5 box room ideas..
The box room – an almost ridiculously tiny room found in all too many houses, which makes you wonder what the architect was thinking. Although “Oh, we can call this a third (or fourth) bedroom” seems likely.
For those of us living in homes with a box room (the name stems from its most common use, a sort of first floor attic, filled with luggage and boxes containing seasonal stuff) they can be a frequent frustration, but in our time valuing homes for sale across south Manchester, we have seen some positively genius ways to make the most of the box room.
By utilising every available inch a room that’s often given scant care, you can not only add usable space to your home, but add value and interest, too, making it all the more appealing to potential buyers. If the box room doesn’t already contain your youngest child, here are some great ideas for maximising your box room.
Five top ways to make the best of your box room
- Convert it to a study zone or home office
Research has shown that young people do better studying in a space that’s not their bedroom, where ‘rest and play’ are the overriding messages delivered by their surroundings. By adding a compact desk, with space enough for a laptop and drawers for storing clutter, you immediately create a space that triggers the right mindset. Add shelves for books – and that all-important plant – and a proper desk chair. No fetching one up from the kitchen! Finally, if there is space, a single folding bed chair will prove more than useful when guests come to stay. Paint the room in deep, enveloping tones of blue or green, fit a blackout blind in a vivid, contrasting shade, and add a desk lamp as well as an overhead light and you’ve shown your teen how seriously you take their education in one (relatively) easy weekend’s work.
- Make a walk-in wardrobe
Does your master bedroom have a large, ungainly wardrobe or two clogging up the floor space? Or have you invested in fitted wardrobes and now feel somewhat cramped? Take the box room and create a walk-in wardrobe, then rid yourself of the space stealing storage from your master bedroom and stretch!
The creation of a walk-in wardrobe is perhaps the only box room conversion job where you should bring in outside help. If you do it properly, it will look fabulous and last a long time – no wobbly drawers or wonky doors to spoil the view. Pop a deep shelf under the window, with a chair, and use this for makeup application, and fill the walls with hanging rails and drawers.
It will have a wow factor too, should you decide to sell your home.
- Create a laundry room
It’s been our experience that homes with box rooms rarely contain utility rooms. And where there is a utility room, it’s relatively small and the back door opens into it. If you;re fed up of trying to dry washing in your kitchen, or being unable to access the back door when the weather is poor, a dedicated laundry room is a great solution.
You can take either of two approaches. One, find a plumber who can fit the necessary pipework so you can move your washing machine upstairs, and a builder who will put in a vent to the outside for your tumble dryer (check building regs here, it needs to be done properly) or two, leave the machinery downstairs and create a drying and ironing room upstairs.
Whichever you decide, a good sized dehumidifier is vital. Even if you have a window you can open to vent the room, in winter this won’t be enough to clear the air of the moisture from damp clothes drying. And as dehumidifiers run at a vastly lower rate than a tumble dryer, you’ll save money, too.
If you go for the full laundry option, get a sink fitted too – create yourself a little utility room with a work surface, a tall cupboard for the ironing board, and storage to hide away clutter such as peg bags and detergents.
- Create a crafting room
Who doesn’t know someone crazy about crafting? Knitting, crochet, sewing, there has been a huge upsurge in the things our grandmothers and mothers used to do, but we somehow never learned. Losing yourself in a craft lifts the mind away from day-to-day stresses and into an almost meditative state, where the problems that beset you all day disappear – and solutions often materialise. If this is you, creating your very own crafting room to escape to will feel a little bit like heaven on Earth.
- Build a bunk room
I know, the words bunk room suggest a log cabin filled with cowboys, or perhaps American children at summer camp. And yes, it’s a little out there, but a bunk room is a space that springs into action when your home is filled with guests – although having a bunk room also makes it likely that your home will be more frequently filled with guests, of course.
Depending on the size of the space, you can build in two beds or four. Two need to be adult sized, of course, with the second set of bunks a little smaller if that’s all space allows. It’s likely to be a DIY job, of course, unless your are lucky enough to have a space that fits standard bunk bed sizes, and how often does that happen? Start at IKEA, however. Beds that come flat packed are easier to adjust to fit, and look for beds with underneath storage, too.
Eddie – Friday 26th July 2024. (Image used from Urmston Lane, Stretford).
