Small Spaces

lcw1947

19 years ago

I live in a very small apartment in a Seniors Complex. Also a very small complex. There are twelve apartments in a little village in the Adirondacks. The kitchen is just a walk in with everything you need to cook although tiny, I find it is actually plenty for one person.

The front room I guess is actually a great room. It serves as dining and living area. The bathroom is off the bedroom. I share a small foyer with an older gent. For most of my life, I've enjoyed having a dining room and always would visit with company or my late husband. Eat, play games, paint or even play the guitar at the table. It was the center of activity or home life for us

Now I live alone with cats. I've set the main room up as a dining room and have a side chair to watch tv or to read. It's actually very pretty even though the apartment is old and kind of shabby, I've made it very comfortable and a pleasure to be in.

Would you care to share how your place is set up? Is it tiny? or large? I have a make shift side board using two bed side tables with a boot box in between. I beaded one larger mirror and two smaller mirrors to hang over them. At the family dollar store I bought two skinny and tall lamps to sit on them, Each lamp has only a seven watt bulb to use as an accent light.

Inadvertently, I went out and left those two lights on. It was so beautiful to see when I came home later that evening. It just made me feel so welcome.

Please share your feelings about your home and what you've done to it to make it yours.

Linda

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Comments (5)

kayjones
19 years ago
Linda, I don't live in such a place, but actually WORK in one. I am the benefits coordinator for a HUD elderly apartment complex. The apartments are really cute - 500 sq. ft. - bedroom, bath, kitchen/livingroom combo. The kitchens in most apartments are separated from the livingroom by a couch or recliner. The residents do a wonderful job making these tiny apartments home.

Closet space seems to be the main issue for my residents - no place to really store anything. I guess HUD feels that at age 80-100 you don't need to be storing anything!
lcw1947
Original Author
19 years ago
I really enjoy my apartment. However the management is really ugly to us over here. I wrote a letter on the apartment dwelling forum entitled "Can they do that?" To explain a situation I recently delt with. I wonder, how you as management would have handled this situation. It is on a forum on this site. Is it actually legal for management to enter KNOWING I was supposed to be gone. It was NOT an emergency. I did do exactly as they said. Now I wonder, since the front and back door also work with the same key, if it would be alright to change the locks with each other and have the one the works correctly on the door that I use all the time. The handy man told me if I can't get in the front door with the sticky lock to just go to the back door. sighs... There is a trick to using the bad lock, and sometimes I have to try it several times to get it to open.
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Continuing to beat the dead horse. Whack! Whack! I'm sorry about this, if the realities of the house structure means this layout simply isn't possible then just ignore me. It is just that I think there is the possibility of a kitchen that is far more functional than the current plan. If you're going to live with this kitchen for many years, the $600 cost of replacing the refrigerator (appx price for 30'' wide Frigidaire left-hinge top-freezer) or the $2,000 (?) cost of modifying the basement stairs (assuming a basic rough carpentry stair run, not a finacy finished stairwell) seems money well spent, in order to double the useful workspace and get well-defined, separate work zones. The wash zone is to the left of the sink, where a full-size dishwasher lives. Dish storage can be across the aisle, if the lower and upper cabinets are deep enough. Dirty dishes go immediately to the wash zone, without even passing through the rest of the kitchen. The dishwasher door might block traffic, if so you could consider dish drawers which still stick out but are easy to slide in and out. The prep zone is to the right of the sink, something like 80 inches of unbroken counter. Room for a trash pull-out, drawer storage for prep tools and supplies, and then some drawer storage for food staples. If the upper cabinets are used for food too, that lower-right corner functions as a sort of pantry. If the refrigerator sticks out, a sort of blind-corner cabinet arrangement may be needed. The refrigerator is adjacent to the prep zone, so that the prepping cook has everything in reach. Some people like to have the microwave in the prep zone. The cook zone is across the aisle. One person can be cooking and two others washing and prepping, without crowding each other. Plenty of landing space on either side of the range. The lower-left corner could be small appliance storage, home for a microwave or toaster oven, maybe a baking center since the counter can be decently deep. I think the kitchen will also ''feel'' more spacious since you won't have a big refrigerator looming right in the center of it, cutting apart one counter and blocking the sightline.
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mimi_boo
19 years ago
Hi Linda - where in the Adirondacks? I'm orignally from upstate NY and taught school up in Tupper.

I just returned to apartment living and it has taken a while to adjust. My mother now lives with my brother and his family. She and I were living together in the 10 years since my father's death. She just needed more care than I could give, since I work full time.

I still haven't made this "home", very little pictures on the walls, etc. Just no motivation as I don't want to stay here very long.

Barbara
lcw1947
Original Author
19 years ago
Hi again,

I live in Chestertown. I grew up at the foot of 11th mountain in the town of Johnsburg. So beautiful up there. I worked in North Creek for many years.

My mother lives in the same building as I and I pretty much intend to stay here until such a time as she isn't. In the meanwhile, I've made this as pretty as I can. How I wish they would let me paint it.

I miss haveing semi gloss paint on the walls, which make it so easy to clean. The paint here is white (dirty white or off white) and flat. And it was freshly painted when I moved in.

I've done all I can here with in my budget to make it as nice as possible. As I live alone, I figure that no one else is going to do it. hummmm... anyhow, I like things to look pretty..

Linda
Jonesy
19 years ago
My husband and I bought a new patio home in 2005 but it's not small. I could live in small spaces if necessary. He passed away in April, so I now live here alone. It is a 2 bdrm upstairs and one down. The laundry is upstairs, so won't have to climb stairs if my knees give completely out. There are 98 homes here and I estimate 95% are seniors, way over 50% are widowed or divorced. I envy you your location, I love trees, mountains and water.

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