Hands up if your bedroom is essentially a shoebox – I’m assuming that’s all of you, considering Aussie city rental prices are a joke and we’re all making the sacrifice of space to live in an area where it doesn’t take us 40 years to get to work/uni.
Yep, we’re all dealing with smaller-than-your-average living situations, and sometimes it can get pretty damn cramped. While the ideal solution would be “move into a bigger room”, finances and other annoying stuff usually get in the way. So what are we to do when we can pretty much take three steps and make it wall-to-wall? Get bloody creative.
DON’T PUT YOUR BED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROOM
Why do we always do this? Sure, if you’ve got an S.O sharing your room with you, having the bed in the centre might make getting in/out easier. But if you want to create the illusion of a bigger room, stick that bed up against a wall. The weirdness of only being able to enter and exit from one side will pass, trust us – and you’ll have SO MUCH MORE ROOM FOR ACTIVITIES.
USE MIRRORS TO FAKE EXTRA SPACE
Mirrors are an interior designer’s secret trick – they’ll give the illusion of a bigger room thanks to their ~reflecting powers~, and trick your eyes into feeling like there’s more space than there is. The only thing is you need to get a fairly big one – just hoik it up to hang in the centre of a wall horizontally, or even lean it against a wall somewhere out of the way. You’ll notice a huge difference in the size-vibe of your space.
CHOOSE LIGHT COLOURS
When it comes to your bedlinen, the colour of your furniture, and any decor – make it light shades over dark ones. Light shades give a room that light and airy feel that implies space, while dark shades will make it seem cosy (and small). You’ll be shoooketh at the difference simply popping a white doona cover on your bed makes.
GO UP, NOT OUT
Instead of getting low sets of drawers and bulky storage, make use of the height of your room. Get tallboys over clunky closets, or install shelving in corners to stack up shoes, jewellery, or storage boxes. There’s loads of ops for temporary floating shelves like this, if you’re renting. Other options? Beds with storage underneath, getting some large, minimalist boxes to put on top of your wardrobe and store off-season clothes… basically, look at ways to be a genius when it comes to using all the nooks and crannies for getting your junk out of the way.
START NESTING
At least a bit. Investing in some genuinely lush stuff like a proper, good-for-your-back mattress you never want to get off (Snooze has got plenty going atm), a really nice rug to make a floor statement, and replacing broken furniture will make your room feel like your home, not just a cramped space you have to sleep in sometimes.
