I’m working on a small bedroom, and I’m going to take you with me step by step.
I’ve said before that you should furnish a vacation rental bedroom with the biggest bed that will fit comfortably if it’s meant to be occupied by adults. That advice applies even if the room doesn’t have any closets.
I’m in the process of transforming a small guest room with no closet by adding just enough storage in a way that will look built-in and chic. Best of all, I’ll be doing that without the custom-cabinetry price tag.
I’m breaking out my dusty DIY skills – it’s been a while since I wielded an orbital sander – because this project is perfect for it, and I want to show you guys some simple (and not so simple) projects that will make even a small room look really special.
I’ll also share my missteps and mistakes so you can learn from them with me.
P.S. In case you’re wondering, the client is my mother-in-law. DIY isn’t part of my normal client services. 😉
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How I’m going to transform the room
The room I’m working on is 9’-9” x 12’, and the ceilings are less than 8 feet – they’re 7’-9.” There’s one window and no closets.
I designed the rest of the condo in 2020 (you can tour it here), but we never did this guest room. Now’s the perfect time to finish it up.
First, I’m adding built-ins. Kind of.
The design plan is pretty simple. I’m using a queen-sized storage bed with drawers in the base, which will be used to store linens. I’m then going to flank the bed with narrow wardrobes on either side that will act as closets. What’s going to make it special is that I’ll be building layers of trim and a custom headboard that will make the whole thing look built-in and special.
(Psst, if you want to know how big of a bed you can put in a small room, download this cheatsheet)
Above the bed, I’ll be installing some beautiful custom hand-painted wallpaper as a piece of art. I’ll be using the colors in that wallpaper as the palette for the room.
Yep, I did it. I bought all the furniture from Ikea.
I’ve gone on the record advising against buying a sofa from Ikea for a vacation rental. But for this project, I’m using wardrobes, a bed frame, and a dresser from the Swedish retailer and customizing them. Why?
Well, first of all, cabinets (or “casegoods” as they’re called in interior design) are a little different from upholstered furniture in that what you see is what you get. In upholstered furniture, a lot of what will keep it looking good for a long time is in the suspension, the foam, and the fabrics, and it’s pretty difficult to tell what’s good quality just by looking at a new piece of furniture in a showroom.
With case goods, you can see how drawers are assembled, whether the boxes are plywood (good) or MDF (meh), and what kind of hinges and drawer slides are used. Ikea furniture is built with MDF and good hinges and pulls.
Plywood construction is preferable to MDF, so I considered having my cabinet maker build the wardrobe cabinets. If they were going to get a ton of heavy use, I’d probably go that route. But this room won’t get used much. The place is rented just a few months a year, and the rest of the time only occasional guests will sleep here, so in this case, I think Ikea will work fine.
Plus, the smallest size Pax wardrobes happen to be just about the perfect size for what I needed.
I knew I would be building an upholstered headboard, so the simplest Ikea storage bed (Nordli) would be fine for a base.
I initially had a different plan for the dresser, too. I wanted to find a vintage dresser and paint it, but as I was doing the design drawings for this room I realized that the room is a little too small for a typical dresser! Because of the way I’m placing the bed, there isn’t enough room to pull out the drawers of a 20” deep dresser without whacking yourself in the shins. So, back to the Ikea website I went and found a dresser that’s only 16” deep.
But I’m going to hack it.
You guys love Ikea hacks. I love Ikea hacks. Have you ever wondered if it’s as easy as super-talented bloggers make it look? Me too. I will try some out and you guys can see how it goes. Here’s where the hacks come in:
- I’ll build a frame and add trim around the wardrobes to make them look built-in
- I’ll add laser-cut details to the flat wardrobe doors to fancy them up
- I’ll build a deep headboard that will connect the bed and the wardrobes and make them look connected
- I’m going to customize the heck out of the dresser by adding O’verlays, changing the legs, giving it a good paint job, and adding lovely hardware
Getting started
My design plan is done, and all my materials have arrived.
I’ve drawn how I want to frame the closet wall, but I’ve hired a carpenter to help me with it. I’ll trust his expertise if he wants to modify the framing. I’ll be posting about how it goes.
My goal for next week is to finish the framing and the painting. I’ll show you how to make an Ikea dresser look expensive and add trim to make the wardrobes look built-in.
I’ll be keeping you updated until it’s finished. I hope you follow along with me and get some ideas for small rooms of your own. If you haven’t already, sign up for my email list below for weekly updates. If you’re new here and interested in Airbnb design, you should definitely sign up and click around the blog, too.
I’m super excited and nervous about getting it all done, but I’m confident it will come together. Please chime in in the comments and let me know what you think!
