How large is your room? I have a 12X16 master, but use it as an art/office room. Oddly this room has windows which eliminate easy placement of furniture for a bedroom and wouldn't give me any more space. The closet is wall to wall on one end too which elimates options.

I use a smaller bedroom which is 12X14 for my master because it has one wall of windows looking out into the back garden. Feels much larger. A smaller closet, but have learned to live with less and store good clothes not used on a daily basis in the other room.

My queen bed is at a slight half angle. It gives me more room to walk around the bed and opens up another corner. Angles don't always work though, sometimes they can take up more room. The back of the bed (empty corner)has a half round table with hat boxes stacked for storint things less than used.

And I have this thing about the bed facing the bedroom door, plus the side I sleep on. Both of these quirks limit where the bed can be. One side of the bed has a long low table with 4 drawers. The table is a nice size to keep books and collectables loved. About the size of a long coffee table. A wall lamp is on the other side. I opted out of my triple dresser too, it is in the guest bedroom now. Replaced with a small high boy which I've had around forever and takes up far less room.

I'd enjoy a chair in the room too, if only for added appeal. There is room, but would be pushing it for space. Thinking back, I never really used the bedroom chairs I had before in larger bedrooms. But there is something about a comfy chair sitting there. Especially to the cats.

Also, I only have one bath. There is only one door in each bedroom room which allows more wall space.

Your lifestyle is going to determine options for furniture placement. I do my thing, but love all to work well together and enjoy seeing the comfort of the room. Although I'm never in there except to sleep and change clothes.

We had a small master bedroom a few houses ago. It was 13 by 9 1/2. It was in the days of my clutter mode. I have slimmed down my things now. Still a furniture person as in too much of it.

This picture is taken from the doorway. The side of the room not shown has a 40 inch dresser and a taller 30 inch dresser and a night table beside the bed out of the picture. The closet was at the foot of the bed in the left corner of the room.

This was too much furniture in this room for sure. Worked for us.I know some do not want their beds in front of the windows. This house had windows high up the walls. I liked the bed placement. I enjoyed the coolness from the window. I was seriously into menopause when we lived there. :^(

Chris

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

My bedroom was 12x13 (with a closet jutting out into the room). Several years ago I had that closet removed and that gave me room to add a chair. Since I don't have a tv in the living room, this was great for me.
Just recently I increased the size to 12x18 by taking over part of an adjoining bedroom. That made a huge difference since my computer and tv are in there.
Of the 3 bedrooms I have (or rather, had) the smallest one (10x12) was the best because it had 4 straight walls without any weird angles and corners to get in the way.

Chris...your bedroom is so darn nice. I can't believe you actually have the number of furniture pieces mentioned. It is very similar to mine with the window. I need to get my act together and take some photos for posting.

One thing that I did and am considering for the other bedrooms is adding two doors on the closets which open out instead of sliders. I gained a good foot to the one closet and it looks so much nicer. Akin to what Idie said, clean lines make a difference.

Glad you are back posting too....hope the job is going well. And you have had time for your mosaics.

Sandy in Colorado

I prefer the bed being by a window. I love the night air pouring in during pleasant weather. I would love to try a master suite, with a very small 'sleeping chamber' (literally, just enough room for the bed) a sitting chamber, and then the usual closet and bath. In one of my thousands of house designs, I had a suite like that, with an octagonal inglenook on the corner of the house for a sitting area. It looked good on paper, but I would never have the guts to actually build it.

Our bedroom is for sleeping (and at our age, precious little else LOL!)so there's really no need for a large room. I'd rather keep the room small, and use square footage for an over-sized closet, so we can keep the clutter out of the bedroom. There's a bit of difference in our schedules, so one person can't use the bedroom for reading or watching TV, since the other person may be sleeping.

Chris ~ love your old bedroom and so glad to see you back in here. You've been missed.

I smiled to myself with this question about having a master bedroom. This cottage is tiny, we had two tiny bedrooms, but have opened up the space and now have a larger room that we are still remodeling. We still haven't figured out placement either, but all in due time. The space is 8'9"x20', two windows, a French door out back and the entry from hall which is an arched opening. Our bed is a double size. We do have a program where we can arrange the furniture and that is a fun, easy way to move stuff around without all the back-breaking work.

