Settle in. This submit is a DEEP DIVE. A type of lengthy detailed dissection/reflection posts that feels just like the running a blog days of yore. So when you love these & wanna seize a cup of espresso and go on just a little journey with us – at the moment’s the day. We’re about to dive into:
- Ideas and insights we gleaned about downsizing over the previous few years
- What objects from our bigger dwelling got here with us & labored
- WHY we expect that’s
- What we discovered in hindsight about packing for a transfer
This entire submit concept got here to us once we had been in our downstairs sitting space not too long ago and we realized that a number of the furnishings hadn’t moved with us from our earlier home in Richmond. The loveseat, the chairs, and the espresso desk had been all bought after we moved right here to suit exactly into this new smaller sitting space that we slowly discovered over time.
Conversely, issues like the rug, the tray, the vase, the planter, all the artwork, and a close by bookcase had been from our final dwelling. So it made us surprise: how a lot of our previous furnishings & decor nonetheless exists in yr three of our downsized home? What will we nonetheless love a lot – a number of which we’ve had for over a decade? And why did some issues have a greater shot at staying ceaselessly in our smaller dwelling whereas others didn’t serve us in addition to we hoped?
We want we may have put solely what would match completely in our new home into that 16′ pod that we moved all of our worldly possessions in – however downsizing doesn’t include a crystal ball. We actually had measurements of rooms and did some pre-planning however nothing actually compares to touchdown in a brand new area and making an attempt just a few layouts to see what feels greatest in particular person.
There’s additionally nothing inherently incorrect with getting new issues that match the scale or form or wants of a brand new home – particularly when you’re sizing manner down and must squeeze in as a lot operate as you possibly can (we went from 3150 sq. ft & 14 rooms to 1400 sq. ft and 6 rooms (just one of which is a toilet). That’s precisely why we offered half of our final home’s furnishings with the home – as a result of we knew all of it wouldn’t match, so we made our greatest guesses about what may transfer with us and work once we landed (even when some objects landed and labored for a bit after which had been craigslisted or donated for “the precise long-term resolution”).
That is our final home’s bonus room, nearly all of which was bought by the brand new house owners (apart from the pedestal desk, which we tried as an eat-in kitchen desk for some time at our new home). You possibly can see a full tour of what objects we offered to the brand new house owners, together with side-by-side pictures of rooms earlier than and after we packed them up.
Downsizing appears like a mixture of surrounding your self with issues that make you *THE MOST* blissful and work *AS WELL AS THEY CAN* for you (and gleefully eliminating all the remaining!) – however the result’s undoubtedly going to look totally different for everybody.
We made our personal “that is coming with us” alternatives based mostly on:
- Measurements (some issues simply plain wouldn’t match)
- Earlier expertise (did we use it in our final home? if not- bye!)
- Educated guesses (once more, there’s no crystal ball)
- Useful issues (would this rug entice 6 kilos of sand in a seaside home?)
- Good old school intestine emotions (“I really feel like I gained’t miss this” or “I’ll remorse not having this”).
- Emotional attachment to sentimental objects (we treasure significant issues, even in a smaller dwelling)
There isn’t a simple A + B = C equation I can share, however that’s how we evaluated issues going into the massive blue pod exterior. And looking out again on what lasted via this huge transition just a few years later has been fairly illuminating (let’s simply say a number of classes are “very seen” in hindsight – so we’ll share these with you after sharing what stayed.
I’ll kick this off with yet another tidbit of recommendation that works for actually any house owner, whether or not you’re shifting right into a mansion or a one-room studio: be open to letting your new dwelling evolve. Similar to all the homes we chronicled earlier than it, our downsized dwelling undoubtedly took form over time. Path and error, and seeing the way you truly use an area, undoubtedly results in the perfect final result in our expertise. I imply, that is what our sitting space regarded like once we first landed. It was completely bananas.
That image makes us snort so arduous in hindsight, however man, we had been simply making an attempt issues and utilizing what we had whereas we discovered how we’d truly use this area and inched in the direction of one thing which may work higher… which I’m happy to say finally occurred.
