Size matters... how small is too small
I live in the Clinton Hill co-ops. I love my 1bd rm apartment and view. However, we’re thinking of having kids. Anyone have advice on how small is too small for a bedroom? I am thinking of trying to subdivide my large bedroom to create two small rooms. they’d be approx 10×7 (for the larger…
I live in the Clinton Hill co-ops. I love my 1bd rm apartment and view. However, we’re thinking of having kids. Anyone have advice on how small is too small for a bedroom? I am thinking of trying to subdivide my large bedroom to create two small rooms. they’d be approx 10×7 (for the larger room me an my partner would have) and 7.5×6 (for the kid’s room). In this plan we’d have separate doors for each room and each has a window so I think it’s legal… are these rooms too small to work? I’ve tried to find websites w/pictures of spaces as small as the kid room… but couldn’t. My quick search suggests that a twin bed or even bunkbed could fit in there and I grew up in NYC w/friends who lived in tiny subdivided spaces. If I don’t want to lose a lovely apt and can’t afford a much larger place. Does this seem workable? Anyone live in CHACO that has subdivided a bedroom? I would very much appreciate your thoughts.
Maybe a bedroom has to be 8 X 10 – but the number of people you can legally put in it is large. Maybe 8…or 10!
Maybe a bedroom ha to be 8 X 10 – but the number of people you can legally put in it is large. Maybe 8…or 10!
A legal bedroom has to be 8’x10′ minimum.
I was also going to suggest the temporary wall division thing. Easier to do – don’t have to get it past a coop board for approval, I don’t think. I woudln’t bother doing it permanently yet, even if you think you want to stay there forever. 1) you may later decide to move to more space as your kids grow, and 2) if you do this, it will lower the value of the apartment when you want to sell. Take it slower – have the kid, think about temporary walls later…and then see.
The legal size limit for a room is really, really small – we learned the hard way when one of our real estate agents told us that we would have to rent our floor through 600 square foot apartment (no separate rooms, mind you) to a family of 6 if they wanted to rent our apartment, because that was way below the NYC legal size limit for 6 people. IN fact, such a family did look at our apartment and actually considered it – plus a baby grand piano the mom wanted her children to learn how to play. Thank goodness she came to her senses and rented a 750 square foot apartment in the next block. So the fact that your child will have any size room at all is fantastic, no matter what the size.
yes you can do it, at least for a few years. you may even have the kid in your own room for at least a year, so you can wait out your decision for a while without doing anything drastic
Probably couldn’t do it “legally” btw, as wouldn’t this change the c/o for the whole building? Seems to me, however, that there is a whole industry in Manhattan which is set up to build very sturdy “temporary” walls. Why not try it (or even test it with hanging sheets) and see how it feels? And 11.42, where’s the love?
11:03: You won’t find find a dorm room on any campus in the country that’s 7.5″ x 6″ (and 10″ x 7″ might be a rare find too).
OP: The reason you can’t find layouts/pictures is because no one considers 7.5″ x 6″ to be sufficient for a bedroom. Is your apartment so spectacular that its worth raising your kid like a veal?
I live in the Co-Ops, and the woman I bought from raised her 2 kids in my 1 bedroom apartment. She, however, had converted the dining room area into a very liveable 8×10 bedroom. I know many other people in the Co-Ops who have done this.
I’m not sure I can conceive how you can split the bedroom into 2 — would you do it so you have to walk through one room to get to the other? It is a large bedroom on its own, but I’m having a hard time picturing it split into 2.