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Name:

Hani & Andrew

Location:

New York, NY

Square Feet:

440

Division:

Tiny

What I Love About My Small Home:

We love the organic modern feel and our art, including a prized secret ceramic glaze recipe from our dear friends at KleinReid. The built-in shelving connects to two distinct living areas -- we especially love the vintage jar collection that we use for our pantry to elegantly extend the tiny kitchen into the dining area while the opposite wall is filled with books and functional items and connects into the living area. For dense city living, we're also lucky to have an incredible view of a brick wall covered in Boston ivy that changes fiery red in the autumn, instead of facing another apartment window or an alley. We love the live "tree-light art" that we wake up to in the morning on the balcony doors, and enjoy our six distinct living spaces all within one rectangular room: dining room, living room, bedroom, kitchen bar and workspace, a cozy reading chair, and a balcony cafe.

Boston temperatures reached the 80s last week, but I've yet to break out the sundresses and put away the coats. The warm weather wear is still in the basement, while my puffy jackets are taking up space in the closet. I'm making myself tackle the change this weekend, but what motivates you to switch your clothes out for the season?

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Name:

Garrett

Location:

New York, NY

Square Feet:

340

Division:

Teeny-Tiny

What I Love About My Small Home:

I love how I can clean the whole apartment in a few hours. Everything has a place, and everything is in reach. It feels really manageable for a young person living in the city. I get to see and use everything that I love every day; nothing is shut away in an unused space.

My friend Britt recently agonized over choosing between the sofa of her dreams, which was beyond her budget, and a sofa that she liked well enough that also had the benefit of being affordable. She asked for my advice.

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Name:

Julia

Location:

Philadelphia, PA

Square Feet:

550

Division:

Tiny

What I Love About My Small Home:

My home is the perfect size for a live/work, solo artist space. I have designed it such that I wake up surrounded by my imagery and mind-escapes that motivate the creative process. I wake up, make coffee, tea, do yoga, and set to work at the long work tables against the window. In the evening I can entertain friends and show curators, interior designers, and art directors my work in my small kitchen area.

I love that I can only collect and house what is most necessary -- nothing beyond the art, the basics, and the small items I have accumulated through my travels and from friends that mean the most.

Spring showers and abundant sunshine bring beautiful green grass ... and that grass is going to have to be mowed. Small yards are ideal for old fashioned reel mowers, which rely on blades powered by your own energy. Reel mowers are smaller than bulky gas and electric mowers and you can pretend it's the 1950's while you push one around.

In a small space, a dining room table that seats more than two can easily make the "we can do without" list.  If, however, you enjoy entertaining, it becomes far more valuable. 

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Name:

Leah

Location:

San Francisco, CA

Square Feet:

400

Division:

Teeny-Tiny

What I Love About My Small Home:

I have never before loved a place I've lived in like I love this apartment. I wanted to create a space that was delightful, organized, and expressive of who I am. I draw comics, and designed my home to feel like i was in my own strip. The bedroom designed to be a Night scene, with a light up moon, and the living room a day scene, with sky, green-grass carpet, and cloud lamps. I wanted to to use almost exclusively reused items/material in my home instead of buying new mass produced items. I asked designer and furniture builder Aaron Kllc to help me furnish and decorate. The bed, hutch, and dining table were all made out of reclaimed wood. The dining table was made out of an old drafting table and a vintage piece of burl wood.

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Name:

Laura

Location:

New York, NY

Square Feet:

450

Division:

Tiny

What I Love About My Small Home:

It’s efficient! We’ve squeezed two adults and a small dog into our tiny apartment. The separation of space with the upstairs and downstairs is what makes the space work for us. The two separate floors (and two 3-piece bathrooms!) make our apartment “live” like it’s much larger than 450 square feet; they give us a nice level of privacy when we’re there together as well as when we have overnight guests from time to time. Even though our space is small, we can host cocktail parties for eight downstairs in the living area or dinner parties for five upstairs in the kitchen/dining room. Fortunately, most of our favorite used pieces of furniture from Washington, D.C. and Chicago were small and able to fit. We’ve been able to add a few select pieces from New York, too, such as the small cabinet in the kitchen that Nick found on the curb shortly after we moved in.