The most important piece of your new darkroom will be the space in which you put your equipment, the darkroom itself. Options include extra bathrooms, spare bedrooms, sections of basements, or even a portable darkroom that will fit into standard sized rooms. I’ve seen these sell on craigslist for around 500 dollars. I, myself, use a small second bedroom in my apartment that has no running water, but plenty of space.

The idea is to find a small space that can be cut off from light but can in some way be ventilated. Use black paper to cover windows, as black plastic has reflective properties that might interfere with your printing, but also consider how you will ventilate the room using a window if your darkroom is not in a bathroom.

Work with what you have. It is possible to consider sharing a room that has another function. Unless you plan on working full-time as a professional photographer, chances are good that you will only use your darkroom once every few days, or when things get really busy, a few times a month. Maybe there’s a way to have both a functioning bathroom that everyone can use and your very own darkroom. Also, this might sound ridiculous, but consider a space that could be used during nighttime hours.

Right now, I have my black paper torn down to make a computer office, but once the sun goes down and the orange street lamps are aglow, my darkroom is dark and safe enough to make black and white prints with only a thick bed sheet across the window. You could be a bit more tasteful and use blinds or drapes.  I used to be really paranoid about light in my darkroom, but now I realize that as long as it fairly dark and the light that does make it through is orange (most street lights are) and there is no direct light getting onto my paper and I’m not planning on doing any color printing, my darkroom is dark enough.

I would suggest using any large closets available, but it’s necessary to consider ventilation in any room that you convert. You can get by without running water, but without ventilation, you might experience headaches, nausea, dizziness, and potential long-term health risks. Unless you are qualified to install ventilation yourself, it’s best to stick to rooms that already have windows or fans, like bathrooms or other exterior-wall rooms.

Read more about darkrooms and what you’ll need to put inside of them: Darkroom Equipment