Smallest possible bedroom size

[faffalotty]

What do you think the smallest size a room can be and still be usable as a bedroom? Would need to fit a single bed, but could get a cabin type with storage underneath.

Only looking at houses online at the moment, I've seen one with the smallest room 2.1m x 2.1m. No photo of the room (unsurprisingly!) I guess it depends partly on the configuration, door position, height of the window. But that does sound very small, doesn't it?

Unless you get a shorty bed, most beds are 2m or slightly longer to allow for the frame (a single mattress for instance is 70cm x 200cm). It is effectively the length of a single bed, in both directions.

But you are right that the layout will be crucial - where the door is, how high the window is, and if its a 3 bed semi, whether there is a bulkhead in that room too (quite common in traditional semis, certainly where we are). It would be fine for a baby or a toddler, but might be an issue for an older child. Depends whether your budget stretches to something bigger.

Yeah that is relaly small.

Like PP said though - door and window placement will be crucial.

2.1 x 2.1 is def a bedroom ... because you can fit a single bed in it but yes, if a bulkhead in the room, this will change things. bed might go across the wall where the window is.

we have a 2 x 2m bedroom in our house and unbelievably, this room was marketed as bedroom 4/office. in fact the vendor's particulars said 2.08 x 2.03 y because they did wall to wall rather than actual usable space of skirting board to radiator jutting out. you can fit a divan bed in this room and shorter beds are available (different to junior beds).

We had a double bed in a bedroom that was 2.69 X 2.08m and had a bedside table and chest of drawers in it. It was our spare room but worked quite well.

We had a room like this as DD1s nursery when she was little. But it would never have taken a cabin bed because the only wall a full length single could have gone against was the one with the window in. I think you're right and you need to look.

Think about radiator placement too, especially in older houses where they would have been retrofitted. We've trimmed down a wooden bed base to allow for the radiator pipes and wedged a full size mattress on top.

How small is too small is a personal choice. Our smallest small room was 6' by 6'11" (and it had a glass internal wall when we bought the house!) but other people would consider that too small. I'm sure it limited the house's appeal and value, but it was the right compromise for us at the time.

Thanks for yor replies

It is a modern house. It seems ridiculous (to me) that they build them like this. They are really only 2 beds + study/baby room. I may go and have a look at it still, looking at the floor plan it looks like it may be possible to steal a bit of the adjacent bedroom by moving the dividing wall, but depends on the position of the window in that room.

Explains why it's a good price!

We had this issue when house hunting for a 3 bed house. Some I looked at had a single bed and not even enough room for a set of drawers. They were immediately discounted.

Our 3rd bedroom is 2.49 by 2.49 (ish). It's a good size for a 3rd bedroom and I wouldn't really go with anything smaller (personally I mean). DD has a toddler bed, bedside cabinet, wardrobe, shelving unit and a corner with bigger toys in and still room in the middle to play. She'll be getting a midsleeper bed with space underneath soon so she'll have a bit more storage and floor space. We got a wardrobe with drawers built in so no need for a separate chest of drawers. It works well and seems to be on the bigger end of 3rd bedroom sizes for a standard 3 bedroom house.

If you go to look, draw out the radiator, window and door for us. I love the challenge of a tiny room. DS 3's room is fab and I've done it 2 different ways now - once for a child and once for a teenager. (I secretly want it all to myself)

I'm going to see it later today. Meant to put a tape measure in my bag ,but forgot. Any hope the EA will have one?

Oooh I love this challenge too my 4th room is quite small but actually for a spare room or a little one they look quite cosy and sweet when done. She had a cabin bed with chest of drawers under and a single door wardrobe all in white so kept it light and still had room for. Little table and chairs which was clearly for me As she never sat at it do put a floor plan on ... Is there not a floor plan on the estate agents site??

Any hope the EA will have one?

No chance.

Buy one on the way if you need one.

cbigs there is a floor plan, but can't tell from that the exact position of the door/window/radiator nor if there is a bulkhead in the room.

My son's room is this size, actually I think it's just over 1.8 metres in width. Everyone on our block jokes about the houses being two-and-a-half bedrooms rather than three.

We intended to move but we love it here so much we don't want to. We've done an artful Ikea job on the room, my son's in a high sleeper bed with a desk and chests of drawers underneath. We also managed to fit an open fronted narrow wardrobe in there so he has shelves for his toys. We're also planning on converting the man room down the end of the garden into a summer house for the kids when they're teenagers so they've got more room to hang out.

9yo dd1's room is something like 6'2 x 8ft10 - annoyingly just an inch too narrow to fit a single bed along the shorter wall

obviously furniture choices have been quite important in getting a usable space. She didn't want any kind of bed with ladder as she thought they looked a bit young, so we've got a standard single with three deep drawers - so no need for a chest. she also has a clothes rail instead of a wardrobe as it would have taken up the whole room in order to be positioned where the doors would open. And we've got a lot of wall shelves in there.

I think little rooms can work ok for older kids, as dd1 no longer plays with Big Toys, and can fit her gadgets, books and craft stuff in there pretty well.

If it was an old house, I would suggest building a sleeping platform to fit the space and find desk / drawers to fit underneath, possibly bean bags / sofa underneath. You could be quite creative. However, as its a new house, I wouldn't be expecting to do any faffing around layout though. Is the price worth it? At that size, it's really only half a room.

Well I didn't really need a tape measure to see that you couldn't get a bed in. Although maybe if you took the radiator out!
The house was far too small for us anyhow - I know you get given the room measurements but I'm not very good at visualizing them. And the photos obviously make the rooms look twice their size...

Our 3rd bedroom is very small. We can fit an ikea bed with a storage headboard along the long side but there is only about 3 inches between the end of the bed and the radiator which is under the window.

On the other side opposite the bed there is a tall boy chest of drawers and a slimline desk. It's cosy but actually quite lovely,

We did have a high sleeper but it made the room very dark and they get less practical as children get older.

Going to look at another house tomorrow and taking a tape measure!

Are Ikea beds smaller than usual?