[SteelBootz]

Hey Folks,

I thought I"d throw this out there, and see what y'all thought. I'm moving into a bigger space, hahahha 325 sq ft to 650 sq ft. Its your typical L shaped apartment.

I'm kinda in love with having a leather sofa (Sleeper), for occasional house guests. But I can't figure out how casual a sofa, can be, or if it can be down played. Some folks say their just too formal. I've also added some pics of the floor configuration.

Just wondering on some feedback.

I've attached 5 different sofa's. And the dining table I plan to use.
The sofa with a dip in the back and tufted is the smallest at 80 inches wide, the chesterfield full tufted is 93 inches and is TOO big.

I'm thinking more in a lighter distressed brown color.

 

[SteelBootz]

Attached are floor layouts. OF what I think will work. the dining table is 48x35. So should be able to seat 4 maybe 6 at a stretch. and can be pushed up against 1 wall, when not in use.

what you folks think? I don't really want to move the dining area, because it has a ceiling spot for the light fixture, which i plan to put a wrot iron chandelier (candle not electric), and the ceiling is false, so this is one of the only structural points in the ceiling i know of.

 

[Two Knots]

I think you have a very well planned out space.
I love leather sofas. I like the first and second one,
with three cushions.

Just make sure you purchase real leather, and not bonded leather.
Bonded leather is a thin cut of leather glued on fabric and doesn't
hold up as well as solid leather.

Another thing is in the furniture stores they have big spotlights on
the furniture, thus they appear lighter in color. At home they will look
a lot darker in your room.

I just purchased a leather sofa recliner and purchased the lighter color,
as I knew it would be darker in the room, even though the sofa sits in
side of a 10 foot box window... It still appears darker in my well natural
light room. However, it looks rich and beautiful. Glad that I went lighter.
Good luck with the new digs. :smile:

 

[beee]

Well clearly I need help coming up with ideas. Wall colours? It depends on the style of your room. Personally speaking, I like the second one.

 

[MariaD73]

I like the first one. It'll be the center of the common area, so I kinda like the idea of it being a centerpiece. I would also consider a round rug in the center of the den area to soften up some of the right angles in the floorplan. A round shag rug in a beige could take it from formal to maybe luxurious. Especially with that piano behind it - is that a piano? I think that would be a pretty satisfying plop spot at the end of the day

 

[Nik333]

You can make it casual with pillows & throws. The same large 3 pillow leather sofa in Hawaii, with cotton pillows & a light throw, looked entirely different in Seattle with Pendleton Indian pattern wool pillows & a heavy wool blanket next to a stone hearth.

The couch I bought had removable couch pillows that slept several visiting kids many times! My favorite was the very large matching chair with hassock.

A thick pad under the area rug, also gives another place to sit for groups.

 

[MariaD73]

Nik has an excellent point about context. Pillows and a throw would be really inviting there too!

 

[SteelBootz]

Hey Folks,

Thanks for taking the time, the suggestions are awesome.

Here's some things about the furniture.

1. Desk is 3/4 inch tempered BLACK glass on steel legs (matte)
2. Office chair is black & matte silver plastic,
3. Black file cabinets for studio monitors
4. Large blond (very light mustard color), file cabinet for scores and calligraphy stuff
5. Yes acoustic piano - wants to be away from doors/windows/heat wants humidity of 35 - 45 %
6. DIGITAL piano also there, but location used to keep wires out of site,

7. Leather sofa, is what I'm looking for see coloration, it is dark, but I think a throw and pillows could lighten it up (suggested - Thanks!)
8. Don't know what color to do TWO (2) wingbacks (want seating for 4) 2 on sofa, 2 in wingbacks

9. Not sure if 35" wide is too wide for 72" wide dining room, but can go 10 feet deep.

see pictures for art work I like.

10. I love medieval period rustic stuff

11. I'm thinking of a bedframe/platform in metal, intend to re-purpose 2 matte grey metal file cabinets as night stands

12. Have 2 hemnes tall dark brown dresser, thinking of a 3rd, not sure dark brown & steel will work together. ideas?

13. Item on wall across from wingbacks by sofa is electric fireplace!
14. Beside fireplace is 42" tv.

ideas?

