How about doing built-ins and arranging the bed in the room to face out to the balcony?

how high up are the ceilings?

anne - 220cm high at highest point, slopes down to 167 by the white doors, beam is 28cm.

olldj22 - thanks - that's an idea I'd never have considered. I'll have a look if it works - only issue is that the balcony door opens inward (no idea why, it's hung pretty much the only way I wouldn't hang it!); and we still need access to the remaining loft storage in the roof behind the white doors. If we replace those with bigger doors there might be enough space remaining to position the bed that way though; and that might well give us built in storage both sides (if we move the radiator, which is a probability anyway).

you have very low ceilings.
paint one color only preferably a light tone. Position the bed under the slope as shown in the inspiration pic.
Chair and table near the doors. Preferably low furniture
Hang art vertically for the illusion of height . Light airy fabric at the windows.

I can't quite get an idea of the shape of the room. Where is the entrance in relation to the furniture?

I agree with having the bed face the balcony. You can do built ins in the alcove where the bed is now. Then you would not notice the variations in ceiling quit as much.

What is behind the series of white doors? Would a Murphy bed fit? How about a daybed with a trundle to save space?

The entrance is pretty much where I'm standing to take the first pic with the bed facing. The white doors have access to the remaining part of the loft, currently used for storage - the roof slope is quite steep there so not much height.

any or all of these ideas might work..

I recently was at a home show and saw a terrific room. The bed had a contemporary large pattern on it and someone had continued the pattern on the wall-- example- bed had large concentric circles in three or four different colors. They took each color and made matching circles, one of each color, oversized and placed artfully and in a more random way on the wall. You could then have narrow contemporary wardrobes or shelves flanking the bed.

Possibilities:

1- Murphy bed on wall with highest ceiling. The bottom side of bed could have shelves and a fold up and out desk. These would be used when the bed is up and is in the closed position.

2- No Murphy bed, but regular bed for space where ceiling is lowest, but see how far forward towards the windows the bed could be positioned. Build a new wall behind bed headboard, in front of attic doors. Space between real wall and this wall could serve as closet and storage space for the room and allw sone access to attic space.

If we tap twice on last photo, another photo appears which makes the alcoved space (with doors to attic) much clearer. There's a nice horizontal ceiling drop (?) across the alcoved space. It could be decorated to enhance the area above the headboard with paint, border, valances...??