Two great examples

More and more people are looking for ways to stretch space and resources. For some, it's a necessity. For others, it's a reaction to the empty nest. For still others, it's a quest for simplicity. And there's no reason living small has to mean not living well. Comfort and aesthetics are thoroughly compatible with a compact home. Limitation often breeds invention.

ENLARGE IMAGE
Margot Hartford
The front door opens to the central living-dining space, which is flanked by the garage and the bedroom.

Strategies for living in the not-so-big house
By Lawrence W. Cheek

What do you do when your life no longer fills the space you live in, or the space asks too much of your life? You look for alternatives – a smaller condo, cabin, or cottage that's better shaped to fit your functional, economic, and psychological needs.

A move to a smaller space needn't mean scaling down your dreams. Think of downsizing as an opportunity to accomplish at least these three things:

• You can live in a more stimulating or more scenic place – a condo in the hubbub of downtown Seattle or a quiet retreat among the red rocks of Sedona.

• You can liquidate clutter, both among your furnishings and on your daily to-do list. The smaller the space, the less maintenance it should require.

• You can enhance your satisfaction with your surroundings. Architect Sarah Susanka, whose 1998 book The Not So Big House (Taunton Press) has sold more than 250,000 copies and spawned the recent sequel Creating the Not So Big House, believes that many people have a "starter castle" complex – they're obsessed with "the notion that houses should be designed to impress rather than to nurture." Susanka argues that houses can be small, beautiful, and richly detailed, and that these qualities are more rewarding to the spirit than mere size.

Some recommendations
Orchestrating a domestic downsizing isn't easy. It involves tough choices, compromises, and an inquiry into personal values. Here are some recommendations.

1. Project your lifestyle ahead into the smaller space. What will you have to give up that's important to you, and is there a way to adapt? For example, the pleasure of backyard gardening could translate to container gardening on a condo deck, cultivating bonsai in a sunroom, or even growing herbs in the kitchen.

2. You'll obviously have to give or throw things away, but these decisions can sprawl over some reflective time. "I allowed myself the luxury of not getting rid of everything at once," says Susan Olwell, who with her husband, Dave, downsized from a 3,300-square-foot house near Seattle to a 2,200-square-foot duplex. "I put a lot of things in storage, and I've gotten rid of them over a year."

3. Recognize that you've outgrown some habits and obligations. Chuck Gulick, a retired Albuquerque engineer, shrank a 2,700-square-foot household into a 660-square-foot apartment. "The break with my large flower and vegetable garden was clean, but it had become more of a chore and I was ready to let it go," he says.

4. If there are two or more of you, personal and private space remains essential. Each person doesn't have to own an entire room; it can be an intimate alcove or a retreat carved out of an attic. It can be visually implied with a screen. But the smaller the dwelling, the more important the preservation of private space.

5. Unless you're a determined hermit, create a way for family and friends to stay with you. A futon, sofa bed, or Murphy bed is a modest investment in welcoming guests, and it can go in a room that otherwise serves as a study or home office.

6. Learn about the visual strategies that make small spaces seem larger: mirrored walls, an open flow from room to room, varied qualities of light, and big windows or French doors that open to views or outdoor living spaces.

7. If you still have misgivings about moving into what seems like a confining space, try thinking of it as an investment in time, not in place. The more we get rid of clutter and its maintenance, the more we gain in time – our one truly nonrenewable resource.

The best advice was written more than 120 years ago by William Morris, the English designer and philosopher, who pointed a way out of the rat's nest of Victorian agglomeration: "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."