Tiny student study/sleep space
My student daughter's tiny room and the space on the landing where she keeps her stuff are desperately in need of a re-think.
She's doing a Phd and spends most of her time in this room, and I'd like to make it more comfortable for her. She'd like more storage for books in particular.
Most of her clothes are stored on the landing, in the big built-in cupboard and the tallboy next to it. There are also drawers under the bed.
She likes classic townhouse/gentleman's club style with a feminine edge. She likes pale walls and dark furniture, and hates blue. She'd like velvet curtains and would like to keep the writing desk, but might be persuaded to give it up if what replaced it vastly increased storage and study space.
I'm out of ideas. The space is so tiny, but I'm hoping Houzzers might have some suggestion.
Comments (59)
Alix W
4 years ago
belbo_muggins
4 years agoRelated Discussions
What's the worst place you've lived in?
Comments (16)ok, my worst house was actually several years ago, we had to move due to job placement and could find nothing, and with 1 large dog/4 cats rentals are difficult, if non existent. so we ended up in a place, can not say town they were houses scattered along a 10 mile road from one place to another. Anyway, it was called Crapo - that is with a long a thank you very much! As if I would live where you are thinking! lol it was on the back side of the national park on eastern shore of MD. 24 miles from absolutely anywhere, and 2 ways to get to that nowhere. Everyday you drove the park and it took nearly an hour, you never went more than .5 miles without a hairpin turn. Ok, this was true of all the houses, when snow melted ( not much up here or we had a good rain it flooded. Sometimes you could not get home. A couple times you could not leave for days! The county trucks would come by just to watch the waves splash in the houses. fish would swim past your door. hehe. And the road, it was often under water it was in the swamp and at sea level. I have pics, honest, little fish would jump out of the way of your car, sometimes the snakes swam faster. once you started you did not stop and everyone except the jerky out of towners, with their big high hunting vehicles, drove one at a time, not making a wake. And this was at least once or twice a month. One time it was snowing hard and we had to pick up hubby, in the middle of the night, I thought I was going to have to leash the car so we did not slide into the swamp, not that we would have known, you could not see it. It was so bad my dog was sitting in the front seat and kept putting her paw on mine and pushing it. The amazing thing is I worked in the "nearby" town, Adults would come by as they had been seeing their parents. Their parents had gone through this forever, and their parents before them. many, the first floor was unusable. There are still trailers in use there that the gov. gave them more than 10 years ago, after the big hurricane. The homes and trailers are just left empty when the person gets old or dies, kids won't move back, won't even claim it. unless hunters want it, it just stands empty. i would never want to live in that tiny flooded house again. But, I would never trade the experience. Every day we saw Eagles, Bald and Gold. Osprey, Foxes, Turkeys, herds of Deer, and sike. We learned so much. It added about 10 pearls to my necklace....See MoreHouzz Advent Calendar: December 4th - Win a Swoon Editions cushion!
Comments (195)Hi everyone! Thanks for all the comments and input, it was great to see so many of you get involved! The competition is now closed, and any winners should have received an email from us confirming their prize so get checking. Happy New Year and here's to the next one!...See MoreSplitting large kitchen diner to create bedroom - am I crazy?!
Comments (11)I'd probably also have the little ones share a room. I was asking with the thought that maybe something interesting could be done in the original kitchen space. Like if there was some space under the stairs etc. Back to original question I think you could fit it in that reduced sized room. It depends on how much you want in your kitchen. A single wall kitchen and dining table would work well. If the extra room works for you then should be good. You could always move the kitchen into the larger room and use ithe smaller room as a study or playroom for now. Change it over when you really need it for a bedroom....See MoreSmall Living Space
Comments (33)I really like the design but it will need to be reverse. where the sofa needs to be on the side of the tv and tv needs to be on the side of the sofa. there is a tv cabinet the landlord wants to keep in the apartment so the tv will be put on top of that. besides for that everything looks good. also I want to have coffee table that rises up to be a dining table. I am planning to use a green carpet to have more of a natural feel. if possible I want the other furnitures in the living room to be more natural. so I would say more of a wooden design for furnitures....See More
Anthony (Beano)
4 years ago
PROMarina Drobot at Cinnamon Space
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoJonathan
4 years agochloeloves
4 years agoSam Potter
4 years ago
PROJohnson Bespoke Ltd
4 years agoHow about going for some kind of raised bed/desk combination? along the lines of these?
If you went down the bespoke furniture route, it could be designed to suit her exact storage needs and tie in with the 'Gentlemans Club' theme (with rich tones and panelling etc).
Another thought is to perhaps change the door to a sliding door, so you don't need to worry about door clearance. Similar to these.
Alcove Cupboard · More Info
botanical bedroom · More InfoJonathan
4 years agoPerhaps if you get a desk with a knee hole it will take up less space in the room and allow her to have a better chair
PROBrandler London
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoHiya Sam.... with regards to the raised bed, I have always been an admirer of those that use Ikea hacks... this option looks like one that might work well and you may well be able to buy some of the component sections from Ebay or Gumtree to help keep the costs down - https://imgur.com/gallery/KX4zE
This is another interesting and unusual option - http://wallcar.me/set/
Another option is to take the bed even higher and have the desk underneath; this is a project that we did recently that you can draw some ideas from :-
Fairfield South - Boys' Bedroom · More Info
rinked
4 years agolast modified: 4 years ago
Gabby Wong
4 years ago
E D
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agochloeloves
4 years agorinked
4 years agoSam Potter
4 years agoGabby Wong
4 years agoSam Potter
4 years agoSam Potter
4 years agorinked
4 years ago
Patrina
4 years ago
Carolina
4 years agoHi Sam, I'm sure others will come up with much better ideas, but I've had fun thinking about it too, so... here's what I'm thinking. Use either bookcases or drawer units, or a combination of the two, to build something that will hold a slatted bed base. Mattress on top.
