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. ft), you’ve in all probability heard us proclaim that good storage is vital. It actually makes residing in a smaller residence much more sustainable and pleasant, however there are additionally particular format options of our home that make sharing much less sq. footage go much more easily for us.
So whether or not you’re pondering of downsizing, contemplating a brand new residence with any of those format particulars, constructing a brand new residence, or are simply interested in 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 positively good to think about when you’re considering any format selections or modifications.
#1: Separation Between Bedrooms
This characteristic is #1 on our checklist for a cause, and after residing this fashion I feel it will really be troublesome for us to return to a format with out this characteristic. The factor that we love is that none of our 3 bedrooms share partitions with one another. The children have a hallway between theirs, and our bed room is on the whole reverse facet of the home (all of our bedrooms are on the primary ground).
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 children) and every of our children usually have a pleasant personal feeling whereas they’re in their very own rooms (they’ll every take heed to totally different music or a podcast with out listening to it by means of a shared wall for instance).
Individuals typically 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 format, which was an identical 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 format replace actually appears like we’re residing giant.
#2: Two Distinct Dwelling Areas (One On Every Stage)
This one shocked us as a result of our unique thought was to make our downstairs frequent space (it’s a giant 22′ room, about the identical dimension as our final home’s very giant kitchen) into only a kitchen & eating house with a pleasant large front room upstairs. In brief, 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 inform you, it’s a large cause 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 once 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 comfy. And let me inform you, it was the perfect factor we ever may have completed.
It’s nice to have a giant informal TV room/artwork house/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 total household – and anybody who stops in for a go to. It’s an amazing place to calm down/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 faculty (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 residence is perhaps: don’t repeat zones like two sitting areas as a result of two might be a waste of your valuable house – however after residing with this setup for years, we couldn’t disagree extra. Since every of those residing zones are on totally different flooring, adults can hang around downstairs within the kitchen/sitting room whereas a complete gaggle of youngsters are upstairs taking part in 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 residence, this format Is nice for permitting us to unfold out. It’s extraordinarily useful that one child might 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 will’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 youngsters, and so they’re simply so nice for all the things from sleepovers and film nights to a spot for youths to do large messy artwork initiatives and have pillow fights or construct a large blanket fort (all of which have been completed in our giant upstairs household room). Our total second ground is only one large room (it’s about 22′ lengthy, like our kitchen beneath) so it’s principally… an upstairs basement of types… perhaps?
The purpose is that having a giant house like this that fills a bunch of various capabilities for us has been extremely helpful. In actual fact, it does all the things that three totally 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 youngsters’ craft room with a double desk for them (full with 12 drawers for craft provides & a giant 8′ lengthy counter)
- a TV hangout house / 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 apply (one in all our children takes classes, and we’ve a keyboard up there at a desk with a bench – it is a bonus zone that our final home didn’t even have)
In brief, this one giant room simply accommodates loud or messy actions – like practising piano, making artwork on the ground, the aforementioned big blanket fort, watching a film with associates, and many others. And because of this room being tucked upstairs, all of that may occur with out spilling over into the remainder of the home. Each time we’ve associates over, the children 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 Outside Area
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 positively contributes to feeling like we’ve room to unfold out right here is the truth that we’ve PLENTY of exterior areas for a wide range of issues, like:
We’ve had as many as 20 individuals in our pool space (there’s really 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 capable of offload a few of our inside capabilities into these out of doors areas, due to the climate being hotter right here than once we lived additional north. For example, we maintain our sneakers exterior on our kitchen porch’s out of doors cupboards, releasing up space for storing inside.
We additionally beforehand had a big water heater in a closet off of the kitchen, that we had been capable of 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 assume we absolutely appreciated the distinction that a wide range of out of doors areas with a wide range of capabilities may make (and in a wide range of places – off the entrance, facet, again, and second ground of the home!). It positively contributes to feeling like we reside in a much bigger home than we really do due to all these spots we are able to broaden into exterior.
#5: Tons And Tons Of Glass
For its dimension, our home has a loopy quantity of home windows and exterior doorways (all of which have full glass panes in them in addition). In actual fact, there are FOUR TIMES as many exterior doorways right here in comparison with our final home (12 vs 3) regardless that our home is greater than half the dimensions. The profit to all that tumbler right here is two-fold. To begin with, we get a ridiculous quantity of pure mild, which makes all of our rooms really feel brighter and fewer cramped than they may 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 really a nice shock to us after shifting in. It was wet and overcast once we purchased this home, plus there have been a lot of janky blinds on the home windows. We really 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 “Area To Reside In” Over “Area To Move By”
Hear me out on this one, as a result of it is perhaps arduous to articulate – and it would sound counterintuitive at first. Aside from 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 only getting from one room to a different.
Possibly that’s sure to occur in any smaller residence, 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 obligatory or stunning in lots of conditions, however in a smaller residence it will possibly shortly 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 precise and ignored that room, it will really feel breezy however we might lose a complete 10′ run of kitchen cabinetry and a spot for the fridge. So on this case, we’d a lot fairly have our floor-to-ceiling pantry cupboard and our built-in fridge than ethereal open stairs.
We’d additionally fairly have room for a sitting space within the kitchen downstairs than have an outlined lobby (identical to we’d hand over an extended hallway for just about some other house we may all use as a household). You could keep in mind our final home had a looooooong hallway upstairs and a generously-sized lobby. They made excellent 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 simply cross by means of.
In order that’s what I imply after I say that minimizing these in favor of gaining extra precise house to hang around versus cross by means of can positively be a perk in a smaller home.
One Format Warning: A First Ground Bed room Off The Important Dwelling Area
As a lot as we love the format of the bedrooms on this home (it’s #1 above for a cause!) 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 wish to change this factor), it actually might be a disadvantage for different individuals, relying in your preferences. So the format caveat is: since our bed room is situated proper off the downstairs residing space, it sees much more household exercise than our outdated 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 wakened in there and went to mattress in there, however had been infrequently present in there at some other time of the day (we had been normally downstairs on the principle stage). It wasn’t off-limits to our children or something, however there wasn’t a lot cause for them (and even us) to go in there all through the day.
In contrast, since our present bed room right here is downstairs and situated proper off of the principle residing 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 children in there sprawled on our mattress petting the canine or studying within the swivel chair by the fireside. Sherry and I each have been recognized to work in there now and again (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 children. Our son even ranked the swivel chair in our bed room as his favourite summer time studying spot of all. Actually, it received the whole bracket.
These aren’t dangerous issues to us – it appears like an environment friendly and versatile strategy to share the biggest three rooms on this home as an alternative of holding one all to ourselves – but it surely’s 100% appropriate to say that the bed room typically feels extra like a communal house than a personal house besides on the finish of the day when the children are tucked into mattress on the opposite facet of the home (which is when it really feels good and personal – see level #1 of this checklist).
So when 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 through the hangout hours ours positively sees some visitors), I’d warning you that this format simply appears to attract individuals into the room all day lengthy. Though you might 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 totally different.
And naturally, you might put up a type of KEEP OUT indicators that sitcom youngsters placed on their doorways after they’re feeling angsty and even make some kind of rule to discourage anybody else from coming into the room. In distinction, we simply obtained a brand new puzzle for the puzzle desk…
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