i think the dining area is your best bet. you can use shelving or other such things to screen it, if you want. if you were to own the unit, i'd suggest moving the kitchen entrance over next to the linen closet or something to that effect with a half wall/bar in order to open the kitchen to the living area. then the bedroom could be completely separate with its own window to boot.

I would use the part of the living room adjacent to the dining room. I think that walking through the bedroom to the kitchen will be awkward and the smells of cooking will pervade your sleeping space...

It looks like the space is already tight, but you could make a "hallway" between the kitchen and dining room and use the dining room as your bedroom.

Granted I have not seen the space, but I would get a Malm 6-drawer dresser (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80053933) or maybe even a Epedit bookcase (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/80071319) and place it facing toward the "bedroom" just in front of the entrance to the kitchen. Hang some white curtains just behind it with a hanging piece of art in front of the curtain on both sides.

I agree with kristinm. I live in a similarly shaped studio and I have my bed facing out the window with the sofa up against the headboard facing out into the living area so they're back to back. It creates separate areas, plus it's nice to wake up and have a view.

Hm. I was going to say what Kristin said. But a second look gave me another idea: What if you put the bed against the wall that separates the living space from the kitchen? You could use shelves or something to create a "hallway" from the door into the dining room area, and use the dining room and that corner of the living room as your living space. Seems like having the "bedroom" near the bathroom might be a good idea, or at least, a better idea than having it near the kitchen.

Honestly though, I have a terrible time estimating space, so there might not be enough room for that.

I'm having a hard time figuring out where the "huge closet" is. I am assuming it runs south from the fridge. Therefore, I would put an "L" shaped shelf-wall running south from the heater room/foyer wall. It would stop at the south kitchen wall and run west an additional 5' blocking off, roughly, a 12'x10' area for a bedroom. This is large enough to hold a Queen bed and move around it and allow a 5' entrance to the bedroom area. Granted this moves your closet out of the bedroom. However, the shelf wall could be used for clothes and storage leaving the "huge closet" for the rest of your things. I'm also assuming your new place is in the city so having a window in the bedroom will result in added light and noise.

Your idea about using the dinning room is good. You can change it slightly by not taking the whole area. Leave yourself a walkway to the kitchen. I would put a tall shelf between the window and the slider.

Position the shelf one end flat against the wall and than have it come into the room to create a wall. You can put the tension rod from the wall (that the kitchen stove is on) to the shelf/bookcase. This way you can hang something that can slide open or shut from the rod to give you privacy when you want it.

Good Luck

If your door was not near your closet I would say make that area your bedroom.

One question could you fit your bed in the walk-in closet?

I tried to imagine a way to stick your bed on the wall on the other side of the kitchen, near the entryway, but it seems a little too small, especially depending on the size of your bed. I was thinking you could put up a curtain or something that would just make your entryway into a long cooridor, and that I would rather walk through my bedroom to get to the bath, and the kitchen.

However as liam saidI think your best bet is the dining area. If it's correct that there is that small piece of wall between the windows, that would be where I would put up some bookcases or shelving, and if you have room you could put a curtain up perpendicular to the shelving to create a little hallway leading to the kitchen, that way you don't have to see feel like you're walking through the bedroom.

Or instead of bookcases as I suggested, you could do all around curtains, so if you have people over you could open it up and use your bed as extra seating.

Good luck!

This is a tough one...I am also moving into a studio soon - and I thought my set up was difficult because I had a square!

I think I might put the bed in the corner of the living room area - the bottom right corner of the blueprint you provided. Instead of a curtain in my studio, I am putting up the Ikea Expedit bookshelf - that way I have a separator as well as something that functions (I am also going to be a law student so I need something to hold books too!)

You could even put the bar with stools in the dining area against a wall, and, based on my plan, the sofa back to back with the bookshelf. Good luck!

Are you renting or buying? If you own, I'd consider moving the kitchen entrance. This is a silly layout for a studio, since everyone will have the same where-to-put-the-bed issue you do. Maybe you could even persuade your landlord.

