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ntl1991

Bedroom Furniture Layout - Any good ideas?

ntl1991
13 years ago

Hello. I have a 3-family home and live in the 1st floor apartment, which is 2-bedrooms, and about 1000 square feet. When I moved everything in from my 1500 square foot, 2 story, 3-bedroom home, I just put things where there was room, and now I'm slowly working through everything, looking at my options for rearranging furniture placement.

The first room I want to look at is my bedroom. It roughly 12'x11', and has two double-pane, double hung windows on the NW and SW walls. My hot-water baseboard runs along the entire length of the southwest wall. My queen-size bed is centrally located on the SW wall, under the window. I have an end table and a 6-drawer dresser on either side of the bed. On the wall opposite the bed, an interior wall, my 47" television, 2 floor-standing speakers, and corner-style media stand for the stereo components. I have a small 3'x3' closet on the SE wall, also an interior wall.

The problem lies in the fact that my bed, chest of drawers, and end table are all closed bottom. My bed has a solid headboard that extends down to the floor with no gaps. With these 3 pieces of furniture along this wall, it seems as though the room isn't getting as warm as it should because of the lack of air getting to the baseboards, because it's being blocked mainly by the bed and dresser.

I think I like this layout best because of the bed's location to the door, I don't mind the window above my bed, and the television are located in good positions.

What are some other options to arrange my furniture? I know I have a LOT of pieces in this small bedroom, but all of the pieces have a purpose. Would it be wise to swap the placement of the bed, dresser and end table with that of the TV, speakers and media stand? I wouldn't be crazy about the side of the bed being the first thing you see as you enter the room, but if it means a more-even heating, then I'd be OK with it.

Also, I was thinking about putting the bed on the NW wall, but then I'd have to place my TV in the corner between the closet door and wall, and there wouldn't be enough room for the stereo equipment, and I'm not a fan of corner-located televisions.

I would appreciate any suggestions for placement of all of this furniture, and for a visual, I created a quick little floor plan of the room in question.

Thanks,

Nick

Comments (12)

  • TxMarti
    13 years ago

    I don't recognize your name, so welcome to the forum if you are new here, and welcome back if you've been here before.

    Your bedroom is laid out a lot like mine and I have my furniture like yours except my chest of drawers is on the wall backing up to the bathtub. I don't have floor vents so I'm probably not the best to advise you. Are the vents all along the wall your headboard is on?

    Does your headboard attach to rails that hold up the mattress, or could it be detached & set up on "legs" like college dorm beds are on? It will make the headboard higher, but unless you have the rails attached, it won't make the whole bed higher & you can get some air flow.

    Same with the speakers unless you need them the height they are to use as night stands.

  • Shades_of_idaho
    13 years ago

    I am a person that craves balance in things. BUT in your case with trying to open up circulation for heat................ Would it be possible to switch the end table speaker for the smaller speaker closest to the door way? Then turn your dresser flat against the wall that backs up to the tub. Maybe get a small airy side table for the bed side.

    It might let a little more heart out into the room.

    Very nice drawing of your floor plan.

  • trancegemini_wa
    13 years ago

    are those red circles where the heat comes out?

    I've been playing around with your furniture hehe, if those red circles are heat registers then this would open the space up in front of them. The only problem is the media centre doesn't have a place so I'm wondering if the media centre and the tv cabinet can be combined somehow, can the tv be mounted on the wall and the stereo sit on top of the tv cupboard?

    I like this layout because your electronics are all hidden away so from the door you see the bed and chest of drawers instead of looking at the side of a tv unit etc which is just something I would prefer.

  • ntl1991
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Thanks for all of the replies!

    First off, the heating in the apartment is the new baseboard-style copper tube/aluminum fin type. The baseboard is run on only one wall, the wall to the left behind the headboard of my bed in the first picture. (This is why blocking it with the bed, end table, and dresser isn't really the best) The red symbols are electrical outlets. The speakers on either side of the TV are 10"x40"x15" (WxHxD). The endtable speakers are much smaller "bookshelf" speakers, about 10"x4"x6" or so. The chest of drawers is 48" tall and not used as a second end table.

    The house is mine, the ceilings are a couple inches short of 8'. I expect to keep the TV for at least a few more years. It does not have a cabinet, but is a stand-alone rear-projection television (hence the large depth). The media rack (actually a corner-style stand) is where the Stereo Receiver, DVD player, Cable Box, CD Changer are, so I'd have to keep that.

    I did a quick move by swapping the TV, Speakers and Media Stand with the Bed and Nightstand. The dresser is now on the bathtub wall. It's like this now, but I'm not really in love with the layout as I just don't like seeing the side of the bed when walking into the room, and having a window blocked by the television isn't nearly ideal. But, there are only so many combinations possible...

