Small bedroom - wardrobes...over the bed or small gap at the end of the bed?

[TheAirbender]

We've just bought a new house - yay! It's perfect in almost every way apart from the master bedroom...which is fairly petite - 11ft10 by 9ft6. We are both 6ft tall plus so really need a 180x200 king bed.

At present the room has wardrobes up and over the bed, which look very dated. We plan to have an ottoman style bed for bulky stuff and folded things (jeans, jumpers etc) and then...DH and I disagree. I would like to create a more modern, look for the over bed wardrobes, whilst he wants to rip out the current wardrobes, and build a long back of wardrobes along one wall (probably the shallow Ikea Pax type). This would mean that we would only have 28 cm to pass at the end of the bed.

Neither of us ever spend much time in the bedroom, so I am happy for the room to have some compromises, especially as the house otherwise works so well for us. But which compromise is a step too far? A narrow space to pass (which would look sleek and neat) or up and over wardrobes (a bit 1999?).

Always so many typos in my Mumsnet posts...I don't know why...he wants a long bank of wardrobes...

We bought the shallow pax wardrobes to fit in around a chimney breast and have a small space to walk around the bed.
I loathe them! They don't hold much in the way of clothes and they are hard to get at the ones at the back.
I would love to replace them.

Interesting! So much love for Pax here but I think most people are talking about the standard depth. Thank you!

Does the units you have currently, also have cupboards/wardrobes at the side of the bed? I'm you could remove the but that goes over the bed or replace with shelves (take doors off) to modernise it? Or will the bed fit on the other wall at the side?
A floor plan would help

I'd think long term about that 28cm gap - maybe you are young and fit now, but do you really want to be squeezing through there (if say) you are heavily pregnant and need a wee 3x a night? Or if you develop mobility or balance issues?

11ft 10 x 9ft 6 is 360cm x 290cm.

I'm not sure how you've worked out that you've only got 28cm at the end of the bed to the shallow depth wardrobe (35cm) - if the wardrobes are opposite the headboard on the long wall, you'd have about 55cm?

Is it possible to turn the bed round 90 degrees so the headboard is on one of the shorter walls? You'd only have 55cm or thereabouts on each side of the bed (but thats feasible) but you'd end up then with 1.6m at the end of the bed - enough for the standard depth PAX wardrobes (60cm) and a metre spare to walk around?

Is it possible to

Is it possible to not have wardrobes in that room at all, but keep hanging clothes in another room?

@Africa2go

11ft 10 x 9ft 6 is 360cm x 290cm.

I'm not sure how you've worked out that you've only got 28cm at the end of the bed to the shallow depth wardrobe (35cm) - if the wardrobes are opposite the headboard on the long wall, you'd have about 55cm?

Is it possible to turn the bed round 90 degrees so the headboard is on one of the shorter walls? You'd only have 55cm or thereabouts on each side of the bed (but thats feasible) but you'd end up then with 1.6m at the end of the bed - enough for the standard depth PAX wardrobes (60cm) and a metre spare to walk around?

Is it possible to

Apologies - it's 9ft 3 aka 281cm.

Pax carcass is 37 cm, with sliding doors it takes the depth to 44cm. Bed we have our eye on is 210cm long including frame (can't find an ottoman less than that). So...28cm left.

If we turn the bed around we have the window frame (window sill sticks out - that is one thing) plus once you have taken into account the wardrobes and bed width (say 190 to include frame)...it won't really work. Other end of the room is the doors to the en suite, so that is a no go. It's a town house so we really need a bathroom on this floor (did consider losing the en suite, but again, no). Never posted pics before EXCITING but will try and put up some floor plans later.

We could, at a push put the wardrobes in the lounge on the same floor, but I would rather compromise the bedroom than the lounge.

@user1471530109

Does the units you have currently, also have cupboards/wardrobes at the side of the bed? I'm you could remove the but that goes over the bed or replace with shelves (take doors off) to modernise it? Or will the bed fit on the other wall at the side? A floor plan would help

Yes the do, and the whole thing does look a bit 90s and twee. My plan would be to rip it all out and start again with a joiner to create something much more up to date. Plain matt white, handle-less door fronts for e.g.

@SunsetGirl

I'd think long term about that 28cm gap - maybe you are young and fit now, but do you really want to be squeezing through there (if say) you are heavily pregnant and need a wee 3x a night? Or if you develop mobility or balance issues?

