The Rooms We Don’t Miss After Downsizing

decor nosotros notwithstanding own after downsizing

Sherry’s mail a few months ago about what furniture & decor nosotros notwithstanding own after downsizing was the first fourth dimension I’d looked dorsum at photos of our previous household inward a spell. It was a fun walk downward retentivity lane (how has it been 2.five years since we moved?!). It besides jogged my retentiveness about how much “extra house” nosotros used to accept. As inward, total rooms that were and so nether-utilized that I’d most forgotten nearly them!

Don’t get me incorrect: we loved that family. But, as y’all know, it was a much bigger household than nosotros realized we needed (spending an entire summer inward our smaller pink beach household actually clarified that for us – more than on that hither), as well as nosotros were excited & relieved to downsize to our electric current habitation inward Florida. We went from three,150 foursquare feet in Virginia to one,400 foursquare feet hither – which is less than one-half the space, for the math nerds out there.

Some rooms here are simply smaller than their Virginia counterparts, merely we as well accept full rooms that are just totally missing (we went from iii bathrooms to 1, together with no longer have things similar a garage, a habitation function, a dining room, etc). And over the by ii.five years of living hither inwards our smaller home (through a global pandemic, which resulted inwards an entire twelvemonth of at-abode learning inwards our smaller infinite!) we’ve definitely put having fewer rooms to the test. And since it has been a few years, as well as nosotros’ve gotten along and then good without them, I thought it’d live interesting to see which ones nosotros don’t young lady (together with the ones that we do young lady).

six Rooms Versus fourteen Rooms

Simply set, our current habitation has vi rooms. A multifunctional room downstairs that has a kitchen on ane side in addition to a sitting area on the other, iii bedrooms, a bathroom, together with a multi-functional family room upstairs that serves every bit a TV room/office/crafting area/playspace. Here they are:

If you desire to read more nearly those rooms too encounter more photos of each ane, I’ve linked them below for you:

1. The Kitchen/Sitting Area
2. Our Bedroom
3. The Bathroom
4. Our Daughter’second Bedroom
5. Our Son’second Bedroom
6. The Upstairs Family Room

We’re lucky to besides take a large upstairs deck, 2 porches, a pool surface area, together with other outdoor spaces that reach us a lot more room to spread out (as well as thank you to it existence dainty outside most year-round hither, they get a lot of purpose!). But every bit for conditioned indoor rooms, those vi spaces are it! We make accept a laundry cupboard in the kitchen as well as a small-scale hallway that joins more or less of the rooms, but those don’t count as actual rooms past whatever criterion I’ve e’er heard of.

Note: a yard hallway with actual piece of furniture in it – similar an entry foyer, tin definitely count equally a room (for example, our terminal house’sec entrance hall had an entry tabular array, a chandelier, as well as ii of its own closets inside that or so 12′ 10 12′ room – and so the real estate listing for that family listed it equally a room in addition to included its measurements).

Speaking of our concluding home, allow’s compare the FOURTEEN rooms we had at that place:

1. The Kitchen
2. The Family Room
3. The Dining Room
4. The Office
5. The Downstairs Bathroom
6. The Foyer
7. Our Bedroom
8. Our Bathroom / Walk-In Closet
9. Our Daughter’s Room
10. Our Son’second Room
11. The Hall Bathroom
12. The Art / Homework Room
13. The Laundry Room
14. The Bonus Room

That’sec a deviation of eight rooms – not including unconditioned spaces – then in that location’sec definitely a noticeable divergence between the 2 houses. A funny side Federal Reserve note is that our Richmond home as well had a GIANT walk-upwardly attic (as big equally the entire outset flooring of the menage), a two-automobile garage, too a large outdoor shed, which are iii other spaces that nosotros don’t take inward our electric current family.

Those three spots could agree a ton of stuff, then along alongside going down past viii rooms, nosotros besides downsized those extra storage spaces! That’second actually something I’one thousand really proud that nosotros could accomplish. We used to have SO MUCH CRAP in the attic and the garage felt like we constantly needed to clean it out.

The Rooms We *Don’t* Missing Having

First, a quick disclaimer: different people plain accept different needs as well as wants from their homes. People ofttimes inquire us virtually “our downsizing journey” (delight say that alongside drama as well as emotion similar every person on Love Island says “our human relationship journeying”) in addition to we’re happy to utter well-nigh how things take gone for us, only nosotros’re the commencement to admit that every human on world will accept dissimilar experiences, opinions, and outcomes.

