View Full Version : Small done right...for us
Hubby agreed to this...
https://blog.househappy.org/2014/01/27/feeling-liberated-in-704-square-feet/
I like that it's small but truly functional. :)
I really like this, GreenMama! My partner and I really need more space than this, but I think it's great that it would work well for you.
I was advised of security links with that blogsite. Anyone else run into this?
Yes I got the security warning too.
SteveinMN
10-14-14, 5:00pm
Not to threadjack, but this weekend DW and I saw what we would like to be our next home. A brewery near our house has been converted into artist's lofts; this weekend they held an art crawl including some of the artists who live there. All of the homes we saw were apartments and varied in size from about 600 square feet to almost 1300 square feet. Very few of the apartments have the same exact layout so they can take advantage of the unique aspects of their part of the building -- which is tremendously appealing. There also are common areas for the artists to gather and work or socialize. A very respectful restoration of some late-1800s structures. Here's a picture (theirs) of a sample apartment:
http://i58.tinypic.com/23w9rs.jpg
The vibe is tremendous. Everyone we spoke with is happy to be living there. Accommodation is made for income; otherwise the apartments are market rate.
Both DW and I walked away from the show quite excited -- but realizing that we would have to do some serious paring down to fit "our stuff" in one of these apartments. As in maybe pick one favored piece of furniture from each room in our current house, not move the audio system (and the scores of CDs and LPs I still have), and consider carefully where items like a Christmas tree would go, both for display and for storage.
OTOH, it would be kind of nice to pare back to the stuff that gives us maximum joy -- and it gives me an incentive to start getting things out of here in preparation for this or a similar move in a few years. Until we get to actually getting rid of possessions which made the decluttering cut every year because we do really like them. That might be much tougher than I think now.
[ETA I got the security warning, too.]
OMG Can I come live with y'all Steve? Love it!!!
ToomuchStuff
10-14-14, 6:26pm
Also got the untrusted link connection. Pretty sure it is because a link was tried with a HTTPS connection (and the link was not originated from the ones trying to view it).
I think this is the story by reading the address: http://blog.househappy.org/2014/01/page/2/ bottom of the page or here: http://blog.househappy.org/2014/01/27/feeling-liberated-in-704-square-feet/
mschrisgo2
10-14-14, 9:29pm
Thanks, ToomuchStuff for the link. I've seen that before and I absolutely LOVE it!! I could live there in a heartbeat!
JaneV2.0
10-14-14, 10:15pm
It's nice, but a little small for me. I'd live in the artist's loft though--it might inspire me to do something with my cache of art supplies. An art colony has a lot of appeal..
rodeosweetheart
10-15-14, 8:30am
Steve, if you get a real tree, you don't have to store it! IKEA used to sell trees when I worked there, and you bought the tree for 20 dollars, and you took the tree back to be ground into mulch, and they gave you a 20 dollar gift certificate. Free tree, no storage!
Steve - I love spaces like that. Over the last decade my husband and I have pared down from a 5 bedroom 100 year old house in a rural town where we lived with our 3 kids, to a 600 square foot efficiency with one large room plus bathroom - a new apartment on the 22nd floor of a high rise in a city.
That's a big change.
We love it here.
As our 3 kids moved out we gave them the pick of our stuff with almost no reservations. From what was left we sold or donated a lot, and then bought just a few nice new items. And here we are.
We currently own a bed, a love seat, a recliner, a few end tables, a lamp, a bakers rack, and the rest is non-furniture small items.
We don't have a Christmas tree, as we take a walk in the city to look at the lights and feel no need to have our own indoors. We have that mindset also for a yard (city parks), a patio (public spaces), a garage (downsized to one car and use parking garage) etc. Once we realized that the whole city is ours, we felt no need to own hardly anything.
We are good socialists. Ha.
Steve - I love spaces like that. Over the last decade my husband and I have pared down from a 5 bedroom 100 year old house in a rural town where we lived with our 3 kids, to a 600 square foot efficiency with one large room plus bathroom - a new apartment on the 22nd floor of a high rise in a city.
That's a big change.
We love it here.
As our 3 kids moved out we gave them the pick of our stuff with almost no reservations. From what was left we sold or donated a lot, and then bought just a few nice new items. And here we are.
We currently own a bed, a love seat, a recliner, a few end tables, a lamp, a bakers rack, and the rest is non-furniture small items.
We don't have a Christmas tree, as we take a walk in the city to look at the lights and feel no need to have our own indoors. We have that mindset also for a yard (city parks), a patio (public spaces), a garage (downsized to one car and use parking garage) etc. Once we realized that the whole city is ours, we felt no need to own hardly anything.
We are good socialists. Ha.You are living my dream life!!!
SteveinMN
10-15-14, 3:49pm
Steve, if you get a real tree, you don't have to store it!
Now that's a deal! Actually, I'm not stuck on the idea of a traditional tree; something like these
http://i61.tinypic.com/a0f2c4.jpg
http://i59.tinypic.com/hsjpjq.jpg
would work fine for us.
The place GreenMama linked to looks good, too! One thing DW and I know about ourselves is that it's nice to have an "away place". We don't have to have our own, but we really ought to have someplace. Oh, and a ding against the artist's lofts is that there is no enclosed parking. Which means chipping the car out of the ice many days of the year and wishing it weren't so darn hot so many others. Everything has its price!
ApatheticNoMore
10-15-14, 3:50pm
Steve's pic pretty much looks like a luxury apartment. Fancy (dishwasher, built in microwave and stone counters = $$$$$). Outsides it's a rehabilitated older building I guess, so maybe not as fancy. Giant windows without any curtains would drive me nuts after awhile.
SteveinMN
10-15-14, 4:09pm
Giant windows without any curtains would drive me nuts after awhile.
Heh. We don't have coverings on any of our current windows except in the bathroom. Neither one of us are curtain/shade/whatever people. :) Of course, much depends on house siting. We're lucky that way.
The apartments may look fancy, but really, not so much. Despite being stainless-steel, the appliances are GE "builder grade" disposables. Built-in microwaves go for under $200 anymore and they're not ducted outside AFAICT. The counters are granite, but probably granite composite since they appear similar in each unit. Even the cabinets look like pretty standard IKEA-level cabs and most of the apartments we saw had the exact same cabinet/appliance layout (i.e., not custom). The floors are concrete (no wood/tile/carpet), nobody has a drywall ceiling, all of the wiring is run outside the walls/ceilings, and there is no A/C (provide your own). The rental prices quoted off their Web site are in line with "nice" (but not luxury) apartments in the area.
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