I had a room that size, probably smaller, as child in two different homes. Cannot remember that they were small to me personally. I spent a lot of time outdoors playing and activities inside the rest of the house. If you have plenty of room throughout the rest of your home for toys and play, in my mind it would be functional. There are so many storage options for beds with under storage, putting dressers in closets and using lights and storage on walls. Being creative in a small room can be great fun. As a nursery it would be fine, enough room for essential furniture. A full size bed is approx. 54 X 72. You might want to lay tape over a rug or floor and imagine the options from there and also lay out furniture if you already have some. If I were a guest in the small room, it wouldn't be a complaint from me. Someone posted a wonderful loft that barely fit a full size bed. Used for guests and a cozy reading area. The area was really well done. Check out Apartment Therapy if you haven't done so. Also Pinterest. I linked a search for you there. Click on Images and a ton will show up. Have fun doing this. It can be done. Here is a link that might be useful: Pinterest tiny bedroom search

Hi! Thanks for all the advice. I went to help her set things up and to look at it in order to decide how to provide privacy. I decided to get ceiling tracks (found some at BBB for $9.99 on sale from $39!). I got 4 tracks of 48" each to cover the 12' span. I'm going to attach to the ceiling and I made 4 blackout curtain panels (bought ready-made panels from Target and added blackout fabric to them) to hang on the tracks. The opening at the staircase will not be covered so light will come in there,but for privacy that will be okay. She'll decide later if she wants something added there. So here's is my final question: The ceiling is 9' tall and the half-wall is 4'. So that leaves a 5' space to fill with the curtains. I am all done making them except to hem to the final length. Should I have them extend beyond the top of the half-wall, so maybe hem them to 65" or so? I was thinking that if the curtains are a little bit longer than the opening, they would stay closed better if there are slight breezes from AC or the nearby ceiling fan. Would about 5" extra inches be sufficient, or should it be more, like 10 or 12"? So far: Ikea bed with drawers, over-bed storage rack form BBB, a soft-sided Ikea wardrobe, Ikea shelf with plastic bins (instead of a wooden dresser), shelf from BBB. Adding soon, a small laptop desk and a swivel chair from Ikea with will fit at te foot of the bed where there are about 4' left. We realize nothing matches but we were going for function and had to choose from what was available.

Pal's right about keeping things in context. I spent the weekend in Philly and since I had concert tickets my DS and DDIL suggested that I stay with them rather than driving home late at night - which is only a few miles away - not an ordeal. But I love spending time there and it's always a pleasure to walk around and see what is new. It's impossible to keep up with all the residential building going on - new homes as infill, conversions from businesses, apartments and condos from warehouses. There's something different on every visit. As we walked to one of the many little eateries in their neighborhood they pointed out all the changes that have recently taken place and the prices associated with them. We had an interesting discussion about renting/buying and city/suburb living. They've been renting in a wildly popular area of the city (not Center City) for 7 years and have finally decided to leave when their lease is up. Currently they are paying close to Pal's $4000 (if you include utilities and fees) for a 2700 sq ft brand new and cheaply built apartment with 3 BR, 2 1/2 baths, 1 parking space and no yard. They don't want to continue to pay that much for a rental nor do they want to pay $800,000 for a place with parking and a small yard for their dogs and hopefully children. Add to that the cost of tuition for private school (the majority of public schools are not worth considering) and they're priced out of the city. Yes they could buy cheaper (DD just paid less than $200,000 for a 1890 square foot row home with a yard - but in an older, poorer and definitely 'iffy' neighborhood and street parking. But she and her BF usually bike to work and didn't want an increase in commuting time. DS and DDIL's cost analysis is simple - they could buy a nice home with a garage and a yard in one of the suburbs ringing the city with a top rated public school system and save money. Even considering the taxes would be significantly higher (Philly property taxes are low but the wage tax is high) they view it as a trade-off. They've also reached a a point where they can no longer ignore the constant background noise associated with city living and are seeking a different lifestyle. My other son bought a $230,000 condo in the same neighborhood. It was originally living quarters for workers in a local factory (maybe the cigar factory) that had been built around 1900 but had been totally renovated about 15 years ago. He has less than 1000 sq. ft, no yard, no parking - 2 BR, 1 1/2 baths. As for Pal's original question - If I had hit the lottery I could easily rent that place and have my own place to stay when I go into the city. Spring Garden is a relatively safe area and since it's on the edge of Center City allows for easy access to several major roadways - but only if it came with a paring spot.

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! :-)