PICS IN REPLY NOW! Can mamas who have downsized to small sf homes give me a pep talk?

[mamabear]

We're closing on this house on March 30th. It is 936 sf. 20x32 main floor and an 18x20 loft with a sloped ceiling. So, it is SMALL - half the size of what we've been living in for the past six years. And that is really the only thing "wrong" with the homestead. We are planning to possibly add on in the future...but I've gotten really spoiled! At first I thought it would be no problem to downsize but the more I think about it the more I freak out!

Here's the floor plan online:

http://www.northeasternlog.com/homep...cumberland.php

What it doesn't show is that when you first walk in the door, the whole space about the width of the door and going to the wall between the bedrooms is a staircase. So all that space is taken up. Also, in our house, the bedrooms are just one big room with the door near the bathroom (for br #1 in that pic) as the door. So it's a huge master bedroom, essentially.

Our plan is to move the interior walls so that we open up br #2 as open living room/office space and make br #1 be as it is on those plans, and be the master bedroom - just enough room for bed, dresser, etc. Also realize there are *no closets* in the house.

The space shown in the LR is for the woodstove - ours is a smaller footprint, and fits roughly in the space between the kitchen door and where they show the woodstove starting, but is about the same depth.

We were planning on having the kids share the upstairs loft - yes it is 18x20 but the ceiling slopes sharply so it doesn't feel that big. I was thinking of building low shelves into the side walls for toy storage, where the ceiling slopes (it slopes front to back, the highest area going along the length of the house, if that makes sense).

Then I was planning on putting our table in the kitchen area ( where else?), and fitting our couch along the wall to the right of the door when you first walk in, with maybe room for our IKEA chair/footstool near the woodstove and maybe a bookshelf. In the L shaped extension to the left would be a bench and hooks on the wall for boots/coats, a computer desk, bookshelves, and a futon couch facing the computer desk for when we watch movies, for guests, and as an extra seating space.

There is a full basement - currently wet, source of more anxiety - with a large (dry) pantry for food storage and another room that is currently dry, the washer/dryer will go down there as well. So there's plenty of room for deep storage. Oh there is also a 24x30 workshop/garage that is a ways off from the house and heated by woodstove.

For clothing I was going to fold all the kids clothes and put them in baskets on the shelves. For me and dh we have dressers and then I was going to get a small wardrobe for hanging clothes.

Any ideas/tips/thoughts? I'm excited, but nervous!!! We were going to add on in several years - I don't think once Katie is older that sharing a room w/Jake will work, and we might have another kiddo or two - but for now this is going to be it, and I'm extra nervous because our low-interest loan fell through because the house is on so much acreage, and now our payments are going to be significantly more than we planned, which kind of cuts into any cushion we had to save up for that addition.

Thanks in advance for talking me through my anxiety. 25 acres, teeny tiny Little House.

[marjen]

Yep. Start getting rid of anything you don't need. Then get rid of some more. Then do it again. The more stuff you have, the more crowded you will feel. I have lived in that type of spac before and it can be completely comfortable without much stuff. Sounds like you have a ton of storage room. We just downsized in Nov. We bought about 20 or more huge plastic containers, packed them all up, and labeled them. Our basement is damp so we have them down there on skids. I also have several for kids toys that we rotate. Before we did this last move, we got rid of so much stuff it was amazing. I have never missed a thing.
Good Luck!!

[Suzie]

nothing to add except




WTG!!!

I am so happy for you.

[LisaC]

I am really happy for you.

[steffieinmn]

Before my dh deployed, we lived in our approx. 1100 sq foot old farm house on 10 acres with our 2 children, cat, and dog.
I am now living in a 2200+ sq foot rambler while he is deployed, and it is HUGE. Way too much to clean. In fact, I feel like that's all I ever do. We moved from a 2000 sq ft rambler to our farm house, and there was so much stuff that I never unpacked - much of it went to Goodwill when I packed to move here for the deployment.
Anyway, we turned our big detached workshop into our "other" living room - during decent weather, we were out there all the time. During the summer, we were hardly in the house, except to sleep.
That would be my suggestion - start planning how to use your terrific "outdoor living areas!"

Have fun!

[JenTwo]

Here's where we are right now to move to 796sqft.

We've downsizing to one sofa recliner/rocker (two person but fits us all), playstands (may go in kids room), desk w/laptop (big pc will be stored in outbuilding), bookcases (2-3). That's the living room. We're found new homes for: 1/3 computers, couch, big sitting chair, eliptical, small desk.

