How to make a small home feel less cluttered?

[Lovemusic33]

I live in a small 3 bed with my 2 teen DD’s, DD1 has a single room, it’s almost a box room and due to it having 2 windows and the airing cupboard it’s not a great room, it fits in a single bed and wardrobe. Dd2 has severe ASD and is in what I would call the smallest box room, her single bed only just fits in, a small chest of drawers and enough floor space to open the door (though at the moment I can’t hardly open the door), she spends a lot of time in her room as she struggles being around people, she has no space to really do much in there. Dd1’s room is a typical messy teens room, she also has ASD and will not let me decorate or change anything, I haven’t decorated since we moved in, I hate going in there as she just has too much stuff which makes it look cluttered and messy, she won’t part with anything.
My bedroom just fits a double and a chest of drawers, it has a built in small wardrobe where I chuck everything and this room also has windows on 2 walls so no room for shelves.
The bathrooms so tiny that you can wash your face in the sink whilst sat on the loo 🤣.

I know I’m lucky to have a 3 bed house, I love downstairs but upstairs is always cluttered and messy. The living room is the only nice uncluttered room.

My house is not mine, it’s a council house. I can’t afford to buy and no one will allow me to rent privately as I claim some benefits due to being a carer to dd2 and only working part time. I wouldn’t really want to move as we are in a lovely area. I just wish I could make the house more usable, especially for dd2.

How do people make their small houses feel bigger and less cluttered?

I'd get a cabin bed with drawers under - something like this:
www.next.co.uk/g5919s2#934604

Then put a ceiling height set of shelves on the opposite wall. It doesn't matter if some of this goes a little in front of the window. Then I'd put some storage baskets on the bottom shelves.

If its only a matter of inches could you still fit the mattress into the space under the window in DD2s' room?
If so and you can do DIY its not hard to build a frame into the wall and put with slats and then stick the mattress on top, storage underneath

Why not have a platform built under the window and put a mattress on it? Then have storage boxes on wheels under the platform.

Also, get wardrobes that are as tall as you can fit in. We got some flat pack ones from John Lewis similar to Ikea Pax. They go almost up to the ceiling and have a top shelf, hanging rail then two drawers at the bottom. We can fit loads in them. They also do a tall chest of drawers that are about 50cms wide and deep. Again, they hold loads.
We have a little folding step inside the wardrobe so I can reach the top shelf 🤣🤣

Something like this

My rooms ok, I have recently decorated downstairs and the landing, DS’s room was decorated a few months ago also, it’s just dd1 that’s refusing to let me do hers.

Sadly we don’t have an ikea near by and delivery charges are huge

Dd2 has just had a new bed and she’s pretty tall for her age so she can’t have a shorter bed , also there’s a radiator along the wall under the window which we are not allowed to move.

The house is so poorly designed, it looks pretty big from the outside but because of its design the rooms are pretty tiny apart from the living room, and there are way too many windows meaning less wall space.

I don’t think a single mattress would fit the width, the bed she had was cheese as it was the only one that would fit the length, the mattress is at the wall both ends. I will measure the width when I can get in there 🤣

Some of those little IKEA bedrooms use kitchen wall cupboards. Those little Metod ones could be jazzed up with nice handles.

Ds also has asd and struggles with change, but in his case, it’s the thought of change and the upheaval that stresses him rather than the result.
I’ve been able to do things to his room by

1. Carefully documenting in pictures where everything currently is
2. Carrying out the change while he’s out of the house (ie in school)
3. Being very clear that it can all be changed back if necessary (the thought of that change can be very off putting)
4. Including one obvious glaring omission for him to focus on (eg a favourite piece of his lego model display conspicuously absent) that can be quickly rectified “oops, silly me”.

We managed to repaint and change the flooring in his room this year (with difficulty) but I genuinely expected to have to live with the original forever.

Taking the initial photographs seems to be very important to him. For me, it makes it possible to undo the change and put everything back if necessary. For him, he seems to be happier when the old way it was, still exists in some form so that the memory is preserved, even though he doesn’t necessarily want to see the picture. It’s the fact of its existence that seems to be important.

Most of the changes I’ve implemented have fixed an issue for him and been an improvement that he agrees is an improvement. The paint and flooring was an exception which is why I’m amazed we managed it.

I’m not sure if that’s helpful at all in respect of your dd.

Pinterest has loads of good ideas for tiny bedrooms. Generally speaking you need furniture that does double duty. Lots of storage and to use the wall space.

It really does sound like the windows are a problem. Could you choose a window in each room to "block" with furniture? That's a less than perfect solution I realise.

Do neighbours have similar houses - could you see their solutions?

Thank you for the tips regarding dd1 and her coping with change. I spoke to her about moving her bed to the other wall and anyone would have thought I had asked her to move house 🤣

The windows are a real problem. I have been in the neighbours house but their layout is a bit different than ours (and not quite as many windows).

I think I will just have to do dd1’s room when she’s at school and hope she can deal with it. Her room contains the most clutter, clearing the airing cupboard and making it accessible would be a great help.

