Like many, out of necessity I spent most of my childhood sharing a small bedroom with siblings, and while I’ve finally got my own space it’s still relatively small. Actually, I quite like the cosiness of a small bedroom; but it means I can only have a certain number of possessions, and I need to be smart about how I store them.
So if you’ve been stuck about bedroom storage ideas, never fear: you’ve got someone with decades’ experience here to help!
Here are my three favourite bedroom storage ideas for small spaces. In fact, the ideas which follow make up the very combination of reclaimed timber furniture I’ve lived with in my own bedroom for several years.
1. A DESK
The desk is probably not the first thing you think of when you try to come up with storage solutions for a small bedroom. But hear me out on this.
Firstly, if you’re a student, this is a must. Whether you’re doing practise HSC exams, composing some music, or trying to make sense of legalese—all tasks which, for better or utterly worse, I’ve had to complete—you’ll learn to appreciate having your own space to work without disturbing (or be disturbed by) those who live around you. As a storage solution, the desk if perfect for students: you can pile all your textbooks and notes on top while stuffing the drawers with all sorts of things you don’t need so readily at hand.
But even if you’re not a student, a desk is immensely useful. If you get a desk with several drawers and situate it next to your bed, you can avoid the need for a bedside table. Also, having a desk at home will help you convince your boss to let you bludge work from home once a week. Now you see why I say the desk is Numero Uno, eh?
2. A SLIM BOOKCASE
Being tall and lanky like me, the slim bookcase is naturally one of those pieces of furniture I’m most drawn to. It’s also an efficient storage solution for my small bedroom space, housing my modest book/music/movie collection with a surprising amount of room to spare. So if you’re sick of your possessions spilling out into the other rooms of the house, look no further than this slim bookcase.
3. A TALLBOY
A lowboy or chest of drawers might be fine in a bigger bedroom (or if all of your clothes are size 000), but if you’re an adult living in a small space you need to maximise your storage space with minimal coverage of the floor.
[Enter: the tallboy.]
Like its other bedroom storage friends but without being vertically challenged, the tallboy is the quintessential storage solution for a small bedroom—the taller, the better. Why? You get the best of everything: it has a table-like top for displaying your bits and bobs (and also the perfect place for a jewellery box), plus (usually) an assortment of drawers of different sizes to store anything and everything. As long as you don’t plan to store things like corrosive liquids in your tallboy, beyond the capacity of drawers pretty much your only limitation is your upper body strength: how much effort are you willing to put into opening drawers? I had to grapple with this question recently when I realised just how much weight is carried by a record collection. Luckily, my slim bookcase was there to save the day.
BONUS IDEA: A BED WITH STORAGE DRAWERS
You might’ve noticed in the image an odd protrusion out of the base of that Georgia bed. Don’t worry, it’s totally normal. In fact, it’s a storage drawer, which is becoming increasingly popular in bed frame designs as a way to access the storage potential of the space underneath your bed without having to do the commando every time you want to get to something.
Storage drawers are more commonly found on larger beds, so if your bedroom is modest but not tiny it would be well worth considering a double or queen bed with such a feature. Extra points for the ample sleeping room a bed of this size will provide for you and a partner (and/or pet). But a word of warning before you go: if you have dust allergies or a similar respiratory condition, remember that you’ll need to be vacuuming under those storage drawers every now and then, and it might take a bit more work than just shoving the hose of a vacuum under your bed.
Happy furnishing!