7 Ways to Make a Small Bedroom Look Larger and Function Better

A small bedroom can feel more like a cave than a refuge. If a room lacks natural lighting, bright storage and the right color palette, then it can feel bloated and uncomfortable. But with the right techniques, even the smallest bedrooms can be much more functional and even look bigger.

Utilize these expert ideas to make a bedroom, office, storage space or loft into a comfy bedroom for family, friends — or you.

Shor Home

The ideal example. This tiny space includes it all: The daybed (with additional storage beneath) almost makes the room look like a sitting room instead of a bedroom however doesn’t remove from its comfy vibe. A wall-mounted nightstand and light fixture maximize every inch of ground area. A classic chair offers seats but visually disappears.

Jeanne Finnerty Interior Design

1. Insert shelving. Shallow built in shelving can help you obtain storage and maintain floor area. Stick to shelving that’s no more than 12 inches deep. The components here act as bedside tables, eliminating the need for additional furniture. Recessing the mattress in the middle of the shelving keeps it from encroaching on floor area.

If you go using built-ins in your small bedroom, then try taking them all the way into the ceiling to make the ceiling look higher. And paint the back wall a shade to make layering and thickness.

Shannon Malone

2. Allow in natural light. As you should avoid blocking natural lighting in a small room, sometimes the only place that makes sense for a mattress is directly in front of the window. If that’s true, try a translucent headboard (like the one on this metal frame) to take advantage of your sun.

JADO DECOR CHRISTINE TSINGELIDIS / BUILDER

3. Go for mirrored closet doors. Working with a mirror to double your area’s visual square footage is a trick that has been used for centuries. In small bedrooms this frequently means replacing your cupboard doors with mirrored ones. The effect tends to function best when you can take the mirrors from floor to ceiling and wall to wall.

Chandos Interiors

4. Utilize a daybed. A daybed might help make the illusion that the space is much more of a small sitting room, rather than a small bedroom that has been taken by way of a mattress. Daybeds frequently have storage built in under too — yet another bonus for a small room.

Baxter Interiors

5. Paint the ceiling. Painting the ceiling exactly the same color as the walls can help to expel the shadow lines that visually define a space. A white ceiling against a darker wall instantly shrinks a room — your eye can feel the area’s size straight away. When the ceiling and walls will be the exact same color, it’s harder for your eye to tell where the area’s parameters begin and finish, so the room looks bigger.

Natalia Skobkina

6. Install pendants. Don’t take up valuable bedside dining room with bulky lamps and oversized shades; put in pendant lighting instead. Hanging pendant lights from the ceiling creates a focal point while providing task lighting on each side of the mattress. Just make sure you measure carefully and hang them so that you do not have to escape bed to turn them off.

Michelle Hinckley

7. Put up wall shelves. A nightstand can occupy a lot of floor area in a small bedroom, and using only one using a double- or queen-size bed usually means that somebody won’t have a place for an alarm clock, phone or beverage. A wall shelf on one side of the mattress — or on both — can give a small bedroom a more spacious feeling and additional floor area, while giving you all the space you need for night essentials.

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