Drawers underneath the bed? Less clothes :)? Better closet storage? Our bedroom is 11x13 but we have a bigger closet but no dressers. We have a king size bed and a twin size bed in the room.

Can you not at least get all your shoes (and bags) into another room? Can you afford to bump out one wall if only to create enough room for a better closet? What about a Murphy bed?

Well, you could downsize to a queen bed. I had a queen bed all those years I was single and I wasn't sure that it would work just to slip DH into the bed I was used to having all to myself. But it works fine.

Are you using all the vertical storage in your closets? Get some of those cube units from Target for shoes and bags so you can go all the way to the top of the closet. or even cut into the wall above the closet to put a second set of doors up there for access.

Also -- and I know this isn't easy to do -- it's probably time to go through your stuff and pare down. DH and I have found over our seven years together that a lot of the "stuff" we were holding on to just wasn't really that important to us.

It helps that we are in the South so don't have HEAVY winter clothes (complete different wardrobe) to deal with. Is fashion extremely important to you? If not, then maybe it's time to pare down to a small group of quality bags and shoes rather than the big collection you have now. Also, I'll bet there are some you never wear/use, but hold onto them because you remember them fondly when you DID wear/use them.

If buying new fashion items is important to you, consider getting into the consignment world. Consignment stores typically don't take things more than a few seasons old, so it would help you keep your things fresher. it will also help fund the "habit."

DH and I found that we both had tons of T-shirts we never wore because they were from some event. But we never wore them! He also had a lot of sweaters that looked like they came straight from the Cosby Show. Just because they were nice and expensive in 1990 doesn't mean you should hold onto them indefinitely.

I read somewhere that the trick to paring down is to do it in stages. Pack up the items you haven't worn/used in 6 months or a year. Move them in boxes to the garage/attic/basement. After 6 months or a year in the box, it is time to let them go -- you clearly don't need them anymore.

Years and years ago we HAD to go from a king size down to a full size bed. Hubby is 6 foot tall I am 5'5". Even though we have had larger bedrooms for the last 6 years we never went back to the larger bed.I do not think we will ever size up when we get a new bed. Full works for us.

Curious. How often does the average person get a new mattress box spring set? Is there a normal change time?

Chris

Chris, I never have figured out when to get a new mattress. At most a good one could last for 10 yrs, but it depends upon who the people are using one and quality. There are some threads on Home Dec forum that discuss this, head over there and run a search for "mattress". They have many threads on different types and experiences in longevity, comfort, pricing, etc.

KStar, You really are cramped. I just moved a large/long dresser to the guest bedroom for items less used. Do you have other rooms for moving some of your clothing and furniture? In a small home we are only steps away moving items that are still used every day.

It isn't an easy decision to rid the unused or even changing furniture. Tis' a significant change to our normal patterns. But I can say it feels very free when getting to the point of doing this.

I just saw a built in closet option. It is similar to a tall cupboard (or a built in ironing board), sized to inset between studs. No remodeling necessary other than opening up the sheetrock. This would actually be easy to diy, find some used cupboard doors to paint the same color of the walls. One whole wall could be done and give extensive storage.

kstar, is your closet deep enough to move the bar from across the width, to putting bars across the depth? Our closet is also tiny, and that is what I did. That way I have one bar at dress height, and put double bars on the other side for shirts and pants folded over a hanger.

We have a similar issue with a king bed in a small room. What we did was elevate the bed from the floor a few inches and we use rubbermaid boxes that are labeled and slide under the bed...mine on one side and the spouse on the other. We use the under bed storage for off-season clothing and shoes. Sounds like this might give you more floor space and a feeling of openess.

Casey

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