Redesigning the Apartment
Posted on April 21, 2007
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I’ve been reading a lot about design and architecture lately, both online and off (I particularly enjoy Dwell magazine). All of this reading, combined with the fact that I’ve got a minor obsession (if there can be such a thing as a “minor” obsession) with creating things has given me a rather strong desire to redesign much of my apartment[1]. The living room will likely not change very much since it is my favourite room in the place. I picked the furniture partly because it was very inexpensive, but also because I thought it had a nice minimalist look to it. Clean lines, comfortable cushions, and a relatively compact size made the couch and chairs a perfect fit for both my taste, and my relatively small apartment.
In any case, the living room probably won’t be changing (I might add a couple of funky clocks (art deco, maybe) to the one bare wall, and try to find a less ugly way of storing my CDs and turntable, but otherwise it will be staying as it is. The kitchen, of course, is fairly unchangeable, and the bedroom, well, I’m too damn poor to buy a new bedroom suite even if I wanted to (which I don’t). Essentially, then, the only room that can really change is the office.
Until recently, the second bedroom/office was cluttered with loose papers and a twin bed that was never used. The papers are still in the room, because I’ve been too lazy to go through them and file/throwout as needed. The bed, however, is gone. This has opened up a surprising amount of space in this little room. Frankly, I don’t know what to do with it.
I will likely buy a new bookshelf or two from Ikea, as I never seem to have enough space for all of my books. Since my personal library is considerably more likely to grow than to shrink, more shelf space certainly can’t hurt. I’m also thinking of putting a wine rack in there. I’ve always wanted to have a wine rack, with a couple of good bottles on hand for special occasions, but I’ve never had the space. While my kitchen is far bigger than the 4′ x 4′ space I used to have (K and A, how do you guys manage with that place? I don’t know how I did it!), there is still not enough room to have a wine rack without having it placed in one of two rather awkward locations (beside the stove, or in the corner behind the kitchen table). As a result, I think that the office might be a good place to put a wine rack. It’s not the most logical place, but it would certainly be less awkward than trying to force it into a kitchen that is too small to reasonable accommodate it.
Probably the last thing that I’d do to the office is get a new computer desk. The little corner desk that was graciously given to me by K’s parents is wonderful, but it got a bit smashed up when I moved into this place. Plus, I have a bad habit of cluttering up my desk, so I think I might be better off to replace this one with an even smaller one. That’s right, I honestly think I want a smaller desk, rather than a larger one. Besides, I’m hoping to buy a new computer in the next six months (I’m still debating whether I want to buy a new desktop, or just do a few minor upgrades to this one, and buy a laptop instead). Whether I go for a laptop, or a desktop with a flat panel monitor, I won’t need as much desk space once the old, hulking top tube monitor is gone.
Oh, and, maybe a couple more things. I know I said the desk would be the last thing, but I’ve thought of a few more since writing that, and I don’t feel like editting that last paragraph. I think I would also like to get a small filing cabinet. My filing system tends to involve collecting large piles of “important” papers, and moving them from one room to the next as I clean. In addition to being messy, this is highly inefficient, and I’d probably be screwed if I ever got audited. Hopefully, a filing cabinet will help me clean up my act in this regard.
Lastly–for real this time–I would get some art for the walls. This room looks rather naked now that it’s half empty. There has never been anything hanging on the walls, and that just won’t cut it for me anymore. Besides, this is the room where I do most of my writing. Having some visual stimuli on the walls would likely be an inspiration in times of intellectual drought. It would be both pleasant and practical (in an odd sort of way) to have art hanging on the office walls, then.
I’ve also started thinking about gardening. I want to setup a balcony garden when the Ma Nature finally makes up her mind about when spring is going to start. But, that’s a topic for another post.
[1] I’ve always enjoying creating things. I used to be a bit of a role-playing geek when I was younger, but I rarely actually played the games. I always found the act of creating new characters, new worlds, and new storylines far more enjoyable than actually rolling the dice. Similarly, when I played with Lego, I was not one of those kids who built the model out of the box and then displayed it on his shelf. I built the model out of the box, then destroyed it a few days later so that I could build something new. Even when my brothers and I would actually act out some kind of story with our Lego creations, the story would ultimately end in the destruction of pretty much everything that we had built. After all, if you don’t tear it down, you can’t rebuild it into something new.
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4 Responses to “Redesigning the Apartment”
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I manage in the kitchen by simply not making food…I kid, I kid. For some insane reason I’ve gotten so used to it that I actually like having everything within arms reach of the stove.
I have gobs of art littering the floor here, its nuts, I never got around to hanging much of it since the walls are pretty well papered with K.’s stuff. I can’t even think about re-decorating due to the sheer effort of rearranging our mass of stuff.
I’ve got to agree with you about everything being within arm’s reach: it is/was nice. The main thing about that kitchen that I didn’t like was the lack of counter space. It’s not even that there isn’t a lot of it, it’s just that it’s setup in a way that makes it very difficult to utilize the space in an effective and efficient manner. If the kitchen wasn’t shoved into the corner like that, I think it would actually be a decent (though small) size.
I found, after moving in, that simply re-organizing the kitchen opened up a whole lot of counter space. Of course one has to be more vigilant about keeping it clean of clutter since it is still small, but I think that ethos holds true for the whole apartment.
You could put a plant stand with some cool plants in your new office.
Just a thought!
I think I’d be up for an IKEA roadtrip in the future if you’d like the company.