Since downsizing to our 1400 sq. foot home three and a half years in the past (as a refresher, our earlier home was greater than twice as giant – clocking in at 3150 sq. toes), you’ve in all probability heard us proclaim that good storage is vital. It actually makes dwelling in a smaller dwelling much more sustainable and satisfying, however there are additionally particular structure options of our home that make sharing much less sq. footage go much more easily for us.
So whether or not you’re considering of downsizing, contemplating a brand new dwelling with any of those structure particulars, constructing a brand new dwelling, or are simply inquisitive about what a few of our favourite “living-larger-in-a-smaller-home” options are, we’ve put collectively the next checklist. Plus, we’re ending with one caveat that’s undoubtedly good to contemplate in case you’re considering any structure selections or adjustments.
#1: Separation Between Bedrooms
This characteristic is #1 on our checklist for a motive, and after dwelling this manner I feel it could truly be troublesome for us to return to a structure with out this characteristic. The factor that we love is that none of our 3 bedrooms share partitions with one another. The youngsters have a hallway between theirs, and our bed room is on the complete reverse facet of the home (all of our bedrooms are on the primary flooring).
This separation helps everybody really feel a bit much less prone to be woke up by another person banging round (we are able to watch some night TV and erupt in laughter with out worrying that we’ll get up the youngsters) and every of our children usually have a pleasant personal feeling whereas they’re in their very own rooms (they will every take heed to completely different music or a podcast with out listening to it by a shared wall for instance).
Folks usually fear about being “on prime of each other” in a small home, and this little element actually helps us really feel like that isn’t the case right here (contrasted for instance by our first home’s structure, which was the same quantity of sq. footage, however all three bedrooms emptied into the identical finish of a shared hallway). Even in our final home, which was greater than twice the dimensions, we shared a wall with our son’s room – so this structure replace actually appears like we’re dwelling giant.
#2: Two Distinct Dwelling Areas (One On Every Degree)
This one shocked us as a result of our unique thought was to make our downstairs widespread space (it’s a giant 22′ room, about the identical measurement as our final home’s very giant kitchen) into only a kitchen & eating area with a pleasant huge lounge upstairs. Briefly, we didn’t initially consider using half of it for a first-floor hangout space with legit sofas and a espresso desk – however that’s the place we’ve ended up. And let me let you know, it’s an enormous motive that we really feel like this home works so a lot better for us and we don’t really feel on prime of one another – even after we’re entertaining and have 10+ individuals over.
After we lastly renovated the kitchen final yr, we cemented half of the room’s perform as a hangout zone (since we used the informal sitting space on that facet of the room so closely for the earlier two years). And this yr we ordered two bigger sofas to make it much more lounge-y and cozy. And let me let you know, it was the perfect factor we ever may have finished.
It’s nice to have a giant informal TV room/artwork area/hangout zone upstairs (we’ll cowl what that room provides to this home within the subsequent bullet). And because it seems, our informal sitting space downstairs will get used closely every single day by our complete household – and anybody who stops in for a go to. It’s an amazing place to chill out/learn/chat that’s not upstairs in entrance of a TV and, as a result of it’s centrally situated, we spend MOST of our time as a household there each morning earlier than college (and on weekends) and each night earlier than and after dinner.
It’s fascinating as a result of one factor you would possibly take into consideration a smaller dwelling is perhaps: don’t repeat zones like two sitting areas as a result of two might be a waste of your valuable area – however after dwelling with this setup for years, we couldn’t disagree extra. Since every of those dwelling zones are on completely different flooring, adults can hang around downstairs within the kitchen/sitting room whereas an entire gaggle of youngsters are upstairs enjoying some very loud recreation or music or watching a film and no person in both zone is concerned by the opposite one.
Even when it’s simply the 4 of us at dwelling, this structure Is nice for permitting us to unfold out. It’s extraordinarily useful that one child will be upstairs watching TV whereas the opposite is down on the kitchen desk doing homework or studying with out being disturbed or distracted by the TV. We are able to’t think about our home with out the downstairs sitting space and are so glad we didn’t simply stick a eating desk in that spot or one thing.
