Today I’m sharing inspiration on how to utilise the awkward space under the stairs to create a modern under stairs homework station for your kids – with the help of a small space brand we all know and love. IKEA!



**This post was sponsored by IKEA UK.

The first day of school is just under two weeks away – and although I’m looking forward to the prospect of a little more stability and schedule to my life, I’m going to miss spending time with my 6 year old and all the spontaneity that comes with it (except the trips to the indoor playhouses of course …. can’t say I’ll ever miss those god-awful places)

When I look at my son, I still can’t quite get over how quickly he is growing up!

Gosh, is it really going to be his last year at infant school already?? I know he’s more than ready for the big transition, but I for one, am not!

Somebody stop the train please … this mama wants to jump off!

Anyway, to get us all into the (fast approaching) new school year spirit, I thought it would be a great idea to put together a little homework station for my son.

Here it is – all tucked away under the stairs!

HOW THIS AKWARD SPACE BECAME THE ‘UNDER STAIRS WORK STATION’:

Now my son doesn’t spend much time in his bedroom (I don’t think many boys his age do to be fair) so I already knew that putting a designated workspace in his bedroom would be a wasted effort. It would gather dust and mostly likely never be used.

Also, I’m a little wary of internet acess for kids in the bedrooms. I kind of like to know whats going on at all times.

So I considered a few other places,

– The spare room : This tiny room functioned as my husbands man cave with some very large ugly looking computer gadgets – there was no space for another desk.

-The Dining room: My sons desk used to live here but has since moved to the garage to make room for an extra large fridge

But quickly realised both of these rooms were a no-go

And then it came to me one day, like a sort of epiphany!

Under the stairs in the living room – that’s where I would put it!

As far as under stairs spaces went, it was quite small, but big enough for a desk and other bits (I thought). I estimated that there was enough leg room if you were to sit down and also enough head room (so you didn’t bang your head if you were to stand up suddenly).

All the space needed was some very careful planning and the right sort of furniture to make it happen!

But hey, that wasn’t going to be a problem!

I collaborated with IKEA for this project (dream brand alert) and when it comes to small space living, they have it down to a T.

CHOOSING SUITABLE FURNITURE FOR THE UNDER STAIRS HOMEWORK STATION

When choosing furniture for this space, I really had to take into account the general look and feel of my current living room (which is still a work in progress, but you can see a snippet of the entrance here).



SOURCES: WALL ART / BRASS POT

At the same time, I still had to create a functional home work area that my son would find conducive to work!

A few of the IKEA pieces I decided on included:

The ALEX drawer, which as you can imagine is quite handy for storage – especially for the tons of paper worksheets my son often comes home from school with!

The LINNMON table top fit quite snugly on to the drawer (although I did have to saw off a 45 degree angle to fit the slope of the stairs). I love that this table top retails at only 15 pounds and can be customised in so many ways to create any style desk you want!

I placed an EKBY shelf (also cut to fit the space) with a clip on basket just above the desk areas. And because I knew this space would get really dark in colder weathers, I also added in this cute HECTAR light!

This childrens swivel chair worked perfectly at this desk. The height can be adjusted and according to my son, its very comfortable to sit on!



SOURCES: Mustard cushion / Rug

THE FEATURE WALL:

As soon as you walk into my entrance there is an IKEA IVAR cabinet perched on the wall just before you climb the stairs.

Playing off the raw wooden texture from the IVAR cabinet, I decided to add in a similar looking wooden slatted wall to the under stairs homework station and surrounding wall.



SOURCES : Belly basket

The wood was secured in place with narrow but long nails (so not too difficult to remove and fill in holes if needed) A laser level helped to make sure everything was straight!

You know me, I cant help throwing in a little DIY! Maybe I’ll even do a tutorial on it, If you’re interested?



SOURCES: Checked boxes

My son just loves this space – although he’s not over the moon about the prospect of homework again (I dont blame him because neither am I! Is it just me or does homework get extremely harder each year?)

What do you think of this under stairs homework station ? Have you ever used the space under your stars for something like this?

Let me know!

***This post was sponsored by IKEA UK I received products and payment for my time creating this post. I only partner with brands I LOVE and think you will LOVE too! All ideas, photos and opinions are 100% my own.

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