Carving out living space in the attic can be a way to make the most of your home’s square footage. But to get the most from your newfound space, you’ll have to tackle a few challenges specific into attics — out of steeply sloped ceilings and awkward designs to reduced light and hard-to-dress windows. Here you will find help for some of the most common attic decorating issues.
Corynne Pless
1. Rate your space. Measure every available nook and cranny in your attic space — really, don’t leave anything out. Especially if your attic is smaller than the space displayed here, you are going to want to know about each and every inch ; there are a lot of methods to utilize low eaves, little nooks and narrow passages.
Carry your measurements downstairs to your main living area, and compare some of the numbers to the furniture there to give you a clue about what might match. Is there space for a queen bed or a twin? Can that low shelf match beneath the window, or are you going to be looking for a customized solution? Doing a little bit of legwork on will get your creative juices flowing.
Corynne Pless
2. Embrace the love of an attic bedroom. What could be cozier than a child’s bed tucked under an eave in an attic bedroom? Children have a tendency to love modest spaces, so converting an attic into a child’s area is a natural option. White paneled walls ramp up the cute cottage feel.
Holly Marder
3. Boost storage. A comfortable little bed nook becomes even more practical once you add slim bedside shelving and storage at the base and under the bed.
Bonus suggestion: Beds for larger kids and grown-ups are best positioned under the highest aspect of the ceiling (as shown), rather than under the eaves, as in the previous photograph.
Holly Marder
4. Go. If you’ve got basic carpentry skills and a DIY bent, you can feasibly build something like the desk shown here with cut-to-order lumber and floating shelving, to get a quality which uses every inch of space.
Jessica Helgerson Interior Design
5. Maximize space and light with white. Even in the event that you would normally shy away from using pure white on the ceiling, walls and flooring, in an attic it can be just the thing to start the space up. Upstairs rooms get less foot traffic and less dirt tracked in, as a result of their being located further from the home’s entrance, so it’s not as difficult to keep white attic flooring clean as you might think. And being surrounded by white is like being inside a big, puffy cloud … a far cry from the stereotypical cramped, dark attic.
Mina Brinkey
6. Paint the ground. Whether you choose white or another light hue, painted flooring can be a wise option in the attic: They represent more light than plain wood, and paint is a great finish for engineered hardwood floors — a great aid for staying on budget.
7. Utilize those low walls . Low shelving units, cubbies and desks can be placed together in just the right way to produce the storage solution that fulfills your needs. Big stores like Ikea can be excellent resources for finding almost-custom modular pieces that match your area and your financial plan.
DMVF Architects
8. Look into storage that is customized . A complete wall of customized closets and other storage is worth its weight in gold, as far as I’m concerned. If you plan to utilize your attic as a master bedroom or as another frequently used area, think about saving up for custom closets or cabinetry — they’ll be worth the splurge.
Welch Forsman Associates
9. Consider. Perhaps a standard closet is not what you need whatsoever — but what about a built-in desk, place of drawers or storage backward? A pro will have plenty of ideas for making the most of your area.
Fenstermann LLC
10. Locate the suitable window treatments. Windows positioned onto a slanted wall are particularly tricky to pay, and depending on what it is that you are using the space for, you might opt to leave them bare. But if you are utilizing the space as a bedroom, you will want to pay those windows. Motorized shades like those shown here can be opened from the bottom or top, allowing you to easily control the light on large windows.
11. Try out that bed-on-the-floor item that is bohemian. Whether you have space to get a queen-size mattress, or you have only a tiny corner which can fit only a twin-size bed or a crib, there’s bound to be a spot ideally suited to a cushy floor bed. To create a sofa area, shirt a mattress that is little .
12. Utilize furnishings that are low. Surround a low coffee table with floor cushions to create a comfortable lounge place — sitting on the ground is likely to make the ceilings look higher. Likewise, sofas that are low and platform beds will operate in an attic than couches and full-height beds.
Eran Turgeman – Photographer
13. Hang pendant light or a chandelier. Make the most of the vertical space at the elevation of your attic ceiling with a hanging light fixture. Supplement it with table lamps — ground lamps have a tendency to appear awkward in attics.
Upscale Construction
14. Try furniture. Children’s play tables, chairs and shelving can be tucked into tight spaces where full-size furniture will not work. Finish off an attic playroom with a daybed beneath the window, by which grown-ups can hang out while the little ones play. Hanging a chair from the middle beam is an enjoyable touch which also makes the most of the highest point in the room, drawing the eye up.
Inform us What is the biggest challenge you are facing in converting your attic to living space?