So sure, objects got here in, they usually did the hokey pokey, they usually moved throughout. Like the bookcases that you just see within the bananas photograph above this one, which went upstairs the place they match like they had been made for that wall (*insert the angels singing sound and reward arms right here*).
Some issues discovered a greater spot for the lengthy haul. And a few moved listlessly from room to room till we confronted the music that they weren’t serving us in addition to another objects in a greater dimension or form may (so that they bought donated or Fb Marketplaced).
Just like the white and grey 6-drawer dressers you additionally see in that bananas photograph that we’re revisiting above. We realized the one dressers we saved are all narrower 3-drawer ones. Go determine that they match higher and take advantage of the area in a smaller home (and may double as a nightstand, like the dressers in our daughter’s room under).
What we’ve undoubtedly discovered to be true is that new areas – particularly smaller ones – might require particular varieties or sizes of furnishings that won’t have labored in your previous dwelling. The loveseat in our sitting room is a good instance.
We by no means wanted one earlier than (our final home simply match two generously sized sofas), so we left the largest one behind understanding it wouldn’t slot in our new downstairs hangout space – and the opposite one got here with us and lives on upstairs within the household room. Talking of which…
The Upstairs Household Room
Had we been sitting upstairs as a substitute on the day we had the “our kitchen positive has a number of new furnishings” feeling, we’d have had absolutely the reverse response, as a result of our household room is FILLED with stuff from our final dwelling. Actually nearly each single furnishings merchandise in right here is from our final home.
However upon additional reflection, we realized possibly that shouldn’t have shocked us as a lot because it did. Our upstairs household room is the biggest dwelling area on this home – so, naturally, it could possibly match extra objects from our bigger dwelling. No surprise it was so much much less of a problem than our small sitting space downstairs, which wanted some personalized issues over time to “come collectively” (psst: that’s regular, don’t let anybody inform you that upon shifting into a brand new place it’s a must to have all of it discovered within the first month and even the primary yr).
The humorous half is that this room principally absorbed the operate of THREE separate rooms in our previous home, and serves us SO WELL due to how multifunctional it has grow to be. Let’s have a look at these three rooms from our previous home…
Our Earlier House’s Workplace:
Maybe essentially the most familiar-looking zone that was absorbed into our huge room upstairs is our previous workplace space. We not have a devoted room like we did in our final home (seen under) however we nonetheless recreated the set-up of our Parsons desk flanked by two Ikea Fjalkinge cabinets. It’s a particular improve to have three home windows alongside that wall now (our desk view = 100).
That Parsons desk is definitely one of many objects that we’ve had the very longest of any piece of furnishings now we have ever owned. It was a marriage present to us in 2007 and it has undoubtedly stood the take a look at of time. I imply, it’s 15 years previous and counting! Nonetheless seems new, which undoubtedly helps an merchandise have longevity, together with a traditional design that doesn’t ever really feel dated. Completely is smart to me why we nonetheless have it.
After we slid it in entrance of that center window, we realized we may take away the 2 again legs so the again of the desktop sits on the window ledge (thereby recessing about 5 extra inches towards the wall, making it simpler to go behind it in your manner out to the deck). In fact, we saved these again legs (who is aware of how issues will evolve down the road), however that tweak alone made this desk much more versatile & practical than we thought.
In case you scroll again as much as that photograph of our earlier workplace, you’ll discover the metallic cowhide rug in there now sits in our downstairs sitting room. As for why this made the transfer and bought to remain, it’s gloriously impartial, isn’t enormous, and works so properly to floor the sitting space and not using a rectangular border for the entrance door to get caught on. Truthfully, I believe a rug like this might slip into any variety of locations – for instance, it may additionally work in our son’s room, and even upstairs by the artwork desk. It’s the LBD of rugs.
Our Earlier House’s Household Room
At first look, our present upstairs TV space feels fairly totally different from our final household room (seen under). However a few of the similar anchor items are there, like our Crate & Barrel Lounge II couch that we’ve had for five years now. And upon nearer inspection of the image under, we realized that even little issues just like the lamps and pink pillows are direct transfers from our previous dwelling area.
