Why not simply swap the living area to be closer to the entrance and the sleeping area by the windows?

I would love to live in a Loft space. I almost moved into one that was too good to believe (18' ceilings, 12' windows, 870 sq ft, $700 a month with everything included!!). . . buut the idea of moving into a 'home' with no storage gave me severe anxiety . . . and I backed out thinking I that there was no way I could do it.

So kudos to you. It looks like a FABULOUS place! As far as noise . . I'd definitely give the application mentioned above a try . . though I don't know how expensive it is. Can you create an 'entryway wall' to block the sound from the fabulous front door? Or maybe a thick curtain, that can be pulled for privacy in the evenings?

Kudos to those who can do this - I like having privacy. Plus with the fiance, sometimes we just need to be in separate rooms.

Low tech option I can think of would be a canopy bed, with thick canopy fabric. If you bought the noise (blackout) drapes they use in hotels, you'd probably have to look around for ones that aren't super hideous, but they'd also probably be cheap and light/sound blocking. Quilts or rugs would work- anything super heavy and thick.

Alternatively I think if you did switch the bed, I'd go for living room along the opposite wall where your galley kitchen runs, and then put a room divider like expedit bookshelves or a low bar between the two- something to separate out the area, and use your current bed nook as a closet or record storage or something nice like that.

The nice thing about the loft is you can keep moving things around as you get a better sense of the trade offs. I bet that will be fun.

re: block out panels/drapes: For the first time ever, my favorite pre-made curtains of all time are on sale free shipping at target: http://www.target.com/Waverly-Damask-Window-Panel-Black/dp/B000NKFBII

They block out light and cold/hot air like you wouldn't believe! I have them in several rooms in my house. They are worth every single red cent. So whether you decide on the canopy bed and placing them around that, or in front of the doorway, that's the way to go.

I can't really easily gauge how big your space is, but what you could do is put a wardrobe system coming off the wall your tv is on (the back of the wardrobe facing the windows) and partition a little mini bedroom across from the kitchen. Have your headboard on the TV wall, and hook a line from the wardrobe to the back wall, and hang curtains from there. It would be super awesome if you could rig some frosted glass barn doors on those roller wheels to go in front of your bed, but you're getting into some major work then!

A floor plan is always helpful. Photos tend to distort proportions.

the very first year i moved to la i lived in the bartlett building on 7th and spring. i was lucky enough to have rented from a gentleman who had originally intended to flip it before the housing market turned south, so it was never lived in, had upgrades (pergo flooring), was on the 10th floor, had an actual bedroom and was a CORNER unit.

i loved it that first year, but i definitely understand why loft living (especially in sketch areas) is only for a subset of folks - once i left the comfort of my building, it was homeless folks, dirt, cockroaches, rats and loiterers for blocks. i didn't mind this too much as i grew up in nyc so it felt just like home to me, but i rarely had any visitors due to the habitat, not to mention the TERRIBLE parking situation near my building.

also to the original poster re: noise and light, i was able to keep out much of the light (my corner unit had huge windows and was oriented to the south) by installing continuous heavy curtain panels which did the trick. regarding noise, there wasn't much i could do since i had windows on two out of the four walls i had, and 7th is a main thoroughfare for the firehouse that's just down 7th near skid row. i constantly heard fire trucks almost every hour, even well into the night.

Welcome to the neighborhood. What my friend did at the PE Lofts is he built a pvc pipe frame and hung drapes around it. It worked surprisingly well, and it separated his room. He managed to squeeze in two end tables and a tv stand in there.

With 14-foot ceilings, you could build a custom loft up against the solid wall to house a walk-in closet below and bed on top. If the walls around the bed went a couple feet higher than the mattress, you'd even have privacy and no one would know your bed is basically in the living room. You even have room to put in some real stairs (with book storage in them?) instead of needing a ladder. I'm picturing a variant of this Small Cool winner last year: http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/small-cool-2008-east/small-cool-2008-first-place-050985

Ha ha - I think you moved into the loft we vacated at the end of August! Having the seating area by the windows makes sense so you can enjoy the view. I like where your bed is. The Ikea Edland four poster bed would give you the ability to put curtains around the bed itself for light and some sound control. It would also create a room within a room in that corner. Perhaps wall-mounted fluorescent lighting at the head of the bed for reading. Your floor lamp if halogen, should not be used near curtains. Otherwise curtains that can be pulled shut across the door area would help with the light and some noise. We actually got used to the noise after a bit.

