Young people and couples most often buy one-room apartments. New housing bought on the secondary market is not important. Before you enter it, it is supposed to make repairs to a one-room apartment. Only the concept is very loose and can mean both a simple wallpaper plywood and redevelopment. We will demonstrate several results of repairs of varying degrees of “severity” in the article. They are completely different, in style and purpose, but all about remodeling 1-room apartments. Looking at the photo, you can apply some ideas in your own practice.
General principles and techniques
One-room apartments usually do not differ in large areas. The dwellings of the old building – in Khrushchev – are about 30 square meters. m, but in new buildings it is already a little more: maybe 40 sq.m or more. In any case, you have to carefully consider the layout and arrangement of furniture: every centimeter counts.
Where to start repairing a one-room? It is necessary to draw a plan with dimensions, and on a scale. The next step is to look at what can be improved.
Moving the door closer to the load-bearing wall
First of all, pay attention to the location of the doors. In old layouts, they were often made in the middle of the wall. This is very uneconomical from the point of view of the use of the area: too large a zone goes into the “dead”. We walk in it, and there is no way to put anything. It is much more convenient if the doors are moved closer to one of the walls. Which one is up to you to choose. Moreover, this is a restructuring, not a redevelopment, but it must be registered.
Combining a bathroom
The biggest problem with small-sized housing is very small bathrooms. In old houses, they are just tiny. They don’t even have a washing machine. Since the rest of the premises are not pleasing with space, we have to arrange restructuring in order to find a place. Therefore, when starting to repair a one-room apartment, very often they demolish the partition between the bathroom and the toilet. They are definitely not carriers, so there are no problems with matching. This solution alone can give the necessary centimeters.
The second thing they often do is to replace the bathroom with a shower cabin. This decision is not acceptable for everyone, but there is still a little more space. You can put a ready-made shower cabin or make it yourself from bricks, tiles, driving out the wall into half a brick or putting a folding door. How to make a shower cabin yourself read here.
Demolition of pantries
Most of the layouts have pantries. But their location is often so unfortunate that it is better without them. But the vacated space can be taken for appliances or made in this place a dressing room, a built-in closet. Let them take the same amount of space, but their functionality is much wider.
Combining rooms with a balcony
Since today new heaters have appeared that make it possible to achieve a high degree of thermal insulation with a small thickness, it has become possible to combine rooms with balconies or loggias. Not only the walls are well insulated, but also the ceiling with the floor. Moreover, it is useful to make floor heating: it is difficult to transfer batteries (project, coordination), but laying a heating cable is possible and relatively easy. A project for such heating is not required.
When combining rooms with a balcony, please note that you can only remove the part that was under the window. Those walls that from floor to ceiling are strictly forbidden to touch. Such an alteration will never be legalized for you: after all, these are external load-bearing walls and they are responsible for the integrity of the building.
How to equip a balcony or loggia read here.
Studio apartment
Another solution popular among young people: the demolition of almost all partitions. Only the bathroom and toilet remain fenced off. All other walls are removed. It turns out the so-called studio apartment. From an ordinary one-room apartment with an area of a little more than 30 meters, with this type of repair, you can make quite a decent room. There are downsides to this solution: the kitchen is practically combined with the rest of the premises and the smells of food will spread throughout the apartment. Therefore, it must have a powerful hood. This solves the problem.
This option can be modified – make the walls beveled, etc. Just remember that you can expand the area of bathrooms and kitchens only at the expense of technical premises. Since in this case this happens at the expense of the hallway, there are no problems. But in this area you will have to do reinforced waterproofing: several layers will be required for sure. Be prepared for the fact that this will be spelled out in the draft agreement.
You will find some ideas for repairing a one-room apartment in the video. The real object, filmed before the repair, then – the main stages and already “after”.
Sequencing
Having decided what you want to do in your one-room apartment during the repair, you can submit the project for approval. It’s not a fast thing. In the meantime, take care of the calculation of materials and their purchase. The advice is this: start a separate notebook or file – whoever is used to it. For each type of work, allocate a separate page where you write everything that needs to be done about this. First, all the work that is needed, then – in detail all the required materials. And right down to nails, anchors, screws (with dimensions), adhesive tape and other trifles, which are innumerable.
After completing the development for each type of work, make a general list of materials: sum up the quantity. Then you can start looking for places to buy. Some can be found online, some in stores. Small things are often taken carelessly, but they prefer to make more or less large purchases by visiting stores. And this is correct: the quality cannot be determined from the picture. Therefore, first call, check the prices, then go to the addresses, look and feel. And feel free to ask questions. While you collect all the materials, the documents will be ready.
That’s when the actual work begins. Do repairs in the apartment on their own or hire a team – everyone decides this issue for himself. If you hire different people for different types of work, careful control is necessary during the entire process, since having done their “piece” of work, they will disappear. Those masters who come after them will nod that their predecessors did everything…wrong.
It is impossible to give clear instructions on what to do and why: there may be too different jobs, but in the general case, the order is as follows:
- Dismantling/installation of partitions.
