apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

it was overall a great experience...the focus was on making a space functional for how we actually live, not how a space should be furninshed.

good excuse to sell unwanted wedding gifts at a garage sale too

I moved from a 1200 square foot house to a 630 square foot apartment, and I did really have to start from scratch, selling the huge desks and giant sofas and recliners that had been comfortably filling space.

I find it kind of interesting that in two of these (presumably?) small space photos, you see some Eamesy lounge chairs ... this was something I absolutely had to get rid of because it overwhelmed the space and just didn't fit.

We just downsized from 1400 to 1000. It was a good move: less money and much better location. however, the apartment needs major therapy, but that will come in time. We are 2 adults and 1 dog. the old place had 3 bedrooms and we really did not need it. I've found that I wish I did a better job with throwing out/recycling our stuff before moving it. We would have saved time and money with the movers. The favorite part for me now and going through and deciding what we really LOVE as opposed to "we've been carry this around for 20 years, lets just keep it". In a smaller space you are almost forced to look at your stuff and see whats needed.

I love downsizing. It's such a refreshing experience to limit yourself to high-quality, high-function stuff.

We are doing this on Saturday. We are moving our family of four plus one dog and one cat from a 3 bedroom 14oo sq.ft. house with a fenced yard and a garage to a 2 bedroom 1000 sq.ft. townhouse so we can live in downtown. I am very excited since it has felt really great to get rid of a lot of the dead weight we seemed to carry around. Thanks to craigslist, we have made a little cash and passed on some things we no longer needed. I have also been forced to get much more organized which is great. Now when we move in I just have to keep from buying a bunch of new things.

We just went from 850 to 650ish,(and 1300 miles to get there), and for us there was no question: we ditched everything save the piano, a small antique desk, an 11 foot long solid oak (made by me) table, and the bed. The books, cds, computers, and some art and clothing came too, but only after the biggest possible purge. We took the basics with the intention of building on what we have, and only adding pieces that we love and that will last (hence as I mentioned in another post, the beach chairs and cooler as LR furniture for the time being:-))

I downsized from 1500 sf to about 450 sf last year. In my larger apartment, I never had enough stuff to really fill out all that space, so it was a relief to go smaller.

@TVsJessica - I have an Eames-style chair in my small home, and it fits perfectly. I think it depends on the dimensions of your room and how to lay it out as to what can and cannot fit.

We have down sized! Just last week actually... Let me take you back... We moved from Tempe AZ where we had lived in a 900sqft condo to Indiana where we built a 4000sqft home. Last year my husband was transferred for work to Denver where we purchased a 2500sqft home. He was relocated AGAIN less than a year later so now we are renting (I don't want to sell another house in a year!) to a 1500sqft flat in Chicago. I have come to the conclusion that it doesn't matter the AMOUNT of space, just how we USE the space.

We have two small boys who now share a room and keep all their toys (for the most part) in there. Once our house is all settled, I will have to take note of what we have gotten rid of. As of right now it is TOYS, an entertainment center, and a super nice whirlpool duet washer dryer (that made me a bit sad).

I've been living in big apartments with roommates and I'm in the process of moving into 630 sq ft with my boyfriend. It will be a challenge, but I'm looking forward to finding all the ways I can creatively use the space we have. The Small Cool entries have been a great inspiration.

We are downsizing right now from a large 4 bedroom with den home to a 1 bedroom that will be easy to take care of. Deciding what to bring gets us bogged down at times but after many carloads to Goodwill, I realize the less I have the less I want. So we have decided to move with as little as possible and to look at the new place with fresh eyes. We are selling everything - from rugs, to antiques,paintings, and tvs, to barely used expensive items from Crate and Barrel. We live in the DC metro area and it is just as fun to help others looking for good quality things and is it for us to look for them!

I love the trim work in the second picture. Thas really really my style...

I took the clothes on my back, an overnight bag, and my scores. One of the difficulties was the fact that my then partner (spouse now) came with a lot of stuff and I came with almost nothing and was still crowded out by someone else's stuff. Lest I became bitter, we've been able to purge the excess on one side and allow a few important pieces on my side. It's working out.

I downsized 2 and a half years ago from a 3 bdrm townhouse with basement to a 1 bdrm apartment with little storage. It took me a good 2 years to fully transition. I initially reduced by two thirds, but had to have some stuff in storage until I reduced further. I taught art and had more teaching and art making supplies than anything else. I took the time to find good homes for things and made a little money selling. Now that I am organized and have only what I need and love I am quite content. It helps to be in a beautiful location with access to nature and activities when your living space is small.

TVsJessica I just downsized from 3 bds 1200sqft to 600 sqft and agree with you on the Eames lounge and ottoman. I had to get rid of mine because it overwhelmed the new living room and when your sitting back in it reclining, it takes more space.

A year and a half ago I bought a 650sqft house. Unfortunately, I bought all my furniture while living in a space twice that size. I don't want to get rid of my furniture since I like it and it is still pretty new (3 years old), but I'm kind of at a loss as to how to fit it into the space. My furniture is very small scale, but in the tiny 10x10 rooms it takes up a ridiculous amount of space. Obviously, some items I have to have...like a couch, a bed, and a dining room table. But I also have a media console, nightstand, dresser, buffet, desk, and bookcases.