Kitchen wall cabinets at the end of the bed, with a rail that will hold clothes hangers mounted on the bottom.
rinked
4 years agorinked
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoLove the image of the bed with drawers underneath, Carolina! If I could choose between a ladder and a little hop up, I'd go for the drawers straight away (sorry floorspace). This is what the ikea kitchen planner let me make of the room, they even had a writing desk (not sure it'd fit though..). They wouldn't let me pick slats for countertop though, so imagine something a little more fluffy up there ;) And curtains..
The bed could go sideways, but there'd need to be about 20cm clearance in front of the window, for the curtains and to be able to clean there once in a while. Would give some more elbowspace for the desk though, especially when the door is hinged left instead of right.- PRO
Marina Drobot at Cinnamon Space
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agohi Sam, how about a library / "cigar room" type of space with a feminine feel.
the loft bed or storage would be great, but unfortunately there is not really enough height to comfortably put the mezzanine. fortunately, there is plenty of space for book shelves to store all the books and and items that are not used too often. the built in bookshelves are made of various sizes of IKEA's Billy bookcase. you would need a ladder to access it, which you can store behind the door or just outside of the room on the landing.
if it is possible, it would really help if the door was swapped to open to the right.
for the window, i would use a roman blind, instead of a curtain. it will soften the view, add some colour and will not interfere with the bed and the desk.The bed is a built-in raised platform and 2x IKEA NORDLI 80 cm x 54cm and 1x NORDLI 40cm x 54cm height and a single mattress. it will give your daughter lots of useful drawers for everyday. if you add a panel on the wall on the back and luxurious cushions and pillows, it can be used as a daybed/ sofa. and will make the room feel less as a bedroom and more like a room for a soirée. use velvet and faux silk for the roman blind and cushions, to add a touch of sophistication and luxury.
create an amazing display of art, decoration and photographs to express creativity and celebrate high ceiling of the room. it will draw the eye up and will distract from the size of the room.
the radiator can be put in an interesting cover and will become an additional shelf. an enormous mirror above will add light and interest to the room. it will create an illusion of a bigger space.i think, a small but functional desk with a pretty and comfortable chair would look nicer and be more comfortable then the current desk arrangement. IKEA Brusali Desk is small and simple. it would fit nicely in the room.
- PRO
Marina Drobot at Cinnamon Space
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agothe cupboard on the landing is really nice, but a built-in floor to ceiling wardrobe either off the shelf or custom built would give you much more storage and would be easier to organise clothes etc. Similar to this
Sam Potter
4 years agorinked
4 years agoSam Potter
4 years agoCarolina
4 years agoAnthony (Beano)
4 years agoSam Potter
4 years agoAnthony (Beano)
4 years agoAnthony (Beano)
4 years ago- PRO
Marina Drobot at Cinnamon Space
4 years agoI’m so happy you like it. I hope your daughter would like it too xx when the layout is approved we can run few visualisation for colour schemes, lights etc. I like the panelling idea too
About the window and privacy. Good idea about the frosting film. Otherwise you could add window planter outside of the window and plant taller plants.
Sam Potter
4 years agoSam Potter
4 years ago- PRO
Marina Drobot at Cinnamon Space
4 years ago Sam Potter
4 years agoE D
4 years agoE D
4 years agoCarolina
4 years agorinked
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoSince the ceiling is so high, perhaps a darker color on the top part would create a more den-like feel. Solid color on the ceiling, perhaps a wallpaper on the walls (top 70cm or so). Some slaths along the edges and stategically placed vertical to make the walls look like paneling. All in white.
Story: I lived in a 25m2 studio apartment (rental) before I bought a house with my love. The ceiling was 3m high. Bathroom (2.8x2.5m) had white tiled walls up to 2m and pale grey floortiles, no tub, very drab, very not me. So I painted the complete top part bright sky blue (and bought some retro showercurtain and bright colored towels). Best thing ever! And I'm not even a blue lover. Short: Some contrast makes a space come to life!
Teasing my wallpaper fetish again:
https://www.gowallpaper.co.uk/muriva-encyclopedia-bookcase-wallpaper-in-cream-572217.html
https://www.gowallpaper.co.uk/holden-decor-mad-dogs-framed-multi-wallpaper-97921.html
https://www.gowallpaper.co.uk/holden-decor-safari-frames-black-gold-metallic-wallpaper-90071.html
https://www.wallpaperfromthe70s.com/additional-wallpapers/retro-wallpaper/2077/perdula?c=119
https://www.wallpaperfromthe70s.com/wallpaper-patterns/novelty-wallpaper/1352/eistin?c=111
https://www.wallpaperfromthe70s.com/wallpaper-patterns/romantic-wallpaper/2624/rovoloni?c=111Sam Potter
4 years agoJonathan
4 years agoLooking forward to the cocktail party. Let me know what I can bring- some whipped bean dip or a hedgehog of cheese and pineapple skewers perhaps?
Sam PotterOriginal Author