What about putting the bed on the right wall of the kitchen (the one separating it from the entry area), headboard up against the kitchen wall, and then hanging a curtain at the foot of the bed extending a bit past it in either direction? According to the floor plan you have 12' there to work with, and a bed is like 6'-6" with a headboard. A curtain hung from the ceiling would keep it from being what you see immediately when you come in (assuming that the door is in a similar position in the configuration you actually have).

I would put the bed to the right of the kitchen, but *facing* the entrance. This is because I don't like being woken up by light from the windows.

The headboard of the bed would be parallel to the lower wall of the kitchen, and separated form the rest of the space by some sort of shelving or furniture arrangement.

(Maybe have a long partition wall that acts as the headboard on one side and a memo board for your desk on the other side.)

As someone who's lived in a (rental) loft for nearly 5 years, my best advice is to keep it open - i.e., no draping to divide space, as it will only make it seem even smaller - and create rooms with the placement of your furniture.

I like Atalanta0jess and Rob's suggestions, above. Since you don't have an area at which to eat in the kitchen, it would be easiest to set up your table (assuming you have one) just outside the kitchen, and will also work best if you do any entertaining. I also like idea of placing the bed along the kitchen wall towards the entrance - again, useful to keep it separate if you do any entertaining/hosting.

And don't worry about the distance to your clothes closet - ours are outside of the bathroom and our bed is the furthest thing from them.

For some inspiration and a better idea of where I'm coming from, you can check out the AT features on our place ....

MAR 2008:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/flickr-finds/flickr-finds-updated-mini-tour-from-heather-ulrich-046895

FEB 2007:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/flickr-finds/flickr-finds-mini-tour-from-heather-ulrich-017373

Looking back at the selection of photos, especially the ones from March 2008, I feel like the pics really make the spaces seem pretty distinct.

Also, let me add that 9 out of 10 people suggested that the bed go just outside of the bathroom (where our television armoire is in the photos) and we were so happy that we didn't put it there.

Good luck!

Tough to explain, but I'll try. What if you were to angle a divider (e.g., bookshelf, curtain) from the entrance of the kitchen, at the point where the fridge starts? Continue almost to the right end of the first window in the dining area, like the hypotenuse side of a triangle. That's where the bedroom area could be. Big enough for a bed and maybe a dresser.

If your bed fit in the walk-in closet area, that would be amazing. But no matter where you put it, you might consider using this system from Ikea:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categories/departments/Textiles/13289/

It promotes use for windows, but I use this system in my studio apartment to separate my bed from my living room.

My suggestion would require making your bed every morning or investing in monochromatic bedding.

Center the bed in front facing the entrance. You should be able to reach the living room on the West side and you should be able to go from bath to living room on the East side of your bed. Throw a wardrobe or hanging screen behind the bed to separate your sleeping area from the living space.

You might not be able to have a night table, but you will need light back there. Throw up two long corded lamps on ceiling hooks. You'll be thankful for the light in that area. Ikea makes some long-assed cords, but you'll have to hook them up to a wireless switch to turn them on and off. Add CFLs and you can suspend any shade from them.

As an architect and a soon-to-be studio owner (who has spent quite a bit of time thinking about where the #*@!ing bed goes), I have what I think may be the best solution. Here goes:

You should rip out the "huge closet" on the left side of the dining room and build out a murphy bed in new custom cabinetry with a much smaller closet. The wall is about 8' wide, a queen-sized bed is 5' wide. I'd suggest aligning the bed with the "southern" wall, away from the kitchen, so you can circulate through the kitchen even when the bed is down. After structural thicknesses in the cabinetry, you'd be left with at least 2'-6" of floor-to-ceiling closet space, which really only NEEDS to accommodate your hanging clothes, the rest could be put in a nice dresser elsewhere in the apartment.

You'd do well in this scenario to get a dining table on casters, that you could easily roll a couple of feet into the living room to make room for the bed to come down at night. For example:

http://www.dwr.com/product/furniture/dining/tables/quovis-work-table.do?sortby=ourPicks

This way you could have a proper living room and dining room during the day, and a proper (ie, non-futon) bed at night. In a studio with a layout like this, you do not want to add partitions, even a curtain, because it will make you feel like a mouse in a maze. Tiny spaces should be left open at all costs!

