Loft lifestyle produces creativity

Bryce Gahagan chose a 900-square-foot loft to be his first home without roommates and probably his last as a bachelor. While his bedroom is walled off, the rest of the home is basically one open room.

Gahagan, facing a problem common to loft owners, needed to figure out how to separate the areas for cooking, eating, working and relaxing.

Three lights hang over the island in Gahagan's kitchen to define the counter eating area. A rug sets apart his living area, which is oriented toward the windows and a plasma screen on the wall. A palm tree Gahagan calls "Fred" serves as a screen between the living area and his computer workstation. Each space is defined yet open.

Doug Stockman, an architect at El Dorado, the firm that renovated the building Gahagan moved into, says making the building's smaller units seem expansive required keeping the space open.

Any open plan — big or little, loft or house — requires creative solutions to deliver privacy and visual transitions without walls.

Are you up for it?

Whereas suburban living offers abundant storage space, lofts force you to pare down furniture. Buy multifunctional pieces such as a coffee table with a storage bin, says Marie Smith of MLB Designs in Kansas City, Mo., or she suggests a swivel chair that can turn to face different rooms.

Dollar stretchers


Shop for used. Instead of buying pricey, designer re-purposed vintage metal furniture, get the real deal. Check classified ads for office and school closure sales. Check salvage stores.

Do half the job. The amount of fabric needed to cover large windows can be expensive. Buy fewer yards and cover the panes halfway, or create panels that hang flat without folds.

When Amy Parker and Bob McDonald moved into a Kansas City loft, they prepared for a dwelling sans suburban-style closet space.

Walls without walls


Creating "rooms" in an open floor plan can be tricky. Here are a few ideas for defining spaces.

• The cheapest, easiest way to signal room boundaries is with rugs.

• Define "rooms" by mounting room-sized pieces of fabric or tin tiles on the ceiling.

• Elevate one area with a platform.

• Stretch translucent fabrics over a frame to divide without obstructing sunlight.

• Create space divisions with tall lamps, free-standing coat racks or shelves.

• Drape windows differently to signal each area's distinctness.

Source: Loft Design: Solutions for Creating a Livable Space by Katherine Stone, (Rockport Publishers, 2003).

"Obviously, you're in a smaller space," Parker says, which means clutter accumulates in a noticeable way. The couple makes a habit of picking things up, and they keep seasonal clothes in rotation between a closet on the first floor and a smaller upstairs closet close to the bed area. And they had to ditch some stuff.

Where to rest your head


• Set up the bed in the quietest area, preferably in a corner.

• Put your bed in a dark area, or cover windows with blackout curtains or shades.

• Don't put your bed near the entrance. It will make you tired as soon as you walk in the door.

Where to party


• Choose the area with the best view.

• Don't push a couch against the wall of windows.

• Consider forgoing a dining room and instead create a lounge that can accommodate a dinner party.

Katherine Stone, author of "Loft Design: Solutions for Creating a Livable Space," (Rockport Publishers, 2003), advises drawing a proportioned floor plan to delineate room functions. Decide what rooms you think you need and map them out.

Your ideal spaces will almost certainly be over-reaching. So then decide what you actually need. Maybe you don't need that karaoke area after all — or maybe you do. Open spaces encourage individualized living compartments.

Be creative. Just because rooms aren't separated by walls doesn't mean you have to stick with one theme. But a transition area between contrasting living spaces should incorporate styles from both, says Mindy Arnold, owner of Your Decor design firm in Lenexa, Kan.

The point is not to completely separate the space or block views, says Sofia Varanka, co-owner of Hudson Home furniture store in Kansas City. Screens with translucent panels allow light to reach interior areas. Shimmering or light-colored semi-transparent drapery gives the same effect.

Furniture with finished backs rather than cardboard or raw wood material works well to divide space. Or remove the back from an entertainment center to make see-through shelves.

Varanka says the eye should not be led in a continuous line throughout the loft. To avoid this visual monotony, mix taller vases, lamps or furniture to break up heights.

Defining space can be as easy as a change in texture. Last year David Fox moved into a condo on the edge of downtown. He created an intimate living room with shag carpeting cut into a 10 ½-by-16-foot rug. It defines the area while allowing an unobstructed window view. The soft texture of the carpet contrasts with the hard wood and metal fixtures in the rest of the condo.

In her book "Loft Design," Stone says the bedroom should be the quietest room, and the area with the best view should be the one used most.

Many loft dwellers find that once they make the leap and break down the traditional barriers of plastered walls, they don't miss them at all.