The word “loft” itself is under question here. We are not sure if it is the right word to describe what we have in mind. But since so many people use it, we thought of using the same here.

By Loft, we are referring to a concrete slab under the roof which extends to maybe 1.5 or 2 feet from the wall and creates a shelf like space close to the roof.

People have this built specifically to dump unnecessary stuff. Usually lofts are built in the bedrooms and also the kitchen. For that portion of the room, the height of the roof is obviously lower. And generally people tend to cover the lofts with some doors made of wood or plywood to hide all the mess which exists behind.

So, hoping that you got the general idea of what a “loft” is, we move on to the article. (it was really impossible to find a picture on google images for this. we hope to put up some pics in the comments section later)

Lofts are really a useful feature if you have a lots of stuff to store and do not want to dump them on the ground. However lofts also give you an excuse to collect junk and never allows you to throw away or dispose off stuff. Ideally planned, your home should do just fine without lofts in 3 or 4 rooms.

Lofts really take away the visual appeal of your room. The biggest problem is that since they are unattended, they gather hell of a lot of dust and are perfect place for pests to grow.

So unless you absolutely have to store away stuff, do not opt for a loft at your home. Let your room breathe easy. It would also give a uniform look and feel to your entire home as navigating through rooms would not give the visitors a cramped feeling.

comments are welcome as always.

I have seen standard bedroom sizes like 10 x 10 feet or 12 x 12 feet in flats. In independent houses, it could be smaller or larger depending on the person building it.

Questions we would like to ask our readers are:

What can we manage to put in a bedroom?
How much larger should a bedroom actually be and
What would you typically want your bedroom to contain?

1) What can we manage to put in a bedroom?

My bedroom is a 10 x 11 feet bedroom, and all we can manage to put in it is two beds and a computer table. Even with this arrangement, it feels a little small.

Well, isn’t it supposed to also hold say a cupboard and maybe even a writing table?

Well, actually speaking there is space in my room to hold either one cupboard or a table. But then this is where the design comes in. There is already a wardrobe in the wall, a door and a window. So the cupboard cannot be put against these or even anywhere near these places.

Then there is the electrical plug point to worry about. You cannot prop your cupboard against that either. As if that was not enough, there is also lighting you need to be concerned about. If you put your cupboard just beneath your lighting, the room will be dimmer as the cupboard obstructs most of the light.

If I rearrange things to make room for the cupboard, then it becomes impossible to clean the room.

The other bedroom is almost 9 x 12 feet. But this is even worse. Apart from a wardrobe, a window and the electrical socket, there is also a door for the bathroom and one for the balcony on the wall. This makes it almost impossible to put anything at all in this room.

2) How much larger should a bedroom actually be?

Well, I am not an architect and I am not paying for your land. So you should be able to judge these things better. However, I think a decent bedroom should be at least 12 x 12 feet and if possible, even 15 x 15 feet and properly designed.

If you had two bedrooms like this, it would be 450 square feet. Add another 50 Square feet so that one of the bedrooms can also hold the attached toilet. A 7 x 7 bathroom in my opinion is large enough. So in 500 square feet, you have two really big bedrooms and a toilet. Now, if you had say another 500 square feet, you could easily have a hall, a dining room and a kitchen in that. Adding another toilet however would be slightly difficult. Do away with those balconies and passage ways inside the house.

3) What would you want your bedroom to typically contain?

Once again, this is my own opinion, assuming we have a 15 x 15 feet bedroom.

Here’s a sketch.

(Click to enlarge)

I am assuming I am going to order a custom made 7 x 7 feet bed. That’s bigger than the largest of beds available. We earlier covered “Bed Sizes” in our earlier article.

A 3 feet wide door should be enough to get people in and out I reckon. This can be seen in the left corner of the figure. Another identical but slightly smaller door is placed for the attached toilet. This can be seen to the right corner in the figure.

Apart from these, you would require a wardrobe and I am going to include a book shelf / computer table to that list. If you have a lot many books, use it as a book shelf. If you also want your computer in, use it as a multipurpose table.

I am including a small bedside couch. Just like that. This won’t have a backrest. I have included a home theatre system and television. You can put all your digital media in here too.

A writing table can be found. If required, this can be replaced with a dressing table. Not many people use a writing table anyway.

I have also included a chest of drawers. You could include small side tables near the cot.

Invitation to readers,

You think, you can utilize a 15*15 room much better? We would like to hear from you. You could send in comments and figures/floor-plans too.