Designing Surprise Sewing Area in Small Space (5.5' x 5.5')
D D
6 years ago
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PROPatricia Colwell Consulting
6 years ago
acm
6 years agoThat sounds great! I'd like something over the sewing machine to give it a looking-out-the-window feel, like a rich colorful landscape painting...
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Small Bedroom - how small is too small?
Comments (42)When I had the master suite created in my DH's home up north, it was crowded for bedside tables too. So I got two wooden tall plant stands, with 12x12" tops. They fit perfectly fine. Then swing arm wall mounted lamps for each side of the bed. Enough room for a book on the shelf below and a glass of water or whatever. I never just use an end table when there is an option to have a small chest beside the table. That works even in a small room with limited storage space. Every item has to WORK to make the cut when space is scarce. And, in the bedroom in Alabama, I am going to be sorry to leave it for the BACK bedroom, which will become an ensuite master, because it is beginning to look SO comfortable. It is a west-facing bedroom, on the street. It has two PAIRS of windows, and the closet and entry to the bedroom are on a third wall. That leaves one wall which has no windows and no doors or other obstructions. However, I did not want the bed to be sideways in front of the entry door, so had to put the bed first diagonally in the corner between the two pairs of windows. This worked fine for a while, with the wicker chests I use for bedside tables centered between the windows. However, it was hard to make up the bed. So I decided to center the bed in front of the windows on the street wall. I closed the blinds to block the high heat coming through those windows anyway. And then I found some floor/ceiling grommet drapes at Tuesday Mornings! That is when I got DH to install crown molding wide enough to mount the double drapery rods, and I started planning 3 layers of curtains...grommet drapes wall to wall on both window walls, sheers on the second drapery rod, and finally the top-down roman shades using 90% shade cloth and Thermasuede fabric as a liner. I am almost done with the curtain project, but even with the shade cloth pinned in place on the west wall, the difference in heat gain is significant. This room is 12 x 12 give or take an inch. We changed out sliding closet doors for 2 pair of Jeldwen bifold shutter doors which I painted to match the crown molding and base boards and other wood work. The wicker chests are on either side of a full sized bed, with lots of breathing room. There is a rocking chair near the closet. There is a third chest between the closet and the door to the hall, and a wall mount TV is above the chest. So now I've ordered the Hudson queen size storage bed from Room and Board in cherry. It should arrive this month. I can hardly wait. It is a platform bed with no footboard, and no box springs, and it measures 60 x 80. A full bed is 54 x 75, so only a few significant inches of comfort which I look forward to having. But when the contractor finally comes, and bumps out the master bath for a tub and a long walk in closet, we'll be moving this new jewel to the back bedroom. This current bedroom will convert to a nice study/guest room. Only we seldom have over night guests, and may just put desks and bookcases in there until we move the contents of the up-north house. It seems to me that we have plenty of space in the 12 x 12 bedroom. Since we've repainted and made the room so peaceful, I will now take a horizontal break to meditate or read or chat on the phone. It looks good in natural or ambient light all times of day since northern exposures give true light, and the shade cloth gives a sense of separation from the street. Keeping active pursuits out of the bedroom is conducive to rest and separation from the cares of life....See MoreAnybody interested in a fixer-upper for 'only' $5.5 million??