Hope this helps. Good luck!

-Joe

I forgot to mention - though some people prefer to have their kitchens separated from the other rooms - the apartment would probably feel much more spacious if you took down the two partitions between the kitchen and the living/dining rooms. You could even then add a small island between the living room and kitchen with a couple of stools, replacing the formal dining area with informal counter eating. Then the "dining room" could become more of a dedicated bedroom space.

Define your needs first. What do you NEED your apartment to be? What do you do there? When? What is the view, the noise level, the weather?

If you sleep at night, you don't need a view. If it's noisy outside or cold and drafty, you might not want to be near the window at all.

But if you need a lot of circulation, and it gets stuffy, you might want your bed right NEXT to the window.

What direction do the windows face? Do you need more or less light? It's going to bake there in the winter if you get south light, which could be a great thing. Or it could be too hot to have a computer or office equipment next to a sunny afternoon window. It might be virtually impossible to SEE what is on a monitor or television screen in the morning or afternoon with sun streaming in.

That's why it's important to know what you NEED the apartment to provide for you.

You are free to adapt the space in anyway you see fit. You could easily have a small desk or table in the kitchen for the computer, if you needed it away from other areas. Or if the sun was too glaring or the noise level too high to concentrate.

Guests do seem to gravitate towards windows. So your bed can become a seating area, whether you like it or not. Walking into an apartment with a bed right there is kind of odd, but it IS the darker area, and it is convenient to both the kitchen and the bathroom.

Guests will only have to walk around a bed on the right wall once coming in and once going out. The rest of the time they will be able to be at the windows or walk along the wall next to the kitchen to access the bathroom.

In other words, there is no right answer. If you rarely cook and eat on the go, you don't even need a dining table.

If you are single and don't have overnight guests all the time or incoming family, you only need a spot for YOU to sleep.

If you have an extensive audio system or entertain a multitude of dinner guests, your needs change.

If you face east, you get morning sun across the room, and there aren't always breakfast guests, so put your bed way in the back. If you face west, you still might want your bed in the back, because people will go to the sunset.

Consider YOUR lifestyle and YOUR needs. They will tell you exactly where to put the bed or what other things you need for your home.

I didn't read everybody's views, but I read enought to kind of agree with Atalantajess0. I think that putting a bed in the dining area is going to be a problem with the closet running all along that left wall. I think putting your bed along side that kitchen wall or abutting it, and using an Expedit or maybe some moroccan (?) screening to create a feeling that your walking down a hall when you enter, will give it a nice feel.

Just recently there was an AT NY (I think it was NY) post about a guy who works at home and lives with a husky. Lots of white walls and tricked out kitchen. (A designer did his space.) He used Expdit and some custom work to create a nice separate bed space. You should look at that.

I agree w/ AtlantaJess that the wall that separates the livingspace from the kitchen is the best place to put the head of your bed (assuming it's a full/queen bed and not a twin/daybed)

Who cares that you walk past the bed as you enter: it's the coziest spot and allows you to use the area by the windows for your living area, and if you're at all creative and handy you could hang white/ivory floor-ceiling draperies from the ceiling creating a "4-poster bed" effect which would make the bed rather less obvious - particularly if you did the same treatment covering the entire window wall.

Two words every studio-dweller should know as excellent option: Murphy bed

I'll never understand people who assume off the bat that they have to have a "sleeping area" in a studio. You have a one-room apartment--when it's time to go to bed, your entire apartment is your sleeping area. Stuffing a bed and a sofa into one room just makes daytime guests feel like they're in your private space and you feel like you're sleeping in your living room at night.

Sell your existing bed and sofa for shopping money--you can buy new ones if and when you move back to an apartment with a bedroom.

Then add to that money and purchase a high-end quality futon set. (You know, the comfortable, stylish kind no one ever buys?) Well under $1,000 can get you a midcentury-modern wall-hugging frame, a super-thick full mattress and pillows, and a custom-made designer fabric cover. (Here's mine almost exactly.)

