I don't know if it's Ok, but I know when I was younger I really wanted to! I had a walk in closet at one point when I was 10-12 that perfectly fit my Queen size bed. I drew up plans and tried to convince my mom to let me turn my closet into my sleeping area, and then decorate the bedroom like my own little living space. In the end she wouldn't let me. Something about not wanting to destroy a perfectly good closet/bedroom combo in a new build house. We moved almost every 3-4 years so I understand not wanting to do anything to decrease the value of the home, but I still think it would have been pretty cool!

Regardless how small a space, I think it can become a dream hideaway for kids as long as it has a window; and a good sized one, with a view to the outside. I can't see a kid being happy in a closet for more than two fun nights. After that, it's back to basically sleeping in a closet while others have rooms ....

Sounds great! Just do it.

When one of my twins was still in a toddler bed, she told me that she wanted to have her own bedroom and knew just where it would be. Since we lived in a very tiny apartment, I was baffled until she took me into their bedroom, flung upon the closet door, and said, "Ta-da! My new room!" I was horrified by the idea at first, and then thought, "Well, why not?" There was room for her bed with a bookshelf at the foot of it. We took out all the clothes and the rod, hung a tapestry on the back wall and she had a cozy little private space. She had that "room" until she outgrew the toddler bed. At age 20, she still sometimes says what a wonderful bedroom it was and how much she missed it when she had to move back out into the main room. Meanwhile, her sister loved having the much larger space as her own.

You know what I would have loved as a kid? A lofted bed in the closet. It could be about 30 in off the ground, and the lower area could be filled with pillows. The perfect reading spot! It would be best if it had a window though, and of course it needs to have power outlets for lighting.

Honestly, if your kid wants to sleep in their closet let them! Im sure her imagination is running wild just thinking about sleeping in a little cozy cave like that. We live in chicago and my childs entire bedroom is in a walk in closet. Just let her have fun now, i mean you can always take it out in a month or two.

I don't think Harry Potter enjoyed his closet... ;-)

I think you're talking about building the ultimate kid space, and your child will probably be the envy of all their friends (even those who live in newly built McMansions).

I think so long as you make sure it's safe, why not? One of my favorite spots to play as a kid was in my closet. Make sure nothing can be pulled down on the child, or knocked over onto them if they're a kicker. And worst case scenario they don't like it or it's not comfy and you move them out. Just make sure you don't make drastic and/or costly changes before you know it works.

sounds cool to me! kids love "clubhouses" and hideaways! If a friend wants to spent the night, they can roll out an airmattress in the larger space

when I was a teenager I had a closet exactly as you describe and *I* put my bed in there. I left the rest of the room to be more like a living room and there was plenty of space for friends to sleep over while I still had my nook. As a smaller child I think it would have been fantastic! Sort of like having a permanent "fort" in my room.

A tiny closet with no window and clothes/shelves looming overhead is no place for a child to sleep every night. It might be appropriate to make a little hide-out nook in there, but it should not be a permanent sleeping arrangement.

A friend of mine who grew up in a very small Manhattan apartment had a closet "bedroom". She said she was in high school before she realized what her "room" really was. Never bothered her, though.

I would set it up as a hideout for now, to be used for playing, reading, maybe napping. Then, if your daughter begs to use it at night, you can revisit the idea.
It is probably technically a hazard in case of a fire because there is no window and a narrow opening to escape from. In my area, building code states that all bedrooms have to have egress windows which the closet obviously doesn't have....
I LOVE the artwork and the curtains!

The absense of a door probably helps you a lot in terms of safety concerns. It seems from the photos that the mattress would *just* fit the space (with the possibility of a little room for shelving, presumably at the tall end). I feel like my back would be pretty annoyed with me crawling around trying to put sheets on a mattress on the floor with no elbow room and only door-sized access.

But! I have a friend whose girlhood bed was a mattress on kind of a raised pallet in a nook in her room (your picture reminds me of it because it was all wood panelled like yours). There were drawers under the bed. There were no walls on one side at all, though, it was more of a grotto than a cave, if you can picture what I mean. She slept side-to-side, as you're discussing. So if you wanted to do something like that you could take the doorside walls off altogether and build a raised platform in the space. You'd still have the cozy, nooky feel but would have more accessibility. You'd lose the hanging closet altogether, but maybe you could add an armoire to the room.

For a less permanent solution, you could have an actual futon that your child lays out herself each night. The futon could be stored in the closet or elsewhere, but at least it would be manageable enough to pull out of the closet for linen changing purposes. Maybe you could try that as a stopgap or a while to see if your child actually likes the idea before doing a big overhaul.

