In a studio, the bed is the biggest thing you own and the hardest to hide. Put it in the wrong spot and the whole apartment feels like a bedroom with a sofa in it.
So place the bed first. Everything else follows.
1. Away from the front door
The bed should be the last thing you see when you walk in, not the first. Put it at the far end of the room, or around a corner from the door if the room has one.
From the door, you want to see a living room.
2. Headboard on a solid wall
Not across a window and not on a wall with a door in it. A solid wall behind your head feels settled, keeps drafts off you and gives the nightstand and lamp somewhere to sit.
3. Leave room to get out
Keep at least 24 inches clear on one side of the bed to get in and out, and 30 inches if you can. The other side can go against the wall if the studio is tight, though making a bed pushed against a wall is a daily chore.
4. Screen the foot, not the side
This is the one most people get backward. A divider along the side of the bed just boxes you in. A divider at the foot of the bed hides it from the living zone.
Studio divider ideas that don't block the light
- An open bookcase. Open on both sides, around 5 feet tall. It hides the bed from the sofa, lets light through, and holds your books. Leave a gap at one side to walk through.
- A sofa back. Float the sofa with its back to the bed. The back of the sofa does the job of a low wall. A slim console behind it holds a lamp.
- A curtain. A ceiling track and a linen curtain you can pull at night and open in the day.
- Rugs. One for the bed, one for the living zone, with bare floor between them.
Skip anything tall and solid. A studio usually has one or two windows, and a full-height divider can steal the light from half the room.
5. Then the sofa, facing away from the bed
With the bed placed, the sofa goes in the living zone, facing away from the bed, toward the TV or the window. Sitting on the sofa, you shouldn't be looking at your pillows.
6. Then the table or desk
A small table or desk usually works best by a window, where it gets daylight and doesn't block the path. If you work from home, keep it out of sight of the bed if you can.
Give each zone its own rug
The bed gets its own rug, laid sideways so your feet land on it. The living zone gets another, big enough for the front legs of the sofa and chairs. Leave at least 12 inches of floor between them.
One big rug trying to cover the whole studio pulls everything back into one room.
Light it in zones
A lamp beside the bed, a lamp by the sofa, and a pendant or lamp over the table. At night, each zone lit on its own reads as its own room, and you can turn the bedroom off while the living room stays on.
Mistakes to skip
- The bed facing the front door.
- One rug trying to cover everything.
- A tall solid divider blocking the window.
- The bed boxed in on both sides, with no side to get out.
FAQ
Can a sofa go at the foot of the bed in a studio? Yes, facing away from the bed. With its back to the bed, it becomes the divider.
How do you make a studio feel like more than one room? One rug per zone, a divider at the foot of the bed, and a lamp in each zone.
Should the bed go against the wall in a studio? The headboard should. One side can too if space is tight, as long as the other side has at least 24 inches to get out.
Studios, drawn to scale
Right-Size Room, No. 03 in the Decorwick Measured Home Series, has studio plans with a full and a queen bed drawn to scale, the rug sizes for the bed and the living zone in US and UK sizes, and four ways to divide a room without walls. See Right-Size Room
