This Easy Bed Placement Trick Will Max Out Your Bedroom’s Square Footage Instantly

Having a bigger bedroom is near the top of a lot of peoples’ home wish lists. Who wouldn’t love a few extra square feet for a reading nook, right? Turns out, there’s one easy (and free) way to achieve a more spacious room—no knocking down walls required.

In her eye-catching creation for Apartment Therapy’s Small/Cool Experience at Home, designer Angela Belt used a simple bed placement trick to max out her small space’s square footage—she pushed her hardwood bed frame to the corner of the room. 

It’s a simple (and wonderfully effective) way to make a tiny space feel much larger. In Belt’s Small/Cool room, called “The Dark Side,” putting the bed in the corner freed up floor space and allowed her to create “zones” within the 120-square-foot room. 

The bed effectively comprises the sleeping zone, while a nightstand that doubles as a vanity—plus a scalloped screen—acts as the dressing zone. The square footage saved allows for a small living area with a chaise lounge, as well as a workspace in the form of a mid-century modern desk. All four “zones” wouldn’t have been possible if the bed was flanked by two perfectly symmetrical nightstands. 

During an Instagram Live chat with Belt and Apartment Therapy’s Home Director Danielle Blundell, Blundell noted putting the bed in the corner is often a no-no when it comes to design.

“Sometimes you have to break a rule and be OK with it,” Belt says.

In this case, it’s more than OK. It’s a genius layout trick, and one that can also be applied to studio apartment floor plans, too.

You can see the style strategy at play in the room, dubbed “The Dark Side,” designed by Belt for the Small/Cool Experience 2020. Click over to see the rest of the products and paint colors featured in this room.