I'm kind of excited to see the follow up, so let us know what happens!

How fun!!! Go for it !!

Between the age of 8 and 10 my bedroom was a utility closet in my parent's one bedroom apartment. To this day I remember it fondly. The custom futon mattress was mounted well off the floor on top drawers for storage and there was shelving toward the top of two walls with lighting. It was the perfect nook to escape to at the end of the day. Go for it!

*for a while

When I was 14 my parents added a new master bedroom suite to our house, and as the oldest child I got to move into the former "master" in the basement. It was a 15x19 bedroom, with a shower stall bathroom and a 6X10 closet. I moved the top half of my twin over futon bunk bed into the closet (which had no windows, and was probably a fire danger now that I think about it).
After some thrift store allowance purchases I was able to outfit my futon couch with some sofa pillows and an arm chair, a couple of end tables and a little black and white tv!
One corner of my room was a full size office desk (on which my comador, and later my Mac 1 lived) with book shelves, I had a sitting area and even a little "mini kitchen" which was mostly just a shelf with snacks, my mother never did allow me to have a fridge or microwave, which was all I was missing to have my own apartment!
It was the best, coolest, and most awesome room I ever had and I miss it!

if it has proper ventilation and light.

My neighbors had a two-bedroom apartment, 3 boys and a girl. Their daughter took the walk-in closet as her bedroom. Worked out fine for everyone. I don't see the safety concerns really; there are plenty of beds on the market that are just as enclosed as this closet would be, although I would put an storage under the bed rather than over it.

I would have loved it as a kid.

My only concern as an adult is one of safety. I doubt that firemen check closets when a house is burning...

If you do this, make sure the closet has a window or other route out in addition to the main closet door. Your child needs a way out if fire or something else blocks the main door.

Do it. As long as it's safe, why not? She might get bored after a while, but it's easy to change, and changing sheets are always a nightmare anyway. If you can't handle it after a while, the experiment ends.

@RMF325: no "very small Manhattan apartment" has a closet big enough to fit a teenager's bed and other furniture.

Beyond fine--a totally great idea! We used a closet as a sleeping space at our family cabin...when we had an overflow crowd. All of us kids fought over who got to sleep in it. I also had friends who were twins--their parents generously gave them the master bedroom...they put their bunk-bed in the walk-in closet and used the main room for play, lounging, desks, etc. I was so envious of their personal rec room!

I would often sleep in my closet when I was little. I would drag my Jungle-Book themed sleeping bag, pillow, some stuffed animals and a flashlight into my small closet and settle in for the evening. My main motivation was getting out of making my bed, which was perfectly presentable in the morning thanks to my ingenious new sleeping arrangement. But I think I also loved the small space. We also played in closets, and I may have slept over in my cousin's closet once, I'm sure at my prompting. Do it without hesitation. Unless your child is claustrophobic.

Since I was a child I have wanted one of those Scandinavian built-in cupboard beds. This would basically be a variation on that. You could even make the opening a bit wider so that you could put drawers underneath, or put a window in the wall by the door to the room.

I don't think the concern about egress windows is warranted since the closet is part of the room and there is no door to it, just a curtain.

I think the real stumbling block is semantic. Letting your child sleep in a closet is just different from letting them sleep in a cupboard bed.

This is a terrible idea. There's a reason walk-in closets cannot be called bedrooms - unless there's a window in there, there is no means of egress in case of fire. And as noted above, this would make it just a little harder for someone else to find your child if there's an emergency. It's a cute idea, but the risk outweighs the benefit.

I don't have kids, but I WAS one once... I think making a kid cave in a closet might be fine, but I'd have a normal bed in the room as well. Safety is critical, but fun is fun. Just make sure there is a light and ventilation.

As a kid, I once made a tent on the bed with a shadeless lamp as the tent pole. My brother and I were called to supper, the lamp tipped over (still on) and smoldered a hole in both the quilt and the expensive foam rubber mattress. Don't let anything like this even become a possibility. These days I'd put a LED wall sconce low on the wall so the kid/s can turn it off from "bed" without using it to support anything.

Richard, are you a new staff member to AT?

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/how-to-fit-two-kids-in-a-close-139391

I did this when I was a grad student, but the "closet" which was under the stairs had a small window at the foot of the bed. That way I could use the bedroom for my studio. It fit a twin mattress/frame perfectly!