 

[SteelBootz]

as you can see I like very vibrant intense colors , mystical stuff, things that can make you think :vs_OMG:

 

[Nik333]

I like to look at furniture store design arrangements either online or in a catalog. I'm not advocating for this very expensive line, but it does have ideas with leather, metal, & pillows & throws. http://www.natuzzieditions.us/# The Italia version even has furniture in a sea cave. . . if you can find one :wink2:

http://www.natuzzi.us/en-US/collection/sofas-48.html

The Ernest Hemingway collection seems to go with your taste-
https://www.thomasville.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=Ernest+Hemingway
See last page
https://www.thomasville.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=Ernest+Hemingway

 

[gregzoll]

You are going to find that a 11x8 Bedroom is not going to give you room for a large dresser and a chair, along with a double or Queen Bed. Once you get the Bed in there and the dresser, you will find it is very limited in where you can place the bed and how much room that you do not have.

Our Master Bedroom has a Queen bed in it, two nightstands. It gives us about 3' of space between an amour and 4' at the front from the wall for the closet and the bed.

Your Dining room is not going to take almost a 4' table by almost 3', once you add in the chairs.

Online Blueprint programs are great for dimensions, but once you do it in real life, you are going to find that you have more furniture then space.

Also with a false ceiling and candles on a chandler, you will see a lot of soot up there, and I doubt that your landlord or management company will even allow it, because the number one cause of fires in apartments, is unattended candles.

As for the Sofa, it is overkill for an apartment. The seat cushions do not last long, once you start using it. A real leather sofa has to be taken care of all of the time. They crack easier then the Bonded leathers, which are used in private jets, like the Global's that you see on Criminal Minds. I have yards of it sitting in my Basement and seen how it holds up after almost 13 years on a Private Jet. They do not break down like the Pleathers.

Our recliner couch uses Bonded Leather and have had zero issues with it, with the exception of the foam cushions do not hold up to full time sitting on it.

Real Leather Couches are beyond the majority of people's budgets. You do not see them in common areas like Living Rooms for a reason, especially for someone who is living in an apartment. They are seen most times in a library or office as a item that is there mostly for show, then use.

Stick with good quality furniture that will last, but is not so heavy, that you will get tired of paying out of the pocket for moving it. Also depending on where you live, you may find that it will be hard to find some Lumpers who will care about that couch when they move it, let alone friends who want to deal with a cumbersome Sleeper Sofa, because they are very hard to move up and down stairs.

650 sqft is 200 sqft less than my house. You have to start small and add as you go. Going extravagant is fine if you have saved up for a long time and this furniture is something that you plan on having for a very long time. Problem is that if you are young and it is for impression, not for having something that you are going to keep for a long time, you will quickly get tired of it. Especially if you are gone all of the time and do not spend much time at home and tend to get to the point that you start to second think yourself on your choice.

Most people change their mind on their furniture about every 5 years. Those who are young, want easy to move, not going to break the budget. If it gets damaged, it is not going to kill your wallet to replace or get fixed.

 

[gregzoll]

Since you want a sleeper sofa, go with a Temperpedic. The better the mattress, the longer that it will stand up to being folded and also will not kill someone's back if they do happen to sleep on it.

On the flip side, if friends know that you have a sleeper and are always over there, but never leave at the end of the night. You may also find that it is a bad choice.

American Leather is going to be your best choice on a better sleeper. Check Wayfair and Overstock, along with Amazon for deals on the sleeper. This is your place, but also you are talking about not wanting to take out a huge debt to furnish it. Use what you have already and upgrade over time. http://www.americanleather.com/comfort-sleeper/features-and-benefits.aspx

 

[gregzoll]

As for the Acoustic and Digital pianos. You will not have room for both. Also there is no way to get humidity levels down to 35-45% in any apartment. Even in a home it is very hard.

The whole reason for the lower humidity for acoustic pianos, is that some still believe that it will ruin the board and cause the strings to stretch if the levels go higher. Majority of piano tuners will tell you that those pianos that they tune that are out on stages or in places that do not always stay conditioned. Very little with the new materials the strings and moving parts are made of, show signs from the higher humidity above 50%.

The reason that you do not want pianos in front of windows, is that it causes a hazard if you have to use the window as an escape route. Also it causes sound distortion while playing it.

Stick with the digital, sell the acoustic. Once again, you are trying to cram enough furniture for a place that is twice the size as your apartment, but will never have room to move around.

 

[MariaD73]

I think the dining room table might be too big in either orientation, but there are options. Might be too much, but this is just a thought.

There are tons of DIY tutorials on making tables into convertible furniture that hangs on the wall, and folds down when it's time for use. The table when folded can even hang as a framed mirror on the wall with the attachment of a mirror underneath and the legs folded down longways. I would use an acrylic mirror to keep it from being crazy heavy. I've also seen some really cool folding wooden chairs that hang on wall hooks beside the table as well. If mounting to the wall isn't an option, you can build framing trim around the ceiling corners, paint them like you would any crown moulding, and drop framing studs at intervals to the floor (so it ends up like framing squares). Different, and may not be to your taste, but you'd have an entire room "extra" that would ideally convert into a dining area in a matter of minutes. Getting creative with multiple uses of space could really open up that living area beside the kitchen, maybe using a couple of the dining chairs with a folding side table (that would wall-hang during "dining room" time) as a conversation set visible from the kitchen, and would extend your den/living room space during hours outside of mealtimes.

