Need to tuck your television or computer into a nook so that you have more floor space in a bedroom? This simple closet conversion is inexpensive, functional, and just plain cute. Often the things tucked away in spare room closets can be discarded or stored elsewhere. That extra closet is wasted space.
Measure the shelves or desk you want to use in the space to make sure it will fit without sticking out past the interior closet wall. This conversion looks best if the furniture in the closet fits properly. The shelves in the photo were created by cutting down an old shelving unit. The two doors beneath the television are a pre-existing VCR cabinet slid onto the shelves. Painting the whole unit solid white to match the trim of the closet makes it look custom built to fit the space. Electronics wires can be hidden behind the unit and fed through a hole cut in the shelf, behind the television.
In the photographed entertainment area, lace sheers were hung on a shower curtain rod and pulled back with tiebacks. To conceal the area, use drapes, bamboo shades, or tab curtains and pull them closed.
This project works for not only entertainment centers, but also for bookshelves, computer desks, or a child's dress up area.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I am 15 and am a freshman. I am a straight A student, a cheerleader, a runner, a softball player and I love technology. I cannot seem to keep my room clean, neat, cute, organized and smelling nice! I need help! I have white walls and painting is not possible right now, but definitely in the future. My theme is purple but I have a lot of different colors too.
I have a twin bed, with some space underneath. I have a huge built-in bookshelf, a night stand, a vanity with a mirror, a long dresser with a mirror, a tall dresser, and a closet with a sliding door. The closet is not very big at all, but does have some drawers. My room is very small
! I have a lot of books, a lot of clothes, and a lot of shoes. I need a homework space, a beauty space, and a space for a lot of trinkets. I already went through everything and got rid of a lot of stuff! Help me please. :)
By Ali from AR
A good way to get yourself organized is:
Before you start you will need 3 boxes or bags and a bunch of no-slip hangers (they have to all match! You can find it in the Discount store or Dollar stores) A couple of small bins (you can also find this at the Dollar store)
1) Take everything you own and throw it on the bed
2) Get three boxes or bags, 1 for garbage, 1 for donate and 1 for keep
3) Go through everything and decide which bag it goes into...the rule is if you haven't worn or used it in a year, get rid of it.
Hi and great job on your studies. I would say decorate the same ways as college students do. Frugal and smart. Since you can't paint you can add color using art or your items. You can use command hook-they don't damage the walls. You can use storage containers to store things under the bed. Get some cute containers at the dollar store or Target, Wal-mart. You want neat and organized.
Use over the door shoe bags and you can even use them on the walls. Put items in the pockets. So long as its neat. everything in its place. Get some potpourri or use febreeze type air fresheners. A big part of the unfresh scent is just dust and needing to organize. Good luck and hope this helps.
I am looking for ideas, suggestions, testimonies of DIY bedroom makeover for a boy, age 12. The room is on the small size. He is sleeping on a full size futon, but that is really taking up too much room. Storage/shelves are really needed, it is a very unorganized room. I also need to make it exciting and clever. My budget is small. I won't have a problem figuring out curtains, bed covers, etc. I just need some practical ideas on how to make a small room more functional.
By Arlinn
My room is 12' by 10'. My wall does a dreadful slant, leaving me not being able to stand in more than half the room nor put furniture in.
I don't know how to move furniture or organize my clothes, store my stuffed animals other than leaving them on display, store doll stuff, or what to put in my empty drawers. I sure have plenty of stuff.
My room is also very dark. It has a window, but it's not on the side of the house with sunshine. I'm looking out on the back yard.
I think I posted this once before, but it didn't get through. Thank you for any feedback.
By Lena from Portland, ME
A lot of houses have rooms like that. The room that my sisters and I had when we were kids was like that. It had two double beds in it with headboards. One side of the bed was against the wall. The only part of the room we could stand up in was in the middle of the room that could almost be called a hallway. Between the beds there was enough room that we could have put another bed, but there wouldn't have been room to get in and out any of the beds.
There was an east facing window, and under that we had an old chest that as I got older I used it for a "hope" chest. There wasn't anything pretty about this chest. Being I was a teenager I had a small dresser, more like the old fashioned commodes, and one of my aunts gave me an old ottoman that she was going to throw away to sit on in front of the dresser. On the west end of the bedroom there was a small kind of an entry way about 3x3. My uncle built a clothes rack for me to hang my clothes on and my little sister's clothes were kept downstairs in my parents bedroom. The floor was painted wood, with no rugs.
Each of us kids had one stuffed animal and one doll. Each doll had two or three outfits. We kept our toys in a cardboard box. Nothing in the room matched, bedspreads or anything. If you have empty drawers, as you stated you are lucky, put whatever fits in them. If you need more storage you can get those plastic carts with drawers in them. They are inexpensive, but not pretty. My opinion is if a person is trying to be economical it doesn't matter.
When I was growing up, we were really hard up. Three of us shared this room and my brother had his own room. He had the slanted ceilings too. He had a double bed and a small dresser identical to the one in our bedroom. For clothes that had to be hung, somewhere along the line somebody had put some coat hooks up on one wall for hanging clothes.
