Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Living Simply

A few months ago, I was reading Coastal Living's Editor's Note (am I one of the only people who reads those things?) and it really stood out to me, so much so, that I clipped it and just recently came across it again while organizing my tear sheets.

The message was about living simply in these difficult economic times.  Enjoy every inch of space in your house.  Do more with what you have and make the best of what you have.  I live in a modest house by most people's standards.  Our home is 1200 square feet, two bedrooms and 2 baths.  Coming from a 400 square foot apartment in New York, this is practically a mansion and in fact there are rooms we hardly use (yet!).  But the thing I love most about our house is, it's cozy.  It doesn't have vaulted ceilings and 400 square foot bedrooms, but every room is just big enough and we have learned to maximize storage and closet space and we are making it our home.

I'm always drawn to small spaces. I love seeing what designers and architects can do with a tiny studio apartment or a cottage home.  The spaces below are a true testament to the fact that smaller spaces do not have to compromise on style.

Do you live in a small space?  If so, what design tricks do you use to make the most of your space?

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I find myself reading the editors note from time to time too and am always surprised about what gems I can get from them.
I find Ikea has been instrumental in helping us live in our temporary small studio space.

The Design Boards said...

Ah yes, I don't know what I would have done without Ikea when living in NY!!

Monique said...

I love living small! I live in a 2 bdrm townhouse, but the key is to have a carpenter husband. My husband created a walk-in pantry out of the water heater closet (shelving appears built-in but is on a set of hidden casters that rolls to reveal water heater behind it), stole underutilized space from underneath the stairs for storage, built us a banquette in the dining area to reduce the amt of floorspace we would eat up by having a table and chairs centered in the dining area, and adding more storage in the benchseats. Many other customizations, but those are definitely my favorites. We are still in renovations, so many more to come...

The Design Boards said...

Wow Monique, that sounds amazing! Handy husbands are definitely the key to making it work, I'd be lost around the house if my husband didn't know how to use power tools!