Suck up the fact you now live in one room and deal with making your bed up at night instead of in the morning, and you can enjoy having a comfortable bed in the evening no one else has to see, and a design-forward futon sofa that no one else has period.

Or you can be like every other studio dweller, shove a bed behind a couch, and complain forever about living in one room.

One way I have found to maximize the feel of space in a small apartment is to keep the horizon low. If you decide to separate the bed/living space, don't make the screen/shelving/etc. go all the way up. Use anything -- galvanized sheeting, used brick, river rock -- to make a wall that goes up to just above where your head is when you're sitting up in bed. You could even use plywood and make it a curved shape along the top, letting one curve swell up high enough to make headboard. Then you only need a steel bedframe which you can bolt to the headboard. Depending on how you place the bed, you could have the wall begin at 6 feet where it meets the wall and, just past where it hides the bed, either curve it or step it down to more like waist height.
Play around with big sheets of cardboard to find out what works with your sightlines. You'll come up with just exactly what suits you, which is the only reason to decorate in the first place.

Dividing a space can be achieved without making walls. You just want something clean that prevents wandering eyes from seeing your private space.

I would definitely be putting it in the "walk in closet" if its big enough even for just the matress to fit, curtain it off with something from ikea. Easy to hide and so cozy!

I think you should use the dining area as your "bedroom" - it makes a ton of sense since you said the closet is there anyways. One's first idea is often best.

You might be able to fit your bar table on one side of the living room so you won't need to have people go through your bedroom to sit in the kitchen.

This is how I see it : http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/8084/studio0716091.jpg

You're far enough from the kitchen, you're not blocking the access to it with your sleeping area. Your guests can access the bathroom and kitchen easily without walking in your "bedroom", they just walk by it. You can still have access to your big closet and your dining room is out of the kitchen.

I suggest closing the space between the dining room and the sleeping area with something like the expedit bookshelf and maybe hanging a great curtain behind a dresser between the living room and bedroom. Something that looks like a great wallpaper but still allows light to go through it. It would just close the space and people wouldn't look at your bed right when they walk in.

My 2 cents.

I would actually put the bed on a loft along the kitchen meets living room wall - but shorten the loft (or just put the platform at mid-height but keep the taller posts intact) so that it is only at about 3 feet high (unless you happen to have super tall ceilings.) You can put storage under the bed, even a little table/landing strip close to the door. Get some stairs to access the bed - maybe going both up and down along that kitchen wall so you can enter from either direction. You'll be left with a hallway feel as you enter the apartment, and a small hallway to the bathroom, but the bedroom (especially if you make some curtains) will feel totally separate even when in the living room and dining room. I'm thinking of a smaller version of this small cool winner.
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/small-cool-2008-east/small-cool-2008-first-place-050985

I agree with lofting the bed for the bed.

If this were my place: I would build a large platorm five foot six by seven foot six, approximately three foot six high. This is large enough to accomadate a double mattress with a one foot lip on every side. The height would seperate the bed from the rest of the room without losing the openness of the space; and provide room for bookshelves underneath. I think this could be accomplished with some form of ikea hack of bed frame and low bookself.

Here is an example of how simply raising the bed seperates it from the room in a studio:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/teenytiny-winner-in-the-daily-news-small-cool-2009-084468

With the rest of the space: I would put a large couch along the longest wall, float a television between the two windows, facing the couch on the longest wall, and place a low, small screen /roomdivider behind it to hide the wires. I would use the dining area as an office, with a high, small, round dining table set against the longer wall just outside the kitchen.

Sorry Mike but "high end" and "futon" are mutually exclusive.

Nix on the futon please.

I once lived in a studio with a similar setup while in college. I wasn't lucky to have a huge closet though... I barely had storage space at all!

There are a lot of great suggestions above, but I'll tell you what I did just so you have another option:

I divided the living area in half by placing my couch in the center to face the living room "half," and I put my dining table in the "second half" of the room behind the couch. I put my bed and nightstand in the dining area, on the furthest wall from the kitchen as to separate the spaces as much as possible. The dining area had French doors leading to the living area, so I closed one of the doors as a makeshift wall to further close off my bed.

