Looking for ideas to live in small(er) apartment

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dman
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Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2015 2:47 pm

Looking for ideas to live in small(er) apartment

Post by dman »

HI!

We are a family of 3 (1-year old boy... actually 4 counting the cat!) leaving in a fairly spacious (73 square meters / 786 square feet) although badly planned apartment (kitchen/dining area; bedroom; living room; bathroom; closet space which is a small room with its own door).

At this stage of life, people would generally upgrade to an apartment with two bedrooms - but I would rather not take the additional 100.000+€ loan required to do that. We have been working hard to pay down our current loan and do not want to start all over.

How to provide enough privacy, resting space, me-space, storage, etc., and eventually an own bedroom for the heir, while leaving comfortably? We are on the frugal side compared to our peers (not difficult, eh) but fairly untidy, so the apartment is often messy.

So far I have started selling/throwing/giving away a lot of stuff to free up space (including my racer :cry: ), but kids seem to be the ultimate source of stuff accumulation so I am swimming against the stream :D

Possible ideas:
1. Loft bed for us in the living room, and the master bedroom goes to my son
2. Creating a further room by partitioning the living room or the kitchen/dining area
3. Get asian-style futon for the two of us which we can lay down and fold up every evening and every morning in the living room
4. Create a room for my son in place of the closet space. It has however lower ceilings and no windows, so it would be a dungeon more than a room! :D
5. Move to a cheaper location where 2 bedroom apartments cost as much as 1 bedroom apartment in our areas (but further from work, friends and nice areas which may hinder biking for especially my wife at least in the winter)

Any suggestions, viewpoints, tips and resources/readings are welcomed! thanks!

henrik
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Location: EE

Re: Looking for ideas to live in small(er) apartment

Post by henrik »

Trade for an apartment that is the same price and size but better planned? For example, the dining and living areas could be combined to make room for an extra bedroom. When I was a kid, we lived in a 75 sq m apartment that had three bedrooms in addition to a living room and a separate kitchen:)

almostthere
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Joined: Tue Jul 09, 2013 1:47 am

Re: Looking for ideas to live in small(er) apartment

Post by almostthere »

Would a wall bed help? I saw a wall bed once in studio apt and I have remained impressed ever since. A bed just makes a small bedroom essentially unusable for an any other purpose but sleeping in the day time.

We are looking for ideas as well for a family of four moving into an apt of 55 sq meters with three small bedrooms.


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fiby41
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Re: Looking for ideas to live in small(er) apartment

Post by fiby41 »

Sleep on the floor. Roll up mattress for space.

dman
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Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2015 2:47 pm

Re: Looking for ideas to live in small(er) apartment

Post by dman »

Thanks all for the replies!

I have now seen that there is 'Tiny House' thread in this very same section, so we can look for some inspiration there.

But any other comments are welcomed anyway!

Laura Ingalls
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Re: Looking for ideas to live in small(er) apartment

Post by Laura Ingalls »

Look at how rvs and sailboats are organized.

Also tiny house websites and apartment therapy are good resources.

Give up on non digital media

I personally find cloth storage cubes useful despite the fact that cardboard boxes should work just as well.

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fiby41
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Re: Looking for ideas to live in small(er) apartment

Post by fiby41 »

1 year old child does not need his own room.

SimpleLife
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Re: Looking for ideas to live in small(er) apartment

Post by SimpleLife »

It will be a long time before the kid needs it's own room. I'd stay put for now. When the time comes, you can try living in the living room, since it is essentially wasted space at night, but if it doesn't work out due to privacy issues, relocating to a 2br apartment for the price of a 1br is a reasonable proposition. You could find work closer to that location by then too, or start campaigning for telecommute rights, and by the time you need them... :-)

bibacula
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Re: Looking for ideas to live in small(er) apartment

Post by bibacula »

fiby41 wrote:Sleep on the floor. Roll up mattress for space.
+1

A futon mattress without the frame works perfectly. This is pretty common in Asia. Works great for kids and back-sleepers. Side-sleepers may need more padding.

llorona
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Re: Looking for ideas to live in small(er) apartment

Post by llorona »

At the last place we lived, our next-door neighbor adopted a 10 year-old. We thought she would move but she continued living in a one-bedroom condo. She installed a sliding glass room divider to partition the living room and create a bedroom for her daughter. It was great because it created a separate room yet allowed light to come through. It looked like this: http://www.slidingdoorco.com/products/a ... m-dividers

For several years, my husband and I lived and worked in a one-bedroom unit about the same size as yours. I converted the closet into an office. Like yours, there were no windows, but I liked being inside. It was cozy and cave-like. Maybe you can try sitting in the closet to see how it feels? If it's too dark and dungeon-like, you could swap out the door for one with glass panels.

As well as minimizing our possessions, we found that creating storage compartments were key to maintaining an uncluttered home. Since floor space was at a premium, we built "up" and maximized the walls. IKEA's Pax and Billy systems helped us:

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categ ... oom/19086/
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/categ ... ies/28102/

vexed87
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Re: Looking for ideas to live in small(er) apartment

Post by vexed87 »

Sofa bed in living room. Sorted :)

dman
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Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2015 2:47 pm

Re: Looking for ideas to live in small(er) apartment

Post by dman »

Thanks for all the replies!

Yes, a 1 year old does not need his/her own room, and we have been sleeping together no problem for almost 14 months, but usually they do not stay one-year-old forever, so I am just thinking ahead!

So far the sliding glass and the loft bed options look best, but we are also considering to move to a cheaper city/area/country altogether in two years...

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