From the Floors Up

Save Space with Loft Beds

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Remodeling a room can be a daunting task, mentally and financially. Sometimes, your creativity can be limited by the size of the room and your budget. If you are running out of space in your home, adding a loft bed may be the perfect practical solution. In fact, loft beds are great for adding extra space to smaller rooms by taking your bed off the ground.

Whether you are in a studio with limited space or renovating a room in your home, loft beds can optimize your restricted floor space. Like a bunk bed, loft beds are designed to allow you to have space underneath your bed. It may sound cliché, but loft beds do not use up your room’s square footage by enabling you to facilitate the room’s height for space. With the space under your loft bed, you can incorporate tons of different room uses. Whether you purchase your loft bed or decide to build your own, here are four ways you can use your loft bed to add more to your room:

Storage

When you think storage, you probably are considering some generic shelving, but you can add so much more design to this storage. Perhaps you can add a bookshelf with display items and your favorite novels underneath your new loft. Treat the loft as a separate entity of the house, and if you build your own, install decorative cabinetry below the loft bed. You can even make your loft bed over the main entrance to the room and decorate it to make it a clever vestibule.

Closet

Instead of just hanging a bar below your loft for clothes, consider installing a walk-in closet below your loft bed. You can have departments for your shoes to be stored and areas to hang clothes. You may want to place a stool in there to use when putting on your shoes. Hanging a mirror underneath can make your new closet space feel like a more welcoming changing room to get ready for your day. Also, placing a vanity underneath your loft will allow you to use your new space more, just remember to install efficient lighting.

Sitting Area

Placing a futon underneath can be a great way to turn this space into a sitting area. Add seating with built-in storage compartments is an excellent opportunity to capitalize on your allotted space. Plus, having furniture that can easily tuck away or work as multipurpose storage can allow you to get the most out of your room. While seating areas can feel like a quaint home remedy, try to make a seating area that you will want to continue to use by having a television or another reason to draw you back. If you are in a studio, you may wish to have your living room couch underneath your loft bed or a table. By adding a table, you can allow this sitting area to be your main area for dining. The possibilities are endless when using a loft bed.

Office

Turn your guestroom into a multifunction office by using a loft bed. Some loft beds are predesigned for this exact purpose. Simply install your desk and computer beneath your loft to give your office some privacy. Just be original with your office; you can have your computer against the wall or even set up a desk for face-to-face interactions with clients. With added storage compartments, you can tuck away different components to your computer for a much cleaner, minimalist setup.

Being confined or limited by the amount of space your home has can be quite tricky for designing a room. Think outside the box by adding a loft bed and freeing up some space. Whether adding an office or a walk-in closet, the space you save with a loft bed can make a significant impact on your home. In fact, studios have been incorporating this design for years. Lofts bed can be out in the open but still provide privacy with their height. If you feel limited on space, considering adding a loft bed to your home.

5 Habits to Keep a Consistently Clean Bedroom

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Because bedrooms are our personal spaces, they often become quite messy and unorganized. However creating habits can keep a bedroom tidy. Here are 5 habits to do just that!

 

1. Make Your Bed

Every room looks cleaner when the bed is made, even if the floor is messy. The best way to do it is to make your bed every single day as soon as you wake up. Not only will this help your room look and be cleaner but it will also be rewarding every night when you crawl into your nicely made bed.

 

2. Put Away Clothes You Didn’t Wear

Often bedrooms will become messy because when we are picking out an outfit, we don’t put away or rehang the clothes we chose not to wear. If you don’t do this, you will have a mess of both clean and dirty clothes on your floor that will create chaos. Simply putting away the article of clothing as soon as you decide against it will save you lots of time.

 

3. Use Your Laundry Baskets

If the laundry bin is out of reach and hard to access, then you will be more likely to simply throw your dirty clothes on the floor after a long day. Put the laundry basket somewhere easy to access and close to where you usually get undressed. This will encourage you to put your clothes in the bin as soon as you change.

 

4. Take Dishes Down

Although it’s unconventional many of us do enjoy food and beverages in the bedroom. It’s easy to cast the dishes aside and forget about them because they aren’t in the kitchen. However these items will make a room look very dirty and unorganized. As soon as your finished eating or drinking, immediately take your dish to the kitchen.

 

5. Keep Work Out

Another way bedrooms tend to get messy is because of work papers, books, etc. Not only does this make the room messy but it also brings the stress of daily life into a place of rest. If possible, store papers and books in your office or kitchen. If not, organize your papers either into your briefcase or closed drawers. So long as it’s out of sight and out of mind.

