As children, we all loved to play hide-and-seek in the attic, an oftentimes poor-lit and messy place. And while they were failing to discover our location downstairs, we took advantage of the spare time to explore those cobwebbed boxes and whisk dust from the forlorn familial memorabilia. The secrets of the attic to be revealed often stole WOW from our lips, leaving us wondering why such a great place had been abandoned.
Today, as you are an adult, you can leverage the allure and comforting confines of your attic and make a great room addition to your property. From a dreamy child’s room or a cozy guest suite to your own master bedroom or an exclusive solitary retreat – the potential of an attic is only limited by your imagination. So, make the most of those slanted ceilings and transform your top floor space into a chic loft abode – these attic bedroom design ideas are to spark your inspiration.
Embrace the Power of Light Colors
Frequently, attics are quite small and dark places because of the deficit of natural light. For a beautiful attic bedroom renovation, try to avoid using a too dark palette, so as not to make the room appear even smaller and darker than it actually is. Instead, opt for light shades and off-whites to make the space look larger and more spacious and achieve a more welcoming vibe.
Go for one solid color for the entire area to create a cohesive look because when the eye does not catch visual divisions, it perceives a more spacious room. This effect is enhanced if you choose the flooring that perfectly echoes the color of the walls and ceiling. Treat the ceiling with a lighter color than the rest of the attic for a bright and airy feel. And remember one axiom: the darker the ceiling, the gloomier the interior appears.
The ceiling beams can be converted to the room’s designer assets and become true showstoppers if you paint them brown, gray, or black – since the beams are inclined upward, the attention is also drawn upward, making the eye perceive a higher space.
Do not Overdo with Furniture
While an attic bedroom offers the amazing opportunity to add more living space to your home, the square footage of the loft area is oftimes quite limited. So, avoid cluttering the attic with excessive furniture pieces and opt for smaller units instead.
Stuff the bedroom attic with a minimal set of things you may need to feel comfortable, such as a full-sized bed, a coffee table, and a couple of chairs. A great designer trick is to make the furniture color repeat the color palette of the walls – this will help to provide visual openness. Mix-and-matching neutrals will also boost the personality of your attic bedroom. Having lower furniture will also help to visually maximize the height of your attic bedroom.
Arrange furniture strategically to purposely bring natural light to where you are likely to spend the most time. This generally means having the bed under a window. Consider installing some built-in storage, so as not to end up with an attic bedroom full of the Lord knows what.
Let Smart Lighting Make a Difference
If you gravitate toward a sun-soaked loft bedroom, but the structural peculiarities of your attic do not allow you to install more windows or expand the existing ones, you still can create a glamorous light-filled relaxation haven by incorporating artificial lights in different zones of your attic bedroom.
For a truly sexy, statement-making attic bedroom, opt for different spotlights or downlighters to provide warm but direct lighting. To kick it up a notch, you can also have some lovely wall lights and table lamps. Introducing a string of fairy lights is also a decision you can never go wrong with.
A collection of pendant lights can become the room’s main focal point as well, plus, pendant lights produce an illusion of a bigger space. Just make sure your pendant is not too big for the attic bedroom and can be hung at a comfortable height.
Make the Best Out Of the Awkward Parts
One of the key moments of any home remodel project is to make the awkward architecture of your house work for you. In a case of an attic bedroom, you can turn those weird eaves to your advantage.
Specifically, you can arrange storage space in your eaves. It can be simply done through the creation of an enclosed space with an access hatch to store Christmas decorations, old toys, and other familial miscellanies.
Alternatively, you can build recessed cabinets or even lit shelving into the eaves to create extra storage and supply the top-floor bedroom with a luxurious touch.
If you, for instance, install under-eaves drawers, you will enjoy peace of mind that you are never wasting a single centimeter of potential storage space. Built-in storage is a great way to utilize the space under the eaves that would otherwise remain forever unused.
Turn It into a Studio
If you are blessed with a big enough attic, you can convert it into a cozy studio-like mini-apartment that features everything for relaxed living: a sleeping zone, a cooking area, and a bathroom. Whether for your own secluded location, your guests’ stay, or your teenage children who want to enjoy the feel of independent living – an attic gives the desired privacy. A well-equipped attic bedroom can even become your source of passive income if you rent it out as an apartment or a short-stay rental on Airbnb.
Make it a Destination for Book Lovers
An empty attic can be remodeled into a sanctuary of bibliophiles. The sloping ceiling of an attic provides the perfect place to build open bookshelves or make the built-in ones, depending on your preferences. Moreover, you can arrange the attic window into a reading zone with a comfy sofa to stretch your legs while flipping the pages. Some chic sources of lighting will make reading more convenient while also being charming attic bedroom accents. For the ultimate library feel, you can employ the white color as the dominant and complement it with darker hardwood floors.
Trust Skylights to Serve As Illuminants
Chances are that before the home renovation, your attic was deprived of light. Therefore, the key is to consider ways to magnify natural light in your attic bedroom.
The trendiest light solution is the insertion of skylights or dormer windows that allow much sunlight to pour into a room, creating a brighter and airier interior.
They also enable you to watch the stars on a clear night – the ultimate decision for a romantic loft bedroom! The skylights and a sloped ceiling are compelling reasons to pack up your things and move to live upstairs.
You can enhance your skylight with modern technology, such as a rain detector, so the window will open when the weather is fine and close automatically when dark clouds are scudding across the sky.
Factor in System Elements
From chimneys and ducts to boilers and HVAC units, your attic is likely to host a range of structural elements seriously, thwarting your ambition to create a cute attic bedroom. These structural elements are likely to be hard or even impossible to remove or redirect, and, therefore, you need to include them in your attic room addition project. For example, flue pipes can be painted or decorated to effortlessly merge with the attic bedroom’s overall style, so they become an unobtrusive inclusion to the space. For a seamless design, your best bet is to hire a professional remodel company like Groysman Construction to ensure the structural units are either totally hidden or effectively incorporated into your attic bedroom idea.
Mind Insulation
Along with being a pleasure to reside in, an attic bedroom should be functional, too. Whether it is a DIY renovation or a full-fledged room addition project performed by professional home remodelers in San Diego, ensure the attic is properly insulated for comfortable dwelling.
Attics are very tricky areas as they have a tendency to get hot during the warm season and to become rather cold as the temperature outside goes down. With adequate insulation (consider treating the roof, walls, and floors), you can avoid exuberant energy bills, and you will also convert your loft bedroom into a habitable hideaway.
Attic bedroom ideas are among the most popular room addition projects in San Diego because they enable you to add valuable living space to your house without changing the architectural design of your property. Your top floor, separated from the rest of the house, can be transformed to cater to your needs, from creating a comfortable master bedroom to providing a relaxing space to accommodate your guests.
To unlock the full potential of this little nook, consult a well-established, licensed home remodeling contractor like Groysman Construction in San Diego. Being in the home renovation business for many decades already and backed by the professionalism and talent of our team, we can handle the most challenging room addition projects, helping you to spruce up an attic bedroom into a charming haven you will be proud of.