My oldest slept in a closet in our 1 BR apartment when he was little... it also had no door. I don't think ventilation is an issue in a room with no door, and I don't know a kid who wouldn't want a small space to sleep in. I might not leave all the clothes on poles in the closet, opting instead for dressers and a real bed with under the bed storage. I like the idea of an LED on-off lamp that @Sherrybinnh suggested. And @Minnasaur it is WAY safer to have your kid sleeping in an alcove in your bedroom than off down the hall somewhere if there was a fire. I have never ever let my little ones sleep far from me until they could talk and walk. So scary and dangerous. My oldest had his own room when he was 2, and someone broke into our house while he and I were home alone THROUGH his bedroom window. He didn't sleep alone again until his sister was born and we'd moved to rural Vermont. My youngest 2 (of 4) just began sleeping in their own rooms.

Since everyone is sharing stories, I thought I'd add that even as an adult in college (twice in dorms, once while married in our first apartment), I pimped out closets with a pallet where I could study and nap. It was awesome! This could be a really cool, personalized hang-out for your kid. I'd say that as long as they're into it and you can make it a safe space, let them have their bed in the closet!

I always wanted to do that as a kid, but my parents wouldn't let me. Go ahead and be the cool mom or the cool dad and do it!

I had my bed in the closet for a year or two around junior high. I LOVED it. And, it wasn't like a nice walk-in closed I've seen comments about. Mine was a standard 2'x10' closet with sliding doors. My parents put a dresser in the middle and long boards that were supported by shelves on each end and the dresser in the middle. For the mattress, they bought a big piece of foam core and cut the width to fit. I had shelves at either end for odds and ends (clock, books, etc.) I slept about 30" off the floor either with the doors open or closed (I loved closed). Eventually the 24" width made it hard to stay but it was great while it lasted. I've often thought about making another "sanctuary" in a closet.

Ventilation is a non-issue when there's no door, I agree.

Kids love having things that are "their size" and that often includes miniature rooms. The wood, the curtain, and the little bird cut out already make it such a cheerful space, anyway! I'd move most of the stuff out into some cheap storage in the main room so it feels like a room and not a closet, though. Maybe put up another curtain or a door in the short side of the closet if you want to keep the crawl space for the boxes. Add some flat picture book shelving like you see on a lot of reading nooks posted here, and maybe a fake window she can "look out" into, and it would be the best little kid bedroom ever.

By the time sleepovers are an issue, I suspect the kid will be too big for the space anyway. A lot of kids with small bedrooms tend to have their sleepovers in sleeping bags on the living room floor anyway, just because there's more room and the parents can keep an eye on the goings-on with more ease. :)

I think it is fine. My best friend when I was a child had the most amazing closet bed. It was a "normal" closet but he dad took off the sliding doors and built a bunkbed in the closet. the bottom bunk had drawers under it. He built these two trees for each side of the closet that made it seem like a bunk bed in a tree house.
Later when his sister was old enough his dad made a victorian house theme bunk bed for her.

PS: oh, if you're worried about fire hazards - firemen know to look in closets anyway, as that's the first place a lot of kids hide. Just make sure there's appropriate stickers on the outer doors and windows of the house letting them know how many kids you have, and which areas of the house are their bedrooms.

And as a fireman's kid, I can resist the urge to say - keep your fire alarms tested, and practice fire drills! Much more important than where you put the bed in a room. :)

P.S. I do agree with @Dulcibella, the most off-putting thing about the plan is the phrase "sleep in the closet." Fort, nook, spaceship, or really anything else sounds more appealing.

But yes, I do agree with @Dulcibella, the most off-putting thing about the plan is the phrase "sleep in the closet." Fort, nook, spaceship, or really anything else sounds more appealing.

I would have loved this as a kid!

I think it sounds like a dream come true for a child. Please post photos when you are done. For those who cite safety issues, what you are describing would be wonderful accomodations for 95% of the world's children. A college friend of mine grew up sharing a twin bed with her sister in a room much smaller than the closet described. Her two brothers had the bunk above them.

Some of my tenants live in bachelor suites with a large walk in closet. More than a few use that closet as a bedroom and are very happy doing so. They sleep with the door open for ventilation and are very happy with their cozy sleeping nook. So if adults can be happy sleeping in a closet, I don't see why kids wouldn't be, especially in such pretty ones as yours!

