Saturday, August 16, 2014

Diary of a Dive - Part 7 - Living room - Bedroom Area

Being that this is a studio, there is no separate bedroom and living room space. I really didn't want to have the entire space taken up by a huge bed, and I hated the idea of having friends over only to feel like they were hanging out in my bedroom.

Having a full sized bed wouldn't fit anyway as the front door was in the way. A friend had an old camp size twin bed (they're narrower) and red comforter she didn't want, and once I added some large throw pillows, I had a sofa that doubled as a bed. (I'm short. I don't need that much space.)

Front door view. Ugly white thing above the lamp is unfortunately where they chose to install the carbon monoxide detector.

At only 266 square feet, this place was definitely lacking in storage, especially for all the books I have. (I really have been trying to pare them down. But in my defense, a lot of them are design books, and I do use them for work.) Plus all the dvd's, cd's and other everyday items we all tend to accumulate.

I had two short bookcases already and I knew I wanted them to go behind the entire length of the 'sofa/bed', but they were each only 24" wide. So I split them up, bought some shelving, had them cut to 36" and just attached them to the two existing bookcases. And Voila! I had a place for dvd's and cd's that I didn't necessarily have to look at all the time since they were hidden behind the throw pillows.


Bed/Sofa and my newly covered bench seat/coffee table/ottoman

The beauty of using a twin bed and some very large throw pillows was that all I had to do to access the items on the shelving was to move the pillows. Even the lightweight metal bed frame is easily slid on the coir rug to get at items on the bottom shelves. (I hide a winter down comforter, blankets and even a blow up bed for a guest should anyone need a place to crash in my tiny abode.)


CD's, DVDs, and books...most hidden from view but still easily accessed.

Now you'll remember, all the apartment had was a VERY small closet - and that was the extent of the storage for the entire place. Well that just wouldn't do.



I purchased an inexpensive freestanding cloth wardrobe and faced it opposite the existing closet... creating a small walk in closet that you couldn't see from the main living area unless you were going into the bathroom. Not only did I now have storage for clothes and such, but I even had room for a laundry hamper.

cheapo wardrobe

But let's face it, the cloth wardrobe was hideously ugly, and well, more books...so I found two inexpensive tall bookshelves and flanked the back and the side of the cheapie wardrobe to hide it.

Walk in closet created with wardrobe flanked with bookshelf.


 In addition, I now had a place for my obsolete and ugly TV which was still in a watchable place, but not the focal point of the room. (I doubt you'll ever find a designer that's wild about that.)



 
I even have some room left for my Santa Collection, which I really have cut back on. (Really! I have!!! ) Which was nice considering December was my month to host our AAUW Gourmet Group. With a little chair rearranging, I actually did fit 10 ladies in here that evening!




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