Decorating and Design - need some ideas (organizing small BR)

Alright, I've got a small room and I need some space. I've got 3 big things, that take up more space then they seem. Considering that I'm a guy I have a big entertainment center that has all of my stuff. Plus my computer desk, and lots of wires and no way to organize them ethier. My bed is big too, standard queen on a box spring on the floor. I've got a table, and two tower drawers. I could probably build a closet organizer but my closet isn't giant ethier. Seeing as my house is over 100 years old, it wasn't built for all the stuff in it now :wall: I could take pictures, or get measurements of the things.. I just can't seem to find any useful places. I mean, lots of ideas, just I can't do them in this room. Any ideas? My mom wants to get me a small tower center, but I don't think all my stuff would fit on it. So, I dunno, and money is semi-tight.. Inexpenssive ways are a must.

Thanks for any help.

You helped me... now I'll try to help you. Remember though, I'm certainly not an interior designer. My guess is up & under. If your house is over 100 yrs. old, I'll bet it has high ceilings. I'll bet you could build some really neat-looking cubbys & bookcase-type storage. (We've been watching lots of the clean-house TV shows lately.) Also, don't forget storage under your bed. That's always worked for us. Good luck!

Catwomn

Our ceilings are 9ft compared to the average 7ft standard now. I was thinking of building a big book case, since the ones in the house are small and are already taken up by our Encyclopedia collection. I can't put anything under my bed because I don't have the set that fits my queen. It was handed down and I think the stuff was lost, or broken beyond repair or something. I prefer to build most of my stuff, I just find more acomplishment out of it. Umm.. I've got one big window and 2 small windows, which constrict where I can put things. I only have one open wall, and the wall with the 2 windows has about a 4 1/2ft gap between each.. I could probably build something to fit right in there snug.. but then I need a place for my bed and computer if I put my bed under my big window. ugh!

Edit: I now have a bed frame, and have less room. haha, well.. I'll nab some pictures up tomorrow to show you how small my room is.

a bed frame will give you several inches of storage underneath. you can also increase that space with risers. anything you put under your bed can be hidden with a dust ruffle (it can be tailored to be more masculine) or you can just use attractive boxes or wicker baskets.

all wires CAN be organized. they can be wrapped neatly together with twist ties or contained in a tube that's got a slit down it's length. nothing is impossible.

but since you're so into building things, how about building yourself a loft bed? for ideas, do a search for "loft beds". it's like what they use in dorm rooms. your desk could fit underneath it, freeing up a lot of space for other things.

and standard ceilings are 8 feet, not 7. doors are 7 feet tall. do you have about 12" above your doorways? if so, you'll have room for the loft bed.

and, it's probably time for a good spring cleaning, right? go through all your stuff and get rid of anything you don't use anymore, won't ever use again or never did use. same for clothes.

it's all about organization.

Our ceilings are 9ft tall, leaving 2ft between door and ceiling, and I don't see a loft bed as being my style or being possible. It'd be a pretty unique feature since no one I know has one, I just don't see it happening.. Plus, I don't like sleeping up off the floor to high cuase I fell from a bunk bed once and it's just been a fear I have of Deja Vu, haha.. I now have a bed frame, I asked my Grandma if she had one and I managed to find one up in the attic. Anywho, I've got pictures of my room now and I think I have figured out a way.. Just have no walking room. I did some cleaning and cleaned out the 2ft tall stack of magazines I have in my room, so many fishing and hunting magazines that are so old.. I put them in a box, and put them in my closet's top shelf.

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/4483/comp7xw.jpg The computer corner & my car seat/chill out chair from a FIAT Spyder

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/2892/myroom0066qe.jpg The.. storage corner for lack of better words. Has my two plastic drawers and my table. Light, folder shelf and collum fan. Stuffed animals (Little gifts from random relatives and girlfriend).

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/5790/room4la.jpg Entertainment center with my knicknacks and more stuffed animals from people..

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/41/myroom0033ev.jpg My bed & night stand..

Your room looks very nice, and very neat ;)

Having viewed your pictures, I guess the main things I can provide for you feedback-wise are:

1. Is it at all possible to remove SOME of the furniture from the room? It looks as though you've got chairs, desks, shelves, bed covering every inch of the perimeter of the room! It's really shrinking your room down. If you could combine some of the items (ie: electronics) into one shelving/storage unit, that would help tremendously. And I imagine it wouldn't need to be a particularly deep unit (just as deep as the largest item you'd be storing on it...ie: TV).

2. Do you have any money to spend? IKEA is a great place to look for this type of stuff. www.ikea.com Easy to assemble, durable, and inexpensive!

3. My two sons share a bedroom. We built a suspended loft bed for my older son with a desk underneath. Sounds like you aren't interested in that, but can I tell you that every single person (particularly the guys) who comes into the room is drooling over the bed? It's VERY cool! And you can make/purchase ones with side rails that prevent you from falling out.

However...for my OTHER son we purchased a Captain's bed (IKEA has ones you could view online for an idea of what I'm talking about) that has drawers underneath for his clothes. A huge space-saver, and a very simple bed style.

(I'd include pictures of the boys room, but I can't figure out how to transfer them from my desktop to here! I'm sure at one point I knew how to do that...darnit)

...okay, try this!!! http://www.kodakgallery.com/Slideshow.jsp?Uc=18bn25hb.50feomxf&Uy=-k8zuox&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&mode=fromshare&conn_speed=1

I edited my last post (above) to include a link to a couple of photos of my sons room.

You can see that the room is quite small. So we've made the most of the space! All the woods that aren't painted are light (old reclaimed Southern Yellow Pine on the floors, maple of a similar light tone for the Captain's bed and desk), and we opted for a silvery gray on the walls...which goes along with the silver on the ladder, suspended bed frame, and desk. My youngest son desperately wanted blue in the room...but he wanted navy/red/white (each wall a different color!). We compromised and painted the door, bureau, and ceiling a very pretty sky blue...and his bedspread and the rug have multiple colors in them.

Having the bed suspended, as you can see, created space underneath for a desk (with track lighting) and a bureau. We used a very sturdy trundle bed frame for the suspended bed...supported on two sides by 2X4's drilled into the wall studs...and on one side chains that are supported by ceiling joists. The thing would hold hundreds if not thousands of pounds, it's not going anywhere! We searched online and found an RV ladder to use for our son to get up to his suspended bed, it was only $35 and holds up to 500 pounds! Again, really sturdy.

I'm guessing that we spent less than $1200 to makeover this room. Of course, we were inventive & did all of the work ourselves. I searched for the rug online at ebay...a $600 wool rug I was able to find for $200 (unused, still in the original packaging).