My preference would be to get rid of almost all my furniture and rely on wall mounted shelves and my two tiny closets for all my storage needs. I think that if I reclaimed most of the floorspace taken up by my furniture, my house would feel much more relaxing. I never fully understood how much of a burden my belongings could be until I moved into a small space. Two more things that really suck about living in a small space...my washer and dryer are outside which means they get covered in dirt, and my bathroom is so small the toilet, sink, and tub are smaller than standard.

I know I probably sound whiny, plenty of people live in much smaller spaces and I should be happy that I even have a tub, washer and dryer. But I'm just being honest. Living in a smaller space than you are used to requires a lot of adjustment. 1.5 years later I still haven't figured it out. It bothers me everyday. I really don't enjoy coming home to my house. It's affected me to the point where I don't buy much of anything just because I don't want to have to find space for it.

My house is almost 100 years old, and I suspect that for the time it was built it wasn't as dramatically small as it seems today. People likely had fewer possessions, no entertainment centers, fewer appliances etc. I guess my challenge is in trying to fit a 21st century life into an early 20th century space.

I love the idea of my house so much. It's old, it's got character, it's solid. But the reality, so much different than I expected.

Sorry for the novel, I probably sounded whiny and privileged, but I guess my point is that our space has a very real psychological affect on us and I was completely unprepared for how downsizing could become such a huge burden.

We downsized almost a year ago from living in our 1200 sq ft house with 2 storage rooms and carport (and I'm a pack rat) in Alabama to a beachfront 1,000 sq ft condo in South Florida with a tee-tiny storage room downstairs. Well worth it! I moved first so my hubby was in Alabama packing with friends so to this day I'm still realizing things they gave away like "have you seen my white dishes my mom gave me?" No one seems to have a clue where they vanished...he can't seem to find his fave Chuck Taylors so I guess we're even?!?

I've done this several times, most recently about 15 years ago, from a 2 to 1 bedroom apartment. It helped me to ditch a lot of things I would have kept otherwise. I went in the other direction back to a 2 bedroom after about 5 years and it's pretty full now :-(( but I own it so I am not moving again. I think it's been one of the most interesting things about owning is knowing that you have to regularly purge without moving!

we downsized last summer from an 1100 sq ft loft in minneapolis, to a 725 sq ft apt in san francisco. we purged a lot prior to our move, but still needed to get rid of stuff.

we're moving to hong kong in 6 weeks and have decided to take our bed (thats the one thing i don't want to have to shop for immediately), a bookcase and a few other basics. the rest we'll just get when we get there simply b/c we have no idea what size apartment we'll find or if anything comes furnished.

i'm excited about getting rid of it all and starting fresh. craigslist and freecycle are becoming my new best friends.

My 2 dogs and I just moved from a 1,275 sq. ft. house to a 775 sq. ft. bungalow (temporary quarters). As long as you purge well beforehand, it's totally do-able. Luckily, my furniture was the right scale for the smaller place; if not, I would have definitely started from scratch.

I downsized last fall, when I moved out of a (roughly) 450sf, 2bdrm apartment I shared with my then boyfriend. I got a cute little studio, which is about 340sf, with nothing but a case study daybed (which was our couch), coffee table, and a marble bistro table, and a bunch of boxes. Since then I have accumulated furniture that fit with the layout of my apartment. Now I'm moving again - to a charming but tiny 300sf studio in Manhattan. I've sold the daybed and coffee table and plan to buy something new, sort of a fresh start. I'm a little concerned about how my stuff will fit into a smaller space, but also a little intrigued by the challenging of arranging my things, since they were all purchased to fit my current space. I'll definitely be consulting Apartment Therapy's Small Cool entries from the past!

We are in the process of downsizing from our 2000 sqft/3 bdr home w/garage & bsmt to a one bedroom fifth-wheel trailer (about 240 sqft). Obviously, this is quite different than simply moving into a smaller house - as the trailer has all the furniture built in and we have absolutely no space to bring any pieces with us. We are selling the furniture and boxing up the few possessions we're allowing ourselves to store. It's an absolutely thrilling process for us and I agree with the commenter above that the less we have, the less we seem to want. Plus the freedom of being able to live anywhere is absolutely worth it.

I was not happy. My company hired movers and they pretty much dumped everything in wherever they could fit it. I couldn't walk in my apartment for months without moving boxes over. I cried a lot.

We downsized from 1000sq ft to 800sq ft when we moved to the Northeast. We foolishly moved (at our expense) most of our items only to end up donating most of them.

Yesterday I spent the entire day in my fifth grade classroom, downsizing. The purging provided therapy, and the outcome is a calmer haven for 28 students.

I've actually moved into a bigger place, but with half the closet space. Amazingly enough, I loved going through my closet and packing things off for consignment!

