Question: My apartment with two bay
windows exemplifies a typical studio or "Marina closet
bedroom" apartment. I entertain a great deal and am a
minimalist, artist and quilt maker, so it started as
basically an art gallery -- lots on the walls and
little furniture. The bay windows provided the only
seating. After a year or two I added a couch and
coffee table. I purchased four wooden chairs for the
dining room and use them as additional seating in the
living room.
Due to the death of both parents last year, I
inherited items of furniture (a 1950s desk-type sewing
machine), Oriental rugs and boxes of photographs. The
struggle now is how do I live with my family's
memories and my minimalist ways?
I took up orchids two years ago, and one window has
about 10 plants in it. I'd love to hire someone to
make two matching window cushions, but one dilemma is
where do the plants go?
Help! I still have the same space and many more
items to be put in the space. What do I do?
Liz Scotta
San Francisco
Answer: When a challenge like this is
presented to me by my clients, I suggest they create a
list of what's most important to them with regard to
their living space. Take a piece of paper and write
the numbers 1, 2, 3, etc., down the left side of the
sheet. Next to the "1" write what is most important to
you about how the space is to be used. Next to the "2"
write the next priority. And so on. Put the piece of
paper aside for a day or two. Then, without looking at
the first list, start another list using the same
process. Notice that some things may have changed in
their order of importance over this short amount of
time. The later list is usually a closer
representation of what's most important.
Your challenge is how to incorporate the efficient
use of space with a need for less while having
more.
From your letter some things are obvious: color,
space, nature, friends and family all are important to
you and are exemplified by your making sure your home
is comfortable for guests, cultivating orchids despite
their inherent challenge, and wanting to keep family
pieces that conflict with your own natural design
sense. Combining all these elements effectively is the
challenge.
Your photograph shows a beautifully crafted quilt
on the floor in the middle of the living room. I doubt
you intend for people to walk on it, so the immediate
recommendation would be to hang it on a large wall,
making it at once both a focal point for the room and
a work of art to admire. Once that space is freed up,
moving the sofa away from the bay window, putting it
closer to the middle of the room and turning it to
face one of the windows will create a much more
effective seating area for your entertaining needs.
The coffee table that is against the other bay window
should be placed closer to the sofa so it can serve
its intended function and free up the other window
seat. Once the bay windows are more accessible,
spanning them with glass or painted-wood shelves is a
good way to display your orchids and at the same time
make them easy to reach for watering and maintenance.
If the shelves are placed high enough you will still
have open seating areas for your guests.
The family photographs can be incorporated easily
enough if you think of "minimalist" more as
"clutter-free" than "sparse." For example, who says
they have to be framed and placed all over the house
on table tops? A hallway wall made into a gallery of
nicely framed, well-spaced photographs minimizes the
clutter.
Some of the inherited furniture might be better
served in storage for the time being and brought out
later when you have a larger home.
Question: How can I arrange a TV, a soft
recliner and a 7-foot sofa so that anyone sitting on
the chair or sofa can see the TV and enjoy the
fireplace?
Tamara J. Gabel
Woodside
Answer: If you're familiar with the saying
"You can please some of the people all of the time,
and all of the people some of the time, but you can't
please all of the people all of the time," then you
know the same can be said about the design dilemma you
describe in your home. You want to be able to see both
the television and the fireplace from all seating
areas in the room, and you want the room to have a
peaceful feeling at the same time.
In the earlier design dilemma I addressed in this
column, I described a process to prioritize your needs
for the function of a room. The situation you describe
is a perfect opportunity to do this prioritizing
exercise. And, if there are other people in your
household, everyone should participate, since they
also live in and use the room. Sit down together and
make a list of the room's uses and the priority these
uses have with each person. Then do the same thing
again the next day. Review the list together and
notice what emerges as the most important functions in
the room.
Approaching the furniture placement dilemma with
this new insight will make it less difficult for you
to rearrange the furniture to meet everyone's needs,
but perhaps not all at the same time. Some flexibility
is needed on everyone's part. Keep in mind that this
situation is also a great opportunity to create
smaller spaces within a larger space, thereby allowing
the room to fulfill all the functional needs, but
again, perhaps not simultaneously.
When planning to move furniture around in a room,
remember that just because something has always been
in one place doesn't mean that it must remain there
forever. Be flexible, open-minded and creative.
Nothing you're doing at this stage is permanent and if
you don't like it in one place you can move it to
another.
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