Welcome to another edition of Small Home Style. I started this design series a few months ago, to share design inspiration and solutions for small home dwellers. Being a small home dweller, I know the challenges involved in designing a small space with intention so the room feels good and works in real life. I used to always say to friends and family, 'My home is so small.' Now I've fully embraced living small, and consider myself a #SmallHomeCelebrator. Living small has so many amazing perks!
Before I share my 7 Reasons I Love My Small Home, a little backstory on our home. When we first bought our home almost 8 years ago (crazy its been that long!) it was only 924 Sq feet, 3 bedroom, 1 bath. I'm guessing in 1956 the year our house was built, 924 square feet was likely considered an average size home for its time. A few years after owning our home and putting a lot of sweat equity, our neighbors house caught our house on fire due to a shared fence. I was devastated, having lost 95% of our earthy processions + the fire happened a few weeks after we celebrated our sons first birthday. More importantly, I'm grateful everyday that no one was harmed in the fire and my family was safe.
The next 12 months we lived in 3 hotels and eventually an apartment. Those months where beyond stressful, but we made the best of it. I dived into the design process which felt cathartic and decided make some functional design improvements to our original layout. Basically updating the 1956 floor plan and making it work for a modern family and our needs. Because that's what you do with life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.
We added an indoor laundry room, increased the size of our bedroom, added a walk in closet & master bathroom and improved the layout of our main bathroom and upgraded of kitchen from a L Shape to a U Shape kitchen. Even with all the thoughtful improvements, our home is still under 1200 square, and feels just right. #LessHouseMoreHome is one of my favorite hashtags on Instagram celebrating living small and creating a home that's loved and fully lived in, which is exactly how a home should be.
7 Reasons I Love My Small Home
ONE. Our Home is Inviting and Cozy. Smaller homes & rooms, just instantly feel cozier and more welcoming than larger rooms. When we have have friends over for the first time, they often mention to me they love how cozy and welcoming our home feels, which is such a huge compliment. I love that our home gives off those good welcome vibes.
TWO. Make it Work Opportunities. Our dining room is the perfect example of a 'Make it Work' opportunity, since our dining room, is more of a nook and eat-in kitchen style. To make the best use of our small space, I used a banquette seating which allows us to seat more people, plus use a smaller footprint in our small space. Read more about our dining room here
THREE. Design with Intention. Instead of just filling me home up with stuff, I try and bring only what I truly love into my home long term. Yes, it means saying no to amazing vintage finds, but given that I my home doesn't have an abundance of floor space, it means what I have in my home I truly love.
FOUR. Outdoor Spaces Become and Extension of Your Home. One of the easiest ways to make your home feel larger, is to create an outdoor living space. In our backyard, we have large patio that we use as our outdoor living & dining rooms. Having an outdoor living room and dining area has been a great addition and truly makes our home feel larger, plus its a great place to entertain.
FIVE. Easy to Clean. Cleaning isn't my favorite chore at all to do, when it comes to living in a small home, keeping it clean is such fast. On weekends when all a home the most, we take a few minutes throughout the day and quickly pick up the living room, do dishes as they appear in the sink and so. Bonus, having only two bathrooms means there's less toilets to clean!
SIX. Togetherness. I love that saying small homes, grow tighter families. In our home, we don't have an additional family room, our living room is where we all gather to watch movies, play games and just chill and hang which means we spend a lot of time together.
SEVEN: Budget Friendly. Our small house, costs less to heat and cool compared to a house 2x the size. Plus since we have less square feet and wall space it costs way less to decorate and update our spaces, yay!
Above all, I love that our house feels welcoming, full of life and like home. I love that Avery's bedroom is just across the hall from ours and its his first stop in the morning. I love that while I'm in the living room watching TV, I can hear my kids laughing in the other room.
If your a small home dweller, what do you love about you about your small home?
