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If you’ve been following us for a while you’ll already know that our loft conversion plans have come to a bit of a standstill. So much so, that converting the loft didn’t even make it onto this year’s list of projects we’d like to accomplish and at the moment it still looks like this.
Although it’s a project that’s probably not going to happen for a while, it is still is something that is on our minds a lot. Behind the scenes, we are finalising the planning and are deciding on some of the details which will hopefully mean that we’ll be in a better position to move quickly as soon as we are ready to start the building work.
Having finalised plans can only be a good thing as it’s a huge project!
We’ll be adding a large dormer to the rear of the house which essentially means that we’ll be removing pretty much the whole roof, adding a ridiculous amount of steel and taking half of our house to pieces. Again.
An easier and cheaper option would be to not build the dormer and “just” convert the loft into a bedroom and small bathroom (which is what our neighbours have done) but we’d like a more generous space. Yep, you can call us greedy.
Along with having a larger space, the main reason for adding a dormer is that we’ll be able to add a much more generous en-suite bathroom and a walk-in wardrobe that I’ve been dreaming about ever since moving in and crawling up to see what the loft looked like.
I know our home isn’t small, but we tend to struggle with clothes storage (or we have too many clothes!). We seem to have stuff everywhere and an area of our home that we don’t ever show is the corner of our bedroom where Jan has what feels like hundreds of shirts on an open clothes rail.
You can see why we’re so keen on having a generous master bedroom and more importantly a walk-in wardrobe!
The ultimate plan is to have storage built into the eaves in the bedroom, so the storage in the walk-in wardrobe can be mainly used for clothes that will need hanging. As the room is fairly narrow, we’re only planning to install a wardrobe on one side of the room. On the other side, we’d like to install shelving where we’ll be able to store our shoes and bags as well as a small dressing table area in the middle of the shelves.
The shoe storage will be open, but we’re still not sure if we’ll have open cupboards for the clothes storage on the other side, although we do think that everything will look tidier if we have doors. I’m a big fan of hiding mess & clutter and as pretty as the catalogues always look when they have a selection of all-white clothes in the wardrobes, real life is often just a bit different.
Image: Betta Living
One of the options we’re considering is to have sliding doors. In an apartment we lived in, we had a wardrobe with just two sliding doors, which was a complete nightmare. Seriously, don’t ever just have two doors. Because you can only ever open one side it’s almost impossible to get to anything that’s in the middle of the wardrobe which was always covered by the edge of one of the doors. A minimum of 3 doors is a must! A big plus for sliding doors is that they’re so space-saving – a big consideration in our tiny room.
Another option is to install bifold doors. Having just had our bifold doors in the dining room installed we’re now huge fans. They completely open and would be great to completely fold out of the way and let you get to everything you could possibly need in one go.
Something like this built-in fitted bedroom from Betta Living would be perfect.
Image: Betta Living
It looks really elegant, clean & tidy and I love the long and contemporary door handle, too.
Whilst the outside of the wardrobe is still undecided, we’ve already know exactly what we’d like the inside to look like.
As we’ve already mentioned, we’d like the wardrobe to have mainly hanging space, but we’d also like some drawers and of course a few shelves, too.
This is the layout that we’re currently considering (although maybe not quite as wonky as my drawing!).
I totally get that for most people it would be weird not to have more shelves and drawers, but we will have around 4 metres of pure shelving under the eaves, so this space is more for things like trousers, suit jackets, dresses, skirts and possibly even some coats.
Every time I plan a bit more of the space I can’t wait for us to get started on the loft conversion. I know it seems mad to extend your house when you’re not really bothered about the extra bedroom, but for us, it’s really all about the extra bathroom and the walk-in wardrobe.
Do you have enough storage and wardrobe space in your home? What does your ideal bedroom storage look like? Would you opt for a closed wardrobe or one without doors? Do you have any advice or tips for planning the perfect wardrobe space?
Lins @ Boo & Maddie says
I’m so excited to see your plans, it will look amazing!! We’ve been thinking about reconfiguring our loft bedroom and will get round to it at some point – the previous owners have made it so the bed sits under the eaves with normal wardrobes against one of the full height walls. Whilst it IS wonderful to be able to lie in bed and open and close one of the veluxes as we wish, ultimately I feel there is a lot of wasted space in the middle of the room. We’d like to wall off the eaves area for storage and then reposition the bed which I think would be much more sensible use of the space plus it means you can sit up in bed which you can’t at the moment. Why does it always feel these things are never-ending?! X
Christine says
There’s always so much to do Lins! I guess we have to keep busy – what would we blog about otherwise!? ;)
Essentially we’re being greedy with the loft space and don’t really need the extra room, but we really need another bathroom (we only have one and have four bedrooms) and a walk-in wardrobe is just too tempting ;)
It sounds like your plans make complete sense – can’t wait to see what you come up with (and at least your electrics are done)!
Cx
Louise says
Oh I love wardrobe planning! I so understand that you are already dreaming about it… Smart to go with the large dormer, looks like a fantastic space, will you get a view from the bed?
I neither like shelves in wardrobes, they are too deep to be meaningful. I have kitchen shelves for display items, handbags, thin knitted sweaters and so on. Works nicely. Overhead space for carry-ons and large bags, but no more shelves than that. Pull-out drawers yes, but the smallest dimension. Higher ones lends themselves to stuffing several layers and you end up not finding anything. 3-4 stapled items maximum. Lots of hangers, so it doesn’t get crinkled. I have the ones from IKEA with glass, they work ok but not super.
I would stay away from doors, yes it may look worse without but it is an incentive to make it look good! A good-looking wardrobe is an organized one. Truly, the clothes you do not appreciate looking at even in a wardrobe are unlikely to be worn. That sale is less interesting if the clothes will mess up your nice wardrobe, they have to make the cut. I find an open wardrobe a good reminder of being frugal and picky =)
Read about those mad-hatters that make due with 28 items per season. I think they even count underwear? Sounds like both heaven and hell! Happy planning!
Christine says
You’re totally right about shelves in wardrobes being too deep – in our case there’s always a pile of clothes hidden at the back that we completely forget about. I’d not even thought about how deep the drawers will be, but now that you’ve said it, it makes total sense not to have really big ones.
I think we are leaning towards no doors at the moment. The wardrobe space has a bit of a wall separating it from the bedroom so we wouldn’t be looking at a mess while lying in bed, but I’d still like to have a room that looks good. I love the idea of using our wardrobe as a way to control what we buy – pretty things for a pretty wardrobe! Although that may mean that I’ll have to do some serious shoe shopping to make the wall for shoes pretty, too!
I really don’t understand how people live with capsule wardrobes – alone our clothes for doing DIY would add up to more ;)
Thanks for the tips Louise!
Cx