We additionally pulled in a number of stuff from different areas of our final dwelling to spherical out this new household room. The leather-based stools got here from our seaside home, the woven mirror got here from our previous workplace (scroll as much as see it over the Parsons desk), and the aspect desk beneath the mirror is definitely two of our daughter’s previous bedside tables wedged back-to-back to make it appear to be one additional deep aspect desk for our previous lamp & some books.
The rug upstairs is definitely from our son’s previous bed room (seen under). It’s a HomeGoods discover we’ve had because it was his nursery, over 8 years now (right here’s one thing comparable). It’s no thriller why this rug endures for us, as a result of it’s impartial so it could possibly slip into virtually any room with any coloured furnishings. We additionally actually just like the delicate but attention-grabbing design, it’s snug and smooth, and it was the proper dimension for our new household room.
Our Earlier House’s Artwork Room
The final of the three zones that we squeezed into our new household room is our children’ arts & crafts area, which is a reincarnation of the homework / artwork room we made in our previous dwelling’s visitor room (seen under).
We had much less wall area to work with on this new home, which we knew based mostly on our measurements – so we donated 1 of the three drawer bases and swapped out the 2 6ft counters for one 8ft counter (so technically it’s a brand new prime, however we simply reordered the identical fake marble laminate once more as a result of it has labored SO WELL for a mess-friendly area like this).
We moved the previous chairs with us, however finally changed them with slimmer armless ones that match higher subsequent to one another and can be pushed in all the best way with out scratching the highest of the arms (which occurred to the previous ones over time).
Little issues just like the lamp (right here’s an identical one), the pink letterboard, the gold image frames, the basket (comparable), and our printer (comparable) had been all issues that survived the transfer and had been simple to discover a spot for. Usually, the smaller objects that we actually beloved and saved above all different less-loved decor-ish objects simply slipped into our smaller dwelling. Simply gotta do away with the filler stuff you don’t actually love as a lot or use (one instance is don’t downsize with 12 vases, take into consideration the 3-4 you all the time use and donate the remaining).
Our Exterior Areas
Our decks and porches are different locations the place we used some giant furnishings from our final home as a result of, similar to our giant upstairs household room, they’re fairly spacious and may deal with objects that initially lived in an even bigger dwelling.
For instance, our present entrance porch (above) nonetheless sports activities the woven egg chair that we bought in 2014 and had on our previous again porch (seen under). Forgive the previous photograph above, couldn’t resist a Burger cameo. We miss that candy boy day by day. Enjoyable reality: the pile of grime that you just see past the hanging daybed is from the pool construct! Recollections.
The outside couch and classic black steel chairs seen above additionally made the transfer to Florida and now each stay on our upstairs deck. That area is in a little bit of a “transition” since we stole the eating desk to check out in our twice-as-big pool space (when you missed my IG tales about pushing that fence again about 20′, we’re planning an enormous submit about it as soon as we’re additional alongside and the fence is painted).
However right here’s proof that these superior classic chairs and the outside couch from Richmond are all alive and properly right here. I believe we’ve had that blue drum stool for like 15 years too. These can actually slip into nearly any room or outside area!
Our Bed room
The biggest merchandise that made it to our new bed room is that this blue inlay dresser that had been within the entrance bed room at our seaside home (one among my favourite secondhand finds of all time!). We offered the seaside home furnished however swapped out just a few issues we beloved beforehand – and this undoubtedly made the checklist.
It now occupies a nook of our bed room that we’d as soon as slated to grow to be a second lavatory. These plans are on indefinite maintain as a result of though we anticipated to need a second lavatory instantly upon arrival right here – we’ve all been simply superb sharing one for the previous 2.5 years. Heck, with the children again in class it feels even simpler than ever (for the reason that first yr right here = at-home studying so all 4 of us had been on this home just about nonstop).
