apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Move sink and cooker opposite front door beside window in living room. Put in a door across foyer from end of closet (or is it the stair well?), creating a little lobby. Remove foyer wall from living room and replace with storage for kitchen with access foyer side. You could then go 'through' cooker into the bathroom.

Yikes, I'm not sure there's much you can do with the space with the current layout. The only thing I can think of is to cut into the living room space to make a separate kitchen and to make the current kitchen space a true hallway. That would give you the accessible bathroom and flow you're looking for, though it would probably involve extensive (costly) pipework.

I would turn the living room into the master bedroom or into two smaller bedrooms and use the kitchen/bathroom/bedroom for the living space. Be lucky your kitchen doesn't take up much space. (coming from a non-cook)

How about flipping the bedroom and living room? You could divide part of the existing "Living Room" to create dining space.

I kind of like the idea of turning the living room into the bedroom - it seems like that might the best way to achieve what you want without moving plumbing and gas lines and cutting doors into walls.

It looks like there is already a doorway from the foyer into what is now the living room - you could just install a door there, or even a curtain if you want a simpler solution.

17x9 is a fine size for a living room - and then the bathroom is right off of it rather than through the bedroom.

And the bedroom would be large enough to incorporate office space or an additional sitting area/reading nook.

Will your co-op allow you to move all that gas and water piping? I find in NYC it's very difficult to do that kind of reno - you may want to find that out before purchasing. I think a good solution would be making the living room your bedroom - that way the bathroom would also be accessible without going through the bedroom.

I don't think moving the kitchen would be worth the cost or hassle. If you wanted to make the kitchen more of a separate space, you could knock out the closet in the bedroom, and enter from that corner. You would have to move the sink so it is parallel with the window and make a U-shape with the counter (the fridge would be the other leg of the U). That way you would have a hallway that is open to the kitchen. But you wouldn't be walking through it. But this would give you a smaller kitchen with less counter space. And it doesn't solve the bathroom problem either.

Another option would be to wall off part of the living room (make the wall or the door to the bedroom align with the right-most mullion) and make that your bedroom. Knock out the wall between the original living room and foyer so when you enter you are in a large space. Use the original bedroom as a dining/study area.

..also putting the fridge and a kitchen table out in the foyer might create the illusion of a bigger kitchen space - rather than have it feel like a corridor. It seems there is a doorway between foyer and living room that could be opened up a bit more???

Can you put the fridge and a kitchen table out in the foyer to create the illusion of a bigger kitchen space - rather than have it feel like a corridor? It seems there is a doorway between foyer and living room that could be opened up a bit more???

Will your co-op allow you to move the plumbing or gas? I find in NYC that it's difficult to get approval to do this.

Ditto with the idea of flipping the living room and bedroom. Since the current living room is so large, you could probably knock out the right wall of the foyer and place it farther back to turn the foyer space into a useful room, not just a pass-through. A large foyer with a round table in the middle can serve as a dining room, for instance.

I'm with those who suggested flipping the living room and bedroom.

Perhaps you could sacrifice some bedroom space to extend the kitchen that way, then move the oven to the left and the sink to the right under the window to leave an opening for a new door to the bathroom. You could also have room for eating in the kitchen if you extend it up to the window wall.

First - I would just like to say I love the layout of your apartment! I don't know what it is, but it feels very intimate.

As for changing things up here are my two cents - although I am not a professional.

