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Domestic Space
Apr. 2nd, 2006 02:53 pmAs I said in my last entry, I've really been enjoying looking over the entries to the second annual smallest, coolest apartment contest 2006. I've only looked at the first six plus the one that led me to the site.
It looks like there are (at least) two big issues with living in a small space. One is finding space to store all your stuff. You need space for your clothes, linens, toiletries, cookware, dishes, hobby and entertainment supplies, etc.
The other issue is finding space to do what you need to do. You need space to sleep, to eat, perhaps to cook, to spread out papers while you work, etc.
Entry #5, Marc's Architecture Student Digs, shows some cool solutions to the latter. Marc has a 270-square-foot studio apartment and he wanted to be able to have out-of-town guests stay over. Can you imagine? It's one room, with a kitchen along one wall, plus a bathroom and walk-in closet.
So, he put a bed in one corner. Then backed up to the end of the bed is a couch which faces a TV on the far wall.
Now, here's the good part. The bed is a loft. Underneath the bed, against the couch is a desk and chair. The computer can be swiveled around so you can work on it from the couch or the desk chair.
If guests spend the night, he can pull the chair out of the way and pull down a murphy bed, turning his loft bed into a giant four-person bunk bed.
If he's just having dinner guests, he pulls out a triangular table that lives at the end of the kitchen counter and unfolds it into square table under the loft. Then he surrounds it with his desk chair and up to three matching chairs that were stored (stacked) next to the triangular table. I assume that normally he can just eat on the couch or at his desk. But with just a little extra effort he can accommodate more than one guest. In only 270 square feet!
So we have about four times as much space as Marc has, and only twice as many people. We really don't have much trouble finding space to do things (except carpentry and smooth ballroom dances--waltz, foxtrot, tango). And we only have room for one overnight guest, on the couch, so he's got us beat there.
What we really could use are more storage solutions (mostly involving getting rid of stuff we don't use, probably). My favorites I've seen so far are keeping your spices in magnetized jars stuck to your refrigerator (except that spices should be kept away from light), hanging the dish rack above the sink instead of using up valuable countertop real estate (mine's in the second sink, so it's already out of the way, plus there's a window above my sink), and one row of shelving over doors and windows (though my windows are only four inches from the ceiling). You can see the first two ideas in The Teeny Tiny Eentsy Weentsy Itsy Bitsy Kitchen and the shelf idea in #6, BT's One Room Log Cabin Apartment.
It looks like there are (at least) two big issues with living in a small space. One is finding space to store all your stuff. You need space for your clothes, linens, toiletries, cookware, dishes, hobby and entertainment supplies, etc.
The other issue is finding space to do what you need to do. You need space to sleep, to eat, perhaps to cook, to spread out papers while you work, etc.
Entry #5, Marc's Architecture Student Digs, shows some cool solutions to the latter. Marc has a 270-square-foot studio apartment and he wanted to be able to have out-of-town guests stay over. Can you imagine? It's one room, with a kitchen along one wall, plus a bathroom and walk-in closet.
So, he put a bed in one corner. Then backed up to the end of the bed is a couch which faces a TV on the far wall.
Now, here's the good part. The bed is a loft. Underneath the bed, against the couch is a desk and chair. The computer can be swiveled around so you can work on it from the couch or the desk chair.
If guests spend the night, he can pull the chair out of the way and pull down a murphy bed, turning his loft bed into a giant four-person bunk bed.
If he's just having dinner guests, he pulls out a triangular table that lives at the end of the kitchen counter and unfolds it into square table under the loft. Then he surrounds it with his desk chair and up to three matching chairs that were stored (stacked) next to the triangular table. I assume that normally he can just eat on the couch or at his desk. But with just a little extra effort he can accommodate more than one guest. In only 270 square feet!
So we have about four times as much space as Marc has, and only twice as many people. We really don't have much trouble finding space to do things (except carpentry and smooth ballroom dances--waltz, foxtrot, tango). And we only have room for one overnight guest, on the couch, so he's got us beat there.
What we really could use are more storage solutions (mostly involving getting rid of stuff we don't use, probably). My favorites I've seen so far are keeping your spices in magnetized jars stuck to your refrigerator (except that spices should be kept away from light), hanging the dish rack above the sink instead of using up valuable countertop real estate (mine's in the second sink, so it's already out of the way, plus there's a window above my sink), and one row of shelving over doors and windows (though my windows are only four inches from the ceiling). You can see the first two ideas in The Teeny Tiny Eentsy Weentsy Itsy Bitsy Kitchen and the shelf idea in #6, BT's One Room Log Cabin Apartment.