I don’t think I can do much with dd2’s room as she’s only just had it decorated and has a new bed (I can’t afford to replace it as dd1 needs a bed). Also I can’t have to much in dd2’s room, she has her Lego in containers under her bed, she doesn’t have many things as she breaks everything. I have some shelves to go up to display her Lego on.

GIve the new bed to DD1 and get a new storage bed for DD2?

You sound quite negative OP. A lot of good suggestions here and you're working quite hard coming up with reasons not to do them.

Re shelves above door being too high. Of course you can't reach, a standard door is at least 1.8m /6ft high so not many people would be able to It is still a good idea. Stand on a chair. Put the shelves up, shelves are bloody cheap and would provide instant space.

Would the council allow you to have the doors turned around?

If the doors opened outwards it would make more room inside but obviously only if allowed or room outside the rooms

Or even better sliding or container doors so they don't make extra space disappear

Boob I have little money and the room won’t accommodate what some people are suggesting, should I just agree with what people are saying even though it’s impossible? It took me ages to find a bed that would fit in dd2’s room, the other wall isn’t big enough to accommodate the bed and I can’t afford to replace it. I can’t give the bed to dd1 as she needs a bed with storage. All I can afford is to buy dd1 a new bed and storage, her room hasn’t been decorated for almost ten years, dd1’s has.

I wanted suggestions on how to make use of the space on the landing without it looking cluttered and how to make dd1’s room less cluttered, or recommendations for a bed with storage underneath that’s not too childish. Maybe idea on how to make a airing cupboard more usable.

I know it’s hard for people to advise without seeing the rooms but dd1’s room is really tiny and the bed won’t fit in any other way, I can’t change the door to open outwards as it will get in the way of the storage on the landing or block my bedroom door.

If your dd is happy with her room as it is, why are you so desperate to change it? It's her room, after all. I really wouldn't change it while she's not there, surely that will really upset her. Unless it's actually unsafe in there (rotting food etc) then I would just let her have it how she likes. It's not like you have to go in there.

Wilding I wouldn’t be surprised if there is rotting food 🤢, she has piles of clothes on the floor, she refuses to use the wardrobe because she piles stuff in front of it (school bags/books) and she has her hamster in there which flicks saw dust everywhere, she doesn’t clean up after it. I try and get in there once a week to clean up but it’s hard to even get in there, I guess it’s a typical dirty teenager room but it drives me nuts as the rest of the house is pretty much up together and nice.

If you have a budget for a new bed for DD1 then the best way to spend it would be to have a joiner make something built for the space. A bed and storage in one. Some fab ideas on Pinterest. I'm thinking a made to fit cabin bed that takes up as much space as available for a single bed with built in storage underneath. Made out of MDF and then painted.

We had a bed like this made for a space once and included a "lid" that hinged up and was held with the hooks you see in bars. The lid turned the whole bed into a massive desk.

Built in/bespoke/double duty. You could even have shelves added to the head and the foot of the bed that are narrow and don't obscure the window.

Alternatively you've already got a bunk bed there, why don't you remove the bottom bunk, make sure the top is structurally sound and then put furniture underneath?

When rooms are small think wall space and even ceiling space!

My daughter has the box room. Box in two senses: it's the smallest room in the house and it has the stairwell box (bulkhead) in it. We bought her a special bed that has two long legs and two short legs so the short legs go on top of the stairwell bulkhead.

There's loads of solutions online. Could you add measurements to you pictures. That would help lots.

First buy a cow.....

SciFi dd is being awkward, I found a nice cabin bed yesterday within budget but she didn’t like it. She has a bunk bed but hasn’t physically get on the top bunk due to he having a disability, we got the bunk as she has a huge collection of teddies that lived on the top bunk. The bunk blocks a window so ideally I want the window unblocked so a cabin bed would be best if she would agree. I think it’s the bunk bed that makes the room feel so full as it blocks one whole window and half of the other, making the room really dark.
My budget for a bed isn’t huge so I don’t think I would get one made for under £200.

A cow could be useful 🤔

Are the beds 3' singles of 2'6"? We were in a similar position with a very small boxroom at one point & replaced the standard single with a narrow one & it helped a lot with floor space.

I've slept in a 2'6" as an adult & it was fine width wise.

my boys share a room that doesnt even fit a single bed in. they are in shortie bunk beds. ive got their clothes kept downstairs in kallax cubes, its made life so much easier as they go from the washing machine to drier to box without having to move upstairs. they arent teen age yet so are still happy to get dresses down stairs, but it might work in your house...

Could you cut down your bunk beds to cabin bed size and put some low drawers under them? Might be cheaper than selling them and buying a new bed.

Don't worry about not being bale to reach stuff. Put a shelf above the door to store things she refuses to get rid of but you know she'll never use again. Maybe buy some storage boxes that slide under her bed.

I think I'd sneak in when she's at school and get rid of some clutter that she won't miss. My DNiece is a hoarder and won't get rid of anything. But she wouldn't notice if someone chucked out old makeup, clothes that no longer fit etc. It's just if she is present when they are chucked, she gets anxious. My HFA DH is the same. I don't throw out much of his stuff, but things he's not glanced at for 20 years do get tucked inside charity bags.