Comments (29)Papercrane & MClarke, what a small world--we're neighbors ;) My mother is still down the street from there in the home I grew up in but we're going to be selling it sometime in the next year or so since we're moving to NC. The home we're building will have an "in-law's suite" on the lower level so she'll have her privacy and independence. I'm still nearby in Villanova so only a stone's throw away from my childhood home. Fortunately, they can't split the land up due to township ordinances. If I remember correctly, existing properties in certain areas must remain intact so in this case, it can't be split into several single family homes. There are so many homes like this in the Main Line area, 70 to 80 years old or more, that are in need of repair and updating. Although there are many people in this country with accumulated wealth who could afford the initial costs, the upkeep on a property like this is tremendous, not to mention the utility costs. My mother's gas and electric bill in the winter is close to our mortgage payment. And I'll never be able to imagine writing a check for a $27k a month mortgage payment unless we hit the lottery. Glad so many people enjoyed the tour and thanks for sharing the other great links with us. I really enjoy looking at these grand old homes. To answer a few questions posed, no, it's not haunted though there are a couple in this neighborhood that are rumored to be. There are some nearby properties on which the Revolutionary War battles were waged and some are said to be frequented by spirits, LOL! As far as the AC goes, it may be cooler than some homes in the summer due to its construction but not enough that AC isn't needed. Central AC is a necessity as far as I'm concerned, not a luxury. Plus with the size of the rooms in that home, you'd need two window units for each room. The home was being lived in by a woman whose children all live out of state now. Much too big for one person, and all though she recently remarried, I imagine they were ready to move on to something that required a lot less upkeep and time. It would be wonderful to see a family with lots of children move in and renovate and enjoy the home....See MoreHelp with general design of large 13x18 kitchen
Comments (9)Pretty standard stuff. Respectfully, no. This is all high-end and oversized. The appliances don't seem to be drawn to scale Yeah, that's the first thing that caught my eye. If you're going with this oversized refrigerator, I like this layout -- it keeps all your storage on one end of the kitchen, and small appliances around the corner just makes sense; you don't pull them out every day. sprnkles, you're the fellow planning a very large family, No, in his other thread he says they have one child and may have 1-2 more. Average-sized family. New topics: I don't think you're going to like the clean-up sink at the far end of the kitchen. Look at the picture above -- the red line represents the pathway you'd take to bring a single plate or serving dish from the table to the sink /dishwasher. I'm estimating it at 27' per trip. In contrast, the breakfast nook is nicely placed. It'll be convenient to get food and plates to the table and back. The negative here is that you're far from the beverage area, so you'll be walking the length of the kitchen to get a refill mid-meal. My suggestion for the dining room: I remember eating at my great-great-great aunt's house as a child and LOVING her glass-front cabinets /pass through. The cabinets opened on both sides so she could wash in the kitchen /take out in the dining room. Something like this: If you do these cabinets in the area I marked with a purple box and place the clean-up sink where the stove is currently placed, the kitchen and dining room would work together nicely. You could set the table in the dining room ... then pass the plates through the the waiting sink /dishwasher area ... then return them to the cabinets ... all in one convenient area. Of course, this pushes your cooking area to the back of the kitchen, while your food storage is near the stairs. I don't see a way to even this out within the confines of the space as it is currently defined -- it's just too spread out for good kitchen function. Don't focus on big. No one really wants a big kitchen; when people say that, they really mean that the kitchen is a priority in their plans, and they want a well-organized, efficient kitchen with everything placed logically so making a meal is a pleasure. More counterspace and larger spaces are not a substitute for that efficient, well-organized space; in fact, they can actually work against you because they can spread things out too far. Finally, take a look at the green circle I placed in the kitchen. Using the table as a guide, I'm thinking this is about 60 sf of empty, wasted space. Then another same-sized empty, wasted space in the hallway just outside the kitchen, and yet another empty, wasted space in the stairway hall. That's way more than you need for good circulation....See MoreDesign my small condo living space! (exposed brick & wood)
Comments (18)Sit down dinners for eight? Well, you will certainly be hanging your capacious cookware from that potrack! The dimensions of the room don't allow for a dining table the size needed for eight people to be up all the time, but there are a few ways around that. One is a console table that when folded has a small silhouette and functions as a sofa table that you put behind the sofa table to hold a lamp, your remotes, a drink, etc. When you need it, it expands, and expands, and expands! With that you can use collapsible folding chairs and there are some very nice ones, including wood ones that you can store under your bed, along with the very long tablecloths. In fact, there is an article about just that sort of table on Houzz. Then you may or may decide to not get a small table for two or as you initially thought, just get two bar stools. [https://www.houzz.com/magazine/5-instant-dining-tables-stsetivw-vs~928815[(https://www.houzz.com/magazine/5-instant-dining-tables-stsetivw-vs~928815) Another option is to get a small table that you leave in your room and then a much larger piece of wood or plywood to put on top for parties, (with maybe saw horsesif the table topper is much larger) padding the table and the wood and using a tablecloth, and storing the piece of plywood and saw horses under your bed or in a storage unit in your building. To seat 8 people, tables of these configurations should be of these dimensions: Round: 60 - 66 " diameter Rectangle: 8 feet long...See Moreacm
6 years ago
enduring
6 years agoryann_j_macluskie
6 years agoenjoythejourney
6 years agoD D
6 years ago
apple_pie_order
6 years ago
lazy_gardens
6 years ago
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