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Ugh. Box room ideas?

21 replies

TrafficJunkie · 25/01/2016 14:00

My second son has the box room. It doesnt help matters that he is the untidy, trail leaving type of kid... But besides that, his room is quite cramped.
He has a mid sleeper bed but the frame is quite chunky and takes up lots of space. Underneath there is room for storage but not play. He has some toy drawers under there, plus a chest for further storage. A shelf for his console and tv, and another shelf for knick knacks and a bedside light (it is just above his bed) squeezed in alongside the end of his bed are coat hooks for his coat, hoodies, and bag but he does struggle to access them. On the back of his door are a couple of cup hooks which he uses for his school shirts. The rest of his clothes storage is on the stairs landing outside his bedroom.

I'm wondering if there is a genius solution I've not thought of!?

His room measures 245cm/8ft across from door to wall when the door is closed. Otherwise he loses 80cm/2ft when its opened.
The width from window to wall is 241cm/7ft 10"
The ceiling height is 243cm/7ft11"

Ideally he needs a bit more space to play as his bed takes up the entire length of wall from the window side, and just over half the width of the room.
He can't really fit comfortably underneath the bed to play.
Also I would love if his clothes were stored in his room as well.

I'm worried a loft bed will be awful for him when he is a teen, and I'm not prepared to buy a flimsy looking cheapish one.... Ive seen the ones that look as though they are on stilts!! I like the look of the kind of all in one bed/storage solutions but cannot picture if it would just take up far too much room.

Anyone give me their ideas or what you already do?

OP posts:
Lucsy · 25/01/2016 14:08

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ThePrinceofParties · 25/01/2016 14:23

dd1 is nearly 9, and is about to move into the box room, which was previously occupied by dd2 in a toddler bed. ours is 9' by about 6'1 - just too short for a full sized single under the window Sad

we've looked at lots of different beds, and have rejected mid/high sleepers as they're not very grown-up looking. we're opting for a regular single bed with wide and deep drawers underneath, in lieu of a chest of drawers. we're going to ask our (excellent, cheap) joiner to knock up some wall shelves that run along the same wall that the bed's against, which should work quite well as we have high ceilings. and we're getting a vintage clothes rail to go at the foot of the bed

the rest we'll work on once the bed and shelves are in, so we can get a better idea of what space is left. dd1 knows she won't be able to have lots of toy storage AND have room to play, but we can store stuff elsewhere in the house. it won't be perfect, but we've agreed to make it really pretty with lots of fairy lights and throws, and she's quite excited by the idea of choosing all that herself.

Twinklefuck · 26/01/2016 09:25

Have a look at Pinterest, I have a dc in an 'L' shaped box room, you have to be pretty creative!

As you walk in on the right is the bed along the wall, the 'L' extra bit at the end of her room to the left we've put a shelf, under that they have clothes rail and ikea hanging shoe rack with boxes to house underwear/more clothes, there's a voile curtain draped across which serves as a den underneath the clothes rail with pillows and on the inside wall ikea spice racks to serve as book shelves. We have a tall expedit (2x4) opposite to house toys at the end of the bed. There's some space to play with the way we've jiggled the furniture. Hope that's clearer than it sounds to me! We also have more ikea spice racks painted and on the walls for teddies and fairy lights. I've come to the conclusion it's impossible for a box room not to look a little full but it works well. Have a look at ikea hacks on Pinterest, that gave me a lot of inspiration.

Quodlibet · 26/01/2016 09:31

Is there room to build a bed above the door? Or storage shelves/cupboards?

Quodlibet · 26/01/2016 09:31

Can you replace the door with a sliding door?

TrafficJunkie · 26/01/2016 10:32

A sliding door sounds terrific. I'll look into that!

And maybe i can get a quote from a joiner about shelving.

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Quodlibet · 26/01/2016 11:34

I built these in my dd's room. It didn't take that long. Useful for getting toys out of the way, we rotate books and toys so they stay fresh

Ugh. Box room ideas?
TrafficJunkie · 26/01/2016 12:29

Thats a great idea.
Slidong door seems expensive and complicated

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Rupster · 26/01/2016 12:59

Our daughter has a box room which only has room for a single bed and a wardrobe and nothing else, so I feel your pain!

We decided to put a desk in her room instead of a wardrobe. We went for a white Malibu desk from Argos (see picture) which has three drawers which she stores her underwear in. She can store books on the bookshelves under the desk.

Her tops and trousers are stored underneath her bed which is an Ikea white Brimnes day bed (see picture) which is a narrow single bed and two large storage drawers underneath. The narrow bed gives her more space in the room. She says the bed is fine and doesn't feel narrow at all. The bed is positioned under the window.

Any clothes she needs to hang up (hardly any) are in our wardrobe in our room.

We also have shelves on the wall for her to store all her other things.

It's still a very small room, but it just about works.

Ugh. Box room ideas?
Ugh. Box room ideas?
ThePrinceofParties · 26/01/2016 16:54

rupster, how much growing room do you think that brimnes bed has? I like it a lot, but want to get something that will last until teen years.

FinestGrundyTurkey · 26/01/2016 17:31

How about a bi-fold door?

FinestGrundyTurkey · 26/01/2016 17:32

www.internaldoors.co.uk/internal-bifold-doors/

TrafficJunkie · 26/01/2016 19:11

Thats more budget friendly :) thanks turkey

They look easy to install as well.

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lionsleepstonight · 26/01/2016 21:50

We had a similar problem, so swapped the way the door opened, so rather than open into the room, it now opens out to the hallway. This frees up all the floor space, so makes it feel 'bigger'. (And cheap as chips to too)

That and a trip to ideas for some low level storage made a huge difference.

lionsleepstonight · 26/01/2016 21:51

Grrrrr

Ideas=Ikea

TrafficJunkie · 27/01/2016 08:06

Maybe i could swap the way the door hangs. I'll have to see :)

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Rupster · 27/01/2016 10:54

ThePrinceOfParties, my daughter is now 14, 5'2" and slender build. She has no issues with the narrowness of the bed. I've slept in there once (I'm 5'9" and slender build) and although it did feel a little narrower, I slept OK. My brother-in-law (who's 5'11" and medium build) slept in it once but he found it too narrow.

Hope this helps.

namechangedtoday15 · 28/01/2016 10:29

My DS (10) has a high sleeper. His room is about 8ft 10 x 8ft 10. We bought a good quality high sleeper (seem to recall it was Stompa) second hand off Ebay and my H who is quite DIY savvy customised it – the steps are built into the narrow end of the bed (straight, not at an angle) so as you enter his room, all of the space under the bed is wide open / usable. Its a bit like this (obviously not purple and pink) with the steps at the narrow end.

My H built a corner desk and shelves at one side of it (so under his head end) and then he has a futon at the other end (under the foot end).

He has one built in narrow wardrobe (but floor to ceiling), a narrow (but tall) chest of drawers and one of those Expedit units. Still a reasonable amount of floor space

Ugh. Box room ideas?
Qwebec · 30/01/2016 02:32

Would it be possible to use the space just outside you child's room for storage? Shelves in the hall and the likes in the hall for example?

TrafficJunkie · 30/01/2016 09:46

Yes he akready has his clothes drawers outside the room

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