It was the first apartment I had all to myself and I loved how it came together. My boyfriend told me, "The first time I saw your apartment, I knew you were pretty awesome." It's a tricky space but you can make it work and it can be great! And I did it with no help and no loft bed (like I know how to build anything!).

lots of great suggestions. if it were my space i would probably place the bed in the corner of the dining room. i would then get two matching bookcases from ikea and place them side by side with the shelves facing the kitchen entrance, creating a wall between the kitchen entrance and "dining area". this would allow for kitchen/additional storage. if you aren't a big entertainer, you could put a small table in the kitchen. if you have people over often, you could put the table outside of the kitchen on the wall opposite the entrance to the apt. you could then paint the backs of the bookcases or hang photos/prints or hooks for jewelry/scarves on them to give your "bedroom" a little character.

as for the rest of the space you could place your couch with its back toward your bed and tv on the entrance wall to create your living room. in the rest of the space, toward the main door maybe put the dining table against the wall and use it as a desk when not entertaining or on the kitchen wall. either would look great.

it's hard to explain this without using a diagram :(

Ooooh!! This is a fantastic layout for a studio. I live in a studio ... it's a 'tad' smaller ... if you eliminate the dining area and eliminate the space in front of the entry, you've just about got something equivalent to mine.

What I think you should do is put your sleeping space in front of the door. You'd be near the bathroom ... tres important! You'd be near the closets. And, near the linen closet for putting clean bedding on the bed.

This is what I visualize (not to scale, unfortunately):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/moose53/CRAIGSLIST/studio071609-3.jpg

I'd put two Metro shelves (the four-foot wide, five-foot high shelves) to line up horizontally with the kitchen wall. I'd use white. White shelving disappears visually. You'd be able to put a 20-inch TV on a turntable on the shelves so that you could rotate the TV to the "bedroom" or to the living room.

At the foot of the bed, I'd put something like real narrow Ikea Expedit shelving (white, again). Maybe three feet high just opposite the entry door. You could fill the shelving nooks with collections (like snowglobes or pretty vases and some plants. Basically, this unit would not totally hide your bed, it would just imitate a very low wall to give a sort of hallyway past your sleeping area. You could also use glass blocks ... just something to delineate the "bedroom" area and direct your feet to the living room.

The living room and dining room could be split about exactly in half ... maybe a tad more space to the living room side. I wouldn't put any 'walls' or furniture between these two spaces. Maybe just an overlaid carpet in the living room side to define it.

The one last thing that I would do to the Metro shelves between the "bedroom" and the living room is: on the "bedroom" side of the shelves, I would hang curtains made out of some sort of white sheer fabric with a silver or gold thread through the fabric. I've seen something on HGTB -- just a very light fabric to slightly hide viewing from the living room to the 'bedroom'. If you were going to have sleepover visitors in the living room, I might put a double layer of curtains on the back of the Metro shelves. One darker, more opaque layer to be kept open, except when visitors are there. The other layer, as I mentioned, the very sheer fabric white/gold graphics (circles, whatever) to be kept closed most of the time as a backing to the shelves.

The things on the Metro shelves ... the TV, books, flowers, knickknacks, collectibles, plus the backing fabric curtains would visually and effectively block the bed from view.

One last thing on the bed. I would use something like a very tailored, fitted spread on the bed to help it not stand out so much. I'm thinking of something like a quilted Lichtenberg Fitted Bedspread. Good quality, very pretty, not visually overwhelming.

You're gonna love living in a studio. So much easier to live in. Easier to clean. Easier to keep uncluttered.

I saw something on HGTV (can't remember which show) ... about putting down tape on the floor to define different areas. You can live with the tape for awhile to see if what you plan 'fits' with the way you live.

Good luck.

Barb

I've just moved into a tiny 10 by 10 rented room at a friend's house; I had a choice between having a normal bedroom or a little sitting thinking writing dreaming stretching room. I opted for the latter (cute and functional). So I have a folding foam mattress (twin) that I unfold at night, throw on the sheets and blanket and put away in the morning. here's the surprise; I LOVE IT.