1) What about changing the direction the front door swings open, taking out the closet and adding a wall right below the 13x6. That way people will naturally go right into the living room when they enter the door. The area behind the new wall can be an extension of your kitchen. I only think you have to leave your sink where it is so you can move the stove, and fridge behind the new wall. If you angle the edges of the cabinets around the south 90 degree corner in the kitchen the space will probably seem less awkward. The only big issue I can see is that this doesn't go perfectly with the triangle rule between the sink, fridge and stove, but if you can live with that, it will really open up your kitchen into the living room.
2) I also agree with the thought of changing your bedroom and your living room. If you move the bathroom door to be in front of the bathroom sink then you can create a nice family room nook in the north end of what is now called the bedroom. From there you can take out the closet and have the kitchen open up into the new living room and have a dining area there. You could also make a small dining area to the east of the kitchen, taking up some of the new bedroom space. (If you do that I would make a door for the bedroom where the hall closet is now) If you don't put the dining room there, you have a wonderful new large bedroom. You can even add a new room to the space - a study, or storage.

Please let us know what you do with the place - it looks like such an exciting space!

yellow-board has two excellent ideas. As others have pointed out, flipping the bedroom and living room is probably the easiest/least expensive option. If you were to do that, I'd advise re-hanging the front door on the other side, placing the closet along that wall, removing the current coat closet, and moving that wall 3 or 4 feet into the (now) bedroom. That would give you a nice-sized office space. Putting a bedroom door in that wall might be problematic because of the windows, but you could be creative...how about installing a sliding felt door, like Maxwell had in his old apartment? That would give you privacy, but you wouldn't need an actual door frame.

The other option is the first yellow-board mentioned. I would not move the stove - gas lines can be tricky - but I would move the cabinet(s) and fridge against the new wall closing off the foyer. At least the kitchen wouldn't feel so cramped, and would be more connected to the living area.

If you extended the wall the sink is now on, you could move the stove enough to the left to make a doorway for the bathroom. Moving gaslines is expensive, but you'd only need a few feet so it might be doable. You could extend that wall across the entire bedroom, leaving just a doorway and you would have a nice eat in kitchen with (wow!) a window! With that size, it wouldn't seem like a hallway. Your bedroom would be smaller, but that wouldn't be so bad. You could use the existing bedroom closet as a pantry (and be the envy of 80% of Manhattan) and add another closet in the bedroom.

I would make the bedroom a little smaller, move the door for the bathroom, extend the kitchen counter further, create an eat-in kitchen, and knock out the wall separating the foyer and the living room.

I sketched it out:

http://ninebabcock.com/share/layout.jpg

Hi, Jeremiah,
Ooh, lovely challenge!
I do this for a living in Manhattan, and I have several ideas that will work - including getting you an eat-in kitchen, an extra closet and a home office space. Basically, move the kitchen to the wall left of the living room windows, get an ELECTRIC oven and make the kitchen a walk-thru to the living room. A licensed professional can cap off your gas lines and extend your water/waste lines.
I couldn't resist doing a sketch, but apparently I'm too stupid to include a link to it. I can email it to you with pleasure, or if some other lovely AT'er smarter than me can tell me how to include a link to a Photoshop doc I would be grateful!
kittie@lifestylespacedesign.com

Just some practical considerations you should keep in mind:

Moving an electrical panel is near impossible in NYC unless if you are on the top floor, so wherever it is in your apartment, it is unlikely you can knock out whatever part of wall it is on.

My coop doesn't allow gas ranges to be moved more than 8 feet along a length of wall. I'm not sure if the same rule would apply to you.

Changing a gas range to an electric one can be problematic depending on the electrical load for your apartment. Upgrading your electrical load is prohibitively expensive as the additional power needs to be brought up from the basement.

Keep in mind radiator locations. If you wall off parts of rooms, you should be sure that the new spaces will get adequate heat.

Regarding all the suggestions to flip the bedroom and living rooms, can these people be SERIOUS?! So instead of walking through your kitchen to get to your bedroom, they seem to think it would be MORE appealing to walk through your kitchen to get to your living room?!!! AND to see your bedroom first thing upon walking in your main entry door?!!! Flipping the two spaces seems to be a very, VERY strange suggestion.

My suggestions:

Option 1: Hire an architect.

Option 2: Why buy an apartment with a layout that you obviously hate and don't have a clue how to make work in a way that you'd be happy with it?