Would love to see more pictures of small bedrooms.

FlowerLady

Our master is small too--approximately 12x12. I dream of having a bigger bedroom.
We have a queen size pencil post bed, with small tables on each side. Since we share a single closet with bifold doors, I have no room for clothes. We have two dressers (one low chest with mirror, one tall, and an old steamer trunk on the wall opposite the bed. The wall on the far side of the bed has french doors opening outside, and the other side has the closet and the door. There is about a three foot path around the bed. :)
I would love to have a walk in closet and a reading area in the master. Not happening in this house!
Jen

Hi,

I just needed to get away from the job for a little bit and dropped in here. Sigh. Tomorrow I go down to magistrate court to get a restraining order against a harassing councilman.Suggested to me to do by the sheriff.they know what I have been going through. Not sure this job is worth it. :^(

Anyway that was a fun house to live in. It was 1100 SQ ft. Had so much storage it made it easy to pack away a lot of stuff. I have purged over and over since then. And de-cluttered stuff too. Still have too much furniture. I seem to have this thing about furniture.

With out being able to put that bed in front of the window I do not think I could have stood to live in that room. I needed that air. Next owners put bed on wall where my dresser was and then the rest of the room was not really usable wall space. But their choice. Centering the bed on the long wall gave me use of the two short walls.

The bedroom we have now is large in comparison at 12 1/2 by 14 1/2 and I do like it better.Still too much furniture in it with two dressers and a buffet and two tables and trunk and old commode and a glass cabinet. Still room to walk around in there. Since we have only been here one year I am not sure the furniture is in the right place yet. It seems to work and so for now it is ok. I really do not have much time to play with it. I keep hoping it will slow down at work.

Chris

Oh my Chris, I had no idea. When you talked about your job before, walking to work, and all that, it just sounded so idyllic. I hope your life gets better fast!

Jlc, this is a picture of my bedroom (recently enlarged). It is now 12x18 (which is huge for me). I have a sitting area and a small walkin closet (5x12). I'm sorry these pictures are so large, I don't know how to resize them.
{{!gwi}} {{!gwi}} {{!gwi}}

---"walking to work, and all that, it just sounded so idyllic"
Shades, I remember reading that post and thinking how nice it must be to live in an area where you can walk home alone late at night. I too wish you the best and hope everything turns out in a way that is best for you.
Loretta

Hi Loretta,

I LOVE LOVE LOVE your colors. Anything in green and purple is wonderful!!! Your bedroom is great. The sitting area is so cozy. I would love to have your area rug in our kitchen in front of our couch. AND later when I do have more time I will be back her for painting tips on colors.

The day was ok at work. I did get my part of the job done and ready for council meeting The one council member is a loose cannon and as usual made a total horses rear out of himself. Even tried to run my husband off from the meeting. It is just getting worse. The town is great it is just a few people that are nuts and trying to do things illegal.Angry at me because I am the city clerk and making them stay on the legal side of things which is my job. They have run ruff shod over things for so many years they are not liking giving up control. I am not sure how long I will keep fighting this one.Makes no difference to me. I would rather decorate my house and yard. The money is not worth it. Sorry for off topic.

Chris

Chris, never off topic. Good to hear from you and all going on. Public office/jobs are always deep in politics whatever responsibilities. But someone being enough of a horses rear to require a restraining order...his problem not yours in the scheme of things. Hope they did this for your sake. And hope they all finally "get it" so you can do the job with the integrity shown personally. Your worth it and refreshing to know someone like you is watching out for us...the public.

(((Chris))) I sympathize. I hope the rest of the council doesn't cave to those few bullies. It must be exasperating.

Loretta I love your bedroom! Mine is a little smaller, but the door and window arrangement keep me from being about to use it well like you have. And your closet! Drool! I am sitting here reminding myself not to covet.

OH I let it go for the day and things are going to work out.

I shopped in wally world for paint chips and inspired by Loretta's walls here I am going to go with the green and purples. Not quite as bright only because it is a HUGE area living room kitchen hallway and master bedroom all need to coordinate or be the same. So I found a pretty willow green for the green and still pondering the right purple color I might do a focal wall.