The bedrooms have closets. We'd already planned on building closets into the rooms or getting an armoire if we bought a house without them. Can you add a dowel to the lower sloping part of the room, possibly add cubbies and hang a curtain over it for clothes? The kids are sharing a room. They'll have bunkbeds, keyboard, dress-up clothes (take up a lot of room, trying to work that out), bunk beds, 2 bookshelves. Possibly the playstands. We've already ditched a tee-pee, two dressers, small nightstand and other smaller misc that was crowding their rooms. The kids are getting the master bedroom so it is a bit bigger than the rest of the house. LOL

We have nearly NO room for a dining room table and we eat all of our meals as a family. DH is making a table that when folded down will take up ~2x3 feet and we'll have cozy meals. Our deep freeze will fit beside the fridge. We're purchasing a small fridge for both energy and space reasons. The dishwasher will be removed and we're putting more shelving in. We are lucky that there is adequate shelving in the kitchen & utility rooms.

DH and I are getting the small room. We realized the frame of our bed took up LOTS of room so that's gone, now we just have matresses. At some point Brian is making a frame for it to fit onto w/drawers underneath~ maybe you can do this for your kids? We'll have our bed, armoire and dresser in there. It will be just about full like that. We may try to squeeze my sewing items in.

The utility room will hold homeschooling items, board games, linens, pantry items & cleaning supplies. All artsy items will be in one of the rooms of the workshop.

eta: I forgot~ DH wants to build bookshelves onto the exterior wall in the kids room so that we can nix the bookshelves in there.

[mamabear]

Thanks everyone. Jenni, you gave me a good sense of how it will all fit and what will fit. We have the advantage of keeping our current house for two months while we have the new house, so we can move over slowly and see what we have room for as far as furniture. The house is so overstuffed now, it's hard to tell what will fit. (The fact that it is overstuffed is part of my anxiety, I think; in fact I desperately want to go visit the model home nearby for this log cabin kit so I can see what it looks like uncluttered!!)

And Steffie, good point - before we moved to Florida we lived in a 600 sf cabin, before that a 250 sf cabin, and before that an 800 sf house. I have hated cleaning so much since we've lived in big houses! I'm looking forward to being able to clean the house top to bottom in a few hours. I forgot all the nice things about having a smaller space.

I'm going to have dh build bookshelves that go right into the wall - we have them in this house and they're great. When you have solid wood walls you can do this. Basically the back of the bookshelf is the wall, and you build a frame on three sides as deep as you want the shelves. Then you take a piece of trim for each shelf and nail that into the wall, then set each shelf on that. Not sure how much sense that makes. A piece of trim on the front holds the shelves in. It's a really cool, simple design and he can make them to fit around the other furniture, essentially, so that we can have room for books and some pictures and stuff. I think to custom-fit things like that will make the best use of tight space. There's a pic in the decluttering forum but I'll take another if anyone is interested.

Thanks everyone for your replies! It helps to have the pep talk. It's like, once you get what you want, your mind starts focusing on all the unknowns! It's hard....I'm thrilled and happy but anxious and my mind latches onto all these worries. I'm trying to let them go...also I have been laying in bed for five days sick and unable to work on the tangible worries like the mortgage approval and inspection and such.

[gypsimama]

I'm so glad you posted this Lauren, as I think we'll be downsizing again. Right now there are five of us in 1200 with no storage at all. We've found a small cottage on the lake in VT and it looks like it's even smaller than this house. I think we live pretty simply but I know I'm going to have to take things up a notch and really be selective about what we keep.

I'll be watching for ideas.

[mamabear]

Now with pictures!!!!

I do not know what kind of bed to do...the loft window takes up too much space to put them along that wall...I hate those bolts sticking out - heeeelp!?!??

Interior pics on page 2. Doesn't show kitchen or other half of master BR or living room wall along the front door.

http://www.laurenware.com/stannard_cabin.htm
http://www.laurenware.com/stannard_cabin2.htm

[Mamax4]

That looks lovely. I think it will be easier when the weather is warm. The kids will mostly be outside, so it will all feel bigger. I can only think of the basics; using under the beds for some sotrage needs. You have the shed, so that's good. You could even store bulk food items in there, if you do that. Maybe coat pegs or hooks at strategic places, and if you have pots, maybe you could get a hanging pot rack and save any drawer space for things you can't hang. lol

You're pretty pared down, so I think you'll be fine. By the time you close and move in, it will be warmer, so you will have time to get it all arranged while the children play outside.

