Any DUers live in a studio/efficiency? By choice or financial necessity?

[StellaBlue]

I am planning on moving after the New Year and am currently working up some budgets. I am trying to decied whether it's worth the savings on both rent and utilities to get an efficiency/studio rather than a one-bedroom?

Any insight? I have previously lived in a very tiny (about 450sq ft) 1-bed apartment with an open kitchen/living area with no dining area.

My only real concern is that I will not have room for my sofa bed for visitors who don't want to pay to stay in a hotel.

[UncleSepp]

1. I do, from choice... about 450 sq ft and a lot of it is kitchen

It's been very livable so far. I have a small-sized sofa and chair, a small antique couch with arms that fold down to make a bed big enough for one person, and plenty of open space in the middle of the room that keeps the place from feeling too cramped. When visitors stay the night, I put out an inflatable bed in the open space. The couch is too short for most grown people to sleep on :-)

You may need to change your bigger pieces of furniture to make the small space more livable. In my opinion, putting house sized things in a studio apartment is what makes them seem so small sometimes. Furniture for houses now is scaled up to make oversized rooms seem less empty, anyway, so most is bigger than need be by design.

[bikebloke]

2. I'm comfortable

But then I don't have house guests. My flat is about 350 sq/ft. Though it seems roomy compared the one I had in Seattle, which was 250 sq/ft.

[StellaBlue]

5. .

:wow:

Even as someone who lived in England, THAT is SMALL.

:)

Are you living in such a small space because you have very little money or because you want the freedom that comes with having less overhead/more savings?

[serryjw]

3. Just to confuse you!

I have a 550 sq ft 1 bedroom BUT I use my bedroom as an office and use my Living Room as a studio. I love it.

[politicat]

4. Not anymore, but lived in a 425 sq flat for 2 years and

an odd little half-house that was 6 tiny rooms (and I mean tiny) with a total of 500 sq feet. In the latter, I would have given my right arm to knock out some walls.

Small furniture, futons, and a loft if your ceiling is high enough make life a lot better, especially if you can figure out how to incorporate storage and furniture space.

Curtains and folding screens give privacy. Things that have casters are grand because you can change things around as needed.

There's a BHG book called Small Spaces (or something like that) you might be interested in, and the Tiny Houses community talks about being space-frugal.

[StellaBlue]

7. Re: titles you mention

I have read up on those on amazon and I only wish my local library had them! They do carry a really good book about small American bungalows and also the Not So Big House... but I might have to break down and buy at least a couple of these books about really tiny (<500sq. ft.) places. It makes me want to see Japan!

[politicat]

14. Request and interlibrary loan - nearly all libraries participate.

Go in and ask a librarian - go in with the book name, author, ISBN info, (basically the Amazon page should do it).

I ILL stuff all the time because I use a lot of really obscure books in my research - books that I can't even get used at times through out of print shops.

[StellaBlue]

6. My furniture (needs to be scaled-down?)

1 full-size 1950s bed with shelf headboard

1 medium-sized 1950s dresser with 6 drawers and a large mirror

1 Victorian loveseat

1 matching Victorian arm chair & footstool

1 approx. 6-foot-long sofa bed (budget - blue)

2 1950s supercool end tables

1 1940s sold wood dining table, seats 4 (only about 4-5 feet long, but has leaf to make room for 6)

1 1955 Westinhouse TV (approx. 3.5ft tall x 1ft deep x 1.5ft wide - ~21" screen)

1 Thai hanging lamp, 6 feet tall, made of white shells (glows from inside)

1 6-ft-tall, 1-ft-wide bookshelf (can be put in a corner upright or used as an Oriental-style low table/shelf against a long wall)

[politicat]

16. Look for a long, narrow space rather than a cube.

Here's how I'd arrange it.