Our bathroom-on-hold resolution feels form of just like the spirit of downsizing itself. Embarking on an enormous dusty reno so as to add a toilet feels insane to undertake till you truly need one, proper? If our lavatory plans ever transfer ahead (we assume they could when the children are older possibly?) we’ve talked about changing my beloved inlay dresser into a toilet vainness with plumbing and every little thing inside and a sink on prime. That’s how a lot I find it irresistible. In fact, who is aware of, it’d find yourself in one other spot earlier than then.
That is the place it lived within the seaside home’s entrance bed room after I purchased it secondhand and labored arduous to restore it. It feels so beachy and complicated – it’s one thing I treasure.
That’s what downsizing is about. We don’t have ten dressers. We’ve got 3 in your complete home. However they’re our 3 favorites of allllll time (the opposite two are wooden inlay on the entrance – so all of them really feel so particular and distinctive). As beforehand talked about, additionally they all have 3 drawers and aren’t of the broader 6-drawer selection, which makes the opposite two in a position to double as nightstands AND clothes storage in our daughter’s room. Hooray for something that’s stunning and may work double responsibility. Extra on that in a sec.
Oh and that giant glass vase on the inlay dresser two pictures up? Right here it’s dwelling in our earlier eating room. It has been with us over 15 years and counting! Typically I believe it’s a miracle we haven’t damaged it in all these years – it’s usually filled with water and fairly heavy! (I hope I didn’t simply jinx myself).
Different Richmond holdovers in our room are smaller objects – just like the lamps (listed here are some comparable ones), the gold frames, the pouf, and the woven stomach basket within the nook (a HomeGoods discover from ages in the past – however right here’s one thing comparable).
It’s possible you’ll bear in mind these baskets from our previous lobby (seen under), the place they had been largely simply ornamental. Sure, they often had nothing in them apart from random issues the children would put in there. Now we use the massive one as a laundry basket in our bed room and the smaller one as a trash bin subsequent to the children’ artwork desk (scroll again as much as see it).
And talking of our lobby, you could acknowledge that mirror in 3… 2…1…
Our Lavatory
The big capiz mirror from our previous lobby is now the over-the-vanity mirror in our lavatory. So not solely did we hold on to it, it will get a lot on a regular basis use in our one and solely lavatory (and undoubtedly sees much more toothpaste splatters than it used to too). It’s nonetheless holding up completely, and as soon as once more the important thing to this merchandise sticking round is that:
- A) We had the proper spot for it
- B) We find it irresistible
It beat another extra primary mirrors out as a result of it’s *particular* – we love the delicate sample and the cool form of the highest. General, so glad we purchased this (about 10 years in the past from Serena & Lily), and I hope now we have it ceaselessly & ever, amen.
The lavatory additionally sports activities gold frames and art work that used to hold in our final home, plus a brass cell is one thing we hung in the center bed room at our seaside home and I’ve beloved it ever since. In case you’re questioning: do I take a cell? Is that too random if I’m making an attempt to downsize? I’d say… it’s tiny. In case you find it irresistible, take it and see the way it goes. We additionally took a second cell with us (a seagull cell we had within the duplex and that hangs on this home too!). We’ve got since purchased 2 different mobiles for a complete of 4 in our six-room home. No regrets. Take what you’re keen on – particularly if it’s small. The cell isn’t going to make or break the pod or the shifting truck 😉
The Children’ Rooms
Along with bringing issues like our children’ favourite books, toys, and stuffed animals, their rooms even have bigger issues from our final home like the massive gold mirror in our daughter’s room under (it used to hold above the hearth in our front room – scroll as much as see it). It’s particularly nice above this desk as a result of that entire space doubles as an arrogance spot for her to prepare, but additionally multitasks as a desk for homework, laptop computer use, and many others.
The inlay dresser you see mirrored within the mirror above can be a holdover from our final home. We’ve had it awhile and it’s served varied capabilities through the years, together with about seven years spent being the one engaging factor about our walk-in closet earlier than we made it over.
