Maximizing small home space, I need BBB help!

[MamaKath]

We live in a small home. It is a ranch or rambler depending on where you live. Walk into a small living room. Dining room and a barely eat-in kitchen behind it. Turn down the hall and you have a pantry, full bath (used by kids and guests), tiny [kidroom1] bedroom (with tiny closet), small [kidroom2] bedroom (with large closet), and small master (with small closet, built in that is not well done though and should have been another tiny closet, and a tiny bathroom with a shower). We have used the living room as such, kitchen as such, each kid has own room, we have the small master, dining room is really more of an office with a desk and computer. We eat in the kitchen except for an occasional holiday dinner. Then we put leaves in the dining table, push sofas against the walls and utilize the long space in the living room. Other living space is a basement (partially finished, I'll get to that in a minute ;)) with a laundry area and a front deck style porch. Storage areas are said laundry area and a large garage-style shed.

So we are really trying to maximize our space and really make the house an enjoyable home. It was not our first or most ideal choice, however we bought thinking that we might not be here long term but if we were, it had possibilities and was affordable. Long story, but we have stayed much longer than we had planned and probably will be here a long time. We had finished the basement, then had a flood, had to have construction done and are nearly to a point where it is mostly usable space. So it will almost double our usable area with one full bathroom. We are busy preparing for that. We also redid the wood floors (in bad need) in the dining room, hall, and living room over the summer. They still need to be done in the bedrooms. We have also been getting rid of all kinds of stuff we don't use anymore and just paring down.

So we started to think about utilizing spaces differently and had some ideas. Wondered what the small living gurus of the BBB thought about some of these things...

*While floors are done in bedrooms (1 at a time), we thought about having kids share a room and we take the other until all three rooms are finished. With the basement nearing completion though, we started to think it might be nice to relocate the master area down there. We'd have a lot more space, though it is kind of odd space in general, and a full bath. There is an exit to the outside from the laundry room I.C.E. Then the kids would be able to be separate during floor work. If it worked well, we would then turn the upstairs master into a guest room and stay downstairs (now guests have to utilize the trundle in kidroom2 or the bunkbeds in kidroom1). Long term would you want your kids on a different floor? Other ideas short of an addition?

*Switch living room and dining/room office. Take the large flat screen out of the living room and put in dining room. Leave desk in dining room, but bring in full size sofa. Put china closet in living room, set up dining room table (it is a drop leaf table and often is in the corner now), then utilize a smaller amount of the space with a coffee table, rocker and love seat for a sitting area. So the dining room would be like a family room I guess. One plus for this would be that our one cruddy neighbor got out of jail this week, so sitting and hanging out would be less obvious to him, and our family time would be less infringed on by his thug activities. Good idea or not???

*Basement- How to differentiate space? Now it is basically like this...There is one small room that is like a library/craft room and will eventually be organized. There is a large tv/play area, then a smaller area with exercise equipment and the bathroom/laundry room off of it. These two areas are open to each other, the library is its own space. There would still be a play/tv area, though it would be smaller. Our bed would be down there (if we go ahead with that plan). Would you use curtains or screens? What size bed? Should we think about a futon instead of a bed (are those even comfortable)? I keep thinking it could be a neat space, but then panic a bit about how to make it work.

So if you have gotten this far...:heartbeat: Thank you!!! And if you have ideas for me... :heartbeat::heartbeat: Thank you even more! ;) I really appreciate your help!!! I am at a bit of a loss!!!

[bubbaray]

I'm having a hard time visualizing, but some thoughts:

I'm not a fan of kids sleeping on a different floor than the parents. I know this is becoming more common, but I'm just not comfy with that for my family. YMMV.

I would maybe put the dining room in the living room or the office in the living room (whichever works best). I would have a family room, instead of a living room, and move the whole thing (tv and all) downstairs.

I would use something like the Expedit system to partition off the space downstairs and give you more storage.

Does that help??

[Elilly]

We have a very similar layout except both of our bathrooms are accessible from the hall (ie no master bath). The owners before us took out the wall separating the kitchen and dining room. We now have one big eat in kitchen with a built in work area. This works well for us as we have a large kitchen table that easily seats six. This is our main homework area and DH often sits there in the evening to do work (this is nice b/c we chat during dinner prep, homework, clean-up etc.) Just a thought.
I am also not a fan of the master in the basement. Sorry.. not trying to rain on your parade!

[MamaKath]

I'm having a hard time visualizing, but some thoughts:

Does that help??
I live here and have a hard time visualizing, lol! I go back and forth on the master downstairs, dh is convinced the kids would probably end up sleeping downstairs anyway. Maybe the guest room will end up downstairs instead. I love the thought of the Expedit differentiating space though.


