life in *your* tiny apartment.

I received this note, last week. A bedroom dilemma:

Hi Erin!

I've lived in my tiny, 300 square foot studio for about a year and a half. It's my first time living on my own and I absolutely love it. I don't even mind the small space and even think I could survive with less! The only thing that really bugs me is staring at my bed all. the. time. Of course I make the bed every day and try to make it look as crisp as possible, but it is still the place I sleep...right next to the place I eat...right next to where I work on my computer, etc. If I had the ceiling height, I would love to have some sort of loft situation like yours, but that is sadly not the case. Since I'm committed to the one room living, do you have any advice on how I make my bed fit better with the rest of the space? Conceal its bed-liness perhaps? 

Thanks so much!

Melissa

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Well, the grass is always greener, isn't it? I dream about the day when I can actually stand up next to my bed to make it/flop dramatically onto it whenever the mood strikes. No such luck in a tiny loft. That being said, I can understand how beds in studios are tricky, especially because we don't get a lot of awesome examples to drool over. {Stunning shots of innovative lofts abound}. Still, a few ideas:

Bedding. It sounds like you've got this covered, but I'd say having something crisp and clean-looking is the most important first step. Sturdy quilts or wool blankets are cozy and they keeps clean lines better than a fluffy duvet. There's a reason military cots always look so shipshape. {Brahms Mount and MacAusland Woollen Mills make my favorite wool blankets}.

Pillows. Sometimes just the orientation of the pillows on a bed can make all the difference. If the bed's against the wall, stacking a pile of large throw pillows along one edge will mean it can function more like a day bed during the day. At the very least, investing in a set of crisp shams will help rumply bed pillows look neat.

Divide and disguise. You mentioned that you don't have the height for a loft, but depending on the space where your bed sits, devising a movable curtain might be a nice solution. I'm not a huge fan of the impulse to divide studios using bookshelves--shelves often become a repository for clutter and leave me feeling more cramped and crowded--but dividing a space with tall, simple curtains can be a nice alternative. I'd choose something that's gauzy enough that it's not oppressive, but stiff enough that it doesn't look messy. You could hang the curtains from a high-tension wire and then arrange the curtains along the wire where they work best. Something like the bedrooms shown here, or here.

What do you think?

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Do you have a tiny apartment quandary? Send me a note, along with pictures and we'll see if we can't tackle it together.

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