With many of my garage studio plans, (started with sims 2), I would isolate the kitchen along with its noises away from everything else with the intent to also soundproof that area, making sleep much better for the rest of the home; yet in one I recall keeping the dining as part of the living space and was also steadfast at making areas multi-functional. Dining area would usually be a place to study or work. Sleeper sofa, daybed, futon, shibuton, mattress hung from a ceiling are some options for sleep, maybe a built in piece, or a cavity or nook. You don't want to overdo it with the small stuff because it is overwhelming in a small space or really any space for that matter. Even still, I would recommend a few personal touches that you like in homes, to be a part or at least a consideration. You could consult Flying Star feng shui available free for this period (8) at World of Feng Shui's website. This will take some serious patience and if you don't have it at this time, maybe go by instinct. For example, if you like sunset or sunrise maybe you want that area part of the isolated kitchen if you appreciate cooking and privacy in a small corner of the home. Sunsets are very warm with plentiful exposure, so you might prefer the main room to have one or the other. In feng shui, people are categorized as west or east types, which to some degree might show you prefer sunrise as an east type, or vise versa, if that is any indication. Flying Star feng shui is a school of thought that measures karmic energies of a space and people with numbers that depict their yin and yang qualities. If you find yourself blundering about through life, it could be a maladjusted body's reaction to its space and the body's needs. (My interpretation anyway). So health is a good thing for the long run. I had a great disadvantage by starting out with a bad back and past drug use in high school during a developing stage for my mind, also a car accident that may have been worse than I thought at the time. Also by instinct you should navigate the room and get a perspective by first placing items then looking from one direction through the plan, and change up the direction you face to get a better feel of everything (if you work with floor plans, you might already be doing this). Garage plans can be a good productive use of time. I recently was browsing them on houzz and found one that had been partially buried on three sides with the garage facing out of the landscaping, stairs meandering the sides to a door in back to an apartment above the garage, so besides being productive there is a lot of inspiration to keep busy on even the smallest plan. There is a lot to say about these topics that I find myself a little caught off guard by the project, I am sorry about that and not keeping to the subject. I find that feng shui has helped more than harmed and I can only recommend it in small bites. There are nice books on the subject that keep things short and sweet, and that's where a beginner usually should start. For me, I think I took one big bite out of a big subject, and in some ways that doesn't work to a person's advantage. Kind of like filling a sponge. It has to breathe, and if it doesn't, it just doesn't feel right. So, isolating noise, making areas within the main room multi-functional, yet simple to comprehend, maybe an addition like a built in or bay window for peace's sake.

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Here are a couple options. The furniture is the same in each. I just moved it around so you could see the multiple uses. Did you add the floor plan after my initial comments on Friday or did I completely miss it (sorry)? It seems you need closet space. Even if you don't, it will be good for resale so I took the liberty of adding closet options as well. The walls behind the bed in the first two layouts aren't necessarily complete walls. You could just turn the bed and the headboard could act as a room divider (I definitely would not buy a room divider). Also, if you want bar seating, I would extend the counter and get counter height stools vs adding a taller tier.

That's a very impressive before and after! Nice job. You know, I wanted white cabinets...until I saw them in the store. I have yet to find one I can afford that I like in white. I don't know what it is...maybe the fact that instead of being painted wood with the character of the grain, they all seem to be some sort of veneer or thermofoil which I just can't make myself like. :-/ They always look so lovely in photos. I bet half the pictures I've saved for inspiration are white. We went back to Menard's this weekend and spent a great deal of time with the cabinet guy again. After a bit of a redo the bid came out to under $1,600 for the L-shape, including all the trim pieces - they've gone on sale! We thoroughly looked over the one premium unfinished hickory cabinet they had...these are special order and they had one that someone ordered and didn't take. Every bit is plywood except the front and door - which is solid wood. Not a ounce of MDF or "engineered wood" in them. They seem quite solid and I just really don't think there's ANY way we can come close to beating the price (down to $54 a linear foot)! I know we'll have to do some veneer on the raw edges and do the poly ourselves, but for these cabinets at this price, I don't see how we can not do this. We can't even find the really "cheap" cabinets for that price. Our budget is quite limited. So if I can get decent quality at a really low price...that's better than really good quality at a much higher price. We just really have to do this as economically as we can. We've decided to do the island. After much reviewing and looking at the space, we think a 60" island made of base cabinets, so about 26" wide, will work beautifully. We want to move our trash and recycling to the island and they sell this: http://www.rev-a-shelf.com/p-269-double-bottom-mount-wire-waste-containers.aspx which should work perfectly. So...I think the final plan is: Natural Hickory cabinets with a nice quality laminate countertop in the same basic layout we have now - but with an 18" pantry, so a bit more counter space. Island (which will be Maple and painted - maple is the same price but will paint up better than the hickory) with a butcher block countertop, and storage to include the trash/recycling. We're also doing new floors and plan on one of the luxury vinyl plank types for that. Now we just have to decide on the counter and floor and what color to paint the walls. The cabinet guy suggested we wait a couple weeks to order the countertops when they go on sale. Nice thing about folks who don't get commission, they don't care what you spend. lol Thanks for all your input. I'll be sure to do a before and after when we get this done!