I wouldn’t really call this a studio apartment, it’s two rooms and almost 500 sq ft!
And the cooktop. (Is there going to be an oven?) This gives around 24" as the longest stretch of counter that can be used as a workspace. Is that enough? Seems pretty small to me.
Maybe, but it might get tiresome to have to always haul stuff into the other room when you just want to eat a sandwich or a plate of eggs. Plus a table would provide additional workspace, a landing spot for groceries and whatnot, and a place for someone to sit while cooking or talking to the cook.
An apartment this size is likely to have two people living in it, that tiny of a kitchen seems like it would be a negative.
Can you open up the wall at all between the two rooms? Make the kitchen a bit bigger, and carve out an actual room for the bedroom.
This house was notorious because an earlier owner left it partially remodeled for 7 years. Eventually there was a court action ordering him to finish, sell, or go to jail.
On the guest suite, I agree that sometimes the renter may want to just quickly eat near the kitchen. Can you maybe fit in a little two person island? More storage space, more counter space, and a place to eat.
I do not think neighborhoods should be restricted to houses that “fit in”. Bravo to those who built in accordance with their taste and not that of x-ty years ago or what someone thought was great there once upon a time. Eclectic is better than uniform. One reason I find college campuses with one distinct building style at minimal boring, if not ugly if I do not like the style. I would tear down (if ecologically and financially feasible) a majority of houses most may like. Forget tradition.
One reason I love living in New England is that houses of different styles and eras have grown up all around us organically. My house was built in 1963. Right across the street is a barn that’s been turned into a house; the barn was built in 1820. Two houses down from the barn is the antique house that used the barn – the house is from around 1810. Then, around the corner, we have houses that were built in the late 1990s, and the one right next to us was built in 1937.
I’ve looked in other locations and am disappointed that all the houses in one neighborhood are cookie cutters, and the same size and vintage.
Wow, have no idea how I’m going to get some eating in the space I have.
My decision today is that I have to keep shower, toilet and vanity along the exterior wall where all the plumbing is currently. We would have to do a lot of trenching to move anywhere else. And, there’s a window above current toilet that I will replace, but do not want to move the location. It’s not economically feasible.
So, if you do the math it’s 38” for shower and dam width (has to be skinny shower because I don’t want to move toilet drain in slab) 32” for toilet width, 30 or 36 for vanity, 4 1/2 for a wall, 26” for counter back against south wall. Then I need at least 36 for walkway from exterior door thoroughfare. Total is 172. Only leaves 32 inches which will be in the middle of nowhere in the walkway area. I was going to use that space to recess a food pantry and skinny refrigerator into bathroom, facing kitchen on other side of walkway.
@coralbrook…I have zero ability to envision what you are planning for the bath. In your spare time (ha!) could you add to the drawing in the flickr group, to help the clueless (me!)?
Can you take out part of the wall, like from the end of the bathroom to the kitchen? That would let you expand the kitchen into the other room a few feet, and give you much more flexibility for the kitchen layout.
I think I understand. There will be an open “path” from the exterior door to the 32” door, which leads into the bedroom/sitting room. Below the “path” in a horizontal line will be a stacked washer/dryer, recessed pantry, and a refrigerator all facing the kitchen; also the doorway into the bathroom. Then below that is the bathroom. If the eating area is just inside the doorway on the right, it really is only steps away from the kitchen through the door. So not an issue.
Presumably the washer/dryer also have to be near the exterior door for the plumbing and exhaust. Unless you want to blow lint into a closet…
Doesn’t look like you can open up much wall unless maybe make that doorway into the bedroom into an open archway perhaps? Would you then be able to see the view out the bedroom window from the kitchen?
Looks like there will be extra width in the bathroom across from the sink/toilet. Personally, I would favor the washer/dryer opening into the bathroom rather than the kitchen. Would there be room in the bathroom for a little counter for folding laundry?
Can you close off part of the extra bathroom width and open it on the bedroom side for a closet recessed into the bathroom? Also a skinny linen closet/broom closet opening into the bathroom.
o.k., just looked at pics again. Now it makes sense. Guessing that the w/d have to open to kitchen due to space limitation in bath side? Yes, not seeing how you can get eating area in kitchen…
The TV space that you are re-purposing for a closet…that is in the same line as the kitchen, right? What are you thinking of putting in where the steps are now?
