Using pocket doors for small spaces - maximising room in your home

Space is a precious commodity in a home, and one that we will pay big money to have or create. Families grow and evolve and you naturally need more space as they get bigger, you may even need new rooms. Even if you don’t have a large family, you want the option to use every available space for a different purposes as your interests or lifestyle needs change. This is very common and you are perfectly within your rights to make the most of your home and maximise space.

The problem usually comes with expense. You may have two sons who are sharing the same bedroom but are rapidly outgrowing it. Their tendency to fight and squabble is a natural element of a sibling relationship, but is also a consequence of having no privacy or a quiet space where they can unwind and be alone. When one of them gave up their bedroom when your little daughter came along it was with reluctance, however it made sense because there was a large bedroom with room for two, but now it is completely impractical.

Common problems encountered with a lack of space in the home

On the other hand, if you don’t have kids you might just need some extra space. Storage has always been a problem in your house and whatever you do in taking clothes, towels and bed linen to the charity shop, you never seem to have room for new ones. And things have changed a lot in your life recently also; after the pandemic you are now working from home for three days a week, and your partner has a friend who used to visit quite often, but now only comes once or twice a year. You need a proper home office rather than perching on a temporary space on the kitchen table, getting in the way and having no peace and quiet. You also have an elderly relative who comes over for dinner once a week but can no longer manage your stairs when they need the toilet, so you need to create a downstairs option.

These are all common problems or lifestyle enhancement quandaries encountered by people in their everyday lives. Families change, lifestyles change, but this doesn’t necessarily justify moving house or investing in expanding the home, with an extension, a conservatory or a loft conversion. Instead you need a more affordable and practical solution to create the additional space that makes smaller spaces more usable, and the answer is the pocket door.

How a pocket door creates more space

If you have a traditional hinged door, it will open into a room and immediately restrict how much space you are able to use. This is because it opens in an arc and the space directly behind the door can’t practically be used for anything, because it would get knocked by the door when it opens. Alternatively, pocket door systems open in the same axis by moving along an overhead rail and disappearing into a ‘pocket’ wall recess. So a pocket door doesn’t encroach into a room in any way, and therefore the space behind the door becomes usable space.

The neat solution provided by the pocket doors creates around ten square feet of space, and you would be surprised what such a relatively small space now allows you to do.

Maximising space with a pocket door

So now a family can choose to divide a larger shared bedroom into two smaller individual bedrooms. This requires the construction of a stud partition wall and the installation of a pocket door, but it provides the two squabbling sons with their own space and some privacy.

Now you can fully utilise the rarely-used guest bedroom and install a desk and chair so you have a home office to work from, and when you have visitors at the weekend there is still a guest bedroom for them to use. This makes sure you are fully utilising the space in your home and extracting more value from the precious space you have, without having to physically add any with a costly extension. Furthermore, you can partition off part of a large bedroom to create some neat storage or a walk-in wardrobe, by fitting a pocket door, or you could even install an en-suite if that is the type of luxury you have always wanted. And on the ground floor, you can section off part of the living room or dining room to create a downstairs toilet, or partition off part of the kitchen to create a utility room for your washing machine and dryer, and for more handy storage.

So the pocket door can instantly create workable and affordable lifestyle solutions, which help the flow and practicality of your domestic life and also maximises the space in your home. When space is such a sought-after thing, it is a terrible waste when it is not used properly, and you have rooms under-utilised or which can be re-designed to work better for you. The pocket door is the key to unlocking the potential of your home and maximising the space you have available, by making it available.

Contact the Pocket Door Shop for more information and ideas about how pocket doors can work for you.