I'm not sure how big my last apartment was, but it was definitely larger than the 625 sq ft condo I bought a year and a half ago. I have a tendency to be a pack rat and it took me about two months to go through, and purge, most of the junk I had accumulated in the 11 years I lived in the apartment. It was an exhausting exercise but I think it cured me of my clutter habit. I got rid of most of my furniture (gave away whatever I could) and bought new pieces that have extra storage and now, in a smaller space I have excess storage because I have less crap. My condo (somewhat of a loft, in that it's very open) is very well designed so it doesn't feel claustrophobic. Downsizing worked well for me.

Downsized to 400 sq. ft., actually love living a "only stuff we need" existence. No more accumulating useless items. A big plus, it saves us heaps of money!!

such great posts! i wanted to buy something and stop renting but the only thing i could afford was a studio and i was worried it would be too small but it is not. i love it. who needs piles and piles of material possesions? fewer quality items are sufficient to me. most of the posts were really inspiring! thanks AT community :)

I've found that the joy I experience when I get rid of something I don't need and the joy I feel when I acquire something new are one and the same.

Downsizing to fit into an RV was the most freeing thing I have ever done. I even wrote an ebook about my journey from packrat to full-time RVer (available through my blog) which has inspired many readers to declutter if not downsize their own lives. My last 'stick house' was about 1,000 square feet and it was packed to the gills with stuff I barely used that only served to fill space I didn't use. What a waste of energy and money! Now, I have just enough square footage to not feel cramped (about 200) and all the possessions I need.

littlepaperheart, it sounds like you literally have a little paper heart! Buck up. Study the smallest coolest entries for the ways they make it work. Capitalize on your outside space. Purge. Do you really need a dining table, or would you be better served with something that could tuck away, double as a desk, have storage underneath.... come on, you're on AT, it sounds like you're not even trying! If you hate your home you will never be happy in anything, you're right that "space has a very real psychological affect." If your things are a burden, clear them out! I lived with my boyfriend and our dog in 600sq ft and we loved out little place, because we worked at making it pleasant. Even if you can't afford to make major changes, splash your favorite color on a wall and donate some clothes out of your packed closet to charity. I hate to sound like such a cheerleader but really, if you try to love it it can get better! If nothing else, spend a couple hours reading the smallest coolest entries and see if anything can help, don't wallow in self-pity.

Also, if you love it but it doesn't fit, you know you don't really love it.... Loan it to a friend until you get a bigger place, store it somewhere, or sell it and get more appropriate stuff.

I went from 2600 sq ft with 3 car garage to 525 sq feet with on street parking.

I gave away everything I could to friends who needed the items (they'd just bought a new home and have 4 kids). The remainder went to goodwill. Honestly I still have too many things and should purge again.

The thing I enjoyed most was matching items I loved with friends I knew who would love, need and welcome them.

about six years ago we moved from a 1500 sq. ft. space to a 680 sq. ft. space. we had to sell almost all our furniture, including a large dining room set that sat 8. Also sold or gave away almost 1000 books and my wife had to part with a ton of shoes, boots, & coats. we've managed quite well for the most part. we changed our furniture style and especially our overall perspective about living and consuming. With three tiny 1920s closets in the entire space, my wife now has to throw out something before she buys clothes or shoes. same thing with books, furniture, dvds, etc. we sometimes talk about our old furniture, esp. our couch & old dining room set (really nice pieces that were also a wedding gift) & my wife sometimes gets upset about the closet space but we overall we live quite well & like the new perspective we've acquired from living small.

littlepaperheart as you get older you will realize how little you really need to enjoy your life. AT offers some great examples of people liberated of their things and managing to live in beautiful efficient homes. Start taking inventory of what you really use and what is wasting valuable space. I think you will be surprised by how happy you are when the items in your home serve purpose or are truly special and deserve to be in your home.

My spouse accepted a job offer and our family- 3 little girls and a poodle- moved from a country ranch house with acreage to a South Beach art deco era condo. The process of eliminating most of our possessions was liberating, and I do not miss anything I used to own. In our home, we have only things that we absolutely love and need...I am actually proud that our family of 5 shares 1 very orderly closet!

@littlepaperheart
As the others have said, just free yourself from your things. Do it! I did, and though it was hard, it really does feel better...lighter.
I was stuck before purging b/c I thought that it had to be all or nothing, ie: Either throw EVEYTHING out, or if I was going to keep "x", then I had to keep "y", which turned into not being able to throw out anything, thereby becoming overwhelmed. But in the end I just went for it, kept things that really are special; and there is nothing that I miss.

We went from 4 bedrooms, basement, garage, big lot, to 700 sq ft on a tiny lot, no basement, small attic, and we park on the street. I love it. Housework in done in half an hour. One rule I set myself during the transition was: no rented storage. All the excess was either sold or donated. Painful painful painful, but now I see how witless it was all those years to accumulate so much STUFF. I don't miss any of it one bit, can't even remember half of it. It also helped that a couple of years ago I helped a friend sort out the house of her ancient auntie who had died. This lady had lived in the same huge house for many decades. Never threw anything out. Ever. We had to rent a dumpster. I hope never to burden my dear nephew with work like that when I toddle off.