A year ago this week we moved from our fixer to our new home in the city. It was a bittersweet  journey that brought both relief and sadness. While this place hasn’t been quite the fixer-upper our last one was, it has taught us the freedom of living with less. With 1,000 sq ft of room, we had to downsize from our previous 1,300 sq ft with a garage. It has been a very liberating, albeit at times frustrating, process. In the end, I love this amount of space and we have realized we could reduce it further. They key to living in less is evaluating what you really need and enjoying people and moments rather than accumulating things. I wouldn’t want more square footage if it were offered to me!

I thought it would be a fun idea to give a tour of our home, just to show what we have done with our space and some of the things that have worked for us!

the living room

Here is where we spend a lot of our time together. We currently maintain a small and sparse amount of furniture (we are waiting to update our chair and couch until the kids are a little older). We really don’t have many things collecting here, (childproofing may have some influence on that). We don’t own a television, but our computer is set up in this area for times when we do want to watch something, as well as for home-based work. I salvaged our desk from someones trash heap and we repainted it and bought new handles. My husband made our bench in college and you can see examples of an important component to living with less space – storage!

the kitchen

This is the space that we would change if we decide to remodel at all. It is sufficient, but lacking in counter space, something that is important to me. Here, the crucial thing again is storage! Additional cabinets could be added, although what is here is plenty for me right now.

Our last kitchen remodel went fairly well, and inexpensively, so if we decided to we could do something similar here: update the flooring, replace and add counter space from the sink area extending to the stove, and replace and add cabinetry.

the dining space

On the other side of the kitchen area is the eating nook. It is a modest space, but sufficient even for our family of four. We have the two chairs here, and during mealtimes with the whole family we transfer our desk chair in the living room to the table for our oldest. Once the youngest has outgrown the highchair we will put our bench here for both of them to sit at.

the bathrooms

The restrooms are more than sufficient for our family. Before we moved we had only one bathroom, and it was downstairs while the bedrooms were upstairs, so this is a huge upgrade to us!

the guest room

This room doesn’t get used all that much. We could survive without it just fine. Here is where we put our book collection (which we are working to reduce), some storage in the closet, and the guest bed and nightstand (which was my bedroom set growing up). If we continue to live here the girls would likely transition to this room.

the kid’s room

This space is directly across from our bedroom and provides a great space for the girl’s things. I love having them nearby and one of my favorite things about small homes is that they force families to actually spend time together, rather than everyone being off in their own little corners of the house! The girls enjoy their space and the oldest currently sleeps here with room for the youngest to join shortly! The closet, changing chest, under-the-bed vintage storage suitcases, and small toy box provide ample storage areas.

the master room

This is a spacious, comfortable room. The youngest’s crib is still here, although it will soon be moved into the girl’s room. Not tons of storage here, but a closet and dresser provides enough.

That concludes the tour! We keep learning new ways to use our square footage efficiently. Most any space can adapt to various needs with a little imagination!