6 Brilliant IKEA Hacks to Make the Most of Your Tiny Bedroom
If you live in a small space, you know that every inch counts. That’s especially true of bedrooms, where you have to squeeze in clothing and shoe storage, space for sleeping, and even sometimes a workspace. It can be a challenge to do all that and still make a small bedroom feel cozy, organized, and functional.
Fortunately, with a little creativity and some clever hacks, you can transform your bedroom into a space that’s both functional and relaxing. Below, find six ideas for keeping clutter at bay — all of which use easy-to-copy IKEA hacks. Steal these ideas and you, too, can create the practical and stylish bedroom of your dreams.
Create dual-function hidden storage.
Mirrors are a classic small-space style hack, as they bounce light around and can make a room feel bigger. But they also present an opportunity to store things behind them. Turn any of IKEA’s affordable full-length mirrors into slim jewelry storage by building a small frame behind the mirror and adding hinges to the mirror to turn it into a door. For more info, follow the DIY tutorial from Laura Gummerman of A Beautiful Mess.
Use a monochrome color scheme to your advantage.
The IKEA BRIMNES bed is already a small-bedroom favorite, with two storage drawers on each side and a matching headboard that squeezes in a small bookcase to boot. But this BRIMNES hack from blogger Megan Zietz lies in a trick of the eye.
Leaving her BRIMNES its original color — either a white or dark brown-black — would have made it stand out, taking up a lot of visual space. To help it recede into the background, Megan painted it a similar hue to her walls so that the frame blends in.
Create functional zones with open storage.
The limited square footage in Shelbie and Blake’s bedroom didn’t hinder their imagination for the space. Not only were they able to address their no-closet challenge, but they also managed to fit a workstation into the tight space, too!
Hack your own double-duty, open-closet corner by bookending a desk with taller storage pieces (Shelbie and Blake used a wide BILLY bookcase for their shoes and a freestanding BRIMNES wardrobe on the other side of their shelves). The vertical pieces act as a functional border to the rest of the room.
Squeeze in cabinets above your door frame.
Putting storage above a door is a smart way to utilize an overlooked space in your room, and it’s an especially smart spot to store items you don’t need frequently like seasonal clothing or extra bedding.
New Yorker Juliette gave her 280-square-foot studio apartment lots more storage with a row of BESTA units that run the entire length of the wall above her door. You could use open shelves, too, but the closed cabinets help hide your items away and help reduce visual clutter.
Turn shelves into storage-rich “walls.”
Studios need their single open space to serve multiple purposes. To help her client create distinct zones in her apartment, DIYer and content creator Alexandra Gater cleverly hacked two KALLAX shelves to create an epic storage wall. The “wall” sits at the end of the bed to tuck the sleep zone away while also providing tons of usable shelves.
Create privacy with a space-saving curtain.
On the other side of the bed, Alexandra installed a VIDGA curtain track to add even more separation while taking up virtually no space. Her client can slide the curtain over to “close” her bedroom when people come over without sacrificing any floor or wall space.