apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Determination, coordination and a daybed.

The measurements shown (26' and 16') make the space 416 sq ft. I don't understand the 192 sq ft. Maybe I need to use a calculator? Or do you mean the "living room" is 192 sq ft? If the bedroom is separate, it's not a studio apartment.

try putting the bed to the left of the front door. use the desk to make the "bedroom" and "living area" 2 spaces. run the cable from behind the bed down the wall and use to keep it tight to the wall and ground. put the sofa on the long wall when you walk in. try the blue peice in the kitchen. without having the furniture measurements its tough one. i'm having a hard time visualizing what you have and the space. more pics please! we can work it!

for color: PILLOWS for the sofa! throw blanket, stretch fabric on a canvas and hang or thrift store it for some frames and buy a few cool prints.

If a daybed is out of the question, I might consider:
Removing the closet door in the lower left hand corner of your drawing and placing the bed there. I would use floor to ceiling "drapes" that wraps around the wall with the front door and the wall that separated the kitchen...high drama, creates a "soft" door for the closet and the kitchen. It doesn't have to be expensive material...maybe just gauze or burlap or sail cloth. AT had a great tip/source on colored burlap just the other day:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/boston/colored-burlap-099798


Move the sofa where the bed currently is.
Make a rad-cover and place the tv there.
And consider a large area rug (Overstock?) to marry the two spaces.

Most importantly, remember...CONTINUITY. find a pair of vintage lamps...use one lamp for the bedside, and place the other on an end table by the sofa. Choose a single color and carry that color throughout, a lamp shade, a pillow, painted chairs at the kitchen table. When a space is as small as the one you are working with, a simple well considered color palette creates a sense of harmony and helps the space to appear larger than it actually is.

Finally, BEG, offer an additional security deposit, do whatever you can to get permission to paint. The pics look like the paint on the walls is the nightmarish Navajo White. YUCK! Crisp white or a pale pale grey or taupe is still neutral and not dingy looking.
Best of luck.

I like that couch, the bed, and the turquoise bookshelf and chair. Since you can't paint, I would bring in color by stapling fabric to frames made out of those canvas stretcher bars (sold very cheaply at art stores). You can use them for large pieces of wall art.

I'd also bring in color in the curtains. (Are they cotton? Can you dye them?)

Unless you get a daybed, the bed probably has to stay where it is. Can you flip the couch around so it faces the front door and move the desk somewhere else? Maybe next to the bed? You could use that second cable outlet for the TV.

Good luck!

These are the cable staples you would need to secure the cable to the baseboard. http://www.amazon.com/GB-Electrical-PSW-1600-Coaxial-Staple/dp/B000GATR9Y/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1257208908&sr=1-17

my husband had an apartment with a very similar layout when he was a law student in Chicago. it was a sweet little apartment that we both loved! one thing he liked having was a separate work area and living area, so he made what would be the dining area into a study (desk, bookcase, computer, etc.). then he had a space to concentrate in, and a space to relax in. if your daughter will have to do heavy-duty studying at home, maybe she would like that separation too.

i second the idea to take off the small closet door so that the bed can go against the wall by the front door. you can use a reeeeeeally long co-ax cable and some cable tacks (they look like plastic U's with a nail attached) to be able to use the cable jack on that wall; just tack the cable neatly to the wall so it isn't out in the floor.

you've already got that beautiful blue chest, plus lots of neutrals. so you could make things seem really pop-y with some orange or rust accessories, or make it more serene with greens and other blues.

I would put the bed up near the front door (head on the outside wall) and create a "room" for it with curtains or ikea panels - with access along the wall against the kitchen. I would remove the door from that closet so it doesn't get in the way - you could get a couple nice looking sawhorses and use it as a tabletop somewhere else or just store it under the bed. Put the loveseat at the base of the bed (on the other side of the curtain wall) and the desk over where the bed used to be. The tv can stay in the corner, the bureau I would put in the small room outside the bathroom, and the fishtank I would put in the kitchen. Use fun colorful curtains and a couple small throw rugs to bring in more color.

What I would do...

1) Switch the locations of the bed and loveseat (or will the bed block the closet?)
2) Move the blue stand and fish tank to either the kitchen or that little nook between the bathroom and built-in closet, if it will fit
3) If the fish tank goes into the kitchen, put the desk in the nook (if it will fit) and create a tiny office. Or put it in the spot currently occupied by the loveseat.
4) Area rug for the floor
5) New slipcover for the loveseat... or maybe just some nice throw pillows
6) Find a new home for that upholstered chair next to the bed... between the bed itself, the loveseat, and the wood chairs, there's plenty of seating for a studio this size
7) I'd leave the TV where it is... it's not ideal but it will do
8) I'd probably also put the lamp next to the bed in its new location and then get a small table and a new lamp to put next to the loveseat
9) Plants!
10) If there's room for a small coffee table to go in front of the loveseat, go for it
11) Artwork for the wall

I'm not sure how much of this will really work; it's hard to get a true sense for the dimensions. But it looks like a cute space and I think any color combination will do if there's consistency throughout the space (as pointed out by parttimedesign).

