Squeezing a Bed into a Studio or One-Room Apartment

Living in a smaller, one-room or studio apartment has some huge advantages.  Less space means you can live more centrally at a more affordable rate.  However, these micro-rentals can raise some big challenges when it comes time to organize your living, sleeping, and eating space.  Here are some great ways you can squeeze in and create a sleeping area within a one-room, studio apartment.

Hang some Curtains

Even if you live alone there is still something nice about separating the space in which you sleep from the space in which you live and work.  Creating a distinction between your sleeping area and the rest of your apartment vastly improves the visual flow of your space, and lets your bed remain out of sight when you have guests.  Curtains can be a wonderful and affordable way to accomplish this.  Hanging a sturdy, neutral-coloured curtain between your bed and the rest of your unit gives you privacy, and places a strong physical and psychological barrier between your sleeping area and your living area. Remember, this curtain is doubling as a retractable wall, so try to pick as sturdy a curtain and mounting system as you can, with a design that matches the rest of your décor.  The more integrated and “structural” the curtain looks, the more it will function as an actual barrier.  Another option is to go for the classic four-poster bed complete with drapes, which allows for privacy and separation when needed. 

Think Outside the Bed Box (or, Put your Bed in a Box!)

Another way to have a bed in a studio, in an unobtrusive manner, is to be a little more creative with the bed itself.  Both day beds and murphy beds allow you to tuck your bed away each day, either by sliding your bed under the couch or by folding it into the wall.  If this solution seems like too much effort, consider having a raised bed, like a high bunk without a lower berth.  A high bed raises your sleeping space above the fray of daily life, and gives you some badly needed storage or workspace at ground level, underneath the bed itself.  Another approach is to better integrate your bed into your work and living space (instead of hiding it) by boxing your bed in.  One idea is to make “walls” around your bed with bookcases.  This ensures that your bed remains somewhat out of sight, while economically making use of the barriers you block your bed in with as storage.  Or, consider building a box or container to house your bed.  By using simple building materials and a clean design, you can encase your bed in a little mini-room within your larger apartment.  Not only is this unique solution cute and trendy (its like your bed is encased in its own shoe-box diorama!) you can use the top of the box as a tidy storage zone!