Thank you all. Yes, a dresser/chest of drawers can go into a reach in closet! I forgot about that. If you arrange your hanging clothes long to short (i.e., coats, pants, skirts, dresses, tops, shorts) you can pretty easily fit a small dresser in there under the short clothes. llucy, I really don't have clothes so fancy I have to hang them up either. I just do it to free up dresser space and because it makes it easier for me to find clothes. Because my closet doesn't have doors (the house came that way), I can just glance over and see everything at once. I also don't have a lot of clothes, so it might not work for everyone. I LOVE the secretary your mom has! What a great solution! writersblock, I agree--a small bedroom with just the necessities is so easy to keep tidy! In my last apartment I had a huge master and I had a desk in there, 2 dressers, a tea cart/table, a magazine rack, etc. It always looked messy! Oh, and a queen bed with massive headboard/footboard. I'm guessing you're the same as me--I want to separate home and work spaces. I'm finding that having that extra bedroom to convert into a library is awesome! First time I've been able to do that. Shades, I really like your bedroom setup with the sitting area for tea! It's a place of quiet solitude, and we all need that. llucy is right--there's a wealth of information on the Internet about creative uses and storage solutions for small spaces. And now, with the "tiny house" movement having gone viral, there's even more! The HGTV show "Tiny house, big living" shows a lot of neat storage ideas, and I know they have a site on the HGTV website. The one thing Joy and I always tell people NOT to do, which goes against the grain of most other organizing books and advice: Don't START by going to the Container Store, Target, Walmart, whatever, and buying a bunch of bins and organizers. People do that and then they have a bunch of bins and things that don't fit the space, or aren't the right kind of organizer for what they need. START by figuring out the purpose for the room. NEXT, figure out EXACTLY what has to go into the room. If your room is really cluttered, take EVERYTHING out, including furniture! Then pull out only what you need to serve the purpose of the room and put ONLY those things back into the room. (With the leftover stuff, put it in the room where it should go, donate it, sell it, or trash it.) NOW you know what you're working with! NEXT, measure, measure, measure. Measure EVERYTHING! Write it down. Write down what type of organizer you need for each thing you need to organize, and write down what size bin/basket/shelf/drawer/whatever will fit in the space you've designated. NOW go to your store of choice with your list and get the right containers for your space and purposes! Believe me, you will save a lot of time, headache, and money this way! Otherwise, you either end up using organizers that don't really work, or you have to haul them back to the store and start over. Let us know how it's going! :-)

holly, look at the 3rd pic I posted w/the gray duvet, to keep it from looking too dreary, bring in a large white rug, some natural wood items, maybe the ikea white vanity (it's shallow) and lots of plants. look into a tapestry gray/white duvet cover and then do the solid gray curtain. ikea vanity (or the one jansgirl posted) , wood accents, and maybe some gold, like that lamp jansgirl posted. gray drapes like these and notice the natural wood elements. dark gray throw, gray velvet pillow shams, fluffy white rug,,etc.

A full size bed accommodates a mattress measuring 54 inches wide by 75 inches long. Measure all of your current furniture pieces and cut out rectangles in the scale of 1 inch equals 12 inches. Then make a scale drawing and move the pieces around until you like the layout.

Buy an eye/sleep mask. I’m serious. I get claustrophobic when all the windows are covered up by shades/blinds and I also like the ventilation of an open window. I am an extremely light sleeper. I run an air purifier next to my bed for white noise and I wear an eye mask to block out the light. It doesn’t take long to get used to the feeling of it on your face. Worth a try.