Okay all of you creative problem solvers out there, I need underbed storage ideas for a dorm room.
An 8' x 16' dorm room is being shared by a 6' 5" engineering student and his 6' 3" business major roommate. Both students have very efficiently used--yet maxed out--their dwarf closet space using freestanding systems to get their (few) hang-up clothes to tightly co-exist with their I-need-it-here-at-college-or-I'll-die gear (climbing, backpacking, cycling in addition to the engineering student's bins of "parts and stuff" needed for his class projects). Each student has a two-drawer dresser (24” x 24” x 24” cube) that holds--at best--two pairs of their extra-long (36" inseam) jeans per drawer. The limited floor space can't continue as the repository for the piles of clean clothing items, so it is time to efficiently max out their under bed space to store their clothes.
But first, creative problem solvers, here are the
(anally enforced) dorm rules:
Dorm furniture must remain in the room; non-dorm furniture is prohibited; no alteration allowed of dorm furniture; no nails, screws, fasteners, etc. allowed in walls, ceilings, floors, or attached to any surface of room or its furnishings;
no lofting of furniture; no raising of beds using risers, blocks, bricks, or magic incantations. In other words, you get what you get and you can't throw a fit. What is
allowed are self-contained underbed storage boxes or bins.
Secondly, creative problem solvers, here is the space available under the bed:
Extra long twin bed (frame is 80.5" L (204.5 cm L) x 34"
W (86.4 cm
W) with an underbed clearance height of 10" (25.4 cm H).
So, creative problem solvers, my first, very basic idea was to buy some Ikea bed storage boxes that can be pulled in and out from under their beds, like one would use the drawer of a dresser, to hold their t-shirts, socks, boxers, jeans, shorts, etc. Sadly, Ikea's website (I have to do this online as "our" store is 200 miles away) doesn't tell me all that I need to know. Could you please help me out and answer some questions?
- Do Ikea bed storage boxes, such as Leksvik, Beddinge, Aspelund, or Aneboda have wheels or casters on their base, or do you just drag 'em flat bottomed-like on the floor? (Ikea's Product Details make no reference to a rolling device.)
2. If they have wheels, do they come in the package box, or do I have to buy them as additional parts?
3. When Ikea states in Product Details the height of the bed storage box is that just the box height, or does it include the box height AND any underbase rolling device? (Ex: height measurement provided for Leksvik bed storage box is 7 1/2 " H (19 cm H))
4. Is there a benefit to just using a plastic, lidded bin, such as Dilling bed storage box ($14.99)?
a. If so, has anyone seen one of these boxes and does the lid top hinge to gain access at both ends or is access available at just one end of the box?
b. Is the lid (1) permanently attached, (2) attached by snapping it on (like the lid on a Tupperware or Rubbermaid container), or (3) loosely attached (increasing the probability of disembodied lids will become tangled up with the floor’s mélange of dirty clothes and expensive text books.
Yet most importantly, my dear creative problem solvers,
does anyone know the best way to maximize underbed storage, yet not raise or alter the bed, so that these young men can get their piles of clean clothes off the floor and into an underbed drawer, box, bin or (?)? The floor really needs to revert back to its intended dorm use--long-term storage of dirty clothes--and their pesky stacks of clean clothes are really ruining the dorm room's ambiance and limiting their traffic flow by disproportionately
hogging the room’s limited 8’ x 16’ footprint.
Thanks for your assistance,
Mom (of the tallest roommate)
Creative Problem Solvers Needed - Under Bed Storage Boxes 
