studios

Fuinseog

what is a studio? am I to undertsand that it is a large bedsit? cooking facilties, ed and couch all in the one room? difficult to imagine

edellc

Fuinseog wrote: »

what is a studio? am I to undertsand that it is a large bedsit? cooking facilties, ed and couch all in the one room? difficult to imagine

yep thats what a studio is everything apart from the bog in one room

Xiney

Traditionally, the distinction was that bedsits had shared toilet facilities between units and studios have their own. (The traditional bedsit is now illegal for this reason)

MistyCheese

Yes, a "studio apartment" is generally a place with all facilities in one room, excluding of course the bathroom. I've yet to see an apartment with a sofa in one corner, fridge in another and toilet in another.

A studio is not always large, though. Sometimes laundry facilities and sometimes even the bathroom facilities are shared with studios.

You can get good and bad studios. I lived in one for a year that was very well laid out and I've seen some where it looks like you could reach out of bed and turn the kettle on!


Here's a good picture of a studio apartment. You can see the kitchen area top left, the bed in the opposite corner and between the two would be your living area. The bathroom is completely separate.

Fuinseog

MistyCheese wrote: »

Yes, a "studio apartment" is generally a place with all facilities in one room, excluding of course the bathroom. I've yet to see an apartment with a sofa in one corner, fridge in another and toilet in another.

A studio is not always large, though. Sometimes laundry facilities and sometimes even the bathroom facilities are shared with studios.

You can get good and bad studios. I lived in one for a year that was very well laid out and I've seen some where it looks like you could reach out of bed and turn the kettle on!


Here's a good picture of a studio apartment. You can see the kitchen area top left, the bed in the opposite corner and between the two would be your living area. The bathroom is completely separate.

still find it hard to get my head around the whole concept. in dublin they appear to be priced etween 500 and 700 , which is a lot for such a small dwelling. do they normally have a bit of a wardrobe and storage space?

MistyCheese

Most studios do have a wardrobe or a chest of drawers. For €500 - €700 a month you could reasonably expect to have at least one, if not both.

It's hard to compare studios, if a studio is laid out well then there can be a reasonable amount of space. You're not guaranteed a lot of storage space, but you can get lucky. The only way to be really sure is to see the place in person, photos can be deceptive. Sometimes you see a photo of a room with a sofa, then a photo of a room with a bed and not realise that it's two halves of the same room.

Personally I wouldn't accept a bed that folds up during the day. A friend of mine had one of these in his studio and the (double) bed collapsed on him one day! This guy wouldn't be very heavy, definately not heavy enough to break a bed designed for two.

Xiney

besides the fact that folding the bed up every day would be a pain in the arse. most of them aren't meant to fold up with the bed clothes on so you'd probably leave it down most of the time and thus you'd feel really cramped.

edellc

Fuinseog wrote: »

still find it hard to get my head around the whole concept. in dublin they appear to be priced etween 500 and 700 , which is a lot for such a small dwelling. do they normally have a bit of a wardrobe and storage space?

we aint called rip off ireland for nothing

shoegirl

Fuinseog wrote: »

still find it hard to get my head around the whole concept. in dublin they appear to be priced etween 500 and 700 , which is a lot for such a small dwelling. do they normally have a bit of a wardrobe and storage space?

They tend to be in heavily overconverted victorian properties that the landlords are squeezing to the max, hence the high costs.
How much storage depends on the nature of the place.
Sometimes they are excellent, I lived in one in Rathmines 10 years ago and because it was a large room to start with it was excellent - easy to heat also as no alcoves.
The law now insists on you having your own toilet and shower so most landlords have just taken a piece of the rooms and built one into the new "room." I suspect the reason the law came in was because so many were substandard (then again, a large chunk of converted flats tend also to fail on hot water, natural light and ventilation).

If its in one of those large old victorian houses then a good chance there would be floor to ceiling wardrobes and shelving which are good for storage. Some also have reasonably well thought out furniture. They do tend to be pricey though because they are the preferred option for rent allowance single tenants.

The main thing to watch with these is what the rest of tenants are like, the big hitch with these is if there is the tenant from hell in an adjoining flat there is no escape from just one room.

quozl

shoegirl wrote: »

They do tend to be pricey though because they are the preferred option for rent allowance single tenants.

Nail on the head there. The rent allowance floor is the reason that landlords can charge that much for so little.

Fuinseog

quozl wrote: »

Nail on the head there. The rent allowance floor is the reason that landlords can charge that much for so little.

I notice a lot of ads stress no rent allowance accepted.

monkeypants

I remember visiting a bedsit in a house in Mountjoy Square years ago. The landlord took me downstairs and showed me in; it was what should have been described as "the cupboard under the stairs." I had a small backpack and with it on, I couldn't turn around.

Victor

MistyCheese wrote: »

Sometimes laundry facilities and sometimes even the bathroom facilities are shared with studios.

No, a studio needs to be self-contained. I can understand it not having a washing machine, but it needs its own bathroom.

MistyCheese

I have a friend who was until very recently looking for somewhere to live. One of the places he viewed didn't have a bathroom. The flat was a converted room and he would have had to go into the main house to use the bathroom. He didn't take it.

Another place he saw didn't have a fridge, just a cooler box. He told them he'd take it if they put in a fridge but no, they weren't willing to do that.