i've lived in a loft space for years, and one of the primary reasons why i moved into the space was for the gorgeous light and windows, so i was adamant about NOT putting window treatments on the windows. for my child, i configured an area along a wall that could be enclosed in heavy drapes to keep light (and some sound) out. i see that many of your comments are alluding to that option, which is a good one. i would, however, move the bed completely at least a few inches from the wall so no part of the bed touches the wall. i'd also have the sleeping area carpeted or have a rug underneath the bedroom furniture as sound vibrations tend to travel through the concrete floors and ceilings as well as through wall studs (especially if they're metal).
oh, and welcome to loft life!

i lived and worked in lofts. my solutions were as follows:

built a temp. wall w/ screws vs. nails, had a huge 6' rolling door. by rolling, i mean it had wheels and followed a self made guide in the wall vs. a sliding door w/track.

use the stolmen closet system and used it as a space divider & closet. the clothes were a great sound barrier.

purchased foam panels (4' x 8') with protrusions, alike what they use in recording studios. hung them on a wall. this is probably the cheapest solution.

used paper trays, alike the drink holders at fast food restaurants, and tacked them onto the wall in mass amounts. Helped immensely.

I really love all the great advice the AT readership has left in this post. Thanks everyone for helping out Ankur.

I was kind of stoked to see this post because I recently moved into a loft. But my problem is a little different, I do have a bedroom but have a gigantic living room space that I'm having trouble dividing into seperate spaces. I cannot imagine building anything more complicated than an expedit (even that makes me feel overwhelmed). I'm not trying to hijack the thread- I believe it could be helpful to Ankur as well but does anyone have any construction-newbie tips for seperating space in a loft?

Speaking of canopy beds, this would really complement the style of your loft:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Aluminum-Pipe-Bed/

You could also save on heat if you use heavy curtains and make use of waste heat from your laptop and long neck lamps.

Congratulations on your gorgeous loft though! You're living my dream.

You're not using your space well. It's two-thirds "kitchen"! Just because the kitchen stuff spreads across an entire wall doesn't mean you have to squish your seating and sleeping areas into the corners.

If I were you, I'd put a divider (kitchen island maybe?) between the kitchen and the rest of the room, so you'll be more inclined to use your space.

I recommend a fold-out sofa or futon or something like that in the living area.

A kitchen island of some sort.

A dining table and chairs against the wall opposite the kitchen area.

Then a desk/office space against the wall where the bed is now, next to the door.

Rugs and tall plants can help define the separate areas.

I live near a very busy street in Hollywood and my balcony is right near it. I have found that I can usually drown out all the noise when going to sleep by turning my air filter to its highest settting. This does wonders for me.

I do plan on getting blackout drapes and a canopy bed as I have a loft as well. Good luck!

kinda-sorta on topic: I did the whole downtown LA loft living experiment and it was a bust. things you need to know but aren't alerted to beforehand:

A) the entire town closes up after business 7-8pm tops, except for a few hotels (like The Standard) or unless you're going to the theatre. B) the homeless problem is huge. I lived in Little Tokyo - smack dab in the midst of TWO missions. When I voted in the 2004 elections, my polling place was the Midnight Mission and I saw a guy shooting heroin on the corner. Nice! Guests I invited down were routinely accosted in their cars. Also, once I lured said friend to visit downtown, they were stuck at my loft with nothing else to do; you can't just casually stroll the neighborhood. As a result, I got a lot of lookie-loo friends who never came back after their initial visit because they simply felt trapped in downtown with nothing to do or nowhere to go once they'd driven there. I ended up seeing my friends from thereon in.

Another thing to be leery of is they are constantly filming automobile commercials (it seems) and street closures are frequent and unexpected. Same goes for marathons and all sorts or activities I wasn't aware of. At least once every 4-6 weeks, I'd come home late only to find I wasn't able to get to my home due to street closures. Then I'd have to get back on the 110 to the 10 in order to drive past my place and then head home. Aggravating and a nuisance.

And lastly, while I was paying good money to rent a live/work space, it seemed that once management realized they couldn't lease all the places, they went to USC and FIDM so suddenly it became college dorm with 3-4 twentysomethings living in a 1,000sq ft loft - not my intended neighbors for sure. Oh, and the fire alarms went off incessantly giving myself and my cat near heart attacks at every hour of the day & night. Smoke from fires set outside by the homeless wafted into our vent systems and kept causing the ear-piercing decibel alarms to go off. (The entire bldg. was concrete so there was no sound absorption whatsoever.) I threatened to sue but the building went condo before I could make good on my threats. Those problems are some OWNERS problems now! Good riddance!