This post is a continuation of my simplifying tips series around the house. The more I think about it, this is more of a series on being able to organize in small spaces! As we live in a small condo, this has been my journey since the beginning of our marriage, as this is our first home! It actually makes things alot easier for me, because I am less tempted to buy stuff and consume because storage space is limited. Other than that, simplifying for us has been for the purpose of enabling us to be more generous for the futherance of the kingdom!
Here are just a few tips that I have found helpful for simplifying in our bedroom.
1. Night stands
First off, we don’t have room for night stands, as you can clearly see in our bedroom picture. We use wooden baskets to hold our Bibles, and any current books we are reading. The second reason I have sought to avoid them is that it forces me to keep my baskets clean and organized. With night stands, the drawers or shelves can often get overly cluttered with numerous books that have been forgotten months ago. Having a small basket forces me to just keep it filled with only the books I am currently working on.
2. Using the closet
Due to the limited bedroom space, we have stored all our clothes in our closet, which keeps the bedroom more free of extra clutter as well. Away from the eyesight. The hanging shelves have worked wonderfully for us, and significantly cheaper than purchasing a dresser. We use them for all our undergarments, nighttime wear, t-shirts, pants, and socks. We hang the majority of our shirts to keep them free of wrinkles. In our closet we have one hanging shelf for each of us, Aaron is on the right with his shirts hanging beside them, and mine is the left with my hanging shirts, skirts and dresses hanging on the far left beside them. We also have a dirty laundry bin and in the far rear we store the exercise bike.
Having limited closet space has also forced us to limit our clothing purchases. If it hasn’t been worn in six months to a year, it is donated to goodwill.
3. No storage under bed
Storage space under the bed can be ideal for small spaces…but I preferred a clean look under my bed. As we don’t have a bed skirt, this has been particularly important. We store under the bed containers in our closet below our hanging clothes. These containers hold the opposite season clothes.
4. Using a chest for linen storage
At the end of our bed we have a beautiful hopechest that my father made for me prior to my marriage. Yes, it is a very special gift, for which I am extremely blessed. In this chest we store additional blankets and linens for our bed. This keeps them out of sight yet easily accessible. The challenge here is keeping the top free from clutter as this would be the collecting point as we carry things into our room.
My project this summer has been to do some simple decorating in our bedroom. I am in process of making a photo collage on our right wall. The other side of our bedroom, not seen in the first picture is actually my husband’s office (as he works from home). Currently it is going through some major simplifying and organization, which we will have to share on another occasion.
Those are my simple tips for today! I would love to hear your thoughts on simplifying in the bedroom!
God bless your simplifying efforts!
cotton bed skirts are the best in my opinion, they can really accentuate your beddings.”
Check out the most recently released blog post on our new web page
<img src="http://www.foodsupplementcenter.com/cinnamon-supplements/ “>
Though my underbed area is fairly neat, I am going to take a crack at emptying it out. Once my closet organizing is complete, I just may have space in there for the underbed items.
We truly appreciate your blog post. You will find a good number of techniques we could put it to help proper use with little or no effort in occasion and financial means. Thank you really intended for helping make the particular post reply many questions we’ve got got before these days.
Awesome! Where did you get the baskets by the bed and how much did they cost? Very cute
I get all my baskets at Ross and they are never more than $3-5 dollars.
I realize I am reading this post a little late – 1 1/2 years later! I have just started reading your blog and I love your effort to simplify your house. I am assuming you still live in this small condo. I too am living in a small 2-bedroom town home, from what I can tell it is about the size of yours, or maybe even smaller. We are expecting baby #3 in May. We are currently working hard at getting the older two (3 and 1 year old) sleeping in their shared room together consistently and and getting our room ready for baby again! I am glad to know that we are not the only ones making due with what we have. It is so hard to be content when it seems like everyone around you has so much more, especially when they assume you are going to be moving into a bigger home. That just isn’t happening for us right now. Thanks for sharing all this and making me feel more “normal”
I am there with you sister! We are trying to get our two to sleep together as well!
Oh the joys! I love living in a small condo though…so much easier to maintain than a larger home. Keep up the good work!
Hi there I’m a lurker but as I’m in the process of simplifying our home I couldn’t resist posting
We own a 3 bedroom home which we are slowly renovating and I’m working really hard at de-cluttering each room though I find I have to go through each room about 5 times before I really get rid of everything! Does anybody else find this??
Anyway back on topic… We have huge windows on 2 of our walls and the closet on the other so I struggled to find ways to fit our bed and side tables. What I’ve ended up doing is taking 2 little bookshelves that we got on sale and putting them end to end and on their sides at the HEAD of our bed (the had to be boosted up slightly but with a DIY hubby that wasn’t hard!). It makes a great headboard where we can put our lamps and the shelves give us compartments for things so we have our books in a couple and my contacts gear in one and the clock in one. Its easy to keep tidy and its great use of space. We have a tiny little closet only big enough to hang our clothes so we’ve borrowed a bedbase of my parents with drawers for sweaters etc and we have a pantry cupboard for our clothes in the corner. Its plain at the moment but its gonna be painted at some stage soon!!! We also hauled one of our single seaters in and popped it in the corner between the windows with an ottoman and its perfect for morning devotions or if one of us wants to read later at night. I really love our bedroom now its a total haven and its a joy to keep tidy!!!
