Teens need a space to call their own, even if that space happens to be a small teenage bedroom.

One of the most frequent requests we get from teens and parents of teenagers is for small bedroom ideas.

Since teens need their rooms to be able to serve many purposes from sleeping and personal hygiene to studying and having friends over, teenage bedrooms must be multi-functional.

The challenge comes in when trying to design a teenage bedroom space so it works to your teen’s benefit on a daily basis.

Start by measuring the size of the teenage bedroom, making note of windows and doors as well as their dimensions. Use graph paper to draw a scale model of the room - two squares to equal one foot.

You can take your planning one step further by measuring the furniture and making scale models using the graph paper. Cut out the pieces, and use them to arrange the room on paper to see how the furniture will fit. This will allow you to visualize the room without having to move any heavy furniture around.
Rearranging the furniture against the walls in small teen bedrooms is great way to give the illusion of more space.
Select a color scheme and theme for your teenage bedroom, but keep the colors light and the pattern simple. Dark colors make teenage bedrooms feel smaller, while light colors make them appear larger.

When decorating small teenage bedrooms it’s important to remember less is more. If you favor bold accessories, you don’t need a lot of them to make a statement.

Purchase furniture, bedding, lighting and other accessories only after you’ve done you’re planning.

Furniture for teenage bedrooms should be about function. Consider a bunk bed with a futon on the bottom. This option not only serves as a sleeping area but as additional seating.

Loft beds are another good choice for a small bedroom since they can accommodate a bed, desk and seating in the same footprint as a single bed.

If your teenage bedroom has a high ceiling, a loft bed is one of the best small bedroom ideas out there for maximizing the vertical space.
With a loft bed, there are an unlimited number of possibilities for what can be done with the space beneath.Small bedroom storage ideas include utilizing the space under the bed for storage.  If the idea of a loft bed doesn’t appeal to your teen consider other things you can do to better utilize the space under a normal bed. You can purchase bed risers that can raise the bed six to 12 inches off the floor and then you can use under the bed organizers for clothing and shoes, eliminating the need for bulky dressers or armoires.  Being creative with the use of your of closet space is also important. If you’ve got room, consider placing a low dresser in your closet. Longer clothing can hang on either side of the dresser and short items like shirts and/or skirts can hang above. Now, if you find your teen doesn’t really need her closet for storing clothes and sufficient clothes storage can be located elsewhere e.g. in bins and baskets on a floor to ceiling shelving unit and on hooks strategically located e.g. on the back of your teen bedroom or closet doors, you could opt to turn the closet into a study area by adding a desk, shelving and some good task lighting.
You could also create a study area with a slim profile desk. Add wall mounted task lighting and a bulletin board to keep track of homework assignments.
Other bedroom ideas for teenagers include built-in furniture. Such furniture eliminates the needs for bulky chairs, dressers, and tables. Consider a built-in window seat, a wall unit with deep shelves (for storage containers) and freestanding shelves to take the place of nightstands. Think creatively e.g. outfit an awkward dormer with a desk or build your wall unit around your windows.

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