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I just moved into my first apartment all to myself. It's really small (like 250 sq. ft), but I'd still like it to look nice. What are some tips for cool design without breaking the bank?
We feel your pain, but congratulations on your first place! Living alone can be great - you can express your personal style without compromise. However, it will also mean you'll be footing the bill for your creativity on your own. Some people will say that you should get rid of as much 'stuff' as possible. We are not of that school of thought though. Although it makes things simpler, your apartment should be a representation of you and the things you love.
So. Where on earth are you going to put your stuff, and make it look good??
We have found that in a small space, it helps to utilize vertical height. Put shelves a foot from the ceiling and store things that you don't need to access frequently. Shelves can be made out of everything, we have found numerous uses for empty wine crates hung on the wall. There is a store called Tiny Living that is worth checking out, for many space saving solutions. There is also The Container Store, although personally, we have found that we can find similar things for much cheaper at Ikea or 99 cent stores. (With Ikea it's a matter of transporting items though) New York Magazine gives some tips for common problems found in New York apartments, such as a complete lack of closets.
Try lofting your bed up for some additional square footage. If you don't want to feel like you are back in grade school in bunk beds, you can purchase bed lifts or use cinder blocks for a foot or more of extra storage space. A note on the cinder blocks - when hauling them up 3 flights of stairs, after one block, they get very, very heavy. Consider yourself warned.
We love to check out Apartment Therapy to drool over all the clever and beautiful design solutions there. Last, but not least, there is Ready Made magazine which has lots of DIY projects, and they just came out with their small space issue.
What small space solution are you most proud of?
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Moving to Brooklyn so I'd have more than 250 square feet to myself.
Let's not turn this into one of those Brooklyn vs. Manhattan threads. There's plenty of room for those elsewhere on the site.
Small places can be a refreshing outlet for creative space use.
Let's also keep in mind that this person never said where they lived. I happen to live in a 250 sq ft apt NOT in Manhattan. Small spaces exist in other places besides just Manhattan. All over the world in fact. Shocking.
I'm in an apartment that size and love it. I save space with multipurpose furniture--my bed has drawers under it (there are nice ones at Gothic Cabinet Craft), and every item of furniture I have has lots of storage inside. The result is that I have more storage space than I need, which minimizes clutter and helps a small space feel larger.
Go to Home Depot, buy their cheap pine lumber and build your own bookcases, countertops, etc. - you can build it to exactly the dimensions you need. to my mind, Gothic Cabinet and other manufacturers who sell furniture for apts tend to make the things so small that they are pretty much useless - you can fit two pairs of jeans in a dress drawer, etc. If you have a decent closet, get one of those closet organizers and use that as your dresser instead of adding another piece of furniture.
definitely check out apartmenttherapy, particularly their "Smallest/Coolest Apartment" Contest entries. While most entries, being around 500 sqft, are still twice the size of your place, you'll still get some cool ideas on space and style:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/small-cool-2006-entries/index
I like the book, Compact Living by Jane Graining
Fortunately in NYC, it's very easy to get lumber cut to spec. Home Depot won't always do it, though. If you live near Jay Street in Brooklyn, go to Sid's Hardware. It's a little more expensive, but you can get top pine, oak, polar, etc., and they'll cut it to any size you want. Plus, for 10 bucks, they'll deliver it. So, all you need is a drill, screws, hammer, nails and paint (or stain, but do that on a warm day so you can open the windows - or better yet, leave town for a week). There are other places as well, such as several places on Canal.
Also, Bo Concept on 32nd Street has decent stuff that's nicer than Ikea but still affordable and modular.
Don't forget Murphy beds as an option. New York magazine reported a couple of weeks ago that they were getting popular again.
Remember NOT to get any fabric or wooden furniture off the street in this bedbug epidemic.
I SHARE an apt that size at Union Square and the best thing I did was buy a full-sized bed so that I could hike it up nearly 2 extra feet (3 sets of stackers from BB&B) for storage underneath. It hides everything, and surprisingly, doesn't actually eat up all my floor space.
Last spring, I moved into a tiny space and couldn't devote the time or wasted money on shopping for needless items. So I contacted a small space specialist to deal for me. I didn't want to spend a lot of money, because I don't have a lot of money, so I searched for someone on the internet and found someone through myspace. I worked with my new favorite person - John Sanford. I was really happy how well it worked out for me. He did all the work!!
Anyway his contact info and profile are: Sanford36@earthlink.net // myspace.com/4design