The betoken of this listing is merely to percentage our thought procedure, which power aid you make up one’s mind what your “must have” spaces are if you’re household hunting, renovating, or possibly merely rethinking the part of a spare room in your menage. And if you lot’re thinking nigh downsizing, this mightiness hand you roughly promise that yous’ll live fine without a [insert room yous’ve always had hither].

Also, nosotros’re non writing this to propose that you lot demolish a sure room or experience bad nigh having it. Lots of these rooms are vital in sure homes as well as households in addition to, fifty-fifty if not, at that place’sec cipher wrong alongside a room simply being “overnice to have” either. Heck, we lived inward our likewise-large-for-us household for 7 years before nosotros made the act hither! So possibly your spare sleeping accommodation is good for resale, that extra pulverisation room was fun to decorate, or that basement gym is cracking for storing l-two boxes of vacation decorations. We definitely filled our attic TO THE GILLS. We have been there too nosotros become it.

When we last got to the place where nosotros were excited (together with then extremely relieved) to downsize, we also knew it would call for just about sacrifices in addition to compromises compared to our previous home. Honestly what this list showed us upon farther reflection is how many of them haven’t felt similar sacrifices in the long work! That actually was the surprise from this hindsight analysis.

Don’t Miss: A Foyer

Longtime followers power live surprised past this because we sometimes bemoaned the lack of a foyer in our start two homes. Both were minor brick ranches where the forepart door opened correct into the living room. So having a proper entryway in our terminal house had felt similar nosotros’d FINALLY MADE IT. We were fancy people amongst a entrance hall!

But looking back on it, that room feels like wasted foursquare footage because nosotros basically never used the front door (nosotros e’er came through the garage) and so the vestibule was but extra space to go through on our way to other rooms. And fifty-fifty though nosotros’re back to that door-swings-right-into-living-surface area scenario hither, it honestly hasn’t bothered us. It’s similar you e’er long for something, finally get it, in addition to realize it’second fine only non a deal-breaker if it went away over again.

It definitely took approximately time to figure out a article of furniture layout that plant around the front door, merely nosotros’re actually happy alongside how it’s turned out. We even accept just about prissy functional storage for coats together with backpacks right when you walk in, cheers to the adjacent laundry cupboard (the kids were at school when we took this photograph, simply their backpacks hang on those lower hooks on the laundry closet door).

Ultimately, patch we however run into the value of a anteroom in approximately homes – even simply for the “fancy ingredient” of having 1 for a prissy dramatic beginning impression – nosotros’ve learned that we’d personally prioritize a functional entryway alongside storage. For example, if given the option between a chiliad open up anteroom or a basic forepart door amongst room for a minor mudroom cupboard or backpack dropzone behind a door, nosotros’d select the latter. In our example, we chose a super hardworking laundry closet together with a nice open up feeling inwards the living expanse instead of boxing out a formal entrance hall.

Don’t Miss: A Laundry Room

Again, this power come up every bit a surprise considering nosotros worked very difficult to create a laundry room from scratch inwards our terminal family (we stole infinite from our unfinished attic). We even went all out amongst a marble backsplash as well as under-cabinet lighting to get in the about tricked-out laundry infinite we’ve e’er owned.

In retrospect, it was definitely more laundry infinite than we needed. Going into it, we pictured LOVING the option to throw haphazard piles of to-live-washed items on the flooring, shut the door, as well as allow it be our trivial muddied underground. Or mayhap enjoying about peace-as well as-serenity spell nosotros folded or ironed apparel inwards here.

But none of that e’er really happened. Clothes never made a pit finish inward hither, apart from fourth dimension spent inwards the actual washer or dryer (they were inwards our hampers before – together with folded on the bed inwards our room after). Maybe if nosotros had more kids, busier sports schedules, or bigger wardrobes (you lot know Sherry loves a minimal cupboard) we’d have constitute ourselves needing this spacious secluded laundry zone at the finish of a long upstairs hallway. But for our family unit, having the laundry and so out-of-sight really ended upward beingness a sticking indicate. We were constantly forgetting nosotros had whatever laundry running because it was at the real end of this long hallway tucked behind a door (inward both one-time houses it was a lot closer to more than bustling areas of our domicile like the kitchen together with nosotros rarely forgot laundry thanks to that proximity).

