Small Bedroom Storage Ideas: Where Storage Fits, Measured
Short answer
In a small bedroom, add storage where it doesn’t take the floor you walk on: under the bed (boxes are 7 to 7⅞ inches tall), up the wall (a 15¾-inch-wide tall chest holds about half again as much per inch of wall as a low dresser), on shelves above the desk, on the back of the door and in the closet. Keep the space to walk past and around the bed, 22 to 30 inches in our Bedroom Solver.
7–7⅞″
under-bed box height
15¾″
tall chest width
10¼″
wall shelf depth
Contents
Where storage fits in a small bedroom
Here is a 10 × 12-foot bedroom with a queen bed and a desk, the size our 10×12 bedroom layouts work with. The four places marked add storage without narrowing the paths around the bed:
- Under the bed: two boxes, each 37 × 24¾ inches.
- Above the desk: a 43¼-inch wall shelf, 10¼ inches deep.
- A tall chest in the corner instead of a wide dresser, with 28⅞ inches in front to open its drawers.
- The back of the door: a 21¾-inch rack for bags, robes or coats.
Under the bed
Most IKEA bed frames leave 7⅞ inches underneath, and its under-bed boxes are 7 to 7⅞ tall. The boxes come out sideways, so each needs as much floor beside the bed as it is deep, 19 to 25 inches for most. Our under-bed storage guide has the box and bed sizes, and when a storage bed beats boxes.
Up the wall: tall chests and shelves
A chest of drawers uses the wall’s height instead of its width. IKEA’s STORKLINTA comes both ways:
| IKEA STORKLINTA | Width × depth × height | Storage | Per inch of wall |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5-drawer, tall | 15¾×18⅞×47¼″ | 3.6 cu ft | 0.23 cu ft |
| 6-drawer, low | 55⅛×18⅞×29½″ | 8.4 cu ft | 0.15 cu ft |
The tall chest holds less in all but about 50% more per inch of wall, and it fits a corner the wide one can’t. Both have the same 10⅞-inch drawer pull-out, so both need about 28⅞ inches of floor in front: the pull-out plus 18 inches to stand, as our Storage Finder counts it. Our dresser dimensions guide has 15 more chests and dressers.
Tall pieces tip. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission advises anchoring dressers, bookcases and other tall furniture to the wall, and keeping heavier things in the lower drawers.
Shelves take even less floor. An IKEA LACK wall shelf is 43¼×10¼″ and holds up to 22 pounds; above a desk, it stays out of the way of the chair. For a bookcase on the floor, see our bookshelf dimensions.
Doors, the closet and furniture that stores
- The back of the door: IKEA’s door racks, such as the 21¾-inch KOMPISHÄNG or the 39¼-inch-tall BÄRFIS with hooks for up to 9 pounds each, fit doors up to 1½ inches thick; interior doors are 1⅜.
- The closet: double rods at 81¾ and 40½ inches hold twice the shirts in the same width. Our guide to organizing a small closet has the layout.
- Nightstands with a drawer: a STORKLINTA nightstand is 15¾×18⅞×20⅞″. Our nightstand dimensions guide has the height to match your bed.
- A bench at the foot of the bed, only with room: a KALLSÖ storage bench is 14¾ inches deep. In the room above, it would cut the 36 inches at the foot of the bed to 21¼, less than the solver’s 22-inch minimum; it needs at least 14¾ + 22 = 36¾ inches.
Free tool
Measure an empty wall or corner, and the floor you can keep clear in front, and the Storage Finder shows which shelf, chest or wardrobe sizes fit, and why the others don’t.
Questions people ask
How do you add storage to a small bedroom with no closet?
With a clothing rail or a compact wardrobe against a free wall. The Storage Finder checks an open rail of about 30 × 22 inches and a sliding wardrobe of 36 × 24, each with 24 inches of floor in front.
Is a tall dresser better than a wide one in a small bedroom?
Usually, if you have the height. A tall 15¾-inch STORKLINTA chest stores about 0.23 cubic feet per inch of wall, a low 55⅛-inch one 0.15, and the tall one fits a corner. Both need the same floor in front to open the drawers.
How deep should bedroom wall shelves be?
An IKEA LACK wall shelf is 10¼ inches deep; bookshelves are most often 12. Shallower shelves take less space from the room and the path in front of them.
How much space do you need in front of a dresser?
The drawer pull-out plus about 18 inches to stand: about 28⅞ inches for a STORKLINTA, whose drawers come out 10⅞. Our dresser guide gives Wayfair’s more generous 36.
Where should storage go in a small bedroom?
Under the bed, up the walls, above the desk, on the back of the door and in the closet: places that don’t take the floor you walk on.
Sources
- Dressers and chests of drawers (IKEA US): STORKLINTA 5-drawer and 6-drawer sizes, storage capacity and drawer pull-out; STORKLINTA nightstand
- LACK wall shelf, KOMPISHÄNG and BÄRFIS door hangers and KALLSÖ storage bench (IKEA US): sizes, loads and door thickness
- Anchor It! (U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission): anchor dressers and other tall furniture; heavier things in the lower drawers
- Standard door sizes (Remodel Fit): interior doors 1⅜″ thick
- Key Measurements to Help You Design the Perfect Home Office (Houzz): shelves most commonly 12″ deep
- Nest In Small Bedroom Solver and Storage Finder: 22–30″ beside and past the bed; drawer pull-out plus 18″ in front; rail and wardrobe size profiles