#3: One Massive Versatile Multi-Use Space
Whereas we’ve by no means had basements as grownup owners, each of us grew up with basements as children, they usually’re simply so nice for all the pieces from sleepovers and film nights to a spot for youths to do huge messy artwork tasks and have pillow fights or construct an enormous blanket fort (all of which have been finished in our giant upstairs household room). Our complete second flooring is only one huge room (it’s about 22′ lengthy, like our kitchen beneath) so it’s mainly… an upstairs basement of types… perhaps?
The purpose is that having a giant area like this that fills a bunch of various capabilities for us has been extremely helpful. Actually, it does all the pieces that three completely different rooms in our final home did (plus one added factor we didn’t even have in our final home!).
We name it our “household room” but it surely’s actually an area that fulfills all of those descriptions:
- an workplace (we each use laptops that we are able to simply place on that desk within the window (and ALL of our work paperwork is saved within the bookcases with 8 whole drawers that flank the desk on all sides)
- a children’ craft room with a double desk for them (full with 12 drawers for craft provides & a giant 8′ lengthy counter)
- a TV hangout area / sleepover spot (due to the additional lengthy couch, giant space rug, and movable ottoman – it’s a brilliant versatile facet of the room)
- a spot for piano observe (one among our children takes classes, and we’ve a keyboard up there at a desk with a bench – this can be a bonus zone that our final home didn’t even have)
Briefly, this one giant room simply accommodates loud or messy actions – like working towards piano, making artwork on the ground, the aforementioned large blanket fort, watching a film with mates, and so on. And because of this room being tucked upstairs, all of that may occur with out spilling over into the remainder of the home. At any time when we’ve mates over, the youngsters all run upstairs whereas the adults congregate within the kitchen & sitting space, so as soon as once more these two separate zones are key to feeling like we’re not all on prime of one another.
#4: Ample Out of doors House
Though this lot is one-tenth of the dimensions of our final home’s lot (sure, that’s not a typo, this lot is round 1/tenth of an acre and our final home was on a complete acre) we squeezed as a lot perform out of it as we may! So one other factor that undoubtedly contributes to feeling like we’ve room to unfold out right here is the truth that we’ve PLENTY of exterior areas for quite a lot of issues, like:
We’ve had as many as 20 individuals in our pool space (there’s truly seating for 19!) so it’s secure to say that these areas give us extra choices for spreading out. I can go learn within the hammock if it’s too loud inside or take my laptop computer out on the deck upstairs for a change of surroundings – or perhaps a convention name. We’re additionally in a position to offload a few of our inside capabilities into these outside areas, due to the climate being hotter right here than after we lived additional north. As an example, we preserve our footwear exterior on our kitchen porch’s outside cupboards, liberating up cupboard space inside.
We additionally beforehand had a big water heater in a closet off of the kitchen, that we had been in a position to transfer exterior on the again of our home (by changing to a tankless system) which freed up an inside closet for lots extra perform.
After we purchased this home, I don’t suppose we totally appreciated the distinction that quite a lot of outside areas with quite a lot of capabilities may make (and in quite a lot of places – off the entrance, facet, again, and second flooring of the home!). It undoubtedly contributes to feeling like we reside in a much bigger home than we truly do due to all these spots we are able to increase into exterior.
#5: Heaps And Heaps Of Glass
For its measurement, our home has a loopy quantity of home windows and exterior doorways (all of which have full glass panes in them in addition). Actually, there are FOUR TIMES as many exterior doorways right here in comparison with our final home (12 vs 3) though our home is lower than half the dimensions. The profit to all that cup right here is two-fold. Initially, we get a ridiculous quantity of pure gentle, which makes all of our rooms really feel brighter and fewer cramped than they could really feel in any other case.
Moreover, all of those home windows carry your gaze exterior, past the partitions – which additional contributes to the ethereal feeling that our rooms are bigger than they really are… as a result of the surface feels extra like an extension of the ground plan. It’s one of many causes we’ve opted to not put any window coverings on something aside from the good blinds and blackout curtains within the bedrooms.
This so-much-glass-letting-in-so-much-light phenomenon was truly a pleasing shock to us after transferring in. It was wet and overcast after we purchased this home, plus there have been a number of janky blinds on the home windows. We truly anticipated the home to be fairly darkish based mostly on the day we purchased it – so this was a really good discovery that we actually made on our move-in day!
