Living in a small place can be very practical and in some cases really cozy too but that doesn’t mean it’s not also challenging. One of the biggest challenges is choosing the right type of furniture. If you think it’s not such a big deal just try to fit a regular bed into a micro apartment and you’ll be forced to reevaluate your choice quicker than you can imagine. that being said, there are some types of beds that are better suited for small rooms than others.

A trundle bed

A trundle bed or truckle bed is basically a simple, regular bed on wheels which can be stored under a larger bed, sort of like a bed extension. You can see it being used here in a home office. By adding a trundle bed to the office the designer basically turned this into a multifunctional space which can also serve as a regular bedroom or as a guest room whenever needed.

A fold-down wall bed

Storing a bed up against a wall is very practical, especially when there’s very little floor space to spare during the day. One of the design options is to have a bed which you can hide inside a wall cabinet whenever it’s not needed. The Kali unit is one such product. The idea here is that the wall unit works in tandem with the sofa to offer a comfortable surface to sleep on at night. The backrest cushions of the sofa are removed and the sofa tilts backwards and underneath the bed platform which is actually the cabinet door.

A Murphy bed

Murphy beds are very practical and popular in small bedrooms and tiny apartments in general. They’re great because they allow you to free up a lot of floor space during the day by storing the bed vertically against the wall. One particular example of how this works can be observed in the case of the Oslo sofa and bed combo. When the bed is not needed is sits neatly behind the large panel that has a shelf attached to it. As you pull down the panel, the shelf transforms into a support for the bed platform which partially sits on top of the sofa.

A sofa bed

Sofa beds are super popular and often used in living rooms regardless of their size just as a backup in case guests sleep over. The Law Dormeuse is a very good example because it includes all the basic features of a sofa bed. It’s compact and comfortable when serving as a sofa and can easily extend into a bed with minimal effort. It also has a removable cover which is always a nice touch.

Loft beds

There are actually several different options when it comes to loft beds. One is to have a freestanding loft bed furniture unit like Elliott System. This is a system which features a desk and a storage unit at the bottom and a bed at the top. It’s a really cool option for kids who need a desk to do their homework on, storage shelves and drawers for all their school supplies and a comfy bed to sleep on at night and all these things usually need to fit into a small room.

An alcove bed

Just by looking at this bedroom you’ll probably think that having an alcove bed doesn’t really seem like such a great idea in terms of space-efficiency. However, think of the bed more in terms of a window nook and take into consideration the fact that you can hide the entire sleeping area behind curtains whenever you want. Also, if you can also fit some storage drawers under the bed that can free up some additional floor space too.

Elevated beds

The main issue with regular beds is that they up valuable floor space all the time and that you could use that space for something else if only the bed wasn’t in the way. Systems such as Letto solve this problem by elevating the bed on a platform and allowing you to use the area underneath for storage. It’s like having a miniature walk-in closet under your bed. You can literally lift up the bed and walk under it.

A bed-desk combo

There are many different ways to combine a bed and a desk into a single space-saving unit and one of the most interesting options is the one featured in the Nano Studios which are micro apartments designed specifically for students. They have these cool and modern bed-desk combos as well as a bunch of other innovative furniture pieces and storage solutions.

Convertible sofa-bunk bed

Everyone knows that there are sofas which can be extended to serve as beds but did you know that there’s also a sofa which you can turn into a bunk bed? It’s called Doc. and it’s a very cool and modern piece with a very simple and user-friendly mechanism. It has a ladder and safety barrier system built into its structure. When used in the bunk bed version, the ladder stands vertically and doubles as a support. As a sofa, Doc. is pretty compact, cute and stylish.

Under floor bed

We already know that you can have beds with storage underneath but did you know that you can also have a bed that slides under the floor? Actually, the idea is to have a raised platform somewhere in the room and to have the bed on casters on wheels so you can roll it under this platform when you’re not using it. You can furnish the platform with a desk and chairs and this can be your workspace/ home office and the cool thing is you won’t have to clean up the space at night when you want to go to sleep. You just roll out the bed and your work area remains intact so the next day you can pick up where you left off.