Very interesting article. My daughter and I sold our family home (4 bed) after my husband died, and we are now renting. She is just starting out in life and I am 63. We both want to enjoy going out and making new friends in a new town. I think you spend more time at home when you have a young family. But we have now decided that we want to live a big life, not spend all our energy and money in a big house.
I'm so sorry for your loss. I love the idea of embracing a big life rather than a big house in your next chapter. Wishing you lots of big adventures as you embrace a new town. This article is a little hokey, but it might give you some inspiration for settling into a new town (I enjoyed it when it ran in print years ago): https://www.countryliving.com/life/g19154482/small-town-traditions/
Thank you for this interesting article. I can only agree with Laura, and she has a beautiful home. I especially take to her advice: "Prioritize your life over stuff". I have an office/guestroom in my two bedroom flat in Sweden. I have now decided to make the room over to fit my projects (writing, journaling, scrapbooking, creating in other words), and furnishing it with antique furniture if I can find them, and adapt the room to my hobby. Why should a guest bed take up half the space when I seldom have guests staying over night, and if so, there is a guest room to hire within the condiminium, or hotel nearby. I am looking forward to planning the space to suit my needs.
Yes, yes, yes: I am in full support of this better use of your guest bedroom. And I am jealous that your building has a guest room to hire: I wish my building did too!
I always love the Small Takes stories! I love the styling of Laura’s home too. She has beautiful pieces and everything looks so elegant and calming. I’m in the prepping for a move from Colorado to New Zealand and I will be taking very little with me. I’m almost as excited to set up a new place from scratch with intentionality as I am to live within a couple of hours of my young adult children in a beautiful country (don’t tell them!).
Thanks for sharing the Washington Post link on the effects of AI too. I read that article the other day and it was the second I’ve read detailing the huge impact of the data centers (the first was about the negative physical and mental health effects on the people living next to a huge data center). There’s so much push from business mentors now to use AI, and I keep resisting. Besides, as a writer, it doesn’t feel right to me.
How exciting! Moving is such an opportunity to clarify: When we did it (now nine years ago) it helped me let go of so much. And my two cents: AI is a garbage tool for writers--and I suspect for many other fields too.
I also just moved - would be a great newsletter topic! I’ve been going through old newsletters trying to find all of your tips for setting up a new space, but curious if you have any specific thoughts or advice.
I haven't done it in so long! The last time we did I used the rented moving crate service, so I had major motivation to unpack right away and not pay for a longer rental period.
I was so struck by the twin bed (how does she sprawl out? does she never have a sweetheart sleep over???).
I live in a similarly sized space (though I'm not a minimalist-aesthetic person) and so am always interested in how people organize and decorate small spaces. But I find myself asking more and more, "But why?" There are so many articles/interviews showing off sterile, tan spaces like these and while the advice re: the pursuit of an anti-capitalist/lesser capitalist life is always solid, it's hard not to read the piece as just the pursuit of "less" for less's sake. Do the tiny bed and 3 pots work because you are a person who lives life out in the world and wants a calm, minimal space to come home to after adventures? Is it to counteract spending and save for a future somewhere else with green space? It would be amazing if articles like this could give us the subject's values and priorities more explicitly.
Re: the twin bed: My husband had one when I met him and I did actually *did* sleepover in in a few times, but mostly we sojourned to my home with a bigger bed.
I can't speak for Laura C., but I do think for some people (myself included) living with less really does result in that feeling of "clarity" that Laura describes desiring. I did not include her answer to "why" she lives small, which is why so many of us live small in New York City that it didn't even seem worth mentioning: Opting to live in a smaller space often means you can live in a nicer neighborhood.
Very interesting article. My daughter and I sold our family home (4 bed) after my husband died, and we are now renting. She is just starting out in life and I am 63. We both want to enjoy going out and making new friends in a new town. I think you spend more time at home when you have a young family. But we have now decided that we want to live a big life, not spend all our energy and money in a big house.
I'm so sorry for your loss. I love the idea of embracing a big life rather than a big house in your next chapter. Wishing you lots of big adventures as you embrace a new town. This article is a little hokey, but it might give you some inspiration for settling into a new town (I enjoyed it when it ran in print years ago): https://www.countryliving.com/life/g19154482/small-town-traditions/
Thank you so much for the article. Moving from London to a small town is a big culture shock, but just what we need.
Thank you for this interesting article. I can only agree with Laura, and she has a beautiful home. I especially take to her advice: "Prioritize your life over stuff". I have an office/guestroom in my two bedroom flat in Sweden. I have now decided to make the room over to fit my projects (writing, journaling, scrapbooking, creating in other words), and furnishing it with antique furniture if I can find them, and adapt the room to my hobby. Why should a guest bed take up half the space when I seldom have guests staying over night, and if so, there is a guest room to hire within the condiminium, or hotel nearby. I am looking forward to planning the space to suit my needs.
Yes, yes, yes: I am in full support of this better use of your guest bedroom. And I am jealous that your building has a guest room to hire: I wish my building did too!
Such a good read….thank you both! What is the brand of pedestal table? Is it cork?
I'll ask: Base is wood and top is marble!
Love Laura's home and her tips even more!
Pretty pictures are almost a distraction from her razor sharp wisdom!
I always love the Small Takes stories! I love the styling of Laura’s home too. She has beautiful pieces and everything looks so elegant and calming. I’m in the prepping for a move from Colorado to New Zealand and I will be taking very little with me. I’m almost as excited to set up a new place from scratch with intentionality as I am to live within a couple of hours of my young adult children in a beautiful country (don’t tell them!).
Thanks for sharing the Washington Post link on the effects of AI too. I read that article the other day and it was the second I’ve read detailing the huge impact of the data centers (the first was about the negative physical and mental health effects on the people living next to a huge data center). There’s so much push from business mentors now to use AI, and I keep resisting. Besides, as a writer, it doesn’t feel right to me.
How exciting! Moving is such an opportunity to clarify: When we did it (now nine years ago) it helped me let go of so much. And my two cents: AI is a garbage tool for writers--and I suspect for many other fields too.
I also just moved - would be a great newsletter topic! I’ve been going through old newsletters trying to find all of your tips for setting up a new space, but curious if you have any specific thoughts or advice.
I haven't done it in so long! The last time we did I used the rented moving crate service, so I had major motivation to unpack right away and not pay for a longer rental period.
I was so struck by the twin bed (how does she sprawl out? does she never have a sweetheart sleep over???).
I live in a similarly sized space (though I'm not a minimalist-aesthetic person) and so am always interested in how people organize and decorate small spaces. But I find myself asking more and more, "But why?" There are so many articles/interviews showing off sterile, tan spaces like these and while the advice re: the pursuit of an anti-capitalist/lesser capitalist life is always solid, it's hard not to read the piece as just the pursuit of "less" for less's sake. Do the tiny bed and 3 pots work because you are a person who lives life out in the world and wants a calm, minimal space to come home to after adventures? Is it to counteract spending and save for a future somewhere else with green space? It would be amazing if articles like this could give us the subject's values and priorities more explicitly.
Re: the twin bed: My husband had one when I met him and I did actually *did* sleepover in in a few times, but mostly we sojourned to my home with a bigger bed.
I can't speak for Laura C., but I do think for some people (myself included) living with less really does result in that feeling of "clarity" that Laura describes desiring. I did not include her answer to "why" she lives small, which is why so many of us live small in New York City that it didn't even seem worth mentioning: Opting to live in a smaller space often means you can live in a nicer neighborhood.