When I talk about small spaces on Re-Nest, I'm usually singing their praises: Efficient! Minimal! Carbon light! Inspirational! But if I'm being totally honest, every once in a while the exasperated imp inside me pipes out her real opinion: Cramped! Limiting! Frustrating! The fact is that a large majority of people live in tiny spaces not because they choose to, but because they can't afford anything larger. And it doesn't have to be McMansion large; even a few extra feet can mean the difference between carrying a sofa up the stairs into your 2nd floor apartment, or having to haul it in through the window. (Wait, you haven't heard that story? Oh, it's a good one... if by "good" I mean totally traumatizing and the very best example of why I should never be in charge of measuring anything ever again.)
So how do you avoid those vexing spacial problems—mattresses that won't fit through bedroom door frames, for example, or dining tables that leave no room for dining chairs. Here are a few things I've learned along the [challenging, humbling, infuriating] road to small space living:
1. Don't Let Your Optimism [Read: Fantasy] Get In The Way of Reality
The sofa that went through our window? It was the Petrie sofa from Crate & Barrel—that much-loved, ubiquitous mid-century-inspired sofa. I loved this sofa. I hadn't planned on getting it in cream because I thought it'd be too hard to keep clean (and lo and behold, it absolutely was, even without pets or kids). But when I found a gently-used version of the Petrie on Craigslist, in cream, I overlooked that fact because a) it was pretty, and b) it was available! So I deviated from what I'd originally wanted, which ideally would have been something less panic-inducing when anyone sat down with a glass of red wine. I also overlooked the fact that this sofa was actually quite large. Which leads me to my next point...
2. Don't Let a Good Price Get in the Way of Reality
I also hadn't planned on getting the Petrie in the full 86" size. I was going to go for the smaller 76" apartment size. But there weren't any 76" Petrie sofas on Craigslist at that time, and here was one that was in great shape and at a great price. Did it matter in that moment that the staircase leading up to our 2nd floor apartment had a very narrow landing? Nope. Did it matter in that moment that it was very unlikely that sofa would be able to clear the corner in the stairwell? Nope. I was blind to the impending complications. I was simply thinking, this is too good an opportunity to pass up!
3. Measure. Measure Again. Find Someone Else To Measure. Have Them Measure Again
As my father-in-law says, "measure twice, cut once." Another way to say this is: "Measure twice, believe the results, and Step. Away. From. The. Sofa." It's absolutely vital in a small space to know the dimensions you're working with. Save yourself from future heartbreak and sketch out your room's measurements or use one of these online floor planning tools. Carry those measurements around with you, in case you come across something at a store or flea market. Better to know immediately if something won't work than to go to all that effort and expense. Don't forget to measure the width and height of door frames, staircases, landings, and hallways.
4. Wait For It...! That's It. Just Wait For It
Living in a small space means constantly balancing your desire for something and your need for something. This means fighting impulse purchases and instead finding what works best for you and for your space. It means saving up. It means having patience. It means forgoing instant gratification until you find the right piece in the right size for the right price.
* * *
This past Sunday we sold our Petrie sofa, and it went out the same way it came in: through the window. It's pretty terrifying to be on the receiving end of a 7' sofa being hoisted out of a 2nd story window. You just hope and pray that the rope holds, and that you don't fall off the ladder. We have a new sofa arriving tomorrow. It's smaller than the Petrie, but there is some concern that it still might not fit up the stairs. My husband has a stricken look on his face every time I bring it up.
But I have a good feeling about this one.
Except we know where that got me last time...
(Image: Cambria Bold)
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One option that my friends used recently when moving into a large apartment with a narrow entryway is there is a service called i believe "the furniture doctor" where they will remove the apholstery, saw the couch in half, move the furniture into the apartment, and reattach the wood and apholstery, and the finished result is undetectable. It's not cheap, but if you are moving apartments and you need to keep your big couch, it's an option.
Infomofo, for awhile when our sofa was stuck on the landing (it wouldn't go up and it wouldn't go down) we thought we were going to have to do that. We even made an appointment, but then managed to finagle the sofa back downstairs before the appointment, and so avoided the horror of watching our sofa being cut in half. And it would have set us back $400.
About a month ago I saw two guys trying to lower a sofa out a (high) 2nd floor window -- and they DROPPED it! Talk about a sickening crunch. Fortunately, it was the sofa crunching not the guy ....
Thank you for this humorous and very noteworthy post! I can relate completely to the steal of a deal itch and the "have someone else measure for you"... I'm a consistent follower and always wanted to post and this post made me giggle so much (the accuracy of it) that I couldn't hold back!
I lived in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and some of the narrow buildings (and staircases) make it the norm to carry furniture in and out through windows.
A short film I worked on depicts this. Here is a link to some stills: http://www.makeithappen.org/magic&loss.html
I once helped a friend move her box spring out of her apartment via the balcony. We didn't realize the glass table top sitting on the ground of the balcony had just enough clearance to slip under the railing. As we were paying attention to the box spring, the table top slid through, flipped mid-air and shattered all over the sidewalk. Thank goodness the person at ground level was not directly under it. I will never ever move furniture without taking it down the stairs or in an elevator again.
I have "furniture doctor-ed" a box spring once to get it thru a doorframe. It was fine, if a total pain in the ass.
I got a fantastic couch that came in three boxes! from Home Reserve. I got the three person sofa in the Avenue style, and out of the 400 plus fabrics it came in, picked a lovely waterproof moleskin in thyme. I have had 2 replace one of the support pieces, but since it has warranty, they just sent me the replacement piece free. It arrived the next day. How much was it, you ask? $328. And now they have even bigger couches available, and sectionals, too...
I still would have bought the 86" Petrie in your shoes. ;)
I ordered an ikea sofa, but when I got home I panicked that it wouldn't fit in. So I did some maths and that proved it wouldn't fit in. But then I thought "hang on, if I pivot it here wouldn't that make it possible?" But my maths wasn't that good so I built a little scale model of the sofa and opening in cardboard and it showed the sofa would fit. But then I thought "ok, that works for the door opening, but there's a wall there that would restrict how far the sofa can move"...so I built the wall into the model and now the sofa wouldn't fit :(. But then I thought "well I've made it a solid wall but it's not, there's a staircase here -maybe that will give us enough space"...
And when my boyfriend got home that evening he found I'd made a miniature version of our whole hallway in cardboard and sticky tape. Which was weird enough. Even weirder was that I'd made it a mirror image - in scale, but completely reversed.
Ikea cancelled the order in the end so I never knew if the sofa would have fit.
No one is sitting next to Teale at the dinner party. No one.
(just humor, not mean!)
Home Reserve must be a local thing and not national, right? Gargh.
I so very much desire a Ball Chair (Eero?) but tell my broke self that it would never fit through the bedroom door.
Totally off topic but I just decided I want an XL Ball Chair that comes w/a hatch -and I can close myself up inside it. A reasonable sized porthole here and there for air flow maybe...