Sniffing paint makes everything better. Heheheheh That is a joke.

Chris

Thanks all, actually the purple is more in the pink family than it appears - ugh! What was I thinking? I love the purple & green, but I'm still having visions of a softer shade (I just don't want to repaint). And to tell the truth, after 3 months I am becoming somewhat used to it.
My floors all need to be refinished, but $$$. So hence the rugs.
The closet was originally part of a bedroom. After my kids grew up I cut a hole in the wall and made the bedroom into a dining room. After a while I realized it was wasted space, so I had some one close the wall back up and incoporate the space into my bedroom & closet. It holds tons of stuff.
Shades, you cannot go wrong with green - imo. Now the purple, (lol) exercise caution. If I ever replace the purple, it will be with a color fron Behr called "Foxgloves" - nice and mellow.

I did a small guest bath in our last house a mauve. It turned out darker than I really wanted but I did not feel like painting it all over again. I took some of that Pearls paint in white and slightly thinned it. Used one of those Styrofoam paint pads. Put thinned paint in meatloaf glass dish and dipped paint pad in it and smeared ,circles, it all over the mauve walls. I think I did two light coats and it lightened it nicely with out a full paint job and gave it a dreamy appearance. Not sure how it was for the next person to repaint it dark brown.

Chris

Our master bedroom is 9x11. Pretty typical for bedrooms in our narrow city (Chicago) lots. We manage to fit a queen sized bed on one wall with a small table (really an antique humidor/magazine rack) on one side and a small wardrobe on the other. On the wall opposite the bed is my dresser and the door to the closet. Bedroom door is on the wall left of the bed and a window to the right.
It's snug but doable. My husband's dresser and closet is in the guest room so we aren't bumping into each other getting dressed in the mornings.
I certainly wouldn't mind having a little more bedroom space but not at the expense of our living space. Our "huge" 17x18 family room makes it all worth it.
The funny thing is, our house is bigger than average for the style and inner city location.

Here are pictures of my bedroom. They're in my blog and I just don't have the umph to move them over here one by one.
Master Bedroom

Great Blog! You have your work cut out for you now. And oh my I just saw a lady buying the same brown/tan for her room today in walmart when I was getting paint mixed.I hope she likes it better than you did. Nice room and I had to laugh of the picture of you crammed in the closet. Been there done that.

Yeppers. No time for me to even think of painting but I bought it anyway. I might just make time. Also bought a few more packets of pretty glass squares for the window sill bling when I lay down the tiles. That is a quick project to do.

Chris

Cosmikcat, my goddaughter went to Chicago last year to enter a program with a possible job offer. Well, fast forward through Nov, Dec and January - she could not handle the cold and came slinking back home to S Carolina, lol. She finally got hired on a new job and has to relocate to nothwest Pennsylvania (brrrr!)! But she needs a job, so cold or not she is staying.

Shades, all of your work is beautiful, but "Louise" (is that right?) is true genius!

Marti, you have such a funny, easy and relaxed writing style. When I got started I kept on reading and laughing! The girl who told you her dad took the grill was priceless (out of the mouths of babes......)
I see that your DH cut a doorway in the brick wall. Do you remember how he repaired the edgedes of the doorway afterwards?

Have a good night all

This is my closet (without me in it)

I have plans to create more space in it, but I don't know if it will work.

That pillowcase has a piece of radient barrier (bubble wrap) that I usually keep over the electric box that is in that closet. If it's not covered, I can feel the air coming through it even though we used the insulation in a can all around the box.

Loretta, dh sawed the opening between the mortar lines so he only cut every other brick. Then he used a grinder to remove the cut brick and a bricklayer flipped them around so the good side was out. The opening was almost perfect, just a little too wide, but a 1x6 fixed that.

Oh I meant to say thank you Chris & Loretta. I enjoy writing, but I know I get too wordy. Yes, that neighbor was a hoot. She's grown and gone now, and so is her dad (divorce). Her mom still lives there though. She's not as outspoken as her dd though.

Your DH did a great job on the door. You can't even tell it is new. Several months I asked on the home remodel forums for advice on how this works, but it is so much clearer seeing yours. You are so blessed to have someone who can do 'stuff'. lol
That is a nice size closet. It looks like you should be able to store lots of clothes in it.
In your original post you were talking about moving your bed around. After seeing your blog I was wondering, can you put it under the window? Or is that wall to short.