In a space 15 x 35, I'd put the bed at the furthest point from the galley area or opposite the living space if the galley area ends up being in the middle. The Dresser would go next to the bed with some walk space, back to the living area, and I'd mount a curtain rail above the dresser. Put a neat fabric curtain, or a bamboo blind or something there as a room divider. (Maybe a couple of 72 inch bamboo blinds so they can be lowered or raised as needed. Paint them if the Asian look isn't your thing - they look stellar with a Pop-art theme.) The dresser is your divider. If you plan to sleep alone most of the time, put the bed in the corner. If not, leave a walk space. That will take up about 10 of your 35 feet, and leave space at the foot of the bed for a desk or dressing table or armoire if necessary.

If there's a choice, I'd not put the bed near the windows, but that's going to be difficult either way - either you're going to be bringing people through a bedroom or the living space won't get much natural light - unless you get fantastically lucky and get a space that is all windows on one side.

I'd keep the dining table with the galley space, but I'd make it multi-task. As a desk when not in use as a dinner table. I'd look for two of those rolling carts with drawers that will match or can be made to match your interior - one for tableware, not including dishes, and one for desk stuff. If you're worried about scratching the table, get a blotter for it. Do you have chairs that go with the table? If you do, fine, but if not, go for simple and folding (like camp chairs; you can get some very nice fabrics for the seat and back) and fold the ones not in use and store under the bed or under the table when not in use. Also have a comfortable office chair and be prepared to make it a table fixture. (Unless you're like my DH, who finds a camp chair the best ergonomic chair he can find without spending a fortune.)

The Victorian furniture is going to make it harder to unify everything (assuming it's rather Gothic since that was the idea) and in a studio, everything has to unify. In a house, where there is a more visceral delineation between rooms, you can get away with a Pop Art Kitchen and a Victorian bedroom, but in a studio, everything's on display. Perhaps, if you want to get really adventuresome, you could get posters from both periods or emblematic of both periods and using spray glue, glue them to the room dividers. I could see 50's movie posters on the bedroom side and Pre-Raphaelites on the Living room side. To keep with the art theme, then, you could hang framed prints of the 40's advertising and War booster prints (Like the Rosie the Riveter poster) or, if you find them attractive (I do, but some women don't) prints of Vargas pin-ups. (Maxfield Parrish prints might work, too, or Warner Brothers animation cells.... just something period.) Or you could go back to movies again. Posters.com is a great resource if you're willing to spend a couple hundred and a couple afternoons on the project. The only thing I can see as a problem is that posters are opaque, so you will need either a wall of windows or a decent number of lighting sources.

The TV you keep, though if the tube goes, you know that the only way to repair it will be to replace the guts with an electronic one, right?

That would be what I'd do, so please forgive the second person imperative tense used above.

[StellaBlue]

17. Wow

Thanks for the great response!!!

All my furniture is pretty standard, easy-to-make-cool-looking midcentury modern, except for the Victorian loveseat and chair. However, they are not really frilly or neogothic... they are just plain, with very little wood, and are upholstered in a blue/cream/sage-green stripe, very soft, kind of veloury material, very homey but nondescript... they match the blue buget sofa perfectly. I figure if I get some pillows that match both to tie it all together, it will work, no problem. I am thinking stripey pillows on the blue sofa, and blue pillows on the striped sofa. With maybe a couple printed ones thrown around randomly.

Yes, I know the TV is not a long-term winner. haha. I know you can buy compelte sets of old tubes and stuff on eBay and elsewhere, and my dad knows how to keep it going, having grown up in a TV repair shop, but he doesn't want the hassle. I am trying to convince him to help me convert it, but that's even going to be a hard sell. I hate to do that, but it's SO COOL looking I really want it in my apartment, plus it will make a great table, as the top is pretty large - I was thinking either stereo or large plant.