I didn't at first. (I grumble a lot). But the minute the actions of making and unmaking etc had become automatic (and superquick therefore). What had felt thin, now feels firm. And the bed feels fresh every time I make it. And being on the floor the twin magically sleeps TWO (in love).

I am living the Japanese period film of my dreams.

barb, excellent suggestion as to where to put the bed. the materials/furnishings to use to create a hallway from the entry door are endless. the square footage will accommodate you're suggestion (mock-up brilliant). if the bed goes in the dinning area the space would be cramped.

I think perhaps a bed solution might be your best bet. Lofting or storing your bed upright might be better than hiding it with a partition that shrinks your space.



These beds are excellent. Here's one in an apartment space: . Be careful though, make sure one of these two things is true: that your bed does not have to be mounted (some don't) or that your landlord will let you mount something heavy to the wall.

I'm thinking a solution with the bed itself might help the sleeping area. A loft, or perhaps a folding bed like those found at flyingbeds. Here's one in a space.

LBHirise: Of course "futon" and "high-end" are not mutually exclusive. Closed-minded and high-end, however, are. Don't worry, I'm not accusing you of being high-end here.

I came up with a diagram too. I used the measurements of the Troy Twin Sleeper from Crate and Barrel:
http://www.crateandbarrel.com/family.aspx?c=936&f=24289&q=sleeper chair&fromLocation=Search&DIMID=400001&SearchPage=1

Here's what I did:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/96179754@N00/

Used the sleeper chair and layered a twin bed over the chair, so you can get an idea of how big it would be open and closed. I have it by the closet by the kitchen. The head of the bed/the chair would be by the single window. When in chair form, it would be a great place to read, have a cup of coffee, relax.

Oh, and another suggestion for the sleeping...their cool sofa/futon:
http://www.worldmarket.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3479111

A leather ottoman that becomes a bed here:
http://www.plowhearth.com/product.asp?pcode=6183&crs=9226&ref=product

Something like this would work as well, a twin sleigh bed:
http://www.pacfurniturestore.com/newest/26feb05.jpg

Or any of the wonderful daybeds featured here on AT. Not as a sofa, but as a bed that doesn't scream "I'm a bed".

I used a pair of Barcelona chairs in the living area, with their backs to the window, facing a "buffet" with a huge flat screen TV on it. A small 5'x7' rug defines that area, and a fern or other plant placed next to the end of the bed helps define the living from sleeping areas.

I placed a folding screen behind the buffet/tv to hide the wires.

There is a dresser on the narrow wall between the entrance and the closet/bath opening. That makes for a great landing strip, a place to check your hair and mail at the same time. LOL.

Use items for the purpose they can serve and not necessarily the label they came with. So you can keep correspondence and office-type supplies in the top drawer of the dresser. While keeping clothing in the buffet.

I placed a bookshelf on the wall that would be the outside of the kitchen. Bookshelves these days come in a vast assortment, as do many containers, boxes and baskets. You can have doors on the bookcase if you want.

It can hold anything, from books for which it was intended to folded sweaters, shirts, pants. Socks and undies can be in a basket or box.

In the kitchen, there isn't a lot of room. But I squeezed in a small table, that is 30"x30". I have my computer on one right now, where I am sitting. I'm using this one from World Market (Cost Plus):
http://www.worldmarket.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3557590

It's somewhat distressed, which is good for me, as if it didn't come that way, it would end up that way eventually.

And I've used a couple Aalto stools:
http://www.scandinaviandesign.com/artek/030209.htm

There are versions available at IKEA and I saw some at Ross too. I like it for several reasons. It is seating. It's lightweight and can be moved around easily.

It also makes for a wonderful small table, a step stool, a plant stand, and a place to put your feet up.

Last, I don't think people have a grasp of the size of the apartment, so I also layered a queen-size bed over the living area, for people to see exactly how much space there is...or isn't...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/96179754@N00/3732112864/

murphy bed!

You could use some indian tapestries or big sheets to section off the sleeping area. then when you do not need them you can pull back.

Redid floor plan checking measurement of items against items that exist...update here, with notes/links and some 3-D images (forward) in the photostream
http://www.flickr.com/photos/96179754@N00/3734008990/