To be apt: windowless (sort of) rooms, small spaces - need help ...
Me and my family (currently: me, my wife and a 3 year old) just jumped ship and paid the first 30% downpayment for an apartment being built as we speak (due date March 2019).
The total livable surface will be 55 sqm.
Originally it was 2 big rooms, but we decided to settle for this flat due to budgetary constraints + we thought we can make it work even with 2 (originally) windowless rooms.
The spaces are rather small so light + proper colors will be cruical - therefore I need LOTS of help with colors and room arrangement ....
My wife and I did some preliminary "arrangements" but all seems to be off and is a mess in our heads. Good thing is that we have lots of time ahead - nevertheless - the sooner the better :)
So here is the plan - after the room on the left and on the right were separated with a new wall with window/ window + door to allow for some more natural light. We are now left with a living/dining room 17.5sqm, 2 kids rooms 8.15sqm each, master bedroom 10.5sqm, a bathroom 4.2sqm, hallway 3.5sqm, balcony 3.7sqm, and a really small emergency bathroom 0.6sqm:
Here is a preliminary design (note that some colors chosen are so - just because of software limitation - using some free online tool here...).
What I've read online is :
- For all the windows - to use curtains that go from the floor almost all the way up to the ceiling - to create the illusion of a bigger room.However what colour we should aim for?
- For the floors and walls - what would be the most appropriate colors to imply more space and light? We thought of white mostly - but it kind of resembles a hospital in the end so not sure if white floors, walls and furniture would do the trick ... We were thinking - white-ish floors and walls and brown-ish furniture with white/pale colors for the kitchen set (reflective) + mirrors where possible ...
- The Sofa size (living room) we were thinking of is around 230cm (length). Would this be an overkill for this room?
- The dining table that we sort of like is 120 and extendable to 180cm (the sizes in the rendering are matching this...)
- For the Master bedroom - we were thinking of a large wardrobe : 2.40 in height (wall height is 2.45-2.50 after insulation) and some 1.60->1.80 in width.
- Also where and what lights we should think of...Will the new walls with windows be sufficient to provide at least some natural light ?
- As I said ... it's a big mess in my head and I need help :)
Thanks for any tips etc.
If anyone is interested I can give the link to the design online so people can mess with this (if the software allows for it directly).
Thanks a million!
V.
P.S. The Apartment will be South oriented (bottom of the sketch) if that matters so I am sort of expecting sufficient light throughout the day.
Comments (9)
Влади Цветков
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoRelated Discussions
Finished, sort of, small kitchen mostly DIY
Comments (61)Ppbenn, the wallpaper is "peonies" from tempaper. It is not standard wallpaper. Its a self-adhesive wallpaper, aka a giant sticker. I don't know how it would take water color bc of the finish. But, Tempaper sells a product that is plain that you can decorate. So maybe? Tempaper has a website with faqs, and they would likely answer questions too. It's a sm company/neat story. Good luck! I am sure my kids will paint ours soon. I've already wiped up pen and pencil. Marker and paint are likely not far behind. Fwiw: hanging this is just slightly different than regular paper. The back is very sticky. That is great if your flat walls meet crisp edges of the even/level ceiling. With my old wavy plaster walls and old wavy plaster ceiling, covered in tons of paint, a standard wallpaper likely would have been easier to hang because it would have been more forgiving to stretch, move and slide. But, this paper was worth the effort. And removal will be so much easier, though I have no plans to do it anytime soon. Fori! I remember you asked questions about the smeg. I hoped you would pull the trigger before me! I will try to remember to post a more thorough review after we use the speed oven more. I want to try to bake, heat a frozen pizza, and grill fish or meat. Then I'll post again. In the meantime, as I mentioned above, we have abused the oven feature on the smeg everyday for more than a month: reheat french toast, warm left overs, cook chicken fingers, spring rolls, eggplant parm, roast veggies and chicken, make nacho chips and cheese. It just gets hot so much faster than my 30" Berta gas range, which isn't particularly slow to get hot. And I think/hope it has to be more efficient to use the small electric oven than the larger gas oven. (?) And the mw is in use everyday, reheating my coffee, cooking frozen broccoli etc. The mw performs well, as I would expect. We have not baked, used the grill function, or done any speed/combo cooking. But to be honest, the combo features were secondary. I am not very good at following directions and I usually never use the pre-set options on anything! If and when I bake, it's usually in batches; I imagine I would usually use the range to bake and the smeg to cook dinner. I will use the grill function; hope it works well. We decided to take the leap, or be the guinea pigs, bc we only had so many spots to put a mw. The best spot was prime real estate, below the counter. To give up cabinet drawers, I wanted an appliance that would do more than mw. I cook, a lot, everyday and on holidays. A second oven was really attractive. Obviously I didn't have space for a wall oven. I don't even have space for a countertop convection or toaster oven. So we looked at combos. Since I only have 24" my choices were limited. The reviews on the Miele were really good. But it didn't sound like $$$$ better for how I would use the appliance. And I didn't have that extra $$$$ to just get the Miele bc it's the Miele. Really, my biggest concern: yes, my kids play with the knobs. But i can't blame them. It is cute....See MoreNeed help converting garage to studio apt!