Yes, the built in cabinetry in the bedroom area is along what we will call the ‘south’ wall on same end of the bathroom/kitchen area. I am keeping that cabinetry, so cannot ‘bump’ the kitchen further towards the ocean and/or open up the wall. There is another reason I cannot open up that wall and that is that the bathroom/kitchen room is one step higher than the other room. There is a step up from bedroom into bathroom/kitchen area. The difference in the levels has to do with the fact that we added this bathroom and it needed to be raised up for plumbing running underneath the room (it was a closet and utility area before with no plumbing)
I don’t want to move exterior door because that would involve a lot of stucco patching and, no matter how much money is thrown at it, I can never get stucco patches to blend in perfectly. They always look like a hack job on the exterior.
Originally, this was a garage conversion into a family room before I purchased the house. I’m guessing it was permitted because, at the same time, they built a large 2 car garage on the alley behind the house. But, it was hilarioius because they left the crazy steep driveway in the front just sitting there, going right up to the old garage conversion. We took out the driveway
I have loaded a detail plan of what I am thinking for the kitchen bathroom area. Bring it on!
Have not started working on how the bedroom area is going to layout. The stairs leading into the adjoining bedroom are being removed because we are closing off the access and sound proofing. Thank you @notrichenough for the suggestions. Here is the plan underway right now:
Originally, the garage had a layer of thick plaster/stucco. There is one layer of 1/2 drywall on top of that stucco on the studio apartment side. Then we are putting in R19 insulation from the other side (inside the adjoining bedroom), Wrapped all the electrical boxes and switches between the walls with that acoustic putty. Then I’m putting a thin bead of the special acoustic caulk on the stud and applying Quiet Rock (which I found at Lowes, thank you for that suggestion). Each piece of Quiet Rock is beaded with acoustic caulk where they join. Then acoustic caulk along all the edges on floor, ceiling and wall around the Quiet Rock. We will see how it works!
I’ll get the guys to turn up their dang Mexican Pop radio and stand in the next room. That will be a good test
CB - have you considered putting a pedestal sink insead of the planned 36" vanity and adding some open wall shelves next to the mirror for storing stuff? This is what developers do here when the space between the toilet and vanity is tight. I know you can’t move the toilet but a pedestal sink will open the other side up and make the room look less crowded.
That’s a decent plan, given the constraints that you can’t move the plumbing in the bathroom or change the floor heights.
What if: You get rid of the pantry, shrink the vanity to 24", squeeze it a little closer to the toilet, and move the fridge to the other side. Use a narrow (24") door to get into the bathroom and move it back to the edge of the vanity/back of the utility closet… would that leave enough room for a small table around where you are currently going to put the fridge? There’s extra cabinetry in the other room already for storage, so maybe you don’t need the pantry.
Would anyone sit there and eat or drink if it felt like you were sitting in a corner? Is there a window in that kitchen space, any kind of view?
I would imagine that the food and drink would be taken to a coffee table in the other room. My daughter and her H have a tiny NY apartment and that’s what they do. Then again, they added a small table against the wall in their galley kitchen but they use it for a workspace and it is appreciated. Maybe a dropleaf table or tabletop that is attached to the wall like the ironing board cabinet.
If I had a tiny kitchen I would not want a dishwasher, I’d rather have more storage. But I can understand how it might be needed for marketing purposes.
Just looked at your plans CB. Would you consider this- no need to move plumbing lines.
Move W/D to where you have the vanity, leave toilet in current location.
Put pedestal sink next to toilet - where shower is.
Move corner shower to where you planned to put W/D.
In the shower, include a high (o rfrosted/block glass) window for natural light.
I vote for open doorway between the rooms; too many drawers etc. would be blocked by a door. Plus for me at least, easier to see that step in the open, especially if I’d be carrying food and dishes to/from kitchen. Here are some interesting drop down tables - I like Dory and Fortune: https://www.archiproducts.com/en/products/tables/wall-mounted
