Our 8' x 10' Closet-less, Bedroom

When we first moved into our apartment we were expecting a baby and planned to use the dining alcove as our son's nursery. That worked well for the first nine months, but as we got close to his first birthday, we realized that we were waking him up after his bedtime.

Because sleep is the holy grail for parents of young children, we didn't hesitate to swap rooms with our baby, taking the smaller room for ourselves. However, figuring out how to make the space work, took a little figuring out. Here's how we've made our teeny-tiny bedroom with no closet or dresser work:

We already owned a captain's bed when we moved into our home, but as luck would have it, my sister was getting rid of her larger queen-sized Gothic Cabinet Craft captain's bed. A bigger mattress was a welcome upgrade, and her bed had drawers on two sides, while ours had only one. The six drawers are quite large and my husband and I have managed to fit all our folded clothes in our drawers plus the extra linens for the bed. I cannot recommend this style of bed enough to city- and small-space-dwellers! For the time being, we continue to hang clothes in the bedroom closet, but we may need to rethink that as our son gets older.

When we first made the switch we had two small side tables that just fit in the room with the bed. However, any time we wanted to retrieve something from the third drawer, we had to move the furniture, which put me on the hunt for a wall-mounted bedside table that would fit in our space.

After considering many options, I decided to invest in a pair of custom-made bedside tables with drawers and a small shelf from Etsy seller Tim O'Brien Woodworks. They were expensive, but they fit our space perfectly and they are beautifully made. Tim also does a great job of including the hardware and instructions for wall-mounting.

Finally, wall-mounted lights free up the surface of the bedside tables. We had a cheap pair in our old apartment, which had stopped dimming probably, and were thrilled when we found these ones second-hand. They are Visual Comforts Studio Classic model, and while I did not pay full price for them, I would highly recommend them. For a less-expensive model, try lampsplus.com and search for plug-in, swing-arm lamps.

The baskets below the bedside table are our laundry hampers. Our main hamper is in our son's bedroom, but we need a place to toss stuff when he's asleep and these baskets are from World Market work great.

For the curious, the linens are a mix of old and new: white Euro shams from Pottery Barn, a set of Painterly Stripe sheets from Schoolhouse Electric, a pair of long-ago DwellStudio pillowcases, and a lovingly patched and somewhat-threadbare quilt from my childhood bedroom.

And you can read about our barn doors here.