Interior of a One-Room Apartment for a Family with a Child

A one-room apartment with a single living room should combine a living room, bedroom, office, and children's corner. This is not an easy task, but fortunately for residents, it is achievable with the artistic skill of transforming and arranging small spaces.

Features of the layout of a one-room apartment for a family with a child

The old housing stock includes apartments with dividing walls, while new ones are often designed in the style of studio apartments. In the latter case, an advantage may be a larger area that differs from the previous one according to modern urban planning standards. An advantage of older apartments may be combining a balcony/laundry room and toilet with the bathroom, which slightly increases the useful area in the layout.

The children's zone, despite the small space, should contain comfortable and convenient sleeping and working places, as well as a space for play. All this needs to be planned in advance during the design and interior design process.

Good lighting and ventilation without drafts are just as important for the child's health. A classic way to define a children's zone near a window is possible in a corner, but not on a passage.

Design: Margarita Melnikova and Architect Eugeniy Kovanovskiy

The place for a child in a small one-room apartment should be equipped in light, cheerful tones, without cluttering the space with bulky furniture. The best options are transformers.

Ideas for organizing and furnishing the children's space:

• By connecting a balcony, storage room, or niche (naturally, if they exist) to the living area. Relocation implies dividing the room into two spaces using a stationary wall.

• Equipping the room (if space allows) in the kitchen by moving the dining area to the balcony. Living quarters are dedicated to the children's and adults' working zones.

• Creating a studio from the apartment (if the wall is not load-bearing and all permits are in order). This option is more suitable for a family with a small child, where zoning is done using mobile screens.

Design: Natasha Martynova

Photo: Children's niche decoration

Photo: Children's working corner

Photo: Children's sleeping place

Photo: Zoning with a screen

How to Divide Space into a Children's Zone and Parents' Zone

When defining boundaries, one should take into account the natural growth of the child. Therefore, the design provides for using an apartment with a nurturing accent for at least several years to avoid frequent redesigns, which is quite wasteful.

For a child, caring parents choose the warmest and brightest place. It is decorated brightly and beautifully, differently from other segments of the apartment, serving as support in zoning the common space. Warm coverings are also relevant, a platform under the bed where toys and children's things can be stored.

If a bunk bed is chosen, the first level is used as a workspace with a table and chair. This option is suitable for teenagers and primary school students.

In some cases, a bookshelf or sofa can serve as a dividing zone. A mobile partition allows quickly removing or relocating it to another place, creating a new temporary meaningful zone for the child.

The parental zone usually lacks windows and is accordingly darker. Wall and ceiling finishes are chosen in light tones to minimize the feeling of space shortage.

Designers note a number of separating structures: curtains, screens, arches, bookshelves, shelves, sliding and folding doors, false walls.

Zoning

The design of a one-room apartment for a family with a child gives special importance to the opportunities of zoning the space.

Key meaningful zones:

• parents' relaxation zone;

• adult working zone;

• child's sleeping zone;

• child's workspace;

• play zone;

• guest zone;

• kitchen and dining zone;

• storage zone.

Tips from Lary BokarevaPartitions, bookshelves

Partitions can be non-mobile, sliding, folding, or mobile. There are options that involve moving partitions using a remote control. How relevant this is for a one-room apartment depends on individual preferences.

Partitions can be made from gypsum board, wood, durable glass, plastic, lightweight metal. They can be decorated with stained glass, mirror inserts, LED strips, lights, shelves like bookshelves. Smart glass that can change transparency is relevant.

Bookshelves let more light and sound pass through, so they are suitable for a family with a small child.

Due to their practicality, partitions and bookshelves are highly in demand, tested by time, an element of zoning, decor, and small room decoration. They are also popular for studio variations.

Multi-level ceilings and floors

Earlier we mentioned the possibilities of a platform to hide things and toys at the right moment. It looks most natural in the children's sector. However, a platform on high ceilings can also hide the parents' sleeping area. Besides zoning, it can effectively divide a room and create new spatial freedom.

Multi-level ceilings are traditionally equipped with built-in artificial light sources and can give the children's zone visual expansion, making the play area functional and cozy.

Curtains, Screens

These items can be safely classified as decor elements that make a stylistic accent in the interior of a one-room apartment with a child. Curtains (curtains, drapes, canopy) are an unpretentious way of zoning. It was popular in the communal apartment era and has not lost its naive relevance in conditions of a one-room apartment with 3-4 residents.