In many ways, our new laundry setup is ideal for our habits. It’sec right in the middle of the household in a cupboard within our kitchen/downstairs living area, which makes it extremely convenient to everyone’sec bedrooms and it greatly cuts downwardly on forgotten loads. But it’sec still roomy plenty that we accept a counter for pre-treating stains, a basket for wrangling as well-be-washed items that might live on deck for the adjacent charge, in addition to flooring infinite for standing without being totally inward the manner.

And because it’second still behind closed doors, it doesn’t take to be kept pristine AND it cuts downward on the laundry dissonance remarkably well. It’sec funny also to realize that inwards our starting time 2 houses, we solely always had laundry closets or nooks alongside a stackable washer/dryer – as well as never really had a big dedicated room alongside cabinetry in addition to tile and all that jazz like nosotros had inward our last family. But in one case once again, I intend it was a case of “eh, we had it too it was overnice, only we’re merely fine without it.” Basically when you downsize y’all pick out your priorities too your home tin’t have everything because so it would simply be huge.

Don’t Miss: The Dining Room

This in all likelihood comes equally no surprise to near people, considering how much “formal” dining rooms take fallen out of favor alongside many families. We as well spoke frequently near how rarely nosotros used this room. We unremarkably ate family dinners at our kitchen island, then this was generally simply a dumping earth for packages as well as to-be-dealt-alongside boxes that nosotros occasionally cleaned upwards if guests were coming over.

Now we solely accept ane indoor dining spot: the tabular array in our kitchen (which tin can place as many as viii people if nosotros force it out, which we’ve done quite a few times). As a family unit, we accept learned that we MUCH prefer eating at a tabular array facing each other, and then this is a big improvement from sitting on higher stools all staring out inwards a line of work at our former kitchen isle.

One obvious downside to this is that it’sec a far yell from a “formal” setup, and so if y’all honey hosting dinner parties, this mightiness non suffice. We’ve never been big formal entertainers (we similar a casual set up-out-the-chips-together with-salsa game nighttime or an club-pizza-or-BBQ-burgers dinner political party), and so it wasn’t a business organization to ditch our dining room. These days if nosotros have people over, nosotros tend to gather exterior anyways. We oftentimes consume out past the pool, where nosotros take a overnice large table amongst an umbrella that likewise seats viii.

Don’t Miss: The Bonus Room

As the advert implies, this room was “extra” infinite inwards our final home that nosotros created past finishing the attic over our garage. After our kitchen, it was the biggest room inwards the menage and it acted as a flick/TV room + playroom + crafting infinite. So it’sec funny to intend such a multifunctional room falls into the “don’t miss” category. But wait – at that place is a clear reason why we don’t girl it that we’ll become to in a minute.

Converting this unfinished infinite on our moment floor into conditioned usable square footage was partly because it only made sense for the home (it already had HVAC set, and so all it really needed was drywall to be a functional room – summation nosotros nevertheless had a total unfinished walk-upward attic on the 3rd flooring for storage). And making this a bonus room appealed to us because nosotros thought a secondary living infinite that was designed amongst the kids inwards mind would be dainty. You know, a fun infinite to corral everyone’s kids when we had people over, a room that could live messy upstairs simply you merely ignore it downstairs, as well as a topographic point for cozy family unit motion picture nights.

Funnily enough, the reasons nosotros liked that bonus room are the really same reasons we beloved our family unit room inward this smaller home! It’s an upstairs secondary living infinite that’second designed alongside our kids in listen, then they tin go out it messy, hang out alongside their friends while the adults hang out downstairs, together with we can all pile inwards for a family pic dark. Note: nosotros count our small-scale downstairs sitting surface area & kitchen equally our master living infinite because we all pass even more than fourth dimension in that eating/cooking/hangout zone downstairs than we do upwardly hither, simply it’sec pretty shut. Six rooms = yous role them all, a lot.

Layout tip: inward a minor menage, having ii big living spaces that aren’t correct adjacent to each other is really what makes this family feel like it lives LARGE. We routinely have a ton of kids up hither hanging out and all of the adults downstairs relaxing inward the kitchen/sitting surface area, too cheers to one being an entire flooring higher up the other, the kids don’t hear every convo nosotros take downstairs, in addition to we don’t listen whatsoever picture they’re watching or game they’re playing. It is groovy.

Just like our final household’sec bonus room, our upstairs family room here has a TV, an art desk, together with open up floor space for games & crafts. Things accept changed a scrap instantly that our kids are older (we added that bonus room half dozen years agone), then nosotros don’t experience blocks in addition to stuffed animals all over the flooring like earlier. But this room even so sees its fair portion of messes inwards the form of crafting explosions or board game marathons – all of which terminate upwards on the flooring – which is another argue we’re glad it’s upstairs too out of sight. Just like our one-time bonus room!

