apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

The Feng Shui for this place is TERRIBLE. If the OP is insistant on moving into this place, I'd get a Feng Shui expert in there - otherwise he can expect to be lonely, poor and befuddled and possibly unemployed as long as he lives here. (Why do developers build junk like this?)

You should take a look at Rashida Jones' apartment in Domino magazine. At 400 sf, it's slightly smaller than yours, but it seems like her living space is less chopped up. She manages to have both a bed and a small-ish sofa. I think that you should stick with a full size bed, any larger would probably be oppressive.

http://www.dominomag.com/howtos/advice/2007/12/3steps

I would look at utilizing the closet space with shelving and/or in-closet storage unit of some sort before I would take up floor space with a chest of drawers. It looks like there might be some space for a wall rack or similar to the left of toilet (measure the space, then shop.) I have an area rug over my light beige wall-to-wall rental carpet and it works fine. You will probably need to get a sticky pad (sold with the area rugs) to prevent "crawl." Watch the rug placement and try to cover the light carpet in the high traffic or frequent sitting spots. Any change your dining table and desk needs could be served by one well chosen piece? I would give some thought to two armchairs or a love seat or some combination thereof vs. a sofa. It looks like a great space. I have a question -- What is a "soft loft?"

Sorry - I meant "Any CHANCE your dining table and desk needs could be served by one well chosen piece?"

you need multifunctional furniture, not that truckload you're planning. consider a dining table that can foldover into a console a slip aside. use either the bar or the dining table as a desk. you have too many closets to need a dresser taking up precious floorspace. if you get drawers get something long and low to go under the television, a/v equipment. put your office supplies in there so it's all out of sight.

i see no reasonable way of putting a regular bed in there, esp. considering you have sliding doors. you don't want to block access. consider a murphy unit.

Look through this years small cool - I'm thinking of this one in particular http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/small-cool-2008-midwest/midwest-11-lisettes-pied-a-terre-048078

You can put the bed with your furniture in such a way that it becomes extra seating when there are guests over. Lots of bolster cushions helps in that...

See if you can get one of those coffee tables that can raise to become a desk. I'd agree with whoever said you may not need a dresser. Move in, and see - Get shelves before you get a dresser, if your worry about them being exposed hang fabric over them or get some storage boxes.

Put bookshelves at a high height, perhaps line under the cieling on one side of your apartment - keep your 'easy reach' level for things you regularly use or need to access.

bepsf, know any good feng shui blogs? i'm constantly trying to apply those concepts in my place but i'm so confused..

LF--

I don't know any blogs, and most sites I've found seem to want to sell candles, crystals, mirrors, chinese coins, fountains, etc...

...but there are lots of good books out there that help explain the relationships of space, materials, placement and color in Feng Shui - just hit your local bookseller and brouse the selection to see what works for you (I prefer those with lots of pictures and diagrams myself)

thank u bepsf
i love lillian too's books
i may get the one recommended on AT - the one about creating sacred spaces
:-)

that first comment is pretty harsh.

don't let the feng shui comments worry you.

my sister lived in China for over 10 years and she said real Chinese people think feng shui is BS.

I think this is a good candidate for a murphy bed. Guess you can't do that in a rental though. What is the area in the upper left corner?

Why is the feng shui bad? (A sincere question - not rhetorical.)

Is it because the layout isn't a square, so there are vacuums in certain quadrants?

IMO, feng shui has a lot to do with personal intuition rather than objective rules. If Kev wants to look into it, he can just pretend that the bathroom and the kitchen are "outside" the home. I think that's how homes were constructed traditionally. He can think of his main living/sleeping area as the house.

Technically, having a toilet inside the home is about the worst feng shui possible. Yet, somehow, civilization presses on - for good or bad - despite indoor plumbing.

As mentioned a few times above, I think that a Murphy bed would really help you utilize the space efficiently here. I don't know what your restrictions are for putting holes in the wall, but I know that http://www.wallbedfactory.com sells really quality wall bed units that only take three screws to drill into the wall, which is nice compared to a lot of places that require you drill into your floor. I really like their Camden model, but they have a lot of different styles that might work well for your space.

Best of luck!

Feng Shui, dung shui. That's a great place; enjoy it! Live a good life and you'll have a good life. No person is lonely and befuddled because of the layout of their personal space. It's more the layout of their personal spirit.

I agree with the majority above - buy only furniture that could serve more than one function. I'll list my ideas.

-Since you only planned a small desk, get a dining table just big enough to maybe use one end as a desk and the other for dining - if there are guests, you'd just have to move some things.
-If you must have a chest of drawers, go for one of the lowest you can find so you can also use it for a TV stand.
-This idea came from someone else on this site - get ahold of two twin beds and put them in an L-shape during the day. At night you would have the luxury of a king size bed.

Mostly keep things to scale...if you have to have both a bed and sofa separate, get a loveseat and use some of the dining chairs as extra chairs.