I am not so good at this game. lol

[mamabear]

lol...Thanks Laurie. I'm very happy, beyond belief, with this place. It's just mostly when I look at that loft I go "ahhhh!" but I've been looking at putting toys in rubbermaid tubs in the basement - we have the full basement too - and rotating - and/or setting up some space in the workshop for a playroom. It's heated w/a woodstove. Maybe I should set up a sewing room/playspace out there.

One nice thing about log is that yeah, pegs and hooks and shelves can go ANYwhere (as evidenced by the current owner's um, decorating scheme).

Also I have a lovely pantry in the basement - about an 8x10 room with shelves perfect for deep food storage. It's nice and cold down there so perfect for that, even if we end up finishing/heating other parts of the basement, it has a door and can stay cold like a root cellar.

I don't feel pretty pared down, yet. I feel totally totally overstuffed. We'll be fine, we have time to move slowly and chuck whatever doesn't fit, yk? I mostly wanted to share pics but didn't want to start a whole new thread. LOL.

[tara]

We're in about 600SF now, on 2 floors. 3 people (all of whom are home most of the time, between homeschooling and working from home) and 3 cats. Here's the layout:

Entry point is stairs coming up (we are on the 2nd and 3rd floors). At the top of the stairs is a bathroom that is VERY small, about 3x8. The hallway turns to the right, and off of the hallway are the kitchen and Sam's bedroom. At the end of the hallway is the living/dining/sewing/everything else room. This is the largest room at 12x15. Narrow stairs go from the hallway up to the 3rd floor, which used to be the attic. Two rooms up there, one is our bedroom and one is Rob's office (he works from home).

We had major issues with storage. In the kitchen, we had literally NO counter space. Zip. We bought an IKEA counter/drawer unit that is about 48" wide, and that is our only counter space. We also bought some IKEA rails and hooks for the walls, and we store all of our pots, pans, and lids in open view. We downsized our dishes so that we have about 4 bowls, 6 plates, 4 mugs, 6 glasses--you get the idea, no more than 6 of anything. There's no dishwasher, so it helps me not have a mountain of things to wash at any one time.

There is a stackable washer/dryer in the kitchen. I am forced to stay on top of the laundry monster because there is no place for unfolded laundry to be. I fold and put away immediately.

In our main living room, we have the couch against one wall, the table/chairs on the opposite wall, the TV and bookshelves on one wall, and my sewing tables/fabric shelving on the other wall. It's tight, I won't lie. But very efficient. Not much floor space.

Sam's room--he has a loft bed from IKEA and uses the underneath space for playing. He has silks on a tension rod that is set between two of the bed supports. Lots of little shelves in his room for things like arts/crafts supplies, hooks hanging for scissors and stuff, shelves for CDs/cassettes, etc. He has 3 smallish bookshelves in there as well. Everything fits, but there isn't anything there that doesn't have a home. I guess that is the theme of our place right now--if it doesn't have a home, we find a home for it, or it goes away.

I seriously downsized my clothes and now only have 4 or 5 of each thing (shirt, sweater, pants). It makes it easier to do laundry and easier to get dressed. I confess to having a box of "skinny pants" in storage right now, though. One day I'll fit into them again!

We have a storage unit because this apartment is temporary. We plan to buy or build in the next year or so. We use the storage unit for: reel lawnmower, tools, extra queen mattress/boxspring, sofa that wouldn't fit through the door of our apartment, heirloom china/crystal I couldn't bring myself to get rid of, out of season clothing and holiday decorations, amplifiers, and two drumsets. All stuff we couldn't or didn't want to purchase again, but didn't want to get rid of. It's all in a 10x10 unit.

Tara

[Lydiasmomma]

Lauren, my friend Kira has that exact house. They added a nice big living area on the end where it says porch #2 and now use the original living rm as a dining rm. Anyway, just thought it was funny you'll have the same house.

[Momof6]

I'm thrilled for you!! Having the acerage is awesome!

I'd get rid of any extras and go into the new home with even more simplicity than you are already doing. (but you already do pretty well with that, don't you?)

Congrats!

Michelle

[Momof6]

forgot to add that I LOVE LOVE LOVE the front porch!! That is the kind of front porch I want to have someday. I can tell you that if we found a place with acerage and with a view of the mountains from the front porch...even a place half this size, we'd probably do what you are doing and just deal with the limited space. (but we are not looking or anything right now)

I really love the pictures.

Michelle