Yeah, the table has six chairs. I may have to put two in storage... they are REALLY COOL. Almost art deco. I figure the table is from between 1945-1950. My step-grandparents bought it new when they got married... it is SO COOL and the perfect size for an apartment. I am going to double it as a desk/workspace, and I will probably eventually get a piece of glass cut to put on it, since the wood is really nice but I don't want to scratch it up from use. And I am going to recover the chairs - they are currently a worn-out mustardy beige vinyl. I was thinking black or deep red. Or, if I am really brave, a light, bright turquoise (a color that I think would really complement the color of the wood).

I love your ideas - I am definitely sold on a Vargas print. I was going to put that above the bed. Then I wanted to get some Japanese prints for elsewhere. I am thinking midcentury/lived-in/Zen/vintage with a little Western thrown in. Maybe a black and white Navajo rug or something. Dunno.

[politicat]

19. Oh... your loveseat and chair sound more Federalist/Regency, then.

I was thinking this: ...

But you've described something more like this:....


I think the TV sounds fabulous, personally. I miss the days when TV was furniture rather than throw- away crap. (I also miss that TVs don't have doors on them anymore, but that's another discussion.)

You might consider getting a Shaker chair rail and hanging the chairs you don't use daily. Kind of like hanging them as art. Then you could go looking for all sorts of nifty fabrics on the seats....

Enjoy. I like playing "let's make a new room"; DH and I have talked about me getting my contractor and decorator's license (I've taken most of the classes, but not the business classes) but so far, it's a fun hobby that making it official would ruin.

[StellaBlue]

22. It's like this

And the fabric is like this (only the green is more sage than avocado), and textured, kind of velour-y, soft:


And the TV is this one:

Though THAT would NEVER be on it. ;)

[Darth_Kitten]

8. We are in the same boat!

I live in a studio suite out of economic necessity. I am trying to be a better budgeter, and have to move out next year because of the renovations in my building, which is going to make the rents go way up.

Depending on my financial situation (which is a little up in the air right now) I WANT a small one-bedroom, but if that is still a big too much, I will move into another studio.

About the visitors, you have to think first about your own financial situation, if you don't have room for visitors, tell them there are cheap motels.
:)

[Zuni]

9. I lived in an efficency for two years

and it isn't too bad.

[Darth_Kitten]

10. Efficency, I've never really heard that it called that.

Is that english? :)

[StellaBlue]

11. Ooooh, probably. Sorry.

I just got back from living in England for four years, so I am a little vocabularily confused. :)

[Darth_Kitten]

13. No, I like it.

Don't apologize! :)

[xmas74]

15. From my own experience

efficiencies are usually smaller than studios. Studios seem more spacious while an efficiency is just a tiny room w/ almost nothing else.

[pitohui]

12. i did for a few yrs

any house guest not having sex w. you should pay for their own hotel, not expect you to run a hotel, don't pay thru the nose for rent so that house pests can have free vacation home

anyway you will never want anyone to come over anyway, because the ENTIRE place has to be clean, no just shutting a door & being able to have a messy desk in privacy, so every time someone visits even for a couple of hours everything is put away & you lose stuff & it's a pain

so go to their place if you want to live in an efficiency

the no dining area concerns me, to be honest, i feel any money you save will end up being "eaten," you really do have to have some place to be able to sit & eat or it gets too expensive

p.s. it was also called an "efficiency" in new orleans so i don't think it's a britishism

[StellaBlue]

18. Yeah, I have to say

I really want a dining area. More than a bedroom, probably, having not had a table at all in my previous apartment. Ugh.

[Blue_Tires]

20. i had lived in studios twice in two different cities

out of $$$$ reasons....never an issue for me, but then again, i lived alone and don't have a lot of stuff

[ikojo]

21. I lived in an efficiency for 12.5 years. I now live in a

two bedroom apartment with a kitchen and a large living room area. I am able to afford this because I have a roommate. Without the roomie, I'd be living in a one bedroom. What made me even consider a one bedroom is that my old landlord was remodeling the building I previously lived in and was going to increase the rent for an efficiency to what I'd pay for a one bedroom in my current complex.