 

Essential Steps To Make The Perfect Bed

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Oh how beautiful the beds in catalogs are! You know, the catalogs they send that feature page after page of the perfect looking bed. The one that is so inviting you wish you could jump right into the pages and land on the glorious pillows and covers. But once you’re done perusing the photos, and you walk into your bedroom you think, “Well, at least the sheets are clean and the bedspread isn’t wadded up on the floor!” It’s time for a change. Take that ideal bed out of the pages of a catalog and make it your own. We’ve got the few tips you need to pull it off like a pro. Here’s how:

  1. Buy good sheets! Yes, we know, they aren’t flashy and fun like a new comforter, but you simply cannot have the perfect bed without good sheets. You likely already know about thread count, but it’s not the only important factor. Buy high quality, natural fibers. No synthetics. Find a cotton blend that is excellent quality, such as Egyptian, and combine that with a decent thread count. Your bed will feel just like a fancy hotel, and the bonus is that good cotton sheets will also wear in and get softer over time.
  2.  Own at least two sets of sheets for your bed, when you’re budget allows for it. They’re like clothes for your bed and you don’t own just one outfit right?
  3. Purchase three more layers: quilt/coverlet, bedspread/comforter, duvet. It’s so fun to do this part of the shopping!
  4. Once your sheets are on the bed, lay the quilt or coverlet on top.
  5. Then, fold the top sheet and quilt back, 1/4 at the top.
  6. Next, fold the duvet in thirds and lay it across the bottom of the bed. Pretty!
  7. Buy pillows. Don’t hold back. Buy good ones, and buy pretty ones. It’s a bedroom for goodness sake! You need: Pillows in pillow cases, euro shams, and decorator pillows. Stack from back to front – pillow case, sham, decorator. Two rows for a queen bed and three rows for a king bed.
  8. Mix up textures and patterns. Give your bed a 3-D look by using obvious texture. Such as, a faux fur pillow and a ruched bedspread. If you mix patterns, use different scales. So, for instance, mini gingham and a medium scale paisley. One is a smaller pattern than the other and this makes it look interesting!

How To Use the Elements and Principals Of Design To Decorate Like An Interior Designer, Part 6

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Part 6 — Texture

Once you’ve determined concepts such as form and shape, as mentioned in Parts 4 & 5, it’s time to add elements that appeal to our tactile senses. Texture in design is defined as the characteristic physical structure given to a material or object, also known as the visual quality of a surface.

In simpler terms, it’s the way we imagine something feels just by looking at it; as well as the experience of actually feeling it, such a fuzzy rug under your feet. Furthermore, it helps draw the room out of 2D into 3D because the human eye equates texture with depth. Texture is possibly the most sensory experience in a well decorated room, yet it is also one of the most overlooked elements of decor.

The room in this photo is a superb example of texture. Let’s explore all that’s going on here. It could be argued that the metal surfaces are the first to demand your attention. Yet, there is something also very appealing about the plush blanket. This is one of the most enjoyable aspects of textures. They play very well off of each other.

In this case the bronze gleams, conveying elegance and a resistance to touch because one doesn’t dare smudge it with finger prints. Conversely, the fleece blanket is inviting and provides the much needed element of comfort that is so important in a place of rest. The headboard appears to be vinyl, a unique material not often found in most homes. In this room it works well because it actually increases the formality of the room.

You might be curious about how it feels, but not quick to test it out if it’s not your room. Whereas, the pillows encourage one to lie down and stay awhile. Last, consider the effect of the flooring. Notice that the designer chose carpet which maintains an air of cozy comfort in the room, and again gives balance to the harder surfaces.

Isn’t amazing how much can be accomplished with texture? Don’t make the mistake of a lot of homeowners by overlooking it. It’s not only incredibly effective, it’s an element that truly transforms a room from “furnished” to “fabulous!”

Next read Part 7 – Pattern

Don’t forget to go back and read Parts 1 – 5

Small Spaces Series – How To Decorate and Design a Tiny Bedroom Part 4

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SPACE

As mentioned in Part 3, minimizing the amount of space your bed frame requires is an excellent method for designing a tiny bedroom. You have two options. One is to leave the space open so the room feels light and comfortable. The other option is to maximize the recaptured space by placing something more functional where the footboard used to be. (Go back and read Part 3 – Beds – if you want more detail.) Don’t be hesitant to try other types of furniture at the end of the bed.

For example, if you have a long, narrow room, try positioning a desk at the end of the bed. If the desktop is big enough, you can set your television on one side of the desk, facing the bed. Then create a visual wall by leaning a few tall framed photos against the back of the television. Slide a chair under the desk and you have a workspace. When your work for the day is done, simply walk around the desk and jump in bed and watch TV. Warning: This might be best for kids’ rooms. Most adults would love to take a midday nap, and the temptation may prove to be a challenge!

Another effective way to manipulate space is to create depth using mirrors. They open the room up psychologically because they reflect the entire volume of the room. Be sure to hang them in areas where they can work their magic. If they’re facing an area that no one ever occupies, then no one will get to enjoy the effect. They should face into the room.

Finally, increase space in the room by using furniture with rounded edges. They call it “cutting corners” for a reason. Angled corners take up a lot of mid-level area. Rounded corners on furniture are easier to navigate too. We’ve all had the thigh bruise from the sharp corner of a dresser. Curvilinear lines also contribute to the visual sense of continuity and this makes a room appear larger. They eye keeps moving around the room instead of coming to a stop at every hard edge

GO BACK AND READ:

PART 1 – DECORATING TINY BEDROOMS – INTRO & CORNERS

PART 2 – DECORATING TINY BEDROOMS – WINDOWS & COLOR

PART 3 – DECORATING TINY BEDROOMS – BEDS

NEXT READ PART 5 – DECORATING TINY BEDBROOMS – ORGANIATION & SHELVES

From the Floors Up

From the Floors Up blog was created with the goal of providing a destination for consumers, designers and those interested in the flooring, design, and kitchen and bath industries. Here you’ll find, current, accurate and informative information that is always just a click away!

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