I am looking for ideas to decorate a small master bedroom.
By heather from Fontana, CA
Well, not knowing your interests sort of hinders. Are you the romantic type, country, ultra modern? Paint is the first thing that comes to mind. Small rooms look larger with light colors. Since it's small, I'd stay away from too much fluff and puff and stick with clean lines. More info, please.
When arranging your furniture, try to angle certain pieces so everything doesn't look like it is pushed against the walls. I have my bed angled in a corner and put one of those silk trees behind it to give the room some color. Also, try finding a flat piece of wall art such as a painted canvas or a blank canvas covered in a patterned fabric (really easy and inexpensive to make!) that way you can hang it on a wall that is in the walking path of the room and you will not have to worry about walking by and knocking it off the wall.
I love the idea of hanging a fairly large rug on the wall behind or beside the bed then using the colors of that rug to decorate around. If you're traditional, chose a Persian type rug, if more modern, then choose a geometric rug.
But saying that, the most soothing colors are beige's, grays & earth tones (not orange or red!). To these, you can add a bit of turquoise or any blue (to represent water). These are the colors many spas use to relax their customers.
Saying that, another idea is to soothe ALL your senses. Meaning, have things around that do just that. For example, a fountain will make the soothing sound of water running, & fragrances (like potpourri) will excite your nose. Colored lights (like Christmas lights are also a way to have colored light) You can wrap these around your headboard or around a silk "leaf "tree". I like yellow because it looks like candle light. Of course, there's always the sound of the ocean on CD's & those fragrance plug-in's... Include tiny stones & pebbles around candles for a natural, relaxing look & feel. If you keep your room uncluttered & simple (like a spa does) then you will feel more relaxed. saying this, I would make sure you have lots of closed storage to keep your messes out of sight. (like covered shelves or cupboards)
I like the way old botanical prints look in any space. You can find framed & matted copies of these fairly cheep at discount stores like Ross. (hang 3 across horizontally or 2 up & down vertically) Keep everything in 2 or 3 colors that all match. I like to use one neutral color & one accent color. My place is decorated mostly in a soothing golden beige & since I already had a blue carpeting, I used a bit of blue & with a bit of olive green. These are the colors I look for when buying new things for my room.
And don't forget about plants. either real or fake. If you have a silk tree in the corner, it looks great to place a light at the base of it facing up. (only $10 for an "up" light at Home Depot) This way you'll get the shadow of the leaves all over the wall! Very, very cool! I found my silk tree at Value Village thrift store for only $15. It makes my front porch look wonderful sitting in a corner. Have fun!
Curtains or drapes will immediately make the room appear decorated. When I lived in a dormitory during graduate school, everyone always admired my room. The difference was that I raised the miniblinds to the top of the window and hung drapes on a traverse rod. I also put a room sized rug on the floor and hung pictures on the walls. None of these took up valuable floor space in the small room, A bedspread that coordinated with the drapes was the final touch. My dorm room was more like home than any others on the hall.
All of these ideas are great. But if you're trying to decorate a small space you will probably want the area to seem larger so it feels less claustrophobic. I hear you can do this by placing mirrors on the walls, so in addition to whatever pictures you decide to put up I would also incorporate a mirror on at least one of the walls.
I'm 19. I have a small room with no closet. My boyfriend does stay with me, but we need more storage space. All I have is a full size bed, a night stand with 1 drawer, a tall 3 drawer dresser which has all my clothes in it, a mini fridge for drinks and snacks, and a high shelf that we keep our collectable items on.
We need more clothing space for both of us and more shelving space for hygiene, jewelry, pens, notebooks, etc. Any ideas please?I will be moving in to a home with a small master bedroom and have been trying to figure out a way to make the most of my small space. I don't remember what the measurements of the room are, but the previous owners had a queen size bed, a large dresser and a somewhat narrow armoire in the room. With these three pieces of furniture alone, the space looked extremely cluttered. The only source of natural light comes from the sliding doors that lead out to a small deck. If anyone has any ideas I'd greatly appreciate it.
By Lia from Chicago, IL
I had to move out of my apartment due to it being on the second floor. I have a knee injury so I couldn't climb those stairs anymore. My sis-in-law was so kind as to let us in her home.
One problem. The room is really small. We left most of our things in storage, but the things we do have, oh my, it is just that the room looks cluttered. I make cakes as a hobby and I also sew. So I have my craft stuff in our room. Food that doesn't go bad, like bread, cereal, etc. we keep in the room now. We use to leave it out in the kitchen, but our food would be gone before week's end and me without a job made it hard to buy food at a moments notice.
We also have a 6 drawer dresser and two ottomans, we have junk inside there as well. Our closet is a mess and one of the ottomans is blocking the other side of the closet. I tried organizing the room on my own, but it backfired. I just feel like there is more of a mess. There is no way I am able to stick nails into the walls, so we can hang stuff on the walls. We keep doors closed at all times for privacy. I am at my wits end. I don't know how else to keep this room organized and free of clutter. Help! I went from a full apt to a small tiny bedroom for two people :-(
By Nataly from Whittier, CA
