Bark Avenue Invitation

I am starting with a blank slate basically.  I have two floors (floors 3 & 4) about 1500sqft each.  I have to design this thing from the ground up.  Floor 4 is going to be kitchen, living room, dining room, bath 1.  Floor 3 is bed room, office, gym, nursery, bath 2. There will be no interior walls, except around the bathroom.
 
The internal walls are brick, and I am going to leave the natural color.
 
I need ideas for furniture, flooring ( I am thinking wood laminate), and kitchen design is freaking complicated.  I know I want an island. The style I am going for is minimalist studio loft style.  If thats even a style.  I am looking for pictures and ideas. 
 
I want it to be stylish, but not be to expensive.  I want to keep the total cost under $50,000.  I know, it's going to be hard, but I'm sure it can be down.
 
Any ideas.... 

Mic, you can use area rugs to define spaces in you apartment.  Group furniture in ways that denote coziness since your apartment will be so open.  My dogs do fine on wood laminate downstairs, but if you do decide to go that route, make sure you know how to install it properly.  Or have in done by a pro.  wood laminate warps very quickly if not installed properly.  Ask my landlord Haha!.  Do you have a colour scheme picked out yet?  You mentioned that the interior walls are brick and you would like to leave them natural.  What colour of brick?  Get a colour wheel, and start checking out the complementary colours to your brick.  Find a few really good peices of furniture to start with and work around them.  Are you looking at an industrial look?  Thats what minimalist studio sounds like to me.  I love the stainless steel look.  Countertops, and appliances.  The big pot rack hanging over the island...  Wanna trade apartments?  I have a big yard???...

The brick is red, and kind of aged.  The building was built in 1884. 
 
I am going to have stainless steel appliances, and have no idea what other colors work.  Where do I get a color wheel.  That sounds helpful.
 
How do you feel about IKEA for furniture.  It maybe to madern looking. 
 
I am really banging heads with my wife on the overall style.  She likes knick knacks...I HATE clutter.  Especially with the dogs...they just pick stuff up, knock it on the floor, just make a mess in general.  She wants it to be homey, I want straight lines and loftyness.
 
To me, less stuff means less cleaning...more space.

Ikea furniture is great for students.  It is economically wonderful, but you Mic, I think you could do better.  If you like the look of Ikea, go for it, but look for the higher end makes.  Ikea is nice to look at for a couple of years , but in my opinion, not a great investment.  They have beautiful clean lines but if that is all you are attracted to go to a local furniture builder.  You can bring them pics of what you would like and have them make you a quality peice from it. 

Since your wife likes knick knacks, you could opt for cabinets with glass doors on them.  This will keep the dogs out of trouble and if sealed right, make for alot less dusting.  Personally I like your less is more attitude rather than your wifes, but she has to live there too right?  Have her pick a few different collections that she particularly likes and make sure she has the space and the proper lighting to display them.  Make them look nice and like they belong.  That way they look less like clutter. 

Will your space have enclosed closet spaces?  Perhaps a pantry for food, and a space for laundry?  When you do your layout, make sure you plan for lots of storage.  Make up a list of all the stuff in closets in your existing home, and plan for all of that plus 50%.  That way everything will have a place.  Working with a clean slate is a decorators dream!  I so wish I could see it.

About the colour wheel, you can find one in any artists book, most decorating books, and there are actually whole books specifically on colour and how to work with it.  Try the home decorating section of you book store.

I am taking pics of the space this week.  It hasn't been renovated yet, but you can see what I am talking about. 
 
Yeah, I heard IKEA was kind of cheap.  I just want to make sure I come in under budget.  The building cost me a small fortune and there isn't a lot left over. 
 
It will have enclosed closet space, but no built ins.  Same in the kitchen as well.  The washer and drier are up in the air.  I don't like them just setting out, but I guess that's kind of what a loft is about.
 
 

Oh but you can get whole cabinets that the laundry systems can sit inside and out of sight when not in use.  Or set them into a large closet with sliding or folding doors on it.  You can even get folding ironing boards that fold up into the cabinet.  The whole laundry center can be contained nicely in one space, with a place for folding, a few shelves for things like detergent, and fabric softener.  Unless there already existing plumbing and exhaust hookups, you may consider placing laundry facilities in a place closest to where you keep the majority of clothing.  I hate going up and down stairs to do laundry and having it up here would be soooo nice.  (again any chance of swapping apartments Mic?)[size="4"]

[size="2"]Does the electrical need to be updated at all?  And is the plumbing already laid to all the appropriate areas?  If not, do yourself a favour and pay the money to have it done right the first time.  Its far less costly than having it fixed because it doesn't pass building codes. 

When you say no built ins, do you mean inside the closets?  Because if you do there are many easy do-it-yourself kits that you can get for little cost.  Try the Home Depot.  I love love love that store.  A closet can be so much more funtional if it has more than just a rod and a shelf in it.  The gorgeous apartments you picture when you think minamalist, are owned by people that have just as much stuff as you and I,  they just know how to store it properly.  And in an open concept loft, where you cant just shut doors to hide a mess, you need all the proper storage you can get.
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Good point about proper storage.  I hadn't even thought of that.  I live in a house that's about the same square footage, but have lots of storage.  During this move I want to toss a TON of crap out.  What kind of "attractive storage" is available?
 
I am updating/replacing all of the electrical, plumbing, putting in a sprinkler system, moving four floors of stair cases, putting in a fireman's pole from the top to the basement, refacing the building, replacing the floors, ripping out the 4th floor ceiling, replacing the windows, etc.
 
It is such a fun job.  I am just having trouble picturing what I want the inside to look like.  Do you know of any hotos of sketches of stylish lofts?  