At one point we lived in a three bedroom house with four children, the eldest, then 15, no longer wanted to share a room with her 12 yr old sister, so we gave her the mudroom/aka large front closet. It was 6' x 4', enough room for her bed to go across the back wall (which also had a window) a tall skinny armoire beside the foot of the bed and a nightstand at the head. There were also shelves that ran all along the top of the walls including over the door, she loved it, it was cozy and safe and hers and that's all that should matter.

Durring the Harry Potter book craze my little brother wanted to sleep under the stairs, so my parents cleaned it all out, put a mattress in and let him. He LOVED it. Of course he only lived with us durring the summer, but I think it was a highlight for him to have his own special hideout durring that phase of his life.

When I was a kid, I took over a tiny closet under the stairs, adding in a reading light, cushions, paintings on the walls, etc. I often tried to sleep in there, despite the fact that it was far shorter than I was, and I inevitably woke up sore all over. A couple times, I even crammed in there with a friend for a sleepover. So personally, I would have been all for it as a kid.

I think your answer really depends on whether or not there are boogymen in the closet. If there are, it's probably a bad idea to sleep in there. If the closet is free of boogymen, why not?

This is awesome! They can have a little hideaway nook/fort. Every kid loves making those. Hell I'm a grown adult and would love that. My first crib mattress was made of hay. That's not a joke.

We moved into an old, drafty Victorian apartment a few years ago. The "bedroom" (once the living room) had a giant walk-in closet (once the bedroom but now too small for even a twin bed). Wanting to use the apartment's other bedroom as an office, we moved our then-eleven month old into the closet. It was large enough for her crib, dresser and expedit bookcase for her little things. We loved having her so close but still far enough way that she wasn't woken up by our comings and goings. So, I have no problem letting kids sleep in a closet.

I would have loved this as a kid.

As it was, I often slept in an old overstuffed armchair in my bedroom so that I wouldn't have to remove my elaborate doll setups from my bed at night and could continue with them in the morning. Such indulgent parents.

Sure? I too would've loved to have this as a child. For the sake of avoiding horrified visitors, however, I wouldn't call it a closet, tho, as in "My child sleeps in a closet". I'd call it a...'nook'.

Our son and daughter share a room, so we transform a closet in our dining room into our son's 'fortress of solitude'. Because it is a closet over a staircase, the floor of the closet is about 24 inches of the floor, so his little sister can't get in. For ventilation issue, we cut the door in half and only kept the bottom part. He often requests (and we let him) to sleep there. It's about 42 long by 24 or 30 wide.... and only 72 high, so it's very cozy.

We've gotten a bit too P.C. on safetly and hazards. Keep the door off, keep those curtains and let them sleep there.
Kids love little nooks and hide-outs because it's their own. It's usually uncomfortabe for adults so they have 1 up on us.
IF you are concern about any hazards, make the appropriate changes and let them enjoy their new 'bedroom".

sounds totally fun and cute to me, and something that i would have SO wanted to do as a kid, but now as a parent, i can't help but thinking of firefighters trying to go through the house looking for kids and not knowing to check the closets, or earthquakes with rods/shelving up above the beds, etc. whoever posted to make little nook hide-aways, i think that sounds like a great compromise! i would have made it a hideaway as a kid myself!

I think it sounds like a fun idea! And I think it would be the perfect place for lots of glow in the dark stars in the various constellation shapes all over the walls and ceiling. :) But that's just me.

Forget the kids, it's something I plan to do for myself once I get my walk-in closet cleaned out. There is no door, a skylight, outlets, and one of the walls is a couple of feet shorter than the ceiling so I can still get plenty of air from the fan in the next room. My whole house is narrow with only about 500sf of livable space and sleeping in the closet will make a really big difference in the amount of room I have.

Growing up in a Victorian house meant there was no shortage of small--ish bedrooms or over-sized storage rooms. My sister and I had an enormous bedroom with a curved wall, a large alcove for our beds, and a play area that accommodated our puppet theatre, doll houses, and toy boxes. When the small box room next to ours was freed up, a major fight broke out over who would get the small room, with each us of wanting it because we felt it was "kid-sized".

I think it's fine. My room growing up had these dormers that fit a twin bed perfectly. I had my bed in one or the other for years. The rest of the room was like my little living room. It was great, and I wouldn't hesitate to let my kiddo do the same...whether it was a dormer or a closet.

I think every kid on the planet would love to be able to sleep in a cave!

As a parent, I'd probably widen the doorway and add vents. Not sure about the sheet-changing problem... But no, I definitely don't think it'd be "wrong" for the kid to sleep in the closet!