Screens are preferred in small spaces for their mobility. “In trend” are mobile, sliding, and accordion-type partitions.

Finishing Materials

Construction and finishing materials are selected based on the design principles of visual space expansion. Equally important for a room with a child are eco-friendliness, durability, and practicality.

For the ceiling, suspended and stretched ceilings are suitable. They help in zoning. A more practical option is wallpapering or painting. Colors chosen are light, preferably all shades of white and beige. The children's segment can have a more vibrant, contrasting ceiling color, marking the boundary with molding.

It should be remembered that glossy surfaces of ceilings and furniture make the volume seem intuitively larger.

The walls are slightly darker than the ceiling. Eco-friendly budget wallpapers are suitable. In the area where a small child lives, one can not only highlight the finishing with a pleasant-to-the-eye coating but also provide a possibility for drawing on the surface, which children like to do up to a certain age. Lacquer paints for walls, on the contrary, will save the surface from ink or allow changing the room's color scheme at any time.

The design of a one-room apartment for parents with children calls for careful attention to the floor covering. Playing on a tiled floor is not very comfortable for a small child. Carpet or carpeting may be relevant for several years until the child grows up. In any case, the children's zone should be decorated with this material. There are bright colorful options for finishing materials in any age group.

Interior Design Options

They come into play with careful planning of the future architectural project, which considers the following parameters:

• how many people will live in the apartment;

• the age of the child or children;

• possibilities for reconfiguration;

• the total living area;

• ceiling height;

• window and door opening positions.

For the conditions of a one-room apartment variant with children, designers recommend paying attention to modern style and modern style. They are minimalist, cozy, and visually light. The classic style is more suitable for spacious rooms with volumetric furniture and luxurious decor.

With a small child

Preschool age allows “letting through” in the children's segment of the room a working zone. The children's zone can be as open as possible, which will allow parents not to lose sight of the child. The crib is placed by the window if there are no drafts. It can be moved, for example, at night, relocating to a darker area to allow room ventilation. To achieve maximum space expansion, the crib is installed on a rather high platform, and the parents' sleeping area is tucked into a niche. This option can be relevant up to the school age of the child. Zoning is done using bookshelves.

With a teenager

The design of a one-room apartment for parents with a teenager already includes a partition. It can be a permanent wall made of gypsum board or in the form of a screen. A successful option may be installing a bunk bed on the upper level, with the lower part dedicated to the workspace, sideboard, and wardrobe. A staircase on the second level can have built-in drawers for storage. The child's age will indicate when it is time to abandon the play zone in favor of increasing the workspace.

With Two Children

Help will come from a bunk bed with two sleeping places. In this case, one needs to find space for organizing the workspace. Socialist experience suggests using a dining table for preparing schoolwork for one of the teenagers. Then, the arrangement changes by agreement to avoid any child feeling disadvantaged about their rights.

Kitchen Design for a Family with a Child

The old housing stock provided for the separation of the relaxation zone and the food preparation and serving zone. Positive aspects include sound insulation and preventing the spread of kitchen odors. Studio apartments will require additional zoning: shelves, a bar counter, and a sofa will help to separate the dining area and bedroom. Screens and curtains will separate the adult sleeping area from the children's. Preschool age of the child allows the family to feel relatively comfortable. The teenage period may require the designer to install a permanent wall or significantly change the lifestyle level that lies on the parents' shoulders.

Color Palette

In cramped spatial conditions, the hope for visual space in an apartment lies in light tones and shades. It is also necessary to reduce the number of colors and shades from decoration to furniture. Large patterns take up space, narrow vertical stripes "lift" the ceiling, horizontal stripes visually increase the length of a narrow room. As noted, the children's zone implies more vivid life-affirming tones in wall, ceiling, and floor finishes.

Furniture

Furniture in a one-room apartment is selected according to the room's dimensions, preferably custom-made based on a designer project following the transformer principle. It is installed along the walls, leaving the center of the hall spacious for the child's maneuvering and play. The color is the same light with a glossy surface effect to visually increase the space.

Design: Ekaterina SizovaLighting

Necessary electrical appliances in a one-room apartment for parents with a child include built-in artificial light sources, wall sconces, wall lamps, table lamps, and a small chandelier: it can be installed not in the center of the ceiling but above the necessary zone chosen by the design for effective lighting.

As always – natural light in a small apartment is never too much. It is necessary to ensure that the curtains do not hinder the passage of sunlight and delight the child's eyes.