Not solely did we carry that dresser from Richmond to Florida, we truly ordered one other one shortly after shifting as a result of we love the thought of constructing them work double responsibility as bedside tables AND clothes storage. Throughout this transient incarnation of our bed room, they served as matching nightstands and labored as our solely clothes storage within the room.
As soon as we lastly added closets to our room (that is an previous pic however you get the thought)…
… we moved them each to flank our daughter’s mattress – the place they work as clothes storage for her in addition to and bedside tables. We eliminated the black steel ft so that they’re a pleasant peak for her mattress, however we’ve bought the legs saved in our utility closet simply in case. They’re hanging out in there with the again legs of the upstairs desk 😉
Our son’s room bought a number of built-in small area options – like a floating desk and bookshelf that we made ourselves (each of which you’ll be able to see right here), which feels sort of becoming since we constructed a number of stuff into his final bed room too. His rug is definitely from our children’ previous artwork room, which you’ll be able to scroll again as much as see, and a number of his pillows, baskets, frames, & planters/vegetation are from our final home too.
In fact, the vast majority of the small practical objects now we have are the identical ones that we had in Richmond (like our silverware, plates, pots, pans, toaster, instruments, and many others) and the pictures and rundown above just about cowl the furnishings/decor in the primary areas. There are a bunch of different objects in random locations like hallways – just like the marble desk under and pink rug that got here from our previous closet, however I don’t wish to bore you with the trivialities of each vase or image body. As a substitute, let’s try to interrupt down what this train made us understand concerning the downsizing course of itself.
What We Realized About Packing For A Transfer / Downsizing
1. Know The Large Areas That Want Large Items
Looking back, we wasted some area in our pod on just a few huge objects that we didn’t find yourself having huge areas for in our new home (like these two aforementioned 6-drawer dressers). They had been helpful to us within the quick time period proper after shifting, however we’ve since offered/donated them. Wanting again, I want we had made extra room the pod for additional outside furnishings (possibly even some from the seaside home yard, proven under) as a result of now we have an abundance of porches & patios we’ve needed to furnish right here.
2. Grasp Onto The Little Issues You Love
If in case you have restricted shifting area, like we did with our pod, you is perhaps tempted to foresake the little issues like artwork, lamps, ornamental objects, and many others in favor of including extra huge objects that might theoretically be costlier to switch. However we’re glad we stuffed each final nook of the pod with the “small stuff” that had which means or sentimental worth (together with the dwelling vegetation we actually wedged between our children’ automobile seats for the drive down). Favourite framed pictures, lamps, and potted vegetation had been simple for us to work into our new dwelling, they usually had been a pleasant quick technique to make the brand new home really feel like “us” straight away.
Ultimately, if it’s small and it’ll match, simply carry it together with you and donate or promote it on the new place as a substitute of wishing you didn’t let go of that candy artwork or cell or lamp you liked. Word: this doesn’t imply it is best to carry a single small merchandise you are feeling meh about – this simply applies to belongings you LOVE and objects with sentimental worth. Being discerning *earlier than* you allow the previous place makes touchdown and unpacking a lot simpler – so do away with the surplus “filler stuff” earlier than you pack for positive!
3. Keep Versatile & Embrace The Evolution
As you possibly can inform, we haven’t been inflexible about issues stepping into a sure room (or serving a sure operate) simply because they had been utilized in a particular manner in our earlier home. For instance, the white shelf under was an ornamental shelf in our seaside home front room, and now it’s practical kitchen storage for us right here. Had we been stricter about the place issues went or what functions we thought they needed to serve, I believe far much less stuff would’ve survived the transfer and we’d’ve needed to buy much more.
4. It Pays To Suppose Cohesively
I believe most individuals have a tendency to do that naturally, however protecting an identical type or “vibe” in thoughts for your own home makes that flexibility factor a lot simpler. You’ll have extra choices for the place to place furnishings and decor if a sure piece or room isn’t an aesthetic curveball in comparison with the remainder of your own home. That’s how we’ve been in a position to transfer dressers, rugs, mirrors, art work, and many others. round this home till we’ve discovered the proper spot. Mainly every little thing now we have “goes” with every little thing else in our home.