I see that you have a closet that opens out in the front of the space; I would suggest taking the door off it's hinges and hanging a fringe curtain in its place (nice ones DO exist, I have a green one working in my apartment that solves a similar problem!)


Like insanity pepper says, it's hard to tell exactly from the pics what the dimensions are like, but, with the closet door off, I would:

-move the loveseat all the way back to the front wall and put a side table next to it, making a super-mini-landing strip;

- put the tv on the center wall (on the back of the kitchen/stove wall), perhaps inside the blue bookcase, or swap out the blue one for some less deep Billy bookcases or some other bookcase/ media stand with a smaller footprint;

- move the desk set up into the dining area (it's separate from where she will live in, and that will be better for working and relaxing as fittedsheet suggested, plus, who dines in a school bachelor pad anywhere but on the couch or in the cafeteria?)

-leave the chair and bed where they are. That way, you have separate living, working, and sleeping spaces.

Oh, and do stretch fabric over canvases, it will make a big difference for very little $$$. And post after photos!

She is off to a great start. I live in Chicago and know this layout well. I'm also big on being thrifty. I love her headboard and think the curtains are a great touch.

1. How many friends does she have over at once? Does she really need the round upholstered chair? It takes up a lot of room, looks like something that is used more for throwing stuff on, and has a bit of a dingy feel to it. Can you get rid of that chair and put the bookcase/fish tank in its place?

2. I think the desk /sofa set up is smart. If you move the bookshelves next to the bed and ditch the soft chair, you can move the couch back just a bit to allow more of a walkway between bed and couch.

3. Can you move the extra painted white chair into the kitchen and put the two chairs around the table at 3 and 9 o'clock? It is seems cramped having that extra white chair in the main room.

4. I would bring uniformity and color into the room by picking a nice duvet cover (or making one from two flat sheets sewn together) then painting all of the wood chairs with an accent color from the duvet cover, getting two small pillows for the couch that complement the duvet, and repainting the bookshelf a color that also compliments. I think it is not just an issue of getting more color, but getting some color that brings everything together.

5. Picture frames all match, which is nice but they are scattered in odd locations. I would group them together more.

6. I know it seems scary to paint when the landlord says no, but if you paint it a nice neutral color with a crisp white gloss on the baseboards, I think they might even thank you. They don't want to deal with people painting crazy colors, but a cleaner neutral should really be fine.

7. Nice amount of closet space. I'd just say de-clutter the room and make sure there are enough places in the closet to throw junk so that there aren't so many boxes laying around. (I'm a fine one to talk!)

That's a challenging layout. So much space is wasted on the awkward "pass through" to the bathroom!

But since there's nothing you can do about that... The issue is to figure out how much of the furniture you can get out of the main room, because frankly, there's too much big stuff to fit comfortably.

How about putting the desk in the kitchen? Could the dresser go in the "pass through"? Could the fish tank go on a wall-mounted shelf, instead of on a piece of furniture? Could the TV be mounted on a wall? You get the idea.

Put a small dining table and two wicker chairs with armrests in the kitchen. Get a good queen size bed that can double as a sofa. Bring the wicker chairs from the kitchen when needed. Get a desk, some shelves and a good office chair. Use bath anteroom as dressing/storage room. Keep place free of "vignettes" (newspeak for tchotchkes).

what is that space between the bathroom and the "built in closet with doors?"
It looks like a whole nother room. probably very small but you could put your desk in there and free up more space in the main room.
I would also put the bed by the front door with the headboard against the wall that the front door is on. and I wouldn't take off the closet door unless you HAAVE to.
then make the tv. seating area by the large windows with the couch against the bathroom wall and the chair floating beside it.

My grad school daughter is in a similar situation with a small studio. We kept her from climbing the walls by climbing the walls!

We painted two tall bookcases and a tv/storage unit one color so it looks like a single wall unit. Cover or buy attractive storage boxes (for dvds, etc.) to minimize the visual clutter on the bookshelves.

We "tricked out" her closet with high shelving and double rods, etc. If you do a nice job with the closet and don't mind walking away from a few dollars, the landlord won't make you take them down. Plus, if she ever needs to sublet her unit, it's a big draw.

