moose53's Profile

Ooooh!! This is a fantastic layout for a studio. I live in a studio ... it's a 'tad' smaller ... if you eliminate the dining area and eliminate the space in front of the entry, you've just about got something equivalent to mine.

What I think you should do is put your sleeping space in front of the door. You'd be near the bathroom ... tres important! You'd be near the closets. And, near the linen closet for putting clean bedding on the bed.

This is what I visualize (not to scale, unfortunately):
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/moose53/CRAIGSLIST/studio071609-3.jpg

I'd put two Metro shelves (the four-foot wide, five-foot high shelves) to line up horizontally with the kitchen wall. I'd use white. White shelving disappears visually. You'd be able to put a 20-inch TV on a turntable on the shelves so that you could rotate the TV to the "bedroom" or to the living room.

At the foot of the bed, I'd put something like real narrow Ikea Expedit shelving (white, again). Maybe three feet high just opposite the entry door. You could fill the shelving nooks with collections (like snowglobes or pretty vases and some plants. Basically, this unit would not totally hide your bed, it would just imitate a very low wall to give a sort of hallyway past your sleeping area. You could also use glass blocks ... just something to delineate the "bedroom" area and direct your feet to the living room.

The living room and dining room could be split about exactly in half ... maybe a tad more space to the living room side. I wouldn't put any 'walls' or furniture between these two spaces. Maybe just an overlaid carpet in the living room side to define it.

The one last thing that I would do to the Metro shelves between the "bedroom" and the living room is: on the "bedroom" side of the shelves, I would hang curtains made out of some sort of white sheer fabric with a silver or gold thread through the fabric. I've seen something on HGTB -- just a very light fabric to slightly hide viewing from the living room to the 'bedroom'. If you were going to have sleepover visitors in the living room, I might put a double layer of curtains on the back of the Metro shelves. One darker, more opaque layer to be kept open, except when visitors are there. The other layer, as I mentioned, the very sheer fabric white/gold graphics (circles, whatever) to be kept closed most of the time as a backing to the shelves.

The things on the Metro shelves ... the TV, books, flowers, knickknacks, collectibles, plus the backing fabric curtains would visually and effectively block the bed from view.

One last thing on the bed. I would use something like a very tailored, fitted spread on the bed to help it not stand out so much. I'm thinking of something like a quilted Lichtenberg Fitted Bedspread. Good quality, very pretty, not visually overwhelming.

You're gonna love living in a studio. So much easier to live in. Easier to clean. Easier to keep uncluttered.

I saw something on HGTV (can't remember which show) ... about putting down tape on the floor to define different areas. You can live with the tape for awhile to see if what you plan 'fits' with the way you live.

Good luck.

Barb

I absolutely LOVE IT!! It's similar to the garden/floral theme in my own place (based on a plaque of my Mom's ... green, yellow, blue, pink).

I'm jealous 'cause your place is slightly bigger (you have a bedroom) :SIGH:

The placement of the furniture; your artistic talent; the bright windows and balcony door ... they all combine to make something that's unique and beautiful and would bring a smile to my face if I lived there.

This is my absolute favorite so far.

Thanks for sharing.

Barb

My Dad taught me about this (and his Dad taught him): Ichthammol Ointment (20%).

You can get it at your local pharmacy.

It acts like a poultice. Squeeze a small dab on whatever you want to remove (splinter, piece of glass, infection from cutting your cuticles too close) and cover with a bandaid. The splinter (or the piece of glass, or the infection) will be gone overnight. The Ichthammol pulls the splinter out onto the bandaid.

Buy some now for next time.

Barb

I drape the duvet over the tucked-in sheets. BUT, this is what keeps me neat AND sane: I pin the duvet to the sheet at the top, bottom, and sides of the bed. I pin through the top sheet and the duvet, but not through the wired part of the electric blanket, so I have, basically, an electric-blanket sandwich.

This is a modification of the Armenian way of making a bed (they use more pins than I do).

Also, my top sheet and my bottom sheet are sewn together at the bottom of the bed. The bed will NEVER become unmade or messy looking.

Barb

I like the suggestion of the blue walls with black doors and trim.

I live in a huge condo complex. We have mandated colors -- off-white walls with sort of a barn-door red doors and door trim. Some people have not painted their doors with the 'authorized' color -- they've used much brighter shades of red -- it really is harsh and doesn't work. If you were going to go with either yellow or some sort of white for the walls, you'd want to make sure that red doors and trim aren't too 'fire enginey red'.

Cream walls with brown trim would be good too.

I can even visualize keeping the green walls and doing something more neutral with the stairwells and the doors -- maybe black or brown or deep-deep green.

To me -- the colors in common areas should be sort of "neutral" -- not mind-blowing, like the purple. I think of a neutral palate in the hallways and stairwells which then flows into the apartments or condos, which is where all the color should be -- sort of a neutral introduction to more color beyond.

Barb

Well, some thoughts that come to mind are:
* you can get a sheet of very thin plywood or foamboard, paste the wallpaper to the plywood or foamboard and then lean the plywood or foamboard up against the wall.
* if you can get fabric instead of wallpaper, suspend it from fishing line (clear, strong thread) from where the ceiling and the wall connect -- you should be able to put a very tiny nail right in the joint that won't show at all).
* depending on the size and weight of the wallpaper pieces, you might be able to use heavy-duty double-sided tape to adhere to the wall.

Barb

I'd rotate the sofa so that it faces the wall with the TV and the piano. Pull the two wicker chairs over so that they form a seating group with the sofa. When you rearrange the seating group of sofa/wicker chairs, the color of the dark wicker will balance better with the piano.

Get rid of those black frame things on the wall. Also get rid of the shelf and the extra chair.

Take the two small white bookshelves and put them under the mirror in place of those black frame things. Then you can put the chairs on the ends of the dining table. You'll lose the cramped feelings of the dining chairs and you'll still be able to eat in front of the window. I'd also stain or paint the dining chairs so that they're a lighter color -- more in balance with the dining table. Or, get a longer dining table so that you can put four chairs around it. You might want to get one with a leaf so that it can close to seat only two. Then fold up the extra two chairs and stow them in a corner or in a closet. A glass table with four lighter chairs would be lovely there also.

I'd move that tall plant off the top of the plant stand and put a smaller plant in its place.

I'd get something longer and lower and darker to put the TV on. Hopefully there would be some storage area under the TV where you can hide some of the musical stuff that's taking up so much room.

I'd take the desk and office stuff and move it out of the living room and put it on the wall where you have to half-empty credenza and the tea cart (those two pieces you can get rid of).

I'd bring some more color in the room too -- something floral-like to enhance the flowers/plants that you already have. Maybe pillows. Maybe a small quilt for the back of the sofa.

I'd get rid of the dark valances in the room. I'd hang the curtains on the windows by the TV wide and high so that they mirror the shape and definition of the patio door.

Put some pictures on that wall next to the small window to balance weight of the window.

You might want to put a very narrow high sofa table in back of the sofa when you move it so that you have a place for the lamps and maybe so more flowers and tchockies could go on that table also.

It's a really gorgeous room. But, it's too dark. Getting rid of the dark useless things like the credenza and the frames and the valances will lighten it up quite a bit. Bringing in some floral colors -- green, pink, yellow, blue will also lighten it up and make it more reminiscent of a garden which goes well with the view and with your plants.

Barb