A technique we helped that occur was again once we packed the pod, we made positive the objects we wished to maintain felt like they labored collectively. We decided to go away all of our enormous, thick, deep-colored rugs behind, not solely as a result of they wouldn’t match bodily in lots of our rooms, however they didn’t match into what we envisioned for our gentle & ethereal place by the seaside (or appear significantly sand pleasant). Identical with darkish wooden furnishings/decor – many issues we beloved essentially the most had been:
- gentle wooden
- white
- impartial
- inlay
- capiz
- brass
- marble
- smooth pink
- gentle blue
- pastel artwork
- a buttload of vegetation
Search for a sample & lean into bringing issues that work properly collectively! Word: don’t carry a single factor that works with every little thing else however is one thing you’re lukewarm about or by no means use. Belief me. Downsizing = being ruthless and leaving all that “filler stuff” behind (if it’s not your favourite you’ll find yourself storing it on a regular basis & then it’s simply utterly unused cupboard muddle).
5. Be Affected person!
Downsizing is certainly a journey and never a vacation spot. It has taken years for our present home to come back collectively, similar to each different home we’ve ever owned. And for a LONG time, it regarded kinda nutty as we discovered what labored the place and what wasn’t working in any respect – similar to each different home we’ve ever owned. Are you sensing a theme? Don’t beat your self up about taking your time to search out the optimum association or the proper items to make your own home work greatest for your loved ones. It’s usually the one technique to get the perfect outcome.
I’m grateful that total, we don’t actually have any main regrets about issues we introduced or selected to not carry – seemingly as a result of we actually tried to depend on taking *solely* the factor issues that we love most and use so much (and fairly ruthlessly slicing out the remaining). It actually could be that straightforward. It takes a number of bodily time to kind via all of it – however that line of considering is what we saved asking ourselves time and again. And we’re glad we gave ourselves the time to determine issues out once we landed in our smaller place and didn’t stress when, for example, our bed room regarded like this for just a few months. Ha!
Oh, and one MVP of the transfer has turned out to be essentially the most random factor: our white Ikea planters (you possibly can see one within the image above and one other within the shot under). They’ve been such good staples through the years and we’ve had lots of them since our first home. Sure, that makes them 15 years previous! Once more, it’s a miracle we haven’t damaged them but! (*knocks on wooden instantly*)
I’ll go away you with one final thought. I believe individuals who face the thought of downsizing are affected by the thought of “what if I downsize this factor after which I really need it later” – particularly because it pertains to one thing like a kitchen gadget. For instance: “I by no means use the crockpot now… however what if later I get into it and have to purchase one once more?” Truthfully, we had an previous cobweb-covered crockpot that we by no means used so we donated it earlier than this transfer and it has been 2.5 years and we DO NOT MISS IT. In case you do, you possibly can all the time purchase one thing like that. However think about how far more area you’ll have in your cupboards when you simply have belongings you use in them.
Our precise expertise is that we actually can’t even bear in mind, not to mention checklist, a number of issues that we downsized and donated. If we didn’t use them presently in life on the time of our downsizing, that was the reply. Donate/promote pile. Heck, that works for when you aren’t shifting too, and simply need some wiggle room in an overstuffed drawer or cupboard.
I wager 10 out of 10 individuals who have majorly downsized will inform you an identical factor. We don’t even bear in mind what used to refill our storage (don’t have one now!) or our big walk-up attic. Okay, I do know there have been a number of baskets up there – which was a positive signal that I wasn’t utilizing them – however I by no means miss having an enormous area to fill with stuff I’ll neglect about for years on finish!
I hope this huge mind dump of a submit is useful or at the very least simply enjoyable to learn and reminisce with us. We undoubtedly beloved trying again on every little thing that has made this huge journey with us, and are so grateful for the place we’re on this second – in a smaller home with loads of seaside & pool time (oh the perks of no yard to mow, no storage to prepare, and solely 5 rooms and 1 lavatory to wash!).
In case you’d wish to learn extra about our complete downsizing journey…
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