Loft Space: 10 Great Ideas for How to Use It

Loft space can often be an awkward thing to know how to utilize. They’re often smaller, lack privacy from the rest of your space and can be oddly designed. But they can serve an important purpose in your home if you know how to use them. In this post, blogger Kacey Bradley shares her ideas for the best ways to make the most of your loft space.

1. A Games Room

Lofts are often the perfect size for a game table – be it pool, foosball or air hockey. Make that the centerpiece of the room. The rest of the area can have chairs to hang out when you aren’t participating, or a chess table or room to play board games and put together puzzles. If there’s space, put a dartboard on the wall to add to the activities or a TV to watch the big game while you’re playing your own.

2. A Kids’ Playroom

In an effort to keep toys from being strewn about the rest of the house, make your loft a designated play area. Lots of fun storage bins can contain all their toys and the walls can be a gallery for all their finger painting masterpieces. A train table or dollhouse can serve as a focal point for their playtime.

The best part about making the loft a playroom is that the openness makes it so you can easily check in from downstairs while making dinner or getting some time to yourself. You can hear what’s going on and glance up occasionally to make sure no disasters have happened. If you don’t want to hear a lot of racket, take care with choosing the right flooring for your loft.

3. An Office

If you work from home sometimes or just want a place to get away and balance the checkbook, an office is crucial. But not every home has a full extra room for one. Since a desk and computer chair don’t take up a lot of space, a loft is ideal for an office. A few filing cabinets or some small shelves are all you really need for storage.

A loft gives you the chance to have some privacy, while still monitoring what’s going on elsewhere in the house. If you think you’ll need to monitor pretty consistently, place your desk near the railing so you’re never too far. For more privacy, move it into the far corner.

4. A Reading Nook

Lofts are basically the dream reading nook, especially if there’s a good window or two and lots of natural light. Put a window seat by the best window and fill the rest of the room with bookcases, comfy beanbag chairs and plush rugs. Make it a getaway to take a warm cup of coffee and your favorite book to just relax for an afternoon.

5. A Sitting Room

Nowadays our main living or family room is normally dominated by the television. But sometimes you just want to get away from the TV and have some conversation. The loft can be the designated space if you want to chat with friends while your husband is watching the game, have book club or just catch up with someone you haven’t seen in awhile. It gives you that extra space without the distraction of TV.

6. A Study Lounge

For your teens and growing children, a study lounge gives them a place to strictly focus on homework. You can keep an eye to make sure they’re actually doing what they’re supposed to, and it can be somewhere with less distractions than their bedrooms. Make it a place that encourages learning, with no laptops allowed unless they’re needed for a paper.

7. A Workout Room

Whether it’s yoga or running that’s your exercise of choice, a loft is a good way to make the workout area somewhere other than the basement or garage. Put a TV on the wall for workout DVDs or just to watch something while you’re sweating away on the elliptical. A loft should be able to fit a piece or two of machinery as well as some free weights and a more open workout space.

8. A Craft Room

If you’re frequently doing something crafty, you need room for all your supplies. A loft can be a scrapbooking or jewelry-making space, a painting studio or a knitting nook. It’s nice to have a place solely for your crafts so you don’t have to find somewhere in the house to do them and your supplies won’t get lost since they’ll all be in one place.

9. A Guest Room

If you’re short on space, a loft can always be a guest room for when you need it. It’s a bit lacking on privacy, but it’s better than guests being in the middle of the living room on a pullout couch and having to work around that. Plus, it means your guests can actually have a real bed instead of the couch or futon.

10. A Laundry Room

You’d have to get the vent and plumbing worked out, but this can be a great space if you don’t have a laundry room. Basements and garages can be cold and dreary, and this provides a warm place for clothes to dry out on a drying rack. Plus, it just makes it a lot more pleasant for the people doing laundry.

There are plenty of ways to make your loft a perfect space – just find the option that’s right for your household!

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About Kacey

Kacey Bradley is the lifestyle and travel blogger for The Drifter Collective, an eclectic lifestyle blog that expresses various forms of style through the influence of culture and the world around us. Kacey graduated with a degree in Communications while working for a lifestyle magazine. She has been able to fully embrace herself with the knowledge of nature, the power of exploring other locations and cultures, all while portraying her love for the world around her through her visually pleasing, culturally embracing and inspiring posts. Along with writing for her blog, she frequently writes for sites like US Travel News, Thought Catalog, Style Me Pretty, Tripping.com and more!

Follow Kacey on Twitter and subscribe to her blog to keep up with her travels and inspiring posts!

By Rachel.