Comments (8)You can be creative with the building department regarding some permits. As long as they don't know your real intent.. It's not uncommon to have water and electricity, or even a bathroom in a "detached workshop". What is your plan for heat? What is the climate? You don't want plumbing on outside walls. Will you have a dedicated circuit panel for the "detached workshop"? Get electrical, and plumbing all roughed in. Get an inspection. Good with the City, and then finish your detached workshop into the apartment. What you want to avoid is going through all this work, the city getting tipped off and having zero permits for anything. Then there's a good chance they'll make you tear the walls open to inspect after the fact. Also, an oven is what makes a space into an apartment. Building and planning departments get REALLY hung up on an oven in more than one room. So you would not want any indication given by the electrical that an oven is going in. That wouldn't be wired in until after inspection. I understand your position though, the less the city knows the better. I understand it quite well....See MoreNeed Color Help for Small, Windowless Bathroom
Comments (2)Certainly ask the kids for suggestions, but in the meantime, I would concentrate your search on warmer colors that will compliment the warm sand color of the tile. I have a feeling something in the same family as the former yellowish cream color will probably be your best bet, although I could see a warmer green (with more yellow than blue) working in there. If you don't mind a dark color in a small space, a warm chocolate brown or a deep plum could look nice as well, although I have a feeling it might be overwhelming given that there are no windows....See MoreNeed help with small kitchen counter space design
Comments (14)Correct. The gas and water lines are stuck on that wall and crossing them over each other would be expensive and I'm not sure it would buy me too much. I considered moving either the sink or the range to the other wall, but since I couldn't do anything with the space above it due to the breaker box and front door buzzer (building doesn't allow moving it) I felt kind of stuck. Also, it's not the best thing to walk right into when first entering the apartment. Range is gas. There is a hood vented to an air duct that runs the whole building - here's another view: As far as the fridge is concerned - it's not counter depth. It has a pantry to the side followed by a small base cabinet, and a small cabinet above it (you can barely see it in the picture. The issue with a 24" sink cabinet is that it doesn't fit with the wall cabinet above it, which is 30" (smallest IKEA has with double doors - again I can't win)....See More
decoenthusiaste
5 years agoВлади Цветков
5 years agoSome new brains just entered the project and we have decided to alter it a bit :)
Meaning :
- The kid's room goes up and can be accessed directly without the need of going through the living room. The total sqm actually goes up a bit to 8.37sqm
- The hallway is extended but more open (now 5.7sqm)
- The kitchen/living room is moved near the huge south window now having loads of natural light. . Going to to 14.73sqm
* Generally almost only positives by the change (except for plumbing changes). And 2.5m2 allocated to the Hallway as opposed to the Kitchen/Living room.
* Changed the program for visualisation/floor plans as it has more color options for us to test etc :)
** We've also opted for 2 sliding doors to save on some internal space.
decoenthusiaste
5 years agoВлади Цветков
5 years ago
Debbie Downer
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoВлади Цветков
5 years agodecoenthusiaste
5 years agolast modified: 5 years agoDo you have bunk beds in Bulgaria? That can be a great solution for racking and stacking the kids! Something like these with pull out trundles in the bottom could sleep up to 6 kids.
Contemporary Bedroom · More Info
decoenthusiaste