Right, so I need to tell you about the most ridiculous thing I did last year – squeezed a king-size bed into what is essentially a shoebox bedroom. I know, I know, sounds mental doesn’t it? But hear me out because somehow we made it work, and now I can’t imagine sleeping on anything smaller.
It started when Liam’s back went completely to pieces from all the heavy lifting at the depot. He was tossing and turning on our old double bed, taking me with him every time he moved, and I was already struggling to get comfortable being seven months pregnant. Something had to give. The problem? Our bedroom in the Dunstable house is tiny – maybe 10 by 11 feet if I’m being generous. Definitely not king bed territory.
Everyone thought we’d lost our minds. My mum came over, took one look at the space, and just shook her head. “Aisha, you can’t fit that enormous bed in here. Where will you put everything else?” Valid point, mum. But I’d done the maths – a standard king is 76 by 80 inches, and technically it would fit with some room to spare. The question was whether we’d actually be able to live with it.
The first thing I learned is that “fitting” and “livable” are completely different things. You need proper walking space around a bed or you’ll be doing this weird crab-walk every time you want to get dressed or open a window. I read somewhere that you need at least 24 inches of clearance, but honestly? In a small room, you have to be more creative about where that space goes.
Instead of centering the bed like you see in all those perfect bedroom photos, we pushed it right against one wall. Our bedroom has this lovely window that gets gorgeous morning light, so the bed went against the opposite wall. That gave us a proper 36-inch walkway along the window side where we actually need to move around, and just about 12 inches on the wall side. That narrow bit is perfect for charging phones and not much else, which is all we needed.
The headboard nearly derailed the whole plan though. Liam wanted this massive padded headboard he’d seen online – looked gorgeous but would’ve eaten up another six inches we didn’t have. I remembered staying at this boutique hotel in Brighton once where they’d mounted a thin headboard directly to the wall so the bed could sit flush against it. Found this beautiful rattan one at West Elm for £180 that mounted flat. Worth every penny because it looks expensive but doesn’t steal any floor space.
Storage became absolutely critical with this setup. The platform bed we chose has four deep drawers underneath – brilliant for storing all of Amara’s outgrown clothes and our winter bedding. Had to ditch our old bedside tables completely because they were making the room feel like a furniture showroom, replaced them with floating shelves from IKEA. Cost about £15 each and they hold everything we need without cluttering up the floor.
Lighting was trickier than I expected. Obviously couldn’t do table lamps without proper bedside tables, and our ceiling light was one of those harsh overhead things that made the whole room feel like a waiting room. Found these adjustable wall-mounted reading lights at John Lewis – brass ones that swivel and dim. They’re mounted right above where our heads are when we’re lying down, perfect for reading without disturbing each other.
The rug situation nearly sent me round the bend. My first instinct was to get a small rug that would tuck neatly under the bed, but when I laid it out it made the whole room look chopped up and cramped. Ended up going much larger – 8 by 10 feet – that extends beyond the bed on three sides. Sounds counterintuitive in a small space but it actually makes the room look bigger by creating one continuous floor area instead of little islands of furniture.
Had to completely rethink storage too. We inherited this gorgeous but massive wardrobe from Liam’s gran – beautiful piece but it was basically a wooden wall taking up a quarter of the room. Breaking my heart, we sold it and put in a built-in wardrobe system along one wall. Cost about £800 for the IKEA system plus getting someone to install it properly, but it gave us twice the storage in half the footprint.
Mirrors everywhere, obviously. Everyone knows they make rooms look bigger but placement matters. Put a large one on the wall opposite our window so it reflects natural light back into the room. Also stuck a smaller one on the back of the bedroom door – sounds random but when the door’s open it creates this nice sense of depth that stops the room feeling so boxy.
Colors had to work really hard in this setup. I desperately wanted to do dark, moody walls like you see all over Instagram, but in a space this tight it would’ve felt like sleeping in a cave. Went with warm white walls instead and brought the drama through bedding. Got this gorgeous forest green linen duvet from The White Company and added velvet cushions in navy and deep red. Feels cozy and sophisticated without being overwhelming.
Here’s something nobody warns you about – making a king bed when you can only access it from one side is basically an extreme sport. You end up doing this ridiculous reach-and-stretch thing trying to tuck in the far corners. I got smart and bought one of those duvet systems where everything stays attached so you just pull it up and you’re done. Game changer when you’re heavily pregnant, let me tell you.
The whole project took about two months because we had to do everything around Amara’s naps and Liam’s shifts. Cost roughly £1,500 including the bed, which felt like a lot but spread over several months it was manageable. The transformation though? Incredible. What used to feel like a cramped afterthought became this serene retreat that actually feels spacious despite the massive bed.
Best decision was ignoring everyone who said it wouldn’t work. Sometimes you have to trust your instincts about what your family needs, even if it seems impossible on paper. Our sleep improved dramatically, Liam’s back got better, and I had room to sprawl out with my pregnancy pillow without falling off the edge. When baby number two arrives, we’ll have space for the bedside cot too.
The room still isn’t huge – it’s never going to feature in any magazines – but it works perfectly for our family. Amara loves climbing up for bedtime stories, there’s storage for everything we need, and it feels like a proper grown-up bedroom instead of student digs. Sometimes the most ridiculous ideas turn out to be the most brilliant ones.
