Great Bedroom Design in the Real World

Great design in a small bedroom can seem a difficult task. The bedrooms featured in interior decoration magazines are often gargantuan, featuring sky high ceilings, a plethora of windows overlooking sprawling grounds, and closets with the size and contents of a small, personal Bergdorf Goodman inlet. For the average person, leafing through such magazines on their twin beds in rooms comparable in size to freshmen dormitories, it can feel a little depressing.

In this article, we’re going to be realistic. Like, crazy realistic. So, toss aside that copy of Ridiculously Expensive Design Magazine you were just perusing, close out the tab with your Pretty Bedrooms pinboard, and read on for design and organization tips for bedrooms that exist in the real world.

Small Closet Organization Tips

According to Feng Shui principles, the ancient Chinese art of balancing the energies in a space to assure health and good fortune, a disorganized closet can produce a low energy. Whether or not you buy into Feng Shui, there’s something to be said for keeping a neat closet. Mystical low energy is neither here nor there. You know that when you look into a hot mess of a closet, you feel like a heaping pile of ick. “Ick” is the technical, scientific word for mystical low energy.

You could invest in a fancy dancy custom closet system, or you could work out your own DIY closet system. Pinterest is chock full of ideas for DIY closet systems, and it’s worth a glance, but we promised realistic tips. Peek around for inspiration to take these ideas to a new level, or implement a couple of these small closet organization tips to get started on the path to better design.

• Here’s your first hard dose of reality. You’re going to have to get rid of some stuff. Have you worn it in a year? Does it fit? Do you even like it? If you answered no to any of these questions, donate it or toss it.
• Set up a system. There are plenty of shelving and hanging options for pretty cheap at places like Wal Mart and Target. You don’t need to go crazy, but look in your closet and notice which things don’t have a place. Choose something that will fix that.
• Invest in some of those multihangers. It will save you some space, making your closet look less cluttered.
• Find a way to store tiny things like jewelry in an organized way. Closet systems can help you avoid losing small things in nooks and crannies and forgotten drawers.

The Rest of Your Tiny Bedroom

Besides small closet organization tips, there are a few other ways to save space in a little bedroom. They went out of vogue for a while because the hardware wasn’t advanced enough to make them worth it, but Murphy beds are new and improved, and they can save you tons of space. Plus, they make you feel like a secret agent, which is cool. Also called wall beds, they fit into a nook in your wall and fold up into that nook when you don’t need them. They used to be heavy and clunky and hard to fold, but modern Murphy beds have piston lift or torsion springs to make them easier to lower and raise. The best part? A lot of them fit into bookshelves or sets of cupboards, so they provide extra storage AND look awesome when they’re folded up. Win win, man.