    When moving the bed around, (it was actually quite easy due to the felt pads I put under EVERY piece of furniture I bring into the house - the house is entirely hardwoods, and tile in the baths/kitchens), I pushed it up to the corner next to the wall I currently have the bed located against, and it didn't seem like it would work. The small size of the room would be intensified, I think, by having a corner placement. --I remember seeing all of those HGTV "designed to sell" type shows, and one thing they would always nag about was a corner-placed, so I never really explored that option. I think if I had a bigger room with less (bulky) furniture I could pull it off... It's just impossible with a room this small. I think the bed would basically hang out well past the middle of the floor.

    Thanks,
    Nick

  • Shades_of_idaho
    13 years ago

    Nick I understand how you feel. We had the same enter the room right into the side of the bed. Not only that it also happened on the other side coming from the master bath. We lived there four four years and I got used to it. Maybe you will too.

    This picture is from inside the room standing at master bath doorway looking towards hall. I do not seem to have a picture entering the room from the hall.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Side of bed

  • User
    13 years ago

    You are so right, there are only a couple of places the bed can go, and I see the best two as the side walls. The view of the footboard in Trancegemini's drawing would be the better option, but that creates issues with placement of your other furniture.

    And I agree with you too, that entering the bedroom and immediately encountering the side of the bed is not psychologically the best setup. But it does seem that flipping the furniture arrangement that way will be OKAY for at least the wintertime or months when the heat is on.

    I think having your back turned to the door, like when you are rolled over the other way, could interfere with your sense of security while you sleep. If you begin having bad dreams, then that could be a factor. My DH wants me to put our bed into the new master suite in essentially the same setup, and I want it on the wall OPPOSITE THE DOOR, because of the bed "blocking" the feng shui and the positive flow in the room. I think I read that you can deflect some of the bad vibes by hanging a crystal in the room where the door swing won't crack it.

    The rear projection TV has to be pretty heavy, but is there any way that you could raise the piece of furniture it sits on by about 6 inches? Does that item have legs already?
    It would at least give the baseboard heaters a little more space to radiate outward.

    Our cape-style house in MA has new baseboard heating too, and only in the family room do I have any big low furniture sitting in front of it. That is our sectional sofa, which we keep about 4 inches out from the wall. This gives the heat a little more space to radiate upward, and we have no cold spots in the room...which is 34' x 12' wide. I do not know how they calculate the amount of heater required, but in our room, the 34' part is on an interior wall, and then an additional 6' is on an exterior wall. It is a zone all by itself!

    From your comments, you are a good homeowner who is trying to take care of the floors and have a positive approach to home appearances. You are also making your home work for you by having renters in other apartments in your house. I'm sure those are priorities, keeping the entire house in good repair and the residents happy and paying their monthly fees for the PRIVILEGE of living where the owner is in the same boat they are.

    Don't know if the home forums has a better place for you to hang out or not, but we are quite happy to have you join our happy little band. Your whole house is probably bigger than our smaller ones, but when you consider the amount of space YOU live in, you have a smaller home too.

  • trancegemini_wa
    13 years ago

    Your last layout is how our bed is in our master. There's only one position we can put our bed in because of a large built in wardrobe on one wall, which also means the bed can't be centred on a second wall with the window, 3rd wall is too short so that leaves one wall to place the bed and it's side on to the brm door. I'm just used to it, it's not ideal asthetically but it's the only choice I have.

    If it were me, I'd be thinking of paring down some of the things you have. Think smaller speakers on shelves or wall mounted, and consolidating the stereo and tv. That could mean having a shelving unit for the stereo above the tv, or a large cabinet that can house both (this is what we did in our LR because there wasn't room for a stereo cabinet and a tv/accessory cabinet and it worked out well. Do you need the stereo in the bedroom? can it be moved to say the LR? we can still play cds and tapes + radio in the bedroom with smaller appliances so instead of trying to fit the current pieces, you could try rethinking what you need in there and how to achieve it with smaller items.

  • ntl1991
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Thanks again for the kind words!

    I'd have to agree with trancegemini about consolidating furniture and electronics. One day I'll upgrade to a flat screen and smaller components, but for now, I think I'll stick with my current layout during the winter, and the former layout for the summer.

    Thanks,
    Nick

  • trancegemini_wa
    13 years ago

    when the time comes to upgrade your tv it will make a big difference. You'll be able to fit your stereo in a cabinet and fit large speakers in if you wanted to by using mesh in the doors (or buying a cabinet with mesh doors for the speakers). A flat screen tv can just sit on top of the cabinet or be wall mounted above it.

    Your tv must be very low when you're lying in bed, and it's nice having the tv up high in a bedroom so you can lie back and get comfy to watch :) - the wall mounted flat screens really are great in a bedroom. We have ours on a wall mounted arm so you can tilt it and angle it to just the right position.

  • User
    13 years ago

    We have a flat screen Vizio mounted on the wall between two windows. No swivel to it, no need.

    Then we have one sitting on the mantle above the fireplace and it is really nice. We tethered it to the wall, because DH could not find studs in the right place for the bracket. This is the wall I want to build floor-to-ceiling open shelving or storage for the entire wall, That way I can place the wires and such in an inconspicuous way to make it look pretty good. But we'll see how it goes.

  • Tevin Miles
    5 years ago
    Am looking a design for a 14 by 14 bedroom
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