We have a very similar layout except both of our bathrooms are accessible from the hall (ie no master bath). The owners before us took out the wall separating the kitchen and dining room. We now have one big eat in kitchen with a built in work area. This works well for us as wehave a large kitchen table that easily seats six.
We would love to do that with the kitchen/dining room but it wouldn't work easily due to where the plumbing/sink/dishwasher are on the wall in between the two. We have a rectangular table that fits well and easily sits 4, 6 can squeeze. It doesn't work for larger groups though (like this Thanksgiving when there were 12 of us and boat loads of food). Thanksgiving ended up taking the whole living room over. And having food spread out in the kitchen.

Keep the ideas coming!!!

[ahisma]

How old are your kids? We're ultimately going to be on a different floor from the kids (finishing the attic), but DD is 12 yo now so it's a bit less scary. And, the door to our room will be literally 8 inches from their doors.

In your situation though, I'd probably make the downstairs a playroom / guestroom combo. I'd give my right hand for a playroom most days. We have a small house too - 1400 sq. ft. for 5 people, no garage, no hope of finishing the (rather small) basement because we desperately need it for storage and laundry...and that leave no room for anything other than the treadmill.

[Mrs.Christie]

I'd probably make the basement a family room/playroom/guestroom and keep the master upstairs w/the kids.

If at all possible I'd open the kitchen and dining room and eliminate the eat-in part of the kitchen. In a small home it doesn't make much sense to have 2 eating spaces IMO. The kitchen is where I would put the most effort/money as far as a remodel goes.

For your office stuff I'd look for one of those armoire/cabinet things where all computer equipment can be contained and concealed. I'd put this in the living room or downstairs depending where it fits best.

If your basement is one large room I'd get a nice sleeper sofa and have guests use that. Devoting an entire room to guests when you don't have them all that often is a waste of space in a small home.

That's what I'd do if I had the money in your situation. HTH!

[bubbaray]

I wasnt sure about the guestroom -- is it upstairs? Another option (what we do) is to have the guestroom + office together. We have a large room upstairs as my office and our guestroom. One of these years, I'm gonna get a sofa bed for it instead of the queen size bed. However, One of us still ends up sleeping in there often because its musical beds at night still here. Once the girls are reliably sleeping in their own beds, we'll have the office look more like an office.

[WatchingThemGrow]

We're in 1400 sf with 5 people, similar floorplan, but no garage :(

Things we do - Use dining room as all-purpose space. All meals, any projects (hard to set up and take down, though, DH's morning/night workspace, etc. We packed all our office stuff into laundry room cabinets/trunk in the LR. We use laptops and a wireless printer. I'd put some shelving in the basement and use it for toy/clothing rotation, but the idea of a master down there freaks me out.

[MomToOne]

I would not put the master downstairs either. I think the traveling up and down the stairs all day every day is not worth having a nice guest room on the main level. If it were me, I'd send the TV downstairs and make it a playroom with a sleeper sofa for guests.

[zag95]

I'd probably make the basement a family room/playroom/guestroom and keep the master upstairs w/the kids.

If at all possible I'd open the kitchen and dining room and eliminate the eat-in part of the kitchen. In a small home it doesn't make much sense to have 2 eating spaces IMO. The kitchen is where I would put the most effort/money as far as a remodel goes.

For your office stuff I'd look for one of those armoire/cabinet things where all computer equipment can be contained and concealed. I'd put this in the living room or downstairs depending where it fits best.

If your basement is one large room I'd get a nice sleeper sofa and have guests use that. Devoting an entire room to guests when you don't have them all that often is a waste of space in a small home.

That's what I'd do if I had the money in your situation. HTH!
:yeahthat:

[ha98ed14]

I would not put the master downstairs either. I think the traveling up and down the stairs all day every day is not worth having a nice guest room on the main level. If it were me, I'd send the TV downstairs and make it a playroom with a sleeper sofa for guests.

:yeahthat:

I would put your master downstairs. BAD for resale, I would think. I do thing that a playroom with a full bath and a good quality sleeper sofa is a win-win! As your guest, I would appreciate the privacy of being on another floor.

[hwin708]

Like others, I'm having a hard time visualizing, but here it goes...

I agree with the previous posters, and would not put the master bedroom on the first floor. Tbh, I never base my decisions on resale, and am personally fine with having the master on a different floor from kids. But that is an awful lot of space that could be better used. Then again, it sounds like you are feeling cramped in your current bedroom. If I were truly in a small room, yeah, I would move on downstairs. Otherwise, I'd just try to get as much furniture and clutter OUT of my bedroom, and stay in the original master.

I would make the basement into your guest/playroom/office area. Essentially becoming the main living area, where the kids spend the majority of their time, and you can do whatever work on the computer while they play. Again, all clutter, toys, etc I would move down here into storage shelves, and OUT of the small bedrooms.

Ditching the office space from the main floor, I would then see about tearing down some walls. It really isn't the most expensive of home improvement projects. I would open up the space between the living/dining/kitchen areas. Again, I can't really visualize how this is all laid out, so that would greatly impact this, but I would personally ditch the small rooms that struggle to serve a single purpose, and create a large room that can serve a dual purpose.

[BeachBum]

If you can't really change the floorplan, then I think you really have to focus on making furniture work for you.