So inwards the terminate, the reason nosotros don’t missy the “bonus room” room is that we all the same classify of take it, merely past some other mention. And ours plant even harder hither because it as well has an office infinite tucked into it. Speaking of which…

Missed It At First: The Office

As two people who go from abode, i business concern when buying this menage was not having a dedicated room for a dwelling house part. In our concluding family nosotros had converted the formal living room into a big workspace for both of us, so nosotros knew that downsizing to a room without a dedicated domicile role was going to live a large change.

The divergence felt especially challenging right subsequently we moved, thanks to COVID throwing virtual learning onto our plates. For an entire year, all four of us ate most every meal at abode, worked & did schoolhouse 5 days a calendar week from this household, etc. I mean: zippo puts a menage to the examination like that. And I’thousand happy to report that nosotros made it run, simply it definitely wasn’t the nigh productive time of our lives (I’one thousand sure lots of people would say the same affair). This was the setup right later on nosotros moved. It was… non ideal.

The funny thing is that it wasn’t all that unlike from what we had going on in our last menage’second domicile office (those 2 tiny chairs were the kids desk and the floating desk nigh four feet away was Sherry’second).

… simply amongst kids at habitation all 24-hour interval long trying to do schoolhouse piece nosotros attempted to go. Yeah, you lot guys know what that’s like. Thankfully, that wasn’t the setup for long – too many days actually looked similar me inwards the bedchamber on a run phone call alongside the kids upstairs doing schoolhouse (or i/both of them in their ain rooms and so they could focus a piddling more on something), together with Sherry working downward at the kitchen table or locked in our bedroom for a differently timed zoom coming together or conference call.

Things got much ameliorate as the room evolved together with the kids went back to school, as well as the desk space nosotros carved out is hands downwards my favorite “dwelling function” I’ve ever worked from (I’thousand typing from hither right forthwith together with I accept the whole room to myself!). You simply tin can’t shell all that natural low-cal and the thought out of that big window.

I’ve besides switched dorsum to a laptop and so I tin can work outside on the upstairs deck (which I do often) or fifty-fifty on the kitchen porch, similar y’all see below.

Meanwhile, Sherry typically works downstairs at the kitchen tabular array or even outside by the puddle alongside her laptop, and so inward 2.5 years we definitely have figured out what industrial plant for us too honey having such a flexible setup. It is occasionally inconvenient non having a dedicated, tranquillity infinite for work (similar during the summer when the kids are home), simply we never had a door on our onetime function, and so nosotros’re no strangers to being interrupted by kids or visitors. And merely similar we did in our final family – if we postulate a fully quiet infinite nosotros but take the laptop into our sleeping accommodation too close the door. We fifty-fifty take a table inwards in that location past the fireplace, and then it’second not a bad setup.

Do Not Miss: The Garage

Sherry in addition to I debated where to position the garage on this list because every in one case inwards a spell I mean of a garage fondly, only due to how convenient it was, merely I’ll explain why nosotros ultimately both voted: don’t young woman. Sherry has an actual hatred for our last garage in addition to is then glad nosotros don’t have i anymore only due to how much fourth dimension we spent cleaning it out too dealing with it beingness total of crap all the fourth dimension, then it wasn’t a surprise that she voted that fashion. But my feelings were a flake more layered.

We’re more often than not rattling tidy, organized people. But for or so reason, garages, sheds, attics, etc take ever been our Kryptonite. Our Monica’sec Closet, if yous volition. Every single fourth dimension nosotros spent days cleaning and organizing it together with promised ourselves nosotros wouldn’t permit it get that bad once more… it did. So the argue we don’t fille a garage is just that nosotros’re extremely grateful we are no longer inward that super frustrating loop of non keeping our hope to ourselves as well as spending nonetheless some other weekend cleaning the freaking garage.

Not having a garage or a garage-like infinite has really forced us into much better habits. We bargain with boxes together with to-live-donated material right away (out to the motorcar it goes). We don’t collect secondhand article of furniture amongst every bit much abandon (Sherry’second yet a fan of the curbside notice, but exclusively if we immediately take a involve/topographic point for it). And not having a garage has spared us from having to dedicate weekends to large garage make clean-outs and, more importantly, the full general shame we constantly felt almost the country of our garage. It was an everyday sticking betoken that we never solved. And now, we’ve solved it by not having 1.

