We mentioned yesterday that we've been living in small spaces for a long time and we've learned how to rethink the use of rooms in our home. Just because a room has a name like "kitchen" doesn't mean it can't also be another room. When we were living
[The eat-in-kitchen that we weren't using becomes - ]
in our old Color Sampler apartment, we had a nice eat-in-kitchen (or EIK for you New Yorkers). Since we only had 650 square feet - 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 1 main room and 1 kitchen - we needed a place for a dedicated office that felt unique and had it's own place.
[- an office that we needed and used every day!]
After a few months, we seriously reconsidered our space and did some moving around. Our table in the kitchen (see it here 2 years earlier in the 2006 Colors contest) was moved to one end of the long, rectangular living room and our office was built in the former space. We felt really good about this move and confirmed, once again, that it's important to use your space in ways that are best for you! The kitchen was still a kitchen just not the first 5 feet. That was our office.
How do you rethink your space? Share your story with us below.
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We are using our formal dining room as the tv room. It's cozy and just off the kitchen for easy snack access. Our family room is off the kitchen on the other side of the house and we set up our dining space and a sitting/reading/game playing space in that room. We really like having the family room as a tv-free space.
thorndale - sounds amazing and would love to see your office! Send photos rebeccao@apartmenttherapy.com or upload some into the ATLA Flickr pool.
Our apartment has a front door that enters the big main room of the home, a space maybe 16 feet by 12 feet, with a big sliding door to the balcony (and stunning view) at the far end. At the near end, the kitchen, large and open to the main room.
We didn't want our office space right on top of the living room, and have not had a designated dining space in a long time, so we used an Expedit unit to create a room divider, and put the Expedit desk unit on the front door side of the shelving for our shared tiny office space.
The living room is on the other side, nicely apart from the office/kitchen/walkway to bedroom and bathroom doors.
My mother, who lives by herself, downsized into a small three bed/1 bath home with a small eating area off the kitchen and a living room. She enjoys entertaining and only needed one guest room, so she took the door off one of the bedrooms and made it into a formal dining room. She added some architectural details - crown molding, chair rail - and changed the closet into a little butler's pantry. It's perfect.
While the idea of adding different functions to different rooms is splendid, it's really hard to someone like me who lives in a studio that is less than 400sqft. I'd like to see more ideas for tiny spaces, as in how to make each area more defined and multi-purpose at the same time.
chez shoes - would you mind sharing some photos from your place? I think many of us would love to see it!
we did this! we live in a two-bedroom bungalow. the finished attic is the second bedroom, and it's all one space. rather than having an adults' bedroom and a kids' bedroom, we use the attic as the bedroom for everyone, and the smaller main floor "bedroom" is now the playroom.
this works well for us, as our kids are small. they want to sleep near us at night and play near us during the day. when they're a little older, we'll bring our bed back downstairs and send their toys up!
it was hard to let go of the idea that both bedrooms *must* be used as bedrooms, but it has also been liberating. i feel like we gained space.
I did the same thing in my last apartment.........desk in the kitchen, dining table in the livingroom with huge windows and trees outside.
Not so uncommon - People do this all the time when they use a spare bedroom as an office, den or exercise room...