The Home Depot here will come give a free estimate and design consultation for kitchens.  I went to a do it herself workshop and got all the info on it.  That may help.
 
We have a Value City furniture here which has nice furniture inexpensive.  Do you have one near you?  In store they have a lot more than online.
 
 

You can always get a CAD program for your computer that will allow you to play with color, bathroom placements, kitchen design, etc.  Or, you can always do the paper version of a CAD.  They sell a layout grid, with cutout washers, dryers, fridge, stove, etc etc that you can move around the grid to figure the best placement.  Home Depot or Lowes would probably sale them in their book/magazine section.  Or a bookstore might have one in their home building/remodeling section.  My mom used one in their remodeling. That way you can get a 3-D look at how to place things.  Personally, I liked the model version vs. the CAD program.  The CAD program got to be a pain in the behind before it was over.

If you don't have any built in closets, armoires are a good choice. Not only for clothes, but for entertainment centers.  Of course, they are going to be more expensive (you can always go antiquing and get one cheaper and refinish it to your preferences), but since you aren't going to have dividing walls, they are attractive pieces of furniture.  Also, they make some very nice screens that would help deliniate specific areas in the room.  I would definitely second the planning for storage!!!! And, I would vote for the washer and dryer on a floor separate from the sleeping area.  Ours is right next to the bedroom, and it gets really noisy.

On the kitchen - as someone who cooks a lot - we don't do take out or eat out a lot - so I spend lots of time in the kitchen - PLAN PLAN PLAN!  You're going to want the dishwasher next to the sink, but don't put either the stove or fride close to it.  If you can't fit more than 2 backsides in and around the sink/dw - plan for more space!  Hubby can't open the fridge when I am loading/unloading the dishwasher.  And there isn't enough counter space around the stove. More than irritating when you are trying to cook or clean up! Plan on lots of storage for the kitchen too.  If you have a coffee maker, food processor, toaster, mixer, etc - plan for counter space/stoarge ahead of time.  Also, make sure you have enough pantry room, storage space for pots/pans and bake ware, as well as your dishes.  There is nothing more irritating than an ill-concieved kitchen that can drive the main user nuts!  They have books for planning kitchens and baths to be economical and user friendly - I would suggest investing in a few, and definitely plan things WITH your wife.  hehe I don't know who will spend more time in there, but you will want a well planned kitchen. (Don't do cabinets above the fridge - they are NOT useable - you can't get to items easily - and it just ends up being wasted space).

And as someone who collects mohair bears and several porcelain figurines, I use glass curio cabinets to protect them from the animals.  They are also nice pieces of furniture, and can help define sections of the room.  Either that, or have ceiling to floor shelves built in that you can put nick nacks on. And if you put doors on the bottom, or up high - you have extra storage built in.

Oh, and when you plan the laundry area and the bathroom - plan on your dirty clothes hamper placement!  hehe It usually ends up being left out, and then you have to find a place to put the stinky thing - or multiple things if you want one for linens and one for clothes. lol  Be sure you don't end up having to put it close to your clean linen storage area. Been there, had to find another place to put the clean stuff! Eww! 

Hope you don't mind the post. I helped my parents with their remodel ideas, and it was amazing the things you don't think of unless you write it down and compare current item placement with future building planning.  Good luck!

P.S. I like this web site - request a catalog - they have some nice things in there, and I am always getting email notifications of sales.
www.homedecorators.com

a lot of good furniture stores have interior designers who will come to the home and help draw up presentation for free. They will give you pictures and model numbers/SKU's of furniture, drapes, lamps etc. You tell them what you are able to spend and they work within that budget or at least show you the "concept piece" so you can shop around.
Just a thought.

Great ideas...there is so much to plan.  This is a lot like building a new house. 
 
The home I live in now was pretty much already decorated so I just moved my stuff in. 
 
I am also throwing out all of my furniture and buying all new stuff.  I am just ready for something different.
 
I am going to check with the local furniture stores to see if any have designers, and I picked up the CAD computer program last night from my parents.  They designed there downtown loft on it. 
 
Has anyone seen the kitchens that are basically built into the island.  They have the stove, cook top, sink, and prep area all built into the island in the middle of the kitchen and the rest is used for storage. My wife like the idea of this, because when you cook right now she finds that she is spending a lot of time facing the wall, and would prefer to be looking at the living space.  Does anyone know how functional these kinds of kitchens are.

I have an island that I absolutely love....I would love it MORE if it had stuff built into it.
 
A word to the wise....let HER design her own kitchen.  BIL built my Mother a lovely home so she could get out of her condo (read expensive apartment that she owned) but he didn't take HER input on the kitchen.  She has a lovely kitchen, for a normal sized person, but this woman is 4'8" so getting a GLASS out of the cupboard is hard for her.  If your wife is the one who'll use the kitchen the most, it's her baby and she should be the one to design and plan it.

I want her to design it, but I also still want to be able to send the kids to college one day. 
 
She isn't very "deadline" oriented, so I want to come up with a few designs and let her pick what she likes about them. 
 
Another question...does and one have a wall hanging plasma screen.  Was it worth the expense?  I have a descent flat screen, but it's not plasma.  I am trying to decide if spending $3000 on a television is worth it....

Whoa gonna be late for work.  But had to say, if you have the money go for the plasma.  Have you ever watched a big game on a large plasma tv?  You have gotta try it.  Rent one for a week, and try it out.

I watched every Bengals game last season on plasma and it was literally like looking through a window at the game.  So clear....
 
The most I have ever spent on a TV is about $800.  I am still trying to convince myself that the clarity is worth $3000. 
 
Does anyone have the smart home system? 
 
What kind of security systems do the urban dwellers on here have (besides dogs)?