertical radiators these days!

Sorry, that's where I meant bed & sides wouldn't fit as door would be in the way so to speak.

It's a good size room but annoyingly has something on all 4 walls. Who makes such a design!

That’s a nuisance. Ours is big enough - just. Yes, when we moved in most of ours has something on every wall. We’ve moved every single radiator. Whoever fitted ours decided to instal the longest radiators possible, which we never ran on more than half power as we would have passed out if they’d run on full.

Thanks @WhereYouLeftIt , not a fan of radiators so a tall on would feel imposing.
Good point about moving it to the corner.

Goodness, you wonder what the thought process was, but probably didn't think at all. Good to hear you've managed to sort them but what a faff.

Maybe I should forget the fireplace was ever there 🙃 .

Just feels like a lot of compromises in every single room.

Didn't see all that when we viewd of course, or thought we'd sort it.

How much money do you have?

Move radiator under window, alcove wardrobes either side of fireplace, get rid of built in wardrobes.

P.S You don't need 1m around a stove. You need 30-60cm depending on the model.

Thanks, can move radiator as getting a new system anyway.

Good to know 're fireplace but seems a squeeze anyway. Just sat in the room trying to get a light bulb moment.