We're in the process of building a modest size house. Our son's bedroom is quite small and his bed would have taken up most of his floor space...so we designed his closet to be big enough to build a loft bed into the closet, so he'll have play space underneath and his bed above...and it saves the limited floor space in his room for playing and toys. His closet won't have a door though, so ventilation is not an issue and there is a light installed in the ceiling there.

I had a friend who had literally the exact same situation and it was great. I think it's also good because it separates the "time for sleep" area from the "play" area. Plus, it gives them a lot of space in the room to build, dance, make blanket forts, etc. :)

Hideout, naptime, etc. I think 8-12 plus hours would get stuffy. I remember loving hanging out in my closet as a kid but also that it got hot and sort of yucky in there after awhile.

I lived in a closet for a year - no window, and the single bed juuust fit inside. I hung up lots of curtains and fabric and made it very nest like.

Since then, I've learned a little bit about buildings. When we sleep, we exhale water, increasing the humidity level in a bedroom. If the door is closed, the humidity will go up. If the bed or other furniture, or whatever are against outside walls or ceilings, air will not circulate against these surfaces, and they will be colder than everywhere else. Condensation might occur, especially in winter. Now a little condensation once in a while isn't a problem, but if it happens alot, you might see mould growing on the wall.

I've seen a few bedrooms and closets on outside wall where one spot just happened to be a bit colder then everywhere else, and very pretty pattern of black and red mould was creeping around the gypsum.

You can counter act this by making sure air can circulate aroudn every cold surface, keeping the door open at night and so on.

But an alternative might be to make sleeping in the closet a special event, or putting a bean bag chair inside for a super cool super private reading room!

My kids would love this and I would even love the cozy sleeping nook! That being said, my husband is a fireman, and one of the first things they learn about fighting fires is that the main place kids die is in the short closets at a knee wall or in closets. This is a double trouble space. Though there is such a small chance of there actually being a fire, this would be a death trap in such a tragic scenario.

When I was in high school I slept in a closet under the stairs (Harry Potter style), and now my seven month old son sleeps in a closet nursery. I'd say go for it, it's a really fun space for kids to use, and don't worry about sleepovers! My friends loved my closet room (though if they stayed over we slept in the living room.

Just to put the fire safety issue into some perspective, according to the US National Center for Health Statistics, in 2005:

Number of children age 0-14 who died of "accidental exposure to smoke, fire, or flames": 460

Number of children age 0-14 who died in motor vehicle accidents: 2,210

IOW, it's *5 times* riskier to put your kid in a car than in a closet. Just sayin.'

http://205.207.175.93/VitalStats/TableViewer/tableView.aspx?ReportId=26041

GYPSYMOMMA - that's terrible! Not sure about the USA but here in Australia, especially in older homes, the designated kids room (usually a single room next to the main bedroom) almost always has bars on it's window. Our rental has it but I agree with you about sleeping with the little ones.

As for the post, I'd only do it if the child is enthusiastic about it. Don't forget about Claustrophobia. While playing in our bedroom we older kids locked my younger brother in the closet and that's how he/we/the parents discovered he was Claustrophobic. Goodluck.

Kids die in closets because they *hide* in closets. Not because a closet is more dangerous.

In fact, an empty closet (with no door, and no clothing to hide behind) is going to be a lot safer than a full closet that a fire fighter could look into without seeing the kid because he's behind a bunch of boxes.

building codes are written with the health & safety of the occupants in mind; in nyc, a legal room in which one sleeps now is min 8'x10' with a 24 s.f. window (big enough to squeeze through in emergency) that opens to the outside light & air. a hurricane room or play space that is used when one (and one's adult supervisor) is conscious is not the same as a room designed for sleeping.

Given that there seem to be footie pyjamas hanging in that closet, how old is your child? Have they themselves expressed a desire to sleep in the closet? And if they have, what leads you to believe they will still desire it in a week's time?

There is a perfectly good room available for your child, put your attention to turning that room into something that will nourish them rather than cramming them into a closet (that will still be used for storing clothes?). If they themselves express a desire to use the closet for more than storage then you can think again, but at the moment I think you might be indulging your own child self rather than your actual child.

This is the traditional dutch bed style - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box-bed#The_closet-bed_in_the_Netherlands - we used to visit friends in holland as a child and always argued over who got the one remaining closet bed!

I used to sleep under the stairs and I loved it. In that instance, there were walls on three sides of the mattress so the bed was a nightmare to make but it's hardly a deal breaker. I say go for it!

