Storage Help for Small Bedrooms: Beautiful Built-ins

So many of the master suites I see these days are so large that sometimes I wonder if homeowners are hosting a ballroom dance class for 20 in there. Most of us are lucky to fit a queen-size bed, a couple of nightstands and a dresser into our bedrooms — they may be wonderfully cozy, but they can present some challenges. Freestanding pieces of furniture can become a hodgepodge when crammed into a tight space. Storage is tricky, closet space is scant, and there may not be room for nightstands and table lamps for reading.

Bedroom built-ins create a seamless look and can take care of your storage and furniture needs while making a small room feel bigger. They create nestled-in niches for beds, offer handy shelves in lieu of nightstands and provide space for artwork and reading sconces. Here’s a look at 16 bedroom built-ins from the My Houzz series that incorporate storage in highly functional and chic ways.

Bring in the Zen. In this Montreal loft, the built-in walnut platform bed, nightstands and storage wall give the room a calming, unified look. There’s not only storage for clothing and books, but also surfaces around the bed for lighting and more.

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Nestle a bed into whitewashed storage. Clothing and other belongings are stashed over and on either side of this bed in a Dutch cottage; the white cabinet doors create a calm, uncluttered look.

Building a niche like this creates a good opportunity to display artwork, keep nighttime reading handy and add convenient, unobtrusive reading lights.

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Improve upon typical closets. “I hate closets,” homeowner Le Michelle Nguyen told Houzz contributor Laura Garner. “I always rip them out and replace them with built-in or freestanding storage. It’s just a more functional use of space, and there are fewer dead zones that just wind up being cluttered and dirty.” It’s hard to argue with her philosophy when admiring this sleek wall of lacquered doors.

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Organize an airy aerie. The bedroom in this Fitch Bay, Quebec, modern rustic cabin floats above the first floor, with a long, narrow layout. Often a long, narrow layout has the potential to be awkward, but because of the built-in unit that acts as a headboard, the room has pleasing proportions and plenty of handy storage.


Behind the headboard bookshelves is a closet. These built-ins serve as partial walls and organize the space; the bathroom is concealed by another closet behind the bedroom.

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Serve two rooms. In this Fort Worth, Texas, backyard cottage, a clever built-in is used by two spaces. The bedroom enjoys the lovely shelves and objects from one side …


… while the main living space enjoys them from the other. The placement draws the eye up, making the ceilings seem higher than they are.

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Thwart the wrench a utility company throws at you. Hydro-Québec installed some water meters right on the wall here, challenging this renovator’s plans to highlight the exposed brick in this Montreal basement apartment’s bedroom. No matter; she created a useful niche shelving system and simply added a grille to conceal the meters.
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Tie things together with a soffit. A cleverly designed soffit gave this Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, homeowner room for recessed lights that highlight artwork, along with a space for shelves between two closets. The casework has a unified look and finishes off the architecture.

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In another bedroom in the same home, a built-in headboard incorporates nightstands and lighting. The mix of gray and white tones gives the entire wall a chic and calm look.

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Make room for pinball. This loft within a loft in Pittsburgh offers space for sleeping and playing the silver ball. Wade Caruso Woodworking used reclaimed wood and steel throughout the home to create shelves, an accent wall and this structure.

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Create a cozy nook. This framed recess along a staircase in an Alabama farmhouse holds a bed that’s an inviting space for reading and catnaps.

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Incorporate your belongings as part of the built-in display. Homeowner Taylor Hoff is a visual merchandiser who brought his retail skills to his San Francisco apartment. Building in shelving and racks for his clothing, shoes, artwork, computer, books and other favorite objects allowed him to incorporate his belongings out in the open.

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Make storage attractive. Closet space is at a premium in any of New York City’s five boroughs, so making storage as seamless and attractive as possible was paramount in this Brooklyn loft. Armoires, drawers and shelves painted in an accent color turn storage into an attractive architectural feature.

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Finish things off just right. In this Vancouver home, this built-in walnut dresser adds sophistication and creates a seamlessness that a freestanding dresser could not. The quartz top was a worthwhile investment, finishing off the custom piece with a luxe and functional counter.

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Conveniently locate a large selection of nighttime reads. This Dallas couple doesn’t have any trouble finding something to read before bed. Shelves over the bed and down its sides keep their favorite books close by. A custom leather headboard gives the bed a proper presence in the center of the shelving. The great thing about this design is that it would also work for those who prefer to display favorite objects, personal photographs and artwork.

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Simulate a swimming pool. In this house in the Netherlands, interior designer Anja Hesp transformed a bed nook into something else completely. With walls painted a pool blue and a comforter called Pool (note the racing-lane stripe down the middle), the sleeping alcove invites us to dive right in. The cabinets overhead make it extra snug and add functional storage.

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Separate living and working space. Here on Houzz, we’ve debated having sleep space and workspace in one room. For some it’s a necessity due to space constraints. This bedroom is in the same Dutch house as the nook above. This partial wall provides a niche in lieu of nightstands and a place to house the wiring for the reading sconces. At the same time, it keeps the adjacent workspace from being intrusive.

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My Houzz is a series in which we visit and photograph personality-filled homes and the people who inhabit them. Share your home with us and see more personal homes.

URL: Storage Help for Small Bedrooms: Beautiful Built-ins http://www.decor-ideas.org/cases-view-id-24428.html