Having furniture that does double duty,and is the right scale for the space does wonders. I would think about trundle beds that you can use as a "sofa" in the basement, or the kids rooms so they can double up, built in cabinets along walls that you can use for storage in the bedrooms and perhaps the living room.

What do you need for an office? Can you do with a pretty desk, laptop and a file cabinet? I saw a great idea online where they had a writing desk double as a console table behind the sofa....a pretty lamp, a few active files and bill paying stuff.

Or if it's not practical to expand the LR into the DR. Keep the DR as your eating area and convert the kitchen table to an office desk area? Would the right furniture make that work? A partner desk that is pretty from both sides? Built in cabinetry? Utilizing the table differently...accessorizing like a desk?

For your master, I would be ok with it being downstairs...but I think for resale it would be a negative. But as long as you could "move it back" if you wanted if YOU would enjoy it that is what matters. I would think that the bathroom down there should be accessible from the living space and the bedroom. It would be better for guests that way, and would work as a master. Or if you did a master down there, is that all you would get out of the space? Just the bedroom and bath?

You've gotten some good responses so far! I bet if you drew a little sketch on graph paper and uploaded it here we could give more suggestions.
I always use graph paper for space planning. It really helps you see stuff that you may not see otherwise.

[kcimato]

Kath

Get yourself over to the garden web forums. They have one forum just for smaller homes. Post your question just as you have here. The people over there have BTDT and are so helpful.

www.thathomesite.com

[MamaKath]

You've gotten some good responses so far! I bet if you drew a little sketch on graph paper and uploaded it here we could give more suggestions.
I always use graph paper for space planning. It really helps you see stuff that you may not see otherwise.
Wow TY TY TY to all of you!!!! I did get some great ideas!!! I also never would have thought about sketching it out and uploading. I recently got a scanner, this might need to be my project, especially if we have a snowday this week (here is hoping).

DH and I are still going back and forth on master/guest room. We pretty much have decided we need a sleeping area for 2 adults upstairs and downstairs. We can decide later which would be the "permanent" master and guest areas, lol. Downstairs we are going to really make it a usable space. I think we might go to Ikea to check out what ideas they have for multipurpose spaces. I was laughing to dh saying that it could be like a cool NYC studio space only in our little SoMD house. ;) I *really* like the idea of family/play/multi-purpose space downstairs where we could spend much of our time though! Trying to figure out how to make it all work... Keep the ideas coming though!!!

[MamaKath]

Kath

Get yourself over to the garden web forums. They have one forum just for smaller homes. Post your question just as you have here. The people over there have BTDT and are so helpful.

www.thathomesite.com (http://www.thathomesite.com)
Thank you! I just went poking around. Need to reg and post my question. Great forum though. :)

[MamaKath]

Otherwise, I'd just try to get as much furniture and clutter OUT of my bedroom, and stay in the original master.

Great ideas! I sat in my room earlier just visualizing this. I was thinking that if I got a smaller bed (we have a king) and took out 1 dresser (we have 2 matching low/long dressers) and both sidetables I would have room for my rocker, a little side table for it and wall sconces. It would make it feel more like a little hotel suite, lol. Hmmm... Definitely need to keep myself in declutter mode and pare down the wardrobe!!!

[MamaKath]

We're in 1400 sf with 5 people, similar floorplan, but no garage :(

I feel your pain... We bought the garage from an Amish shed place when we moved in. Our last house was 3 times the size of this one and had a 2.5 car garage. Had to get something. No car in it, but needed it for the lawn tractor, mower, seasonal yard stuff, tools, motorcycle, and stuff. I need to get out there and deal with it better too, but not until it is spring!

[MamaKath]

I wasnt sure about the guestroom -- is it upstairs? Another option (what we do) is to have the guestroom + office together.
Right now we don't have one. It is the 6 rooms on the main floor- living room, dining room, kitchen, kidroom1, kidroom2, master. Then a main bath, and a small bath for the master. Up until now when guests come we either double kids up in 1 room and put guests in the other, have them sleep on an air mattress in the living room, or put them up in a hotel. A dedicated space would work much better, especially since dh has been on a "No one visits= no one loves us" kick. We have gotten more visitors in the last 6 months than in the previous 4.5 years!!! Need better arrangements for them, lol!!!

[ciw]

I'm not much of an IKEA fan, at least when it comes to furniture, but I came across this PAX idea and thought of your post. If you want to section off the basement to give your guestroom privacy but don't have the budget (or know-how for DIY) for drywall, this could be a fairly simple fix. http://www.ikeahackers.net/2010/10/turn-your-studio-apartment-into-1.html

I think you should also look for storage ideas for the basement. If you have lots of storage there (particularly if it's closet storage), you won't have to store as much in your upstairs master. You could switch out your clothes each season.

I'd keep the bedrooms upstairs, make one room a dedicated dining room and the other a sitting room/study/possibly office. Downstairs, I'd section off a guest room, keep your craft room and make the main space a family/tv/play area. Depending on the size of the basement, I might section off an office area downstairs.