My 2 year old daughter has a big girl bed in her room and chooses to sleep on the hardwood floor in the corner, behind her glider... Children love small spaces! Just make the closet safe-- nothing to pull down or fall on her and she'll love it!!

Thanks for all of the feedback and input. My daughter just turned one so don't worry, I am not cramming her in there against her will and she is perfectly happy where she is now, in her crib in the main part of the room, which is a nourishing and wholesome space, thank you very much. This was more of a development of a thought I had when I was building the house, and I wanted to start a conversation and get a lot of different viewpoints on the idea, with an eye towards possibly doing something down the road. Mission accomplished!

Putting kids and infants's sleeping quarters seems to be popular these days. Is it because Harry Potter slept under the stairs? When I first saw photos of cribs in closets, I gasped and thought of the lack of air circulation and risk of SIDS. Since your you child is 8 yo, SIDS is no longer a concern but I would still really worry about air circulation and the humidity in the closet. Even with the door left open, air cannot circulate well in a closet unless there is an air vent or fan in there too. Is your child used to sleeping with a fan or near an air vent? Are there pipes/vents in the walls that would make the space either too warm/cold/noisy to get a good night sleep? What happens if your child gets sick? Is there a way to control the temperature and humidity in the space. Once comfort and safety issues have been looked at and you and your child are still adamant about putting a bed in there, I would test it out first before putting anything permanent in there. Monsters do tend to hide in closets, after all, and you may find yourself sleeping in the closet with your child or company in your own bed after a nightmare.

Personally, I would put the dresser in the closet and the bed in the main room. I think closets make great reading nooks but impractical and possibly unsafe for very young children to sleep in on a regular basis. Put a reading light, comfy chair or beanbag and bookshelves in the closet along with his/her clothes and the dresser.

I did it when I was a kid! My family of 5 lived in a 500 square foot garage apartment. The house only officially had one bedroom, so my dad took the storage compartments that were build on the low side of the walls, wallpapered them, added a built-in radio, shelf, and tape player, then put a twin size mattress on the floor. I slept in one, my sister in another, and my brother in another. I didn't even know it was weird until I went to a sleepover at a friend's house!

My relatives lived in a large attic apartment. My cousin's bedroom was tucked under the roof line. It was long and skinny with a steeply sloped outside wall (with windows). The back end had probably been a closet at some point. It was square and maybe 5 foot by 5 foot, with a square opening (4x4?) slightly higher than the floor. It was outfitted with a mattress and had fancy padded walls (my uncle was an upholsterer). If it had had a door, it would have looked suspiciously like a padded cell :-)

We had a great time bouncing around in it (I am wondering if the padded walls were an afterthought of my safety minded uncle) but also some wonderful quiet times reading a book (good lighting in there, too).

For most of my life as a kid I sooooo envied my cousin for this "bedroom".

Just remember that mattresses don't last as long when you put them directly on the floor. Slats or box springs help absorb shock, so when they're gone, the mattress absorbs more of it. Slats and box springs also help let air flow through the mattress, so putting the mattress on a solid surface will also make it hotter. Keep that in mind if you live in a warm climate.

I LOVED sleeping in my toy closet as a kid. It was a large, strangely-shaped closet due to the roof peak and I often chose to sleep there instead of my bed. It was like sleeping in a fort.

it's very important for children to feel like their parents take their wants and ideas seriously, so whatever your decision, explain it thoroughly and make sure your child had some sort of say in their living arrangements. in our house there is only one rule, and the rule is "no hurting yourself allowed!!". so, safety permitting, i would be totally on-board with my kids doing this.

Sounds like a great way to prepare your children for adult living in any major city!

I think putting a toddler bed or a chair in there for a reading nook or nap place is okay. I think sleeping in a closet is not a great idea for young children if they have access to better air circulation.

i think its a good idea..my daughters room has this weird walk in area..we put her toddler bed in the walk in area and her actual room is a play room..she loves it and its nice for when friends come over. if your kids sleep in the closet just make sure you have extra fold out beds or bedding so when they have sleep overs they can sleep in the room part

Horrible idea since bedrooms need to have at least one window.....and who wants to sleep with their clothes dangling over their head? Plus it sucks for the kids who sleep in the closet versus those who get a room. I wouldn't do it if you don't want a ton of resentment.

my first bedroom was kind of a closet. there was only enough room for a twin-ish cushion & a lamp. i was BEYOND happy.

The Gael Gallery -- These days with Child Social Services it's much better to be safe than sorry. I'd leave the closets as just that - closets. The bedrooms are plenty big for at least two kids to share apiece.