Hello,

I also have a small closet, and I am really having a hard time arranging our clothes. I like your closet, its so neat. Thanks for sharing them here.

WOW Marti8,

The door looks great. Always wondered how a person made openings in brick walls. Loved the special radiant barrier for the electric meter. Good idea! That would make nice insulation for windows too to block the chill from the glass. Still let light in. Makes a person go Hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Love how nice and organized your closet is. I MUST get busy and sort our's out before winter. We do have a fairly large walk in at 5 by 6 foot. I do have a book case in there. Waste no space.

Chris

Thank you all. I don't think my closet is very neat. It feels so small and stuffed to me. Where the pillowcase is tacked to the wall, I want to cut out the sheetrock and use the space between the studs for small things. I haven't broached this idea to dh yet. He already says I'm the instigator and he ends up doing all the work. lol

Yes, he is very handy. That is good, but he doesn't think outside the box well. He likes to do things the way he has always done things, and is very slow to accept my radical ideas even when I tell him how great they will be - like cutting out the sheetrock in the closet.

I forgot to mention on the brick, I removed all the mortar on the pieces that were cut out and on the ends of the ones that were left in place. That was a pain, and I broke a couple of the big ones and then had to cut those out and replace them.

Chris, that radient barrier is the stuff sold in rolls at Home Depot or Lowe's. It's like really stiff bubble wrap with black plastic on one side and aluminum on the other. At a previous house, in a room with a wall of windows, I made roll up shades with it by sandwiching it between cloth. It really helped the temperature in that room.

Loretta, I'm sorry I missed your question. The bedroom is 11'2" x 15'9". The bed won't work on the window wall for a couple of reasons. I don't want to block the only window in the room, both because it would block the light and would make it hard to open the window. And the door beside that wall is the bathroom and I don't really want a view of the bathroom from the bed. Also, our neighbor's dogs bark a lot and the further from that the better.

Marti8,

I did a between the studs thing once. No pictures sorry. I gained 3/4 inch more depth by framing the cut out areas with one by and then bringing the shelf part out to the front edge of the one by. Sort of backwards to the right way. But it adds nicely to the shelf depth. And in your case is this an inside wall. I was wondering about the need for insulation you might be removing.

My gain today is I tiled the sewing/guest room window sill and getting ready to sew on the love seat cover re-do from the old couch. I have it all gathered up. Just need to get it done. Then I will do pictures.

Chris

I can't wait to see it Chris. I've been intrigued since you first mentioned tiling it.

No insulation, it is an inside wall. How did you cut out the insulation? I was going to use the dremmel to make a smoother cut if I have the right bit.

I was working on an inside wall too so no insulation in it. You can cut the pink insulation with a bread knife.

There is a special little saw for Sheetrock. You stab it into the Sheetrock and start cutting down the edge of the stud.

The tiled window sill. No grout yet. I will do them all at one time. This is the kitchen. I did the other room today but I already have a picture of the kitchen. The other sill is longer.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tiled window sill

That looks good. Did you apply it directly to the windowsill or is there something on top of the sill? My kitchen sill is Wilson Art laminate. When we replaced windows, the old window must have been thicker than the new ones because there is a gap between the window sill and the window. I filled it with insulation in a can to stop the air, but it really looks tacky with the gap there. Do you think tile would stick there? I'll take a picture tomorrow if you need to see what I'm talking about.

If the laminate is shiny you would need to ruff it up a bit. I used 60 grit sandpaper to scuff up the manequin form before I did mosaic on it. No problem with it sticking. I used clear silicone for my glue. I use the walmart version of GEII.

I glued directly to the Sheetrock on the window sill.

Chris, That window sill is so cute. When the kitties jump up on it, do they slip off?

