I live in a small space now with my boyfriend. We have a teeny tiny counter and only 2 hot plates to cook. Our room is small and we only have one small closet.
I'm a minimalist when it comes to stuff, so it works for me.
I grew up in "typical" American sized houses....approximately 1500 - 2000 sq ft and there were just 3 of us in my family. Now whenever I go to either my mom or dad's house, who both live in about 2000 sq ft alone, I get overwhelmed! It seems like soooo much space and I can't imagine having enough stuff to fill the space. Right now all 90% of my possessions are in a small room in my dad's basement and I just want to keep it there and continue living with just the stuff I have in Cape Town lol.
It's a little overkill for me, but I really like the extent to which they rethought space to make things flexible. Which I'm sure everyone living in a space that small has to do, to some extent.
In general if you live in NYC and spend a ton of time in your residence, I feel like you're missing most of the point of living in NYC .
My first solo apt was a 550 sq ft studio in DC and I LOVED that damn place. It wasn't much but it was ALL MINE (no roommates, no parents, nobody)! I posted that video on my FB feed--love it!
It's a little overkill for me, but I really like the extent to which they rethought space to make things flexible. Which I'm sure everyone living in a space that small has to do, to some extent.
In general if you live in NYC and spend a ton of time in your residence, I feel like you're missing most of the point of living in NYC .
I haven't stepped foot outside my building in two days. Another reason you pay the big bucks to live here-- everything can and will be brought to your doorstep.
I am really interested in learning to make small spaces work. Every time I see something like this, it's never with kids. We have a lot more than 420 sq ft, but it feel small with the STUFF we have. I wonder if I could hire someone to redesign our house to make the space work better. Storage is a must.
Also, I always wonder how much time they spend cleaning. A space like that looks awesome if everything is put away, but frankly I don't always have time.
I need someone to come in and tell me what of my stuff I actually need. We do really well with minimal kitchen stuff because our kitchen is tiny, but what about a salad bowl or serving plate that you only use when you have people over? Or a mixer? Etc? (We have some of that stuff outside of our kitchen.). Or strollers? Kids bikes? Snow shovels? Sometimes having stuff does make your life easier. I just don't know where to draw the line.
I am really interested in learning to make small spaces work. Every time I see something like this, it's never with kids. We have a lot more than 420 sq ft, but it feel small with the STUFF we have. I wonder if I could hire someone to redesign our house to make the space work better. Storage is a must.
Also, I always wonder how much time they spend cleaning. A space like that looks awesome if everything is put away, but frankly I don't always have time.
I need someone to come in and tell me what of my stuff I actually need. We do really well with minimal kitchen stuff because our kitchen is tiny, but what about a salad bowl or serving plate that you only use when you have people over? Or a mixer? Etc? (We have some of that stuff outside of our kitchen.). Or strollers? Kids bikes? Snow shovels? Sometimes having stuff does make your life easier. I just don't know where to draw the line.
Okay, with kids it is different so I'll ignore that stuff, but a lot of New Yorkers never have people over for dinner and never really cook for themselves, so serving stuff and mixers aren't necessary (in my 10 years of living here, we've had people over for dinner once, and have been invited to dinner at someone's apartment once). Also, shoveling is taken care of by building staff.
I am really interested in learning to make small spaces work. Every time I see something like this, it's never with kids. We have a lot more than 420 sq ft, but it feel small with the STUFF we have. I wonder if I could hire someone to redesign our house to make the space work better. Storage is a must.
Also, I always wonder how much time they spend cleaning. A space like that looks awesome if everything is put away, but frankly I don't always have time.
I need someone to come in and tell me what of my stuff I actually need. We do really well with minimal kitchen stuff because our kitchen is tiny, but what about a salad bowl or serving plate that you only use when you have people over? Or a mixer? Etc? (We have some of that stuff outside of our kitchen.). Or strollers? Kids bikes? Snow shovels? Sometimes having stuff does make your life easier. I just don't know where to draw the line.
Okay, with kids it is different so I'll ignore that stuff, but a lot of New Yorkers never have people over for dinner and never really cook for themselves, so serving stuff and mixers aren't necessary (in my 10 years of living here, we've had people over for dinner once, and have been invited to dinner at someone's apartment once). Also, shoveling is taken care of by building staff.
Yeah. I get that. I almost added something to say, there are some obvious differences between a SFH and an apt. But I really feel like we should be able to make 1700 sq ft work and be comfortable. I've been thinking about it a lot lately. We'd never make 400 sq ft work.
I think this is so cool! The design is too modern and sterile for me, but I love the concept. I really like small living spaces and could totally deal in a small house. DH, not so much. Our last rental was about 800 square feet and my dad commented all the time on how tiny it was. I loved that place. It was so easy to live in.
I know a girl from college who built a tiny house on a trailer bed with her boyfriend. The pictures are so cool. I'm in love with the idea. Only hesitation would be the non-permanent plumbing. But DH would never, ever go for it.
Yeah. I get that. I almost added something to say, there are some obvious differences between a SFH and an apt. But I really feel like we should be able to make 1700 sq ft work and be comfortable. I've been thinking about it a lot lately. We'd never make 400 sq ft work.
For me it took downgrading from a 1700sqft house to a 600sqft apartment to realize what I really needed and what was worth keeping.
I just went through all my stuff and created three piles: definitely want, maybe, and toss/donate.
At first the maybe pile was really large, but after you go through a ton of stuff, it feels good to get rid of even more stuff (at least for me anyway). The second pass through the maybe pile we ended up getting rid of a lot more stuff than we ended up keeping.
You just really need to think about how you live your life and what you use most often and think about whether or not the "cost" of storing something is worth the amount of times it will actually be used (this is how I purged a lot of stuff).
Also when I buy something new, I will only buy it if I know I have a place to store it and I know it will get a lot of regular use and I love it.