#6: Prioritizing “House To Dwell In” Over “House To Move By”
Hear me out on this one, as a result of it is perhaps laborious to articulate – and it’d sound counterintuitive at first. Other than the quick hallway between our children’ room and the slender stairs to the upstairs household room, our home has little or no sq. footage devoted to simply getting from one room to a different.
Possibly that’s certain to occur in any smaller dwelling, however I can consider a number of modest properties I’ve been in with lengthy hallways, outlined foyers, or winding open staircases. I’m not saying these aren’t vital or lovely in lots of conditions, however in a smaller dwelling it could actually rapidly eat up in any other case helpful sq. footage.
For instance, if we had a extra grand staircase that opened to our kitchen on the best and ignored that room, it could really feel breezy however we’d lose a complete 10′ run of kitchen cabinetry and a spot for the fridge. So on this case, we’d a lot relatively have our floor-to-ceiling pantry cupboard and our built-in fridge than ethereal open stairs.
We’d additionally relatively have room for a sitting space within the kitchen downstairs than have an outlined lobby (similar to we’d hand over an extended hallway for just about some other area we may all use as a household). It’s possible you’ll bear in mind our final home had a looooooong hallway upstairs and a generously-sized lobby. They made good sense for that home, however we’re grateful that many of the sq. footage right here is extra multi-functional than merely being an entry zone or an extended hallway that you just move by.
In order that’s what I imply once I say that minimizing these in favor of gaining extra precise area to hang around versus move by can undoubtedly be a perk in a smaller home.
One Structure Warning: A First Ground Bed room Off The Foremost Dwelling House
As a lot as we love the structure of the bedrooms on this home (it’s #1 above for a motive!) there may be one factor that shocked us in how all of us use this home – and whereas it really works effectively for us (I repeat: we don’t need to change this factor), it actually might be a downside for different individuals, relying in your preferences. So the structure caveat is: since our bed room is situated proper off the downstairs dwelling space, it sees much more household exercise than our previous bed room ever did.
Our bed room in our final home was upstairs on the far finish of a corridor, so we actually solely used it for sleeping and preparing within the morning. We awoke in there and went to mattress in there, however had been hardly present in there at some other time of the day (we had been often downstairs on the primary degree). It wasn’t off-limits to our children or something, however there wasn’t a lot motive for them (and even us) to go in there all through the day.
Against this, since our present bed room right here is downstairs and situated proper off of the primary dwelling space (the place we’ve our kitchen and often-used sitting space), all of us simply find yourself in our bed room much more all through the day. We’ll discover the youngsters in there sprawled on our mattress petting the canine or studying within the swivel chair by the fireside. Sherry and I each have been identified to work in there from time to time (on the desk or within the swivel chair since we are able to shut the door for privateness on a name or zoom assembly) and we typically do puzzles on the desk with the youngsters. Our son even ranked the swivel chair in our bed room as his favourite summer time studying spot of all. Actually, it received the complete bracket.
These aren’t dangerous issues to us – it appears like an environment friendly and versatile technique to share the biggest three rooms on this home as a substitute of conserving one all to ourselves – but it surely’s 100% right to say that the bed room usually feels extra like a communal area than a non-public area besides on the finish of the day when the youngsters are tucked into mattress on the opposite facet of the home (which is when it truly feels good and personal – see level #1 of this checklist).
So in case you’re somebody who treasures that feeling of getting a bed room sanctuary or a kid-free zone to flee to all through the day (once more: no points after darkish – however in the course of the hangout hours ours undoubtedly sees some site visitors), I’d warning you that this structure simply appears to attract individuals into the room all day lengthy. Though you possibly can argue that a few of that might be furniture-related… maybe if there wasn’t a swivel chair or a puzzle desk by the fireside (or a candy canine in there to cuddle), the end result is perhaps completely different.
And naturally, you possibly can put up a kind of KEEP OUT indicators that sitcom children placed on their doorways once they’re feeling angsty and even make some form of rule to discourage anybody else from coming into the room. In distinction, we simply bought a brand new puzzle for the puzzle desk…
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