Make a Box room Bigger Ideas - Think of a Sliding Door ?

[westcountrycat]

We have a box room for youngest and trying to think of ways to make it bigger, the door opens into the middle of the room which is annoying, has anyone fitted a sliding door in this situation ?

Could hang the door the other way but i guess that might be awkward.

Any thoughts ?

Thanks

I like the idea of a sliding door.
Could you get a bed with a wardrobe underneath? And then where the conventional wardrobe would be you could have a sitting space and a desk?

Door in the middle can be ideal in a small bedroom if it means you can get the bed down one side and a full run of Stuff down the other.

Sliding doors tend not to close quite as firmly as other doors so you may get a bit more leakage of light and noise round the edges. Personally I'd prefer a door opening outwards unless there's a good reason not to. We had that in our typical boxroom-at-the-end-of-landing 3 bed semi and it worked really well.

MacroniPenguin, that's what we have although it is close to another door and it would open up into the recess part on the landing but i think it might be worth a go if it's not too much hassle to rehang a door.

Sonotcivil - have spaced saved like that as much as possible but will also have to contend with the fact the stair bulkhead is in their too, a window on the other wall and the door in the middle of another wall so only one wall to play with.

What about an internal wooden bifold door. Mum still has one on her boxroom which my brother used to sleep in. Places like Wickes sell them

Ah ok but yes a sliding door will be Good.
I did grow up in a box room and had my bed on top of a wardrobe kinda bed which was great.

We built a bed into a box room- bed above the stairwell with storage under the other bit. That left the rest of the room free which helped.

I like that idea handemadeitwithlove!

We have the door opening outwards on our box room, it doesn't cause any issues. DS2 has a cabin bed with draws under and a desk and a few small baskets for toys. We also have him the airing cupboard (no longer has a tank in as we got a combi boiler) for his clothes. He doesn't seem to mind his clothes being outside of his room. When he is older we will probably get him a high sleeper with a sofa and desk under to give him a bit more room.

We've just re-swung a door in our box too to open against the wall (as opposed to cutting the room in half iyswim) and it's made a massive difference. I second a custom made bed too.

In my old house the door opened the other way into the landing and that worked well

How about 'barn doors' - a hinge on each side, opening down the middle? Less intrusive but without the clunkiness of a bifold.

Checkout the bulkhead too; we just took it out and there's a load of wasted space above a slope of the stair head. If you're going to build over it, it can barely show iyswim.

our doors open the 'wrong' way to change rooms space and its great

aslo radiators can be moved if they are using up a wall you want to use for something else

If you have a bit more budget can you build a cupboard over the stair case (or is the bulk head in the room already?)

and even more budget again, is moving an internal wall slightly an option if the room next to it can lose a foot or two it might make quite a big difference to the smaller room

Definitely get either the bed or wardrobe built in over the stair. Our smallest bedroom (surely if it has a window it’s not a no room??) has a wardrobe built over the stair bit.

We did this and I am so delighted we did it. It isn't a child's room but our guest room and I wanted to be able put a double bed for when my parents visited instead of a pull out single.

Our door slides along the inside wall (so it isn't a pocket door) and we just reused the door that was already there to save costs!!

Sorry to highjack, but for those who rehung doors to open outwards how much was this roughly?

Get a joiner in and they’ll be able to build you a bed incorporating the bulkhead area in, other storage underneath. Some friends have just done this and say it’s worth every penny as it’s made it a much more useable room. There’s still the other wall then for some wardrobes/other storage.

My Dad just took the legs off my bed and that end sat on the bulkhead, worked a treat. So you might want to look at that as an option before going to the expense of having something made.

Whatever type of door you get, make sure it is of the same fire safety as a normal door. Folding/ sliding doors sometimes aren’t.

A bedroom is a place that really needs as much fire protection as possible.

And how agile you are for changing sheets/tending to the poorly zzz!

We've done as defective says - initially had a high sleeper - we bought a quality wooden frame off Ebay and then my H customised it so one end effectively had short legs so it sat on the bulk head. We made the bulkhead into a desk and my DS had a futon under there. We now have a cabin bed and H did the same thing - shortened the legs on one end so it sits on the bulk head.

@oldenglishedmixed, sorry no idea but it's a DIY one for DH. He tells me doors can be a bit fiddly and time consuming for an amateur, but they are not fundamentally difficult.

Re bifolds & barn doors - IMO anything like that is like a sliding door in that you do not get quite such a good seal of light and noise as you do with a normal door. For the best seal you want door butting up to an internal frame, not just sitting side by side. A bifold door doesn't seal perfectly down the middle. I am a big fan of bifolds normally but bedroom doors are all about creating privacy, so a "proper" door would always be my choice for a bedroom if at all possible. It's possible I'm just missing something and our amateur fitting is the problem of course!

Am thinking of starting a campaign in MN property to not call bedroom 3/single bedroom a box room! Box rooms have no windows!