Change out the round kitchen table for a rectaglular table so it can double as a desk. It looks like it could be a great study area, and if she has a notebook computer, it's still an eating area.

The area by the bathroom is another good place for additional storage, and she could raise her bed with risers, too. But more importantly, edit, edit, edit, and unify, unify, unify for an open feel.

That looks like a great little apartment! Have fun!

I think the poster meant the main room is 192 sq ft...it is weird he/she didn't mention that.

I kinda like where the bed is - it is low enough to allow light to just pass over it. Maybe move the desk where the TV is and vice versa. Then use the loveseat to divide the area - there might be room on one side to add the chair and make it a cozy seating area. I'm not sure what to do with the dresser unless you want to sit it next to the bed.

There seems to be an inability to commit to some color...white linens, white curtains, white sofa! This is a look too but then I'd expect to see some pillows or rug with color or pattern (the truquoise dresser is a start). Color is your friend! Is that an Ikea Karlstad loveseat? How about getting another cover for it--something dark like one of the grays or brown--so it will anchor an area and combat the yellow-white of the walls?

I like the idea of putting the head of the bed on the wall by the door to the apartment, hanging curtains and putting the sofa at the foot of the bed, facing the window. I could see sheer ceiling-hung curtains or panels (from IKEA) near the door and between the sofa and bed that can be pulled back or opened up. It would create a nice cozy space to sleep.

I would try to make a built-in looking storage unit at the wall with the radiator. Use two low bookcases that are the height of the window sill or a little lower and place a 12' long shelf over it...maybe hang a curtain or something in front of the radiator if it bothers you (leave a space at the back and bottom for air flow). The TV can go on top and the DVD, etc. on the book cases below. It would unify that wall and give it a more finished look.

I like these decorating questions but I am an architect and I need to sketch something! How can we post images, etc. of our ideas? This reminds me of the recent series the NYT did where they paired up designers with people who needed help and had a modest budget (no design fees). That would be an interesting thing for Apartment Therapy to do...esp. since there are lots of designers without jobs!

It seems like a lot of parents are decorating their adult kids' apartments these days. . .

First of all we NEED more picts!!
That said by looking at many of the posts they have the right ideas by moving the bed in to the other "room". Pull off the closet doors and the room door and stash them under the bed. Put the bed in the room with a curtain to seperate two rooms. This will still allow a view out the living and bath window from bed while maintaing the needed physical seperation betweeen restplace and workplace-(ever try to get work done with a big cozy bed staring at you while you freeze staring at a blank wall? NOT fun). Move the sofa to back up to the kitchen wall while running the cable to the bedroom wall and hang the TV there. That should open the space up a TON!! Possibly move the desk to the window thereby getting warm study spot and maybe only add an entry table (that is small!). Move the swivel chair to just in front of where the desk chair is in the above picture. As for color unless she is dying with the current color (think then of big tapestries) go for big posters, framed photo collections, large cork board (easilly made), etc. The color scheme is really in your your hands since color is so personal, just stay away from aggrivating/busy colors and patterns (except maybe at the desk)-if you want motion get out of the apartment. And always encourage her not to collect to much stuff!!!! That swivel chair is pushing it for a collage student! Strive for freeflow and calm colors in the space it will pay off, it really will pay off int the long run.

Too bad you can't put back in the murphy bed - usually those dressing closets were partially for the bed when it was folded up and they had (but not always) double doors for it to swing out of. Then the room would be more like a studio/office or living room.

I might be tempted to sleep in that closet ...

Lisa (montreal), point well taken about decorating adult children's places. But a grad student living on a teaching assistant stipend and student loans doesn't have a lot of time or money.

My daughter is working on a doctoral degree. I'm glad that we're close enough that she welcomes some of my suggestions, and we have a lot of fun sharing the sweat equity. Along the way, her dad has taught her how to re-wire a vintage lamp and I showed her how to sew a duvet cover.

That said, when she's home for a visit, she doesn't have to be asked to shovel snow or pull weeds for us.

@luna brings up a valid idea I think - is the built in closet able to have the doors removed and used for space? If so, I too would consider putting just the bed in that room (again probably have to remove the door to the living room - replace with a sheer curtain to allow some light in), and then the living room / study area will be much easier to deal with. I think any small space that can somehow divide the sleeping from the living areas is the most successful design.

her "main color" seems to be white. i'd pair it up with 2 accent colors.

accessories to play with within the room (cheaply):
pillows (new covers)
bookshelf (paint)
lamps (looks pretty dark)
wooden chairs (paint one color)

group the photographs together.

Please post photos of how the space turned out! We'd all love to see the "after" pics!