Also, another thing I noticed you have no shelves in your room. Maximize the space above and around your bed to put some shelves. Put some candles around. Make it more romantic.
We have our linens in a walk-in linen closet. One of the things I wanted when we built this house. My parents had one, and I wanted one too!
I’ve been buying new sheets later to go w/our new comforter, and I’ve been throwing out old sheets for every set I buy. I keep pillow cases, because they can be mixed and matched with other sets of sheets. And I have lots of pillows, so I always need a pillow case!
I was going to throw out our old comforters, but I figured when the comforter/blanket drive goes on this fall I’ll donate them then. I think I have 5 or 6 comforters lol. I like to keep our bedroom from getting boring with the same ole stuff in it.
I appreciate your thoughts Kate, but my main goal is to simplify. We want to focus primarily on using the resources God has entrusted to us for the furtherance of His kingdom, so that is why I don’t invest too much money in decorations and such. A simple elegant room is my goal. We want to live as if we were on the mission field.
We have two pairs of sheets that we rotate and that serves us nicely. We actually only have one comforter as pictured above, but then again, I personally don’t feel a need for multiple ones. Why not re-use those old sheets to make smaller ones for your kids bedrooms, or for paint tarps…I am sure there are many uses for them rather than just disposing them.
Linsay, I´ve enjoyed your Simplifying series. I’m on my way to the mission field and the posts had helped me to figure out what should I really pack on. One of the most unhappy things of a missionary is the moving, so I´m trying to keep only what I need and things that I really love and are meaningful to me. In that way there’s not much to pack when we need to.
Thankyou for inspired me! You’ve been a great help because like you, I have two little ones. One 3y princess and a baby prince.
You inspired me to do this in my bedroom this weekend also. I really like how much more peaceful it is without a lot of unnecessary stuff in there. I hope that can give me inspiration to persevere in simplifying the rest of our tiny home and carry out a lot of the useless extras.
I really like the colors in your bedroom. They are warm and gender neutral. My sweet husband puts up with sage and lavender–my favorite colors! I think though, when a room is peaceful and uncluttered, it is inviting to guys even if it is a bit feminine in decor!
I try to keep the bedroom as uncluttered as possible. I want it to have a feeling of haven and serenity. The rest of the house is for hospitality and working, but this is a place of rest.
The hanging shelves is a great idea. We use the tall white & clear plastic drawer things. They take so much less space than a dresser, are easier to transport, and function as our nightstands.
I love your line of thinking about the bedroom being a place of rest. As I’m in a one bedroom unit, I do keep a desk and computer in there, but I still want it to be a place for peace and serenity.
I’ve really been enjoying this series, Lindsay! Our bedroom is small but we don’t have a large closet. I do use the under bed boxes, since I have very little closet or storage space in the house, but I agree with you that they don’t look the greatest. We use one dresser for the 2 of us which keeps us from accumulating too many clothes! My nightstand is one of those little round tables. I store some household goods underneath by covering it with a long tablecloth.
I love the colors you use in your house. I am the type of person who can not stand clutter. I try not to buy my kids too many toys because of clutter control and I want them to appreciate what they have. I have to say that you put me to shame with how organized your closet is. My husband is not as into neatness as I am. I am constantly trying to tidy up his side. I guess that is just the way he is. I love him anyway.
How ironic, I just went to Target this weekend to get stuff to organize our closet. I bought the infamous space bags…LOVE them! I felt a bit overwhelmed w/all the containers I could use. So I walked out w/more hangers, an organizer for the bathroom, and the space bags lol.
I was going to get another bin for $my shoes. I didn’t see one shoe in your closet. From my bed I can see at least 3 pairs of shoes lol.
I did have a couple of ideas for you. Maximize the space behind your bed. Maybe a floor lamp? A nice fake plant?
Or don’t angle the bed, it could give you more space on either side of the bed.
I can relate to the nightstand (which I wouldn’t call it that, it doesn’t have drawers, it’s an old end table from our old living room set)…I have a plastic container that has the meds I’m on. My nightstand is currently holding Bible, lotion, lamp, Ped Egg (LIKE that a lot too), and the good ole alarm clock.
And instead of those doilies I used an old eyelet pillow sham. Fits perfectly!
Are you guys looking for a bigger condo/house for the new addition? Or do you have a 3 bedroom condo?
I love this series it has really helped me to be more organized as well as live a bit simpler. We decided to mazamize the space we have in the Living Room by putting our dining table in their an using our dining room for a pantry, desk and small table and chairs for my son.
Thanks for the wonderful ideas.
God Bless
Sarah
i love how you’ve been very creative with your use of space. it’s clean, uncluttered and practical. i’m renaming your blog: practical passionate and on purpose home keeping!
blessings to you! lylah
I do use under the bed boxes, but never thought about putting them in the closet! I’ve been trying to figure out how to get our out of season clothes in our closet and out of the spare room. Thanks for the tip!