Unconventional and likely labor-intensive, but I think it would give you so much more room to breathe.

 

[SteelBootz]

Hi,

I wanted to post some more information. First I'm not just starting out. I drove a tractor trailer for many years, and had little need of anything more than a crash pad for when I was home on week-ends. I have since acquired a descent job, and I'm home alot more now, I also find my studio pad, which is 18x18, well small (its roughly 325 sq ft, measurements rounded), with an 18 foot wide by 6 foot deep balcony.

IN this little stuido 18x18. I have, 2 tall boy dressers, 1 queen bed, 1 recliner loveseat, 1 occaisonal chair, 1 acoustic piano, 1 42" tv sitting on a 40 inch wide media cabinet, a 3 foot wide by 6 foot tall mirror, 1 digital piano on top of 2 metal filing cabinets, 1x5 foot wide glass desk, with 1x4foot wide filing cabinet under it, (and no I don't knock my knees), and 1 black filing cabinet, It houses 1 computer, 2 monitors, 2 monitor speakers, and I have an full sized exec. office chair. (my point in saying this, is you can do alot and fit alot into a small space, you just have to be creative, its kinda like playing tetris)

I have had an acoustic piano for many years. I live in a NORTHERN climate. Which means, we go from -40C [-40F](very dry in the winter) to +40C [104F] (very humid). We have some of the strangest weather on the planet, and its constantly changing, 2 days ago we went from +11C [52F] to now (on Sunday) -9C[16F]. (Humidity and Windchill equivalents included)

The piano doesn`t need to come DOWN to 35-45, it needs get up to 35% in winter. hence the humidifier close to it. As for bringing DOWN the humidity in summer, I have 12,000 btu a/c unit for the window. It can drop the humidity down to under 50% on even the hottest days. Next, you don't put a piano in front of a window, not ONLY because it maybe a fire route out. I have a balcony door there, you do it, so the sun doesn't bleach and crack (dry out) the finish of the piano.

The bedroom isn't 11 x 8, its 11 feet 8 inches by 13 feet. I realize the floorplan and its markings aren't the best.

I think its absolutely wonderful some your ideas, certainly gives me things to think about, but please remember ONE thing.

I am in Canada. SO I BUY in Canada. The reason is this a $2000 USD sofa, translates into $2862 CAD. NOW add a shipping fee (probably about $100 bucks), and add an automatic 13% to bring it across the border + any duty + any brokerage fees which might be applicable. That $2000 USD sofa, could very well end up being $3600 CAD.

I did look at americanleather, love the stuff, but its just wayyy to expensive to import. The pictures provided above are from a local leather company which are more reasonable than importing.

That dining table thing is gonna give me grief. have to re-think a few things.

 

[SteelBootz]

OK, I did some re-checking.

The dining space is 74 inches wide, by 125 inches DEEP. or 6 foot 2 inches wide by 10 feet deep.

So while I love the table above (with the iron heads and all), i think its TOO wide at 35 inches. I did some further checking and the minimum distance table to wall with chairs they say wants 24 inches. So I started looking at a more narrow dining table.

I have 2 different options. I just can't decide between them .

The first is LIVE EDGE 2" thick maple. 30x60 top. I can pair it with some metal ikea legs (each has a weight tolerance of 50kgs (110lbs) so that 200kgs or 440lbs, combined.

The other is to have a table build of pine 30x60.

Below are some pics

(for the legs)
http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/30177912/

I'm also thinking of not using the candle - chandelier and favoring an electrical light source instead, if I want candles I can always get 2x 5arm table top ones.

what's your ideas?

btw while the space sounds small. 1 end of that space opens full to the living area, and there is a kitchen access opening in the wall of 48 inches.

Live edge of Maple with steel legs? or Wood legs & pine ?

ideas? :vs_bulb:

 

[MariaD73]

That maple is gorgeous. Dining tables have been a tough choice for me the two times I've bought, but that just looks like a beauty waiting for a spot.

 

[Two Knots]

Is your heart set on a sleeper sofa?
What is on the wall across from the two arm chairs?
Are you having the table custom made?

 

[mccreerys]

Managing the space that you are left with is also a good chance to have the design that you have always wanted. As soon as you begin thinking of the rooms, then you will start thinking of the design elements that you will bring in.