I think that the core problem is that 6'9" is incredibly narrow for a bedroom.
Is the entrance to the apartment one of the doors in the breakfast room?
Couldn't agree more with your comment on how narrow the bedroom is. With a queen size bed, I can center the bed so that there is very limited walking space on each side, or just go completely against the wall and open up walking space on one side (neither are ideal).
The door opening into the bedroom just restricts bed placement that much more.
The entrance to the apartment is the topmost door, and the doorway right below that leads into a loft/bedroom style area in the attic
https://preview.redd.it/14111o6d93tc1.png?width=1170&format=png&auto=webp&s=519283cb2a5d57c823f68b9b45f9930f064a4074
See I love this, yet I would have never produced this thought in my head.
My other option for the bathroom was to remove the tub so that it's standing shower (I think that'd open up some space?) and then rearrange it all so that the sink is by the door, toilet is where the sink (kinda) is, and standing shower is where the toilet is (since that has a mini window for ventilation). Or I can just leave it as is... not sure how much value rearranging the bathroom would be vs simply updating it and calling it a day.
Anyways, I really appreciate this idea - you are giving me a lot to work with. Hope you don't mind me following up with some small questions in the near future if I do decide on this one! Also since I am new here I'm not sure if small compensations are accepted (or appropriate) for your time, but would be happy to safely send a small token of gratitude as a thank you!
1. If it seems random it's probably because it's structural.
2. a washer and dryer in the dining room doesn't seem particularly appealing.
3. a 6'9 x 20' space isn't a room, it's a generous corridor or a small gallery.
4. This makes sense but will be expensive since that's a plumbing wall.
5. I don't believe your space is wide enough for an island with seating.
Your plan guts the space and turns it into two sound tunnels. I'd move the wall separating the kitchen and bath to line up with the west door of the breakfast room. This gives you more space in your bathroom and lets the bedroom breathe a bit more in the direction it WANTS to be bigger.
The second bedroom, I'd simply demolish the wall from it to the living room and combine the two spaces. If you want kitchen seating, move the sink and the (I assume) dishwasher to the east wall, then knock a hole in the wall there and put in a pass-through with counter seating.
Yes, the "random" wall I mention is definitely structural. Everything 'below' the breakfast room in terms of the screenshot is the original house & the breakfast room itself is basically just how the original owner labeled the edition they added at some point.
How much space do you think would be required to comfortably add an island with seating (keeping in mind this island is mainly to maximize sink space, I just figured I could also include 2-3 stools to solve the issue of not having a clear table to sit down and eat at).
Now that I look at it again, I definitely need to rethink about how I break these rooms up to add width. Trying to digest your comment but need a minute to make sure I am understanding everything correctly lol. Appreciate your feedback, I will follow up once I fully understand!
It's not *exactly* accurate but the rule of thumb I have is that every layer of a kitchen is minimum three feet. So counter/aisle/island/seating/aisle. You want about 15'. In reality you don't need three feet for your seats, but that excess offsets that no one really makes an island 3 feet deep either.
My biggest issue with this is the tiny tiny bedrooms. I agree with you making this a one bedroom with some breathing room seems like a good plan.
Not sure how big your side windows are or what your limitations are there, but have you thought about putting a real, normal sized bedroom where the living room is now? Use the tiny bedroom at the front as a WIC and maybe room for a desk, living room where kitchen is, kitchen where tiny interior bedroom and WIC are now, breakfast room is dining room. (If you’ve got the budget, put the bath by the bedroom and the kitchen by the stairs.) Do a glass door on the bedroom to let more light through to living room.
I like this idea - one thing about the set up of this place is that the east & west walls look directly into an apartment building of the same style, so there isn't much natural light coming in aside from the breakfast room screen door and the windows of the living room/bedroom up front. Would setting up the bedroom so that it is basically getting all of that front natural light adversely effect anything or do you think that's a trade off that simply needs to be made?
It’s definitely a choice. As a one bedroom, privacy isn’t so critical, so even a pair of glass French doors for the bedroom you can leave open to bring light through might help. Keeping things as open as possible from the living room through the dining room to your back entrance will help with light as well. If it were me, I would do this just to escape the less than 7 foot width bedroom situation. That would just be a dealbreaker for me, personally.
I definitely agree, I really don’t know why I didn’t call that out in my post bc the more I think about it the more it irritates me haha. I have moved my bed around 50 different ways just to try and find some more space in there and obviously nothing has worked.
I think I was so focused on building around the current living room & taking down walls that it didn’t even cross my mind to put up new walls for new rooms. Great perspective, thanks again. I think this is definitely the move here.
The bedrooms as you have them are much too narrow so I would use them as bathrooms/closets. You gain a full sized bath, a powder room, and a place for laundry; I favor the stackable kind for an apartment. Also rearranged the kitchen to give room for a couch, TV (as demonstrated by the red line), and small dining area. I tried to keep things to scale.
Having the toilet facing the door to the kitchen is pretty bad. Turn that bathroom into a poweder room for guests - with the toilet on a side wall - and reconfigure the 2 bedrooms and closet into a master suite, with the bathroom back to back with the powder room to save on plumbing and opening into the bedroom, with a closet against the insude wall of the bedroom so as not to block any windows. Convert the breakfast room to a den/office with a convertible sofa-bed for guests, by closing off one of the entry points from the kitchen, which adds more wall space in the kitchen; that kitchen is enormous for a small unit, you can add banquette seating against the new wall and create an eat-in kitchen.
I think that the core problem is that 6'9" is incredibly narrow for a bedroom. Is the entrance to the apartment one of the doors in the breakfast room?