The elementary argue I really occasionally look dorsum on a garage fondly is that it’second squeamish to take a covered enclosed infinite to shop things similar bikes together with our car. Here I actually only would similar it for cycle storage. Our machine is out inward the open as well as it’sec completely fine, simply we function bikes hither much more than than nosotros did in Virginia, in addition to having a wet place from them sitting out isn’t amazing (weirdly, it’sec how basically everyone stores their bikes hither: all lined upward exterior). It would be simple enough to brand a covered little alcove for our bikes somewhere in the M with a big piece of can on posts or something. Even easier, I but discovered these wheel seat covers – together with our seats aren’t moisture anymore. So I intend Sherry is 100% correct. We cannot be trusted not to fill a garage with crap. We accept unlocked entire weekends spent at the beach & our puddle that otherwise would take been spent cleaning a garage if we had 1. So I’thousand certain that in the long function it’second a win for us not to accept 1.

But lest you intend we’re fully cured… we DO accept a modest shed on the side of our house that we function for tools, chiliad equipment, together with other miscellaneous material. It’s well-nigh the size of a port-o-potty, and then we tin’t really material tons of things within… merely I’one thousand exclusively showing yous the exterior of it because – TRUE TO FORM! – it’sec currently a mess inside.

Sometimes Miss: Our Ensuite Bathroom

This may come as a surprise since we’ve lay our plans to add together a second bath to this family on indefinite concord (we just don’t experience squeezed for one at all all the same – too embarking on an expensive reno when the current setup has worked fine for years directly only doesn’t feel like the best purpose of money or time). So spell nosotros actually don’t missy having an ensuite bathroom, nosotros but sometimes young woman THIS specific bathroom from our last family.

And I think that’sec by and large because we didn’t accept much time to bask the finished production earlier we moved. We gleefully finished the bath together with entirely got to savour it for almost three months before nosotros had a Florida aught code.

The timing certainly wasn’t perfect, but it was a pocket-sized casualty for making the more than rewarding lifestyle change of downsizing to a warmer in addition to more walkable home nearly the beach. Looking dorsum at those photos, I think nosotros simply wishing nosotros had renovated the bath MUCH SOONER (we lived inward this menage for 7 years, nearly all of which were spent alongside the unrenovated bathroom that you lot see inward the before photos hither).

The Trade-Offs Of Downsizing

Missing that chiliad bathroom of yore is a prime example of reminding ourselves that we made intentional merchandise-offs by downsizing. Yes, nosotros no longer accept a large fancy marble bathroom. Instead, nosotros have this beautiful infinite to have an open up-air shower in the sunlight (together with an actual indoor shower likewise). True level: nosotros all shower outside around 90% of the yr – it’s our favorite spot with the sun streaming downwards and a whole lotta plants.

Actually, a ton of downsizing is just trading something for something else. We live a few blocks from the beach (nosotros tin walk at that place in iii minutes!) just we all percentage a bath. We don’t take a garage, merely we have a big instant-floor deck upward inwards the trees. Our kitchen is almost one/three the size of the ane at our final household, simply in that location’s a grocery store, restaurants, in addition to water ice cream shops within walking distance. Our net isn’t ever reliable (seriously it’second sloth-ho-hum sometimes) but nosotros have a pool that nosotros can swim inwards twelvemonth-circular together with a firepit for s’mores. We accept a lot less square footage than nosotros used to, only it’s easier to make clean too more affordable to heat & cool. You tin can read more about the entire process of downsizing (it wasn’t all roses!) too that whole tradeoff concept hither on our nigh page.

And if you’d like to read other posts we’ve shared near downsizing over the final ii.five years, these are packed with info:

• How we organized our much smaller kitchen
• What furniture & dwelling house items nosotros nonetheless take ii.5 years afterward downsizing
• Seven smart storage pieces that we rely on every solar day
• The realities of downsizing: a total written report later on half-dozen months
• A podcast nearly precisely how we approached downsizing our stuff
• A post all most why nosotros decided to downsize & act to a smaller home by the beach
• A podcast about our 2019 summer of living inward our smaller pink beach house & how it changed us
• A podcast interview inwards 2018 with Shavonda almost what it’s actually similar to downsize
• A podcast interview alongside Dana Miller most downsizing (our wheels were turning for years virtually this concept!)

Also, if you take whatever questions almost wall colors or where nosotros got sure items inward the photos within this mail, this mail has all the beginning information for our current house, and this postal service has all the rootage info almost our terminal home.

Sumber https://www.younghouselove.com/