Help me with this tiny, tiny space.

[Balula]

I have a living room that currently is 'L' shaped, we're having our L cut off to make a medical, treatment room for DS1, this isn't negotiable, it's housing association place and is a stop gap until we can be rehoused which could take a year or 2.

There are 6 of us in this tiny house and I have spent the last god knows how many years trying to de litter and live a sterile, clean, minimalist vibe in our home. It is 100% not worked, we simply don't have the space.

So I thought that I would go in a different direction and put all the units and furniture in storage (get rid of large sofa that's currently in the L shape as it's knackered) and just aim to have 1 TV/media unit and then a couple of squishy sofas and a coffee table., some warm lamps and a nice rug. The room has patio doors but we get no light through so the room will be quite dark.

DH and I also sleep in this room so one of the squishy sofas has to be a sofa bed or a day bed and we have to keep a tall freezer in there too as there's no where for it in the kitchen.

I'm optimistic but I keen having waves of hopelessness.

Can anyone chip in with some tips?

I will think. But can't think right now. Do you have a good relationship? Can you cope with negotiating life on a sofa bed?

This sounds hard op. I hope there is an end in sight? Have you looked at apartment therapy? They have lots of small space/rental/studio solutions and ideas.

We've been on the sofa bed for 6 years, it's killing my back but it's fine relationship wise. The end is in sight according to the council, they're reserving a new build plot for us before it's built on and will build it to the OT specs, it will just take a long time. I have had to fight like crazy to get it but DS is currently spending 2-3 weeks every 6 weeks in hospital hours away so this new medical room will help to make that a bit less.

Anyway, here is the before picture (With the dotted line - this is where the room will be divided with a fake wall) , the other picture is what I have in mind, what I want to have as the after, this is me scribbling on the hospital whiteboard (DS is in again!) all I would suggest it imagine it really, really small there certainly won't be a big square of room around the coffee table. No room to swing a cat type small.

The idea is to put all furniture in storage and start again effectively in the new tiny living room. As said I have gone before mor maximum storage but that just gets filled and filled with 'bits' so now I'm wondering about chucking it all in storage and going for plush and homely now we have a designated area for sterile that's separate.

Unless you have free storage, would it be a good idea to sell what you have and buy new stuff?

We were only going to buy a new sofa and either sofa bed or day bed, the hope that when we eventually move we will have space for all our old stuff. The current dining table for instance pulls out to seat 20 or folds down to a tiny 1 person desk size, it will be useful when we have somewhere to use it.
All our books/memorabilia/ornaments can go into storage, we don't want to part with them permanently but we need to be realistic about how small the room will be.
We can't use the huge loft space we have because it's infested with rats and they've eaten a hole though the wall and roof and all our stuff that was there was destroyed, shredded and covered in poo. The council and local HA won't do anything about it. This is why we've had to have a new sterile medical area built because the hospital understandably won't let us treat DS in a room where rats have been. 😞

Anyway I don't want to derail the thread, we have been promised a new purpose built house that will have 5 bedrooms and a medical area and downstairs wetroom and toilet so until then I need to make the best of a difficult situation.

We were going to rent a small storage locker and store 2 x bookcases and the dining table and boxes of sentimental bits.

What dimensions is it?

A small thing: but my first go-to with a limited space is to get the biggest mirror I can find. Opens it up and can help make it feel lighter.

I also live in a tiny space (although with only 2 kids and they don’t have additional medical needs).
Have you got rid of all CDs and dvds and books that have been read?
It seems to me that most space in your room is taken up by the coffee table. Can’t you get a smaller one (or even think whether you need one at all)?
Is your tv on the wall?
Also, a wallbed would be a great idea for you. The mattress is better than a sofa bed so will save your back. Someone on here recommended Wallbed king to me and it’s very affordable.

Looking again, I would get rid of the map and the tv unit; attach a wallbed instead of the daybed, get a much smaller coffee table and two or one small armchairs instead and keep the sofa in the same position.

Get rid of the lamp I mean, not the map!

Could you get some wall fitted lights rather than lamps (frees up a little more floor space)?

All good points. I will look at wall beds, we have a sofa bed so we can use as a sofa in the day otherwise some of us have to sit in the floor. I can envisage a day bed being just used for one of the kids to lounge on in the day like an actual bed so I would prefer a sofa bed.

The second picture is just an idea the first is what we have now. I have no idea of the dimensions because I'm not at home.

I don't want to do too much drilling into walls because our walls are crappy, thin plaster and we have to leave them in one piece when we leave. I will get a mirror though.
The TV is on the wall and I hate to admit it but it's huge. Our last house was much, much bigger, we can't afford new sofas and a new TV sadly not when our tv works perfectly. The tv unit is thin but high so it goes around the tv we don't need anymore storage than that really.

I have spent soo many years trying to make it a bedroom/lining area/dining room/work space/ medical area that now I crave a cosy, soft, pillowy type space for relaxing in comfort if that makes sense.

I've found the plans for the medical room that might help. 😊

I'd get rid of at least the lamp by the sofa by the door and move it right up against the wall. I'd also mount the TV unit on the wall, adding a shelf for DVDs or anything instead. It will give you more floor space.

(By sofa I mean day bed)

I'd recommend having a trip to IKEA - in their showroom they have tiny spaces set out with loads of storage and living solutions, even if you don't buy anything it should give you ideas.

And you can eat meatballs 🍴🍽

Seconding Ikea and would be tempted by using a Kallax as a TV unit - we have a 2x4 and you can get door fronts as well as the ubiquitous boxes to make it sleeker - the boxes could contain sheets during the day.

Other option might be a high level double bed with seating underneath - possibly less sleek but could give you a better mattress.

The other comfortable/minimal sofa bed option could be a futon. I've certainly preferred them to most actual sofa bed!

My friend is using an actual single bed-one single mattress on top of the other in the day -in her living room, and it looks quite good with cushions and a tartan blanket. She puts away the duvet out of sight.

A cheaper version of this, which is really just two mattress:

www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-partners-duplet-daybed/p3879201

Ikea Hemnes day bed has huge storage drawers underneath so long as you wouldn't feel claustrophobic if you have the side with edges around it. I think Ikea do other futon style sofa beds with a storage drawer underneath.

I wonder about freestanding shelving, media and storage that Ikea do to make use of the height of the room?

Storage is REALLY expensive, do you have a friend with a garage you could use?

We already have the tv/media unit from ikea it goes floor to ceiling, our ceilings are quite low.
Upstairs we have erm a lot of Kallax units in all the sizes we're big on ikea!

We don't have anyone with a garage that has space sadly, I will ask around though you never know who may surprise us. I'm trying to think of it in the short term, a year flys by right?

Does your table dismantle so you could somehow store it? You need to avoid paying for storage it will be cheaper to replace things I reckon

Can you buy rat proof storage boxes to put in the loft for smaller items?

Just to state, we rented a storage unit for just 2 months, while work was being carried out on the house. It was hugely expensive. That is the first month was OK, but the second month not. And then there is the compulsory insurance. At the time we rented the smallest amount of space we could realsitically use.
So please note that before putting stuff in storage. Anything you can part with, then please do.
My brother also realised this when moving, that he was actually paying more for storage than the stuff was worth. Anyway, worth thinking about.

You need to lose the coffee table which is taking up loads of space. I also wouldn't have the freezer where you have it as it's massively on display.