1970 box room step - design fault Information, help and advice on many architecture, self build and design problems and issues

[katylouisedavies]

HI, I have just had a baby who will be sleeping in the box room at the top of our stairs.
It is, I understand a common design fault in 1970's semi's that the roof of the stairs cut in to the room leaving an ugly wooden step like box which takes up a lot of space in an already small room. It has been suggested that many people have built beds on top of this but as our son will be in a cot for the forseeable future this is not an option for us. Does anyone have any ideas about what can be done with this please?

[The Architect]

Hi katylouisedavies,

It is a typical design flaw for these and many other types of house. The way to look at it is an opportunity though. Not knowing the exact configuration i can only throw a few suggestions your way.

1) Could it become a changing area for the baby with a permanent changing mat and edge protection to stop katylouisedavies jr rolling off (you see similar ideas on top of drawers at ikea and The Architect jr had one when she was wee.

2) Built in wardrobe? As katylouisedavies jr only requires short clothing at the moment could you fit a rail and some doors and enclose the space to create a built in wardrobe or storage for smaller clothes? Added benefit here is that you don't use up any additional floor space with an actual wardrobe!!

3) Built in "pull out" shelves. The kind that you get again in Ikea where they can be fitted in wardrobes and they are on rails to allow you to pull them out a drawer at a time. That way you maximise storage capacity vertically and pull each drawer out independantly to access clothes/nappies etc.

4) Vertical storage bags (again Ikea do a great range in these for space saving) hung from the ceiling over the step which allows katylouisedavies jr soft and cuddly toys to be packed away at the end of a hard days playing.

Good luck and congratulations on your new arrival.