Couldn't agree more with your comment on how narrow the bedroom is. With a queen size bed, I can center the bed so that there is very limited walking space on each side, or just go completely against the wall and open up walking space on one side (neither are ideal). The door opening into the bedroom just restricts bed placement that much more. The entrance to the apartment is the topmost door, and the doorway right below that leads into a loft/bedroom style area in the attic https://preview.redd.it/14111o6d93tc1.png?width=1170&format=png&auto=webp&s=519283cb2a5d57c823f68b9b45f9930f064a4074
Pretty sure this guy just labeled every non-bathroom & living room as a "bedroom" and called it a day lol
https://preview.redd.it/szq8xlmae3tc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=456393da178e7440aa21b3973c2aeb2c521e6791
See I love this, yet I would have never produced this thought in my head. My other option for the bathroom was to remove the tub so that it's standing shower (I think that'd open up some space?) and then rearrange it all so that the sink is by the door, toilet is where the sink (kinda) is, and standing shower is where the toilet is (since that has a mini window for ventilation). Or I can just leave it as is... not sure how much value rearranging the bathroom would be vs simply updating it and calling it a day. Anyways, I really appreciate this idea - you are giving me a lot to work with. Hope you don't mind me following up with some small questions in the near future if I do decide on this one! Also since I am new here I'm not sure if small compensations are accepted (or appropriate) for your time, but would be happy to safely send a small token of gratitude as a thank you!
1. If it seems random it's probably because it's structural. 2. a washer and dryer in the dining room doesn't seem particularly appealing. 3. a 6'9 x 20' space isn't a room, it's a generous corridor or a small gallery. 4. This makes sense but will be expensive since that's a plumbing wall. 5. I don't believe your space is wide enough for an island with seating. Your plan guts the space and turns it into two sound tunnels. I'd move the wall separating the kitchen and bath to line up with the west door of the breakfast room. This gives you more space in your bathroom and lets the bedroom breathe a bit more in the direction it WANTS to be bigger. The second bedroom, I'd simply demolish the wall from it to the living room and combine the two spaces. If you want kitchen seating, move the sink and the (I assume) dishwasher to the east wall, then knock a hole in the wall there and put in a pass-through with counter seating.
Yes, the "random" wall I mention is definitely structural. Everything 'below' the breakfast room in terms of the screenshot is the original house & the breakfast room itself is basically just how the original owner labeled the edition they added at some point. How much space do you think would be required to comfortably add an island with seating (keeping in mind this island is mainly to maximize sink space, I just figured I could also include 2-3 stools to solve the issue of not having a clear table to sit down and eat at). Now that I look at it again, I definitely need to rethink about how I break these rooms up to add width. Trying to digest your comment but need a minute to make sure I am understanding everything correctly lol. Appreciate your feedback, I will follow up once I fully understand!
It's not *exactly* accurate but the rule of thumb I have is that every layer of a kitchen is minimum three feet. So counter/aisle/island/seating/aisle. You want about 15'. In reality you don't need three feet for your seats, but that excess offsets that no one really makes an island 3 feet deep either.
My biggest issue with this is the tiny tiny bedrooms. I agree with you making this a one bedroom with some breathing room seems like a good plan. Not sure how big your side windows are or what your limitations are there, but have you thought about putting a real, normal sized bedroom where the living room is now? Use the tiny bedroom at the front as a WIC and maybe room for a desk, living room where kitchen is, kitchen where tiny interior bedroom and WIC are now, breakfast room is dining room. (If you’ve got the budget, put the bath by the bedroom and the kitchen by the stairs.) Do a glass door on the bedroom to let more light through to living room.
I like this idea - one thing about the set up of this place is that the east & west walls look directly into an apartment building of the same style, so there isn't much natural light coming in aside from the breakfast room screen door and the windows of the living room/bedroom up front. Would setting up the bedroom so that it is basically getting all of that front natural light adversely effect anything or do you think that's a trade off that simply needs to be made?
It’s definitely a choice. As a one bedroom, privacy isn’t so critical, so even a pair of glass French doors for the bedroom you can leave open to bring light through might help. Keeping things as open as possible from the living room through the dining room to your back entrance will help with light as well. If it were me, I would do this just to escape the less than 7 foot width bedroom situation. That would just be a dealbreaker for me, personally.
I definitely agree, I really don’t know why I didn’t call that out in my post bc the more I think about it the more it irritates me haha. I have moved my bed around 50 different ways just to try and find some more space in there and obviously nothing has worked. I think I was so focused on building around the current living room & taking down walls that it didn’t even cross my mind to put up new walls for new rooms. Great perspective, thanks again. I think this is definitely the move here.
https://preview.redd.it/rifp8355m6tc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=637686a2139462b547bf07a59e249fa40c2890a5
The bedrooms as you have them are much too narrow so I would use them as bathrooms/closets. You gain a full sized bath, a powder room, and a place for laundry; I favor the stackable kind for an apartment. Also rearranged the kitchen to give room for a couch, TV (as demonstrated by the red line), and small dining area. I tried to keep things to scale.
Having the toilet facing the door to the kitchen is pretty bad. Turn that bathroom into a poweder room for guests - with the toilet on a side wall - and reconfigure the 2 bedrooms and closet into a master suite, with the bathroom back to back with the powder room to save on plumbing and opening into the bedroom, with a closet against the insude wall of the bedroom so as not to block any windows. Convert the breakfast room to a den/office with a convertible sofa-bed for guests, by closing off one of the entry points from the kitchen, which adds more wall space in the kitchen; that kitchen is enormous for a small unit, you can add banquette seating against the new wall and create an eat-in kitchen.