All good points, but I guess we would change it again to meet those needs at that time.

I would never have wardrobes in the lounge!

If you have wardrobes with side of the (190cm) wide bed, you'd have 170/2 so 85cm on each side of the bed. If you could have a joiner make them to maximise the space (i.e. floor to ceiling), would that be enough for all your clothing if you were going to have a storage type bed?

@Africa2go

I would never have wardrobes in the lounge!

If you have wardrobes with side of the (190cm) wide bed, you'd have 170/2 so 85cm on each side of the bed. If you could have a joiner make them to maximise the space (i.e. floor to ceiling), would that be enough for all your clothing if you were going to have a storage type bed?

No, nor me...just is a possibility! It's a lovely lounge and will be our grown up space (another lounge downstairs) hence us thinking of the entire floor of our space and being willing to accept a smaller bedroom. I think what we will probably do is what you suggest, then we could also get the joiner back to build cupboards across the top if we lacked space.

Will still get some floor plans up later today to see if Mumsnet can come up with some more magic - thanks!

You could reduce the 3.6m to 3 m. (The long 11 ft 10 wall reduced to 9ft 6ins) 0.6m is fine for a wardrobe. This leaves you 9ft 6ins by just about the same. (3m x 3m).

A 5ft 6ins King size bed leaves 18 ins each side of the bed. Enough for bedside tables. 45cm wide. It leaves you 3ft at the end of the bed before you get to wardrobes. Use sliding doors.

Not sure where the door is though! Or a window. Plan maybe?

Or, can you move a wall and reduce another bedroom in size to gain in yours? Or take space from the landing?

Do you mean super king? A King size is 160 x 200 (a bit more for the frame, although not if you get a divan).

I would not go with a small gap AND shallow wardrobes, that’s two big compromises which will both annoy you.

The en suite wall sounds promising. You say “doors” but really you only need one door. Await floor plan

If the en suite wall won’t work, I’d go with up and over the bed. It can look much more modern if you get the styling right. Here’s an example that looks decent.

Ooh I quite like what minipie has posted, and a good use of otherwise wasted space. I don’t think that looks dated at all.

On a bit of a tangent, if you’re thinking of the whole floor as your space could you have the lounge as your bedroom, is there room for a massive bed and perhaps a sofa type area? Then have the small master as a dressing room with attached bathroom?

We had a false panelled wall built behind the bed and hid wardrobes in either side. Looks more modern than round the bed.

It would be hugely annoying to reach into those above the bed cupboards. You have to stand on the bed. It does not look great to me.

Canyou not make the "lounge" smaller? We have opened up a bedrrom where we had to walk through it to get to another one. It is now just one big space. It is huge but its very luxurious. Seating, huge wardrobes etc. There is a an en suite bathroom too. Small bedrooms never look luxurious with shoe-horned furniture. Those wardrobes are tiny.

It would be hugely annoying to reach into those above the bed cupboards.

Yes this is true. But they could be used for out of season clothes, special occasion stuff, rarely used sportswear etc.

It’s not ideal sure but if the only choices are around and over the bed, or a tiny walking gap and shallow depth wardrobes, I’d definitely choose around and over the bed.

Why, at over 11 ft long, is the room so compromised? What is stopping the wardrobes reducing the length of this wall? Or a dressing room being hived off the sitting room? Who needs this extra sitting with a tiny bedroom?

could you have the wardrobes behind the headboard?
Something that looks like a chimney breast with alcove wardrobes?
With shelves in the bit behind the headboard.

@PresentingPercy

Why, at over 11 ft long, is the room so compromised? What is stopping the wardrobes reducing the length of this wall? Or a dressing room being hived off the sitting room? Who needs this extra sitting with a tiny bedroom?

I think the window is on one of the short walls. So in order to put the wardrobes on the other short wall (and take advantage of the over 11 ft length), they’d have to put their bed against the window.

I agree however it may be possible to steal space from another room - awaiting floorplan!

You see quite a few beds backing onto windows now. Have a very decorate headboard and a blackout blind. I’ll see if I can find some ideas.

Beds backing on to a window are not good.

We have our bed under a window. We have an upholstered headboard that is just lower than the window sill (which doesn't overhang the wall, its flush with the wall so the headboard could be higher but I thought that might look odd). As @PresentingPercy says, we have a blackout roman blind fitted into the recess. Like this...