Marti, you have a large room - now if only Larry, Curly and Moe had laid it out more thoughfully you could move the bed around, lol
You could really store lots of items between the studs (if you can convince hubby to do it for you, lol
I have a wall in my L/R that has a recess in it that is the depth of the studs. Years ago we cut an opening in this wall to access the unused bedroom and use it as a D/R. I just had it closed up when I did my bedroom. I told the guy not to repair it flush, but to leave it recessed. I have some idea of putting shelves in it. Can you tell from this pic that it is recessed?
{{!gwi}}

Gardenlover, I forgot to say that before I got my walkin closet I solved my storage issue by taking over the closet in the other bedroom, lol I figured as the only girl in the house I deserved it more than the fellas did!

Oh yes, that looks good, the perfect niche for your table. What does it look like from the other side?

The other side is the back of my closet so it worked fine. Now I just have to get the shelves built.

My bedroom is so small I can't take one picture from inside the room! :) It has two windows (one on each wall) one solid wall and a wall with a closet door and a hallway door.

Of course when I put on my slippers I have to get on the bed! lol

lavendrfem, that's how our other two bedrooms are. I wish I had the solution to making them look or feel better, but other than using miniature furniture, I'm stumped. When & if we do sell this house, I will definitely put a baby bed in one bedroom, just like model homes do - to make the room seem like it's not tiny.

lavendrfem your bedroom looks about the same size as mine - Ive tried taking decent photos and it's impossible isnt it?

I love the colour of your furniture, that tv stand is adorable especially with the stencilling

trancegemini - thanks so much!
That t.v. stand I got at a tag sale for $5 - and the bureau was something someone was throwing in the trash. I just added the glass knobs and the architectural moldings on the top drawer.

Lavendrfem, your room is adorable. I love the soft girly colors.
They say 'one man's trash is another man's treasure'. I've seen lots of pics on another board where people took 'sidewalk' finds and freshened them up to use. They all look great! The last time I bought a couch I was having trouble finding someone who wanted my old one. I decided to sit it on the edge of the yard to see if there was any interest. Withing an hour someone came to get it! Since it was in great shape I was glad that someone wanted it.

oh I love it when people fix up or repurpose old furniture. lavernrfem that bit of moulding adds just the right touch to the bureau. I have an old dresser in the garage that would look great done up like that but I have no where to put it so it's been out there for years, I've always wanted to find a spot for it but so far no luck :(

one day I might give up on it and put it out for the kerbside collection to maybe become someone else's project

Wow, I feel almost normal reading this thread... our bedroom is 8 and a half by 11 feet, and to constrain things further, has two doorways... one a normal door, the other a set of double doors.

The house is Victorian (a skinny one, on another of those 25 foot lots), and I suppose the room was originally the front parlour, connected by double doors to the dining room. Since there is a back addition that is now the living room, the purpose of all the rooms is a bit amorphous - none has a closet, so any room can be, and pretty much has been while the kids have been growing up, a bedroom.

The double bed is centred on the long wall, and you can't get around the foot end because there is a bookshelf there (need some storage, and I have a thing for furniture too) so no space, so to go from one side of the bed to the other, we have to actually leave the room by whatever door we're near and go down the hall to come in the other door!

The room has about as much furniture in it as it can hold, and as much of it as I can manage is tall, with stuff stored on top (the light stuff, as we're in earthquake country). Thank heavens for high ceilings!

KarinL

KarinL, is your house painted any of those cool Victorian colors?
A 25' wide lot? Wow! You must be in San Francisco?
Loretta

Hi Loretta, not San Fran but Vancouver, BC, in the part of the north that is not so frozen. Our house is orange, though, which I'm pretty sure is not standard Victorian :-)

KarinL

Orange, how cool! I have often wanted to paint my house something bold and unusual, but I mentioned it to a neighbor once and they really went off on me.

You do have a small bedroom, but you are in the right place here. Our master bedroom is big, but awkward, and very little closet space. Course I guess it would seem like a lot if I didn't have one. At least you have the two doors to get around to the other side and still have your stuff in the bedroom, so that's a plus. Our kid's rooms are a little less than 10x10 each, and seem crammed.

Oh, Canada. I went to Ontario last summer on vacation. Beautiful country! The Falls were amazing!
An orange house! Ok, I know already that you aren't a dull person! Way to go! Do you have a pic?

Not likely to post a photo as my house is so recognizable... though I might someday. I suppose I might be dull in many ways, but not with respect to colour!

I went to Seattle last weekend and really enjoyed it :-) It's always nice to see something new!

KarinL