apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Awesome Andree, I'll try it this weekend and let you know.

BTW, you are totally right about creating a hallway between the entrance and the window -- it's the most unnerving thing ever and it does make me want to walk right in and walk right out.

Thanks again!

Tony

If you can't put up a curtain track, or don't want to, I've used screw eyes (screw em right into the ceiling) and curtain clips to hang a doubled length of scrim from the fabric store as an inexpensive and effective room divider. When you move out, the holes left by the screw eyes are easily spackled.

Tony:

I made you a new arrangement:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/96179754@N00/

All I knew was the size of the room, and guessed at the rest. Which means it's totally off.

You don't need any more stuff. Here's what I did.

Moved the bed...when you're asleep, you don't need a view. Unless you're like me, and just crave the fresh night air and to be near the window, move the bed away from the window, and next to what I'm guessing is a bathroom entrance (along your top wall) or just a big hole in the wall.

I'm guessing the door on the right is how you get in the apartment?

I moved the table to the window, and put a chair on each side. It's now a dining table, a work table, a side table, a game table, a plant stand, etc. Use it for as many things as possible.

Sofa faces the window. For the view/light.

I have NO idea what the various small rectangles are, but I'mm guessing they are audio equipment or bookshelves or something. So I put an "entertainment center" on the top wall in the living/dining room area. You could have speakers behind the chairs and in the corner.

Instead of using the eating area as an eating area, make it something else. I made it a library with the extra chair.

Knowing your NEEDS will help immensely in figuring out a workable floor plan. How many people do you have to seat on a daily basis 95% of the time? And what do they do when they're there?

Watching movies/playing games would require a different set up than if people came over to listen to music. Or if you're an excellent chef and people come over to dine.

See if that looks workable to you. You can play all day at BHG.com in the Tools and Guides section, Arrange A Room. That's what I used to create your layout. It's also helpful if you decide to add or change things you have.

Because, as I keep saying, "Thinking it will fit and KNOWING it will fit are two different things."

Not sure if you are looking to divide the bedroom and living room, but Ikea has a new ceiling panel system that looks pretty cool.

They have a bunch of different styles to chose from.

Attached is the track system and an example of a panel.

Good luck!

http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?topcategoryId=15594&catalogId=10103&storeId=12&productId=46892&langId=-1&parentCats=15594*15828*15846

http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?topcategoryId=15594&catalogId=10103&storeId=12&productId=46990&langId=-1&parentCats=15594*15828*16168

Andree, you are amazing.

Hi all,

Thanks for the great advice and thanks to Andree for the great floor plan [you assumed everything correctly] -- I'll try it out.

Ideally, I'd like the place to be accomodating to a group of people, for dining with friends and otherwise. My main concern is that people tend to gravitate towards the bed and not the living area.

Thanks again.

Tony

Tony, if you mean that your current arrangement has people gravitating towards the bed, it's because that's where the light/view is. Nobody wants to stare at a wall. A wall of books or equipment. A window, no matter what the view, even of another building, offers endless variety of changing light, apparent temperature, time of day, the occassional butterfly or bird or something.

In your current arrangement, you also have a hall from the front door to the middle window, which is great if you run in the front door and leap out the window. Otherwise, you're losing that precious space at that middle window.

I spent well over an hour trying other arrangements. The ONLY thing I might replace/add would be a different table. There are a few of them out there, that are "height adjustable coffee/dining tables".

Big thread on that very subject from 2004 on AT:
http://tinyurl.com/r9s42

I don't know how up-to-date those links would be, so here's one to start with:
http://www.brookstone.com/shop/product.asp?product_code=520528

Oh, you gotta check out the animation for the table here:
http://www.tablemechanism.com/

I wonder if that's electric and you can get it with a remote.

"Stand back everyone, the table's going to morph now!"

I wanna morphing table.

Anyway, that would be a perfect solution. This then may allow all three chairs in the living area at the same time with the table and sofa. It can be just for gathering around. And with a few moments of set up (or hitting the remote or however it works), you have a dining table. That can be used even by the people on the sofa. Dining for FIVE.

It originally creeped me out that Greg and Em in the SCC have their bed next to the entry. I thought I'd run away if I went to a single guy's apartment and the first thing that greeted me was THE BED. But you gotta do what you CAN do with the space you HAVE.

Bonus, with the bed in the new position, you can roll out of one side to go to the bathroom. Or answer the door while in bed. Great way to get rid of people you don't want visiting right then...it's not just "I was in bed sleeping" it's now "I AM in bed, and you woke me up, go away!"

Another idea, direct from the Smallest Coolest (in many apartments) is to make your bed a separate area. I don't know what kind of bed you have or how hard it would be to make something, but use curtains around the bed. Like Rob's Apartmentquarium.

He has a bed right when you walk in the door, but the curtains on the frame give it the sense of a private space, as well as looking cool and exotic and indulgent.

People cannot gravitate towards the bed if the end is covered in fabric, and the head is covered in fabric and most of the sides are covered in fabric. They are no longer tempted to sit on the end of the bed. They can't.

Depending on your circumstances, you have options. IKEA has a bed frame here:
http://tinyurl.com/zx28a

Someone's already mentioned the KVADRANT rail system and fabric panels.

Ceiling mount rods and canapy L-shaped rods at JCPenney:
http://tinyurl.com/kbbcg

I have a pair of old french doors that I hinged together (no glass) and attached regular metal shelf brackets to the bottom (so they don't fall over) I use as a room divider. Anything like that which can stand on it's own, not folded/angled (that takes up too much space) could serve to create a "bed-barrier" making it perfectly clear that the bed end cannot be used.

As for the sides of the bed, people can't sit there as they are in the way of the entry hall and the bathroom access.

See, in a studio (I have one too), it's all one room and people who use your bed as seating would NEVER stroll into an apartment with a bedroom and head straight for your separate bedroom and sit down.

In my apartment, I put up the entertainment center between the twin bed and the living area. I tried doing that in your space too, but didn't like the room flow. With the entertainment center at the end of your bed, anyone going from one place to another has to pass between the entertainment center and people who might be watching TV or listening to music. An interruption.

With the arrangement I posted, folks can walk around the core area, and it provides ways of getting in and out of the area without walking between people.

Too much coffee, I'm rambling.

Do please let us know how it works out. Other ways of keeping people off the bed include a roll of razor wire, or a sign on the bed that says "Don't even think about sitting here".

I know this is going to be unpopular, and I'm not sure if doable.. I would put the bed in the breakfast area if you can.. then a cutain to hide it.. then the living room becomes all living room and do any arrangement you wish.Could you do a murphy bed on the far corner opposite the kitchen in the nook, and a table on whells which you can rool out when you sleep?Just an idea