- Modernization of engineering systems (ventilation, plumbing) and electrical wiring (installation of an electrical panel, electrical wiring in rooms through junction boxes).
- Window replacement.
- Alignment of walls, ceiling, plaster.
- Heating system installation.
- Filling / flooring.
- Door installation.
- Finishing work.
- Arrangement of furniture
If some work is not needed, just omit them. But if a major overhaul is planned, then all of them are necessary, especially in old apartments.
Repair of a one-room apartment: interior design
If the renovation is going on in an already lived-in apartment, you are definitely connected with those items that you already have. Some of them will be replaced, but most will usually remain. Since the premises are already inhabited, you can already imagine quite clearly where you can put new things / equipment, and when looking at them in a store or in a photo, you can quite accurately determine how much they will “fit” into the existing space and environment.
When planning the interior in a new building, everything is more complicated and easier. Easier – you start everything from scratch and no old things. You can choose a style, color, texture, without being tied to existing elements. But the room is still unfamiliar, and it is difficult to imagine how this or that thing will look. In this case, design programs that allow you to present projects in volume will help. Just drawing a plan is not enough: not everything that looks good on a piece of paper will also be good in volume. Often there are other situations: what looked bad on the sheet turns out to be a godsend in volume. Therefore, first develop a plan on a sheet, and then transfer it to a three-dimensional image. Only immediately with the dimensions, otherwise it is a waste of time.
At this stage, keep track of the little things. In which direction does the door open, what size is it, and how convenient it will be. And this applies not only to doors – entrance and interior, but also doors in cabinets and lockers. At the same time, we do not forget about the aisles: in order to be able to pass normally, the places should be 70-80 cm, but a little more is better. Further we will be based on specific examples.
From a one-room 32-meter apartment to make a two-room
In a typical Khrushchev building with an area of 32 meters, repairs were made, during which a separate bedroom was allocated. And the modifications are minimal. The partition enclosing the corridor (rather, just a door) was removed, the side wall was continued, with its help they fenced off part of the living room, turning it into a bedroom.
Just pay attention: the apartment is corner. The room has two windows. This made it possible to get two full, albeit small rooms.
When designing the interior you want to see after the renovation in your one-room apartment, rely on your daily activities.
Let’s start with the doors. Here you are. You need somewhere to put your bags, sit down, take off your shoes, hang up your clothes. Place all this in the hallway. First of all, the closet. In this case, he took a seat opposite the door. In the photo – the entrance hall in this apartment, a view from the kitchen. To make the room lighter and more voluminous, the door in the closet opposite the kitchen is made of a mirror. It reflects the light, illuminating during the day better than lamps.
If you look from the side of the door, there are two doors on the right: to the bedroom and living room, straight ahead – the kitchen.
Next is the kitchen. Arriving with packages, you will inevitably find yourself there. Here, like everyone else: refrigerator, stove, sink. The refrigerator is located to the left of the window. All other equipment is along one wall, with a small “entry” on the side.
So that in a small kitchen (a little more than 5 meters) the furniture does not seem very massive, the wall cabinets are very light. This is one of the tricks that allows you to expand the space. Read more about kitchen design here.
There is a sofa in the living room along one of the walls. At first they planned a corner, but I liked it more.
This small room still fit a coffee table and cabinet with appliances.
Now it’s a bedroom. There is a full bed in it, there was even a place for a chest of drawers, above which there was a TV. Between them remains the standard width of the passage: just 70 cm.
It turned out pretty cute and functional. The pictures were taken immediately after the repair: many little things are simply not there yet, so everything looks somewhat official. The hosts (a young couple) have already received guests. 8 people fit in their small living room))
Repair in a one-room apartment 40 meters
An apartment for a young couple, designed by a specialist. Almost no remodeling has been done. The main alterations touched the bathroom.
The remaining “advantages” of the layout were beaten with the help of “design tricks”. The plan of this 1-room apartment after renovation looks like this.
There is a small built-in wardrobe in the hallway. It is simply necessary. A small wall was specially placed under it.
The most serious limbers touched the bathroom: instead of a toilet, they made a technical room. There is a washing machine, boiler, storage systems.
In the bathroom, in order to fit everything you need in a small area, they abandoned the bathroom. It was replaced with a shower box. It turned out compact.
The color scheme of the kitchen is very interesting: gray tones with bright pink accents. The table of an unusual shape is made to order, as is the kitchen set.
So that the cabinets do not take up much space, it was decided to occupy only one wall. There’s even a big fridge here. So that the place above it does not “walk”, a locker is hung above it. Also note that the wall cabinets are almost the height of the ceiling: what is used infrequently was placed on the upper shelves.
To prevent the pink stools from looking too defiant, photo wallpapers are pasted on the wall. They harmonize the entire interior.
Lots of interesting solutions in the room. To the right of the entrance there was previously an empty seat. It is occupied by a full wall closet. This solved two problems: there is where to put things, and the room was made more square.
It is divided into two zones by a translucent shelf-partition: work and rest. Zoning is emphasized by different wallpapers, as well as by the presence of a carpet in the recreation area.