In our effort to simplify our lives, we, of course, made it more complicated first. We decided to divide our house in half going from a little over 2100 square feet to about 1100 square feet of living space.
We had this big playroom,
that Trace never played in.
It is now our main living space: kitchen, living room & dining room – and it is just right – we love hanging out in here – anyone who is on the couch is still part of what is going on in the kitchen – because – everyone always wants to be in the kitchen!
Trace’s bedroom is closer so he plays upstairs or brings a bin of cars down and plays in the living room.
It is a really bright, cheerful space and it feels comfortable, warm and just right for our family.
We are making the other half of the house – with the original kitchen into a two bedroom rental unit – income baby! I still have some things to remove from the other side of the house – pictures hanging on the wall mostly, they will slowly make there way to the new space if I think they are necessary, but so far – we are all so happy with our space and couldn’t imagine anything better!
I can’t believe how awesome this is!!! We have a 2 bedroom apartment – great size for Manhattan, but “small” by American standards. Yet I constantly think about how I really would not want anything bigger. Why – to collect more stuff? To be further away from my husband and son? To spend more time cleaning and straightening up?
Rachel – I think we are moving away from the bigger is better concept and getting back to small and cozy. My husband and I were talking about it this morning and how our small to other people space does not feel small to us. We love it for the same reasons you do!
I love it. My daughter and I share a 702 sq ft condo. People keep saying we r going to outgrow it. She needs her own room , why Im not sure. A few things I do to live in a small space. Use my library card instead of buying tons of books & videos, my daughter and I share a 5 drawer dresser. I learned proper ways to fold clothes to utilize drawer space and we actually only use 4 of the drawers. We also share a closet in which we each have 10 hangers. Still learning ways to live simply with less.
Toya,
My son is six and still wishes that he shared a room with us – I say keep it up until your daughter really wants her own space – save the money while you can! I am sure you will be able to find something of a similar size with two bedrooms eventually! Less to clean, less to clutter, less cost of living – it is a win, win, win situation! Congratulations!