How to Maximise Bedroom Space in a Small Apartment

Living in Israel, the most common space-saving beds are the famous — or infamous — pull-out beds, where you pull out another and another and another (keep going until you hit the far wall) and hey presto: a room full of beds with no floor space left.

How about opening our minds to other options?

Murphy beds

In this guest suite we used Murphy beds, which pull down from the cupboard. When not in use, you get maximum floor space.

I'm not going to pretend the mechanism isn't costly. But think about it: what is a square metre in Yerushalayim worth? Here you're recovering around four precious metres of space you otherwise couldn't use. That's maximising space.

Here are other Murphy bed ideas: this type opens on the side; this one looks like an innocent sideboard, yet opens to reveal a bed.

Each case is unique in its needs, and each scenario has to be assessed to arrive at the right space-saving furniture.

Six beds in fifteen square metres

I had a client who needed to fit six beds into a fifteen square metre room, with desks and homework space.

This is the design I came up with: two beds on top, and two permanent beds on either side of the room, both with pull-outs — totalling six. The full hanging closet doors have indentations for climbing up to the top beds. And the headboard opens up to be used as a homework table during the day.

Rethinking the baby dresser

A dresser — a shidda — is often sold as part of a crib set and thought of as a necessity when starting your baby's room. That's all well and good for your first child. But once you need to accommodate a growing family, your needs change.

By using a dresser you're not using the vertical space above it, which could easily become hanging or shelving space.

But then comes the question: where do you change a baby?

Create a pull-out shelf at a height that's comfortable to change a baby on, and designate an easy-to-reach place to store nappies and creams within arm's reach of it. The idea is borrowed from public bathrooms and aeroplanes, adjusted for the home.