TheDanMan's Profile

I'm 28, grew up in the suburbs, moved out and rented in the suburbs, and used to think space was a huge requirement in my life. This year we sold our second car and moved into a brand new 1 bedroom apartment with single car space in the city for the same rent we were paying for a 30ish year old 3 bedroom house with double garage.

Couldn't be happier, can walk almost everywhere, and when I do need to drive we're going the opposite direction in peak traffic to everyone else so there's no stress. Even though we are very close to public transport I still wont use it, it's pretty terrible in my city. Much better having a smaller space we use than a larger space that mostly sat empty.

We also figured it was a good idea to get a feel for an apartment before we got to the point in our lives we could buy, to make sure we made the right decision when it came to house vs apartment.

What model is that laptop stand? I'm looking for one at the moment to clean my desk up and give me more space back.

Who makes that entertainment unit?

First thought "that's pretty neat and minimalist"

Then the massive gaming PC draws the eye :p

I just made the exact same move, although into a small one bedroom, not a studio. My biggest issue was the old house had a MASSIVE double garage, without shelving you could of fit four cars, and we moved to a place with one decent sized car spot.

My tip is go through everything, and throw out / shred / sell everything that you don't need or want. Once you've done that, keep everything that you want/need to keep but don't actually use, and box it up for storage. Pick your favourite items or furniture and try to work around fitting them into your new place. We were very lucky we could fit our newish lounge and bed suite into the new place, and we could get rid of the spare room and majority of the study besides the actual desk.

Hopefully you get a storage cage also, this has saved us massively because we are able to store things down there.

So far loving the 5 minute walk into the city, and my partner can walk to her work in 15-20 minutes instead of 30-60 minutes on a bus.

People ask how we can deal with going from having a backyard to a balcony, but we had absolutely horrible neighbours so never used our backyard anyway. It was just a burden having to maintain something we didn't use.

Given everyone I know now seems to gain 5-10" in TV size every time they upgrade now, I don't think we'll see enclosed cabinets coming back into style as it locks you into a size for as long as you have the furniture. Especially as newer TV's are now getting so thin and having such little bezel that mounting them to the wall is the best solution.

When TV's were being hidden in the 90's, they were awful plastic monstrosities.

We have painted panelling, although it's just one wall. I really like how it breaks up the plain walls.

Would hate to have stained pine panelling.

Really, the absolute worst are vegetarians or vegans who expect meals to be planned around them. Seriously, you made a choice to be difficult with your food, there is nothing stopping you eating a real meal except your own guilt. If I am inviting people around for a roast or BBQ, guess what will be served?

I hate these so much. My mother has one, and I always feel like I have to "lean forward" while using the toilet.

Paint the ceiling white and the walls whatever colour you'd prefer. If you paint it well it will end up looking more interesting than plain plasterboard walls.

Raw pine panelling looks absolutely awful... No exceptions.