Small apartment layout

[Dick H]

This was long ago, but may be of interest of those who live in small apartments and think they can't have a layout. When I lived in Tokyo, i thought it was not possible until my Yankee ingenuity kicked in.

 

My apartment in Tokyo for 8 years comprised 2 rooms about 9X12; one for sleeping, the other for living. Also there was a very small kitchen where we managed to squeeze in a 30"X30" table, placed cornerwise to allow room for 4 chairs for when we had guests. Obviously, couples only. :). There was also a tiny toilet and a slightly less tiny bath room.

All that luxury for only $900 or so a month, 20 years ago. I wonder what it costs today?

 

Despite the size I was able to fit an N-gauge layout into my 9X12 living room. It was 3 tracks wide and 42 feet long. Uso! (a lie) you say? No, it's true, and here's how I did it. Above the doorways and windows there was a 6" molding that went completely around the room (9+12+9+12=42) It had a space behind the top that allowed me to hang a 6" wide board on it. It was wide enough for 3 N-gauge tracks.The top of a bookcase became the storage yard.

 

There were 2 tracks that went completely around the room (42') with a flyover that enabled a train to make two revolutions - an 84' continuous run. The 3rd track was for various storage tracks placed here and there.

These photos are not great, but will convey the idea.

[CaptOblivious]

Very nice! My wife and I had discussed something similar for our apartment, but there is this one A/C vent that hangs down one wall that would make it impractical. Plus the doors here are so tall, we'd have to stand on step-stools (and I'm 2m tall!) just to see them. Although it looks like you had the same problem. How high up was it? Did you have any scenery to it, or was it just tracks? What radius curves did you use?

[Martijn Meerts]

I've had similar ideas, but my current room is about 1/3rd of what you had, with a shared kitchen and bathroom. I've had to stack bookcases and closets etc all the way up to the ceiling to get enough space to store things...

 

I ran out of that space a long time ago, many of my Tomix, Kato and MicroAce book-case-friendly boxes are stored on the floor =)

[kashirigi]

I considered your solution for a while when planning my layout. One of the drawbacks with having it mounted so high is that you need a stepladder to work on the layout, and you can't really see it from a convenient perspective. Then again, you might be way taller than me.

 

I opted instead to have a layout that hangs on a wall like a painting, which you take down and run the trains on.

 

It's in process, but (so far) it does work, with a switchable DC/DCC system in place. I'm now about to start the fun part, which is making scenery.

 

As for real estate prices, it's cheaper to buy a house in Tokyo than in Vancouver now.

 

My friend's parents just had a new house built in Saitama (admittedly outside of Tokyo, but not that far) and it cost less then buying a 500 square foot apartment in Vancouver.

 

On my last trip to Japan, I couldn't believe how far my money went.

 

Good times.

[Bernard]

How quickly nations economies change. When I lived in England in the late 70's the US dollar was strong and everything was affordable (if not down right inexpensive) but just 2 months ago an English friend of mine from school came over to visit and couldn't believe how inexpensive everything was in the USA, the pound was much stronger than the US dollar.

    In 1998 when the Olympics were in Nagano, Japan, people were afraid to go because the yen was were strong and people felt they might not be able to afford the Japanese prices. Has the yen fallen in it's value or has the Canadian dollar gotten stronger?

[kashirigi]

The Canadian dollar has gotten stronger, but it wasn't even that. Vancouver is now starting to join the elite list of horrendously expensive cities -- almost anywhere is a bargain in comparison, London (or the UK in general) a notable exception.

 

The Japanese economy was slow in growing compared to the rest of the world, too, so that didn't hurt either.