Small Takes with Stephanie Wong
How a couple makes their 1,000-square-foot home work in Los Angeles.
Welcome to Small Takes, a monthly column for all LIVING SMALL subscribers.
In Small Takes, I ask people who are living small how they make it work. This month’s feature is a home that’s on the larger side for the series, but still small by most American home standards. Stephanie Wong and her fiancé Daniel live in a 1,000-square foot home in Atwater Village in Los Angeles with their dog, Otto. Stephanie and I connected through Instagram a few years back, and I’ve been watching her home transformation from afar since they purchased the house in 2021. It’s super-inspiring to see what they’ve done in a short time.
Beyond the couple’s impressive transformation of the property, I love that Stephanie was thinking strategically about home ownership from the start. In California’s competitive real estate market, the couple were lucky to have family support to buy their first home, but even with help, real estate and renovations can get pricey. Living in Los Angeles and having previously worked at Peerspace, a website that lets homeowners rent their homes out as shoot and event locations, Stephanie knew that they could earn extra cash by renting their home out for photo and film shoots. I love this because it is a way for a homeowner to monetize their real estate investment that doesn’t take homes out of the housing pool the way AirBnB properties do. Plus, you can also earn more in a shorter amount of time.
While renting their home for shoots gave them extra funds for improvements, Stephanie and Daniel quickly realized it was hard to work from home while a crew was in the house, so they set their eyes on turning the garage into a studio that they could work out of on shoot days. Along the way, Stephanie caught the gardening bug and reimagined the yard, which led to a career change (she’s now the brand director at ORCA, one of my favorite landscape design firms). Renting their home for photography gave the motivation to go the extra mile with the details for the yard and studio, which have paid off: Those spaces now get used more for shoots than the house.
Here’s how Stephanie makes her small-ish space work:
What is your definition of living small?
Living small is not living above your means. It’s about careful curation of the items that matter and letting go of the rest.
What is the real reason you live small?
We’re living small because of the constraints of what we could afford, especially living in an expensive city like Los Angeles. We prioritized a home with charm in a good neighborhood versus living in a bigger house farther from the things and people we love. This decision aligned with our values of not accumulating things for the sake of having more stuff. We have less space which in turn means less rooms to fill and less to buy. It’s a wonderful cycle of trimming the unnecessary and leaving room for the essentials.
What has living small given you? What has it taken away?
Living small has given us freedom. We have less to clean and maintain, giving us more money for other priorities like travel and our garden. It’s taken away the ability to purchase things on a whim. We really have to think through if the object will fit into our space.
Note: I loved Stephanie’s response to this question, and I’m curious: What do you get to do more of because you live small? Please share in the comments.
What is a small change you made to your home that made a big difference?
When we moved in, we wanted to make the space feel more open and create better indoor/outdoor access. We removed the wall between the dining room and kitchen and added french doors that opened up to the garden. This not only invited more natural light in, but also made the house floor plan feel bigger.
What’s something you’re obsessed with right now?
Silver! I’m obsessed with silver furniture, silver hardware, and other silvery-toned home embellishments. I’m admiring the Aluminum collection from FRAMA and these sheet scones from Lakes Studio.
What’s a home design lesson you learned the hard way?
We moved pretty quickly through our house renovation projects, which mostly served us well. However, I do wish we had spent a little more time choosing certain materials. For instance, we would have gone with a more local wood for our decking.
Is there a home design book you’d like to recommend?
I love anything by Apartmento. Their publications are less like design books and more of a look into how other people live. They spotlight interesting people from all over the world (like Enrique Olvera and Kyohei Sakaguchi). It helps get me out of my L.A. bubble and recognize there are so many other ways to create a home. I'm eyeing their latest book, Tokyo Style, as I'm always inspired by the minimalist lifestyle of Japanese design.
Care to share an Instagram account that inspires you?
Each photo on @slowroads tells a story and offers a portal into another way of living. There's something dreamy and nostalgic about the photos they share that inspires me to surround myself with nature and slow down.
What’s one thing every small home needs?
We recently purchased a kitchen appliance that is an air fryer, toaster, and oven all in one. With limited counter space, it’s been such a game changer. Ed note: Co-sign. While I don’t have an air fryer, I am a devoted fan of my countertop toaster oven and happy to sacrifice counter space for it.
What’s on your home wish list right now?
A new couch for the living room! We bought ours second-hand and it feels dated and worn. We’re still figuring out what that investment piece will be. Open to any recs. :)
What helps you stay organized in your small home?
We organize and declutter regularly. Not just spring cleaning, but rather year-round decluttering. I’m constantly donating or getting rid of things that no longer make sense for us. We have very little storage, so when we purchase something new, we often give away something to make room. We have a spot in our hallway closet where we stash anything we plan to donate. Whenever that pile gets unruly, I drive it over to our local. It always feels so good afterwards.
Want to see more of Stephanie’s home? You can see a full before/after of her kitchen renovation (including receipts!) on Kitchn and the transformation of her garden on Gardenista. Thank you so much for being a part of Small Takes, Stephanie! You can follow along with Stephanie’s work @stephmwong and her house renovation @fincaglenfeliz.
In case you missed it, last week’s newsletter featured lessons from a slow and sustainable kitchen renovation:
3 More Things
The best small space I saw last week was a kitchen renovation on Remodelista that shared some of the spirit of Stephanie’s kitchen (arches and warm red tones), but in an Eastern European apartment.
Reading: My dear friend
has a new book out this week. In Life Styled Shira takes her ideas about home organizing and minimalism and applies them to your entire life. It’s like a self-help book for people who don’t read those books. Would you like to hear more about this in a future newsletter? Tell me in the comments.Giving: I expanded on my newsletter thoughts about rethinking gift giving over on Apartment Therapy and the post has gone semi-viral. Some of my gift picks are in the Gardenista editors’ gift guide and on
’s newsletter Snake.One last thing: I might need a dozen.
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Yes to more about Shira Gill’s new book. You introduced her to me and in joy her very-different-from-mine style and her direct and refreshing take on decluttering, organizing and living. I’d appreciate some focused deep-dives on the last.
Love today's post!
In response to what has living small given/taken away:
I'm at the beginning of the journey, having sold my 1450 sq ft house last April that I lived in for 29 years, where I raised my children, and just moved into my custom-built tiny house (391 sq ft) in October. I'm still unpacking-- maneuvering around boxes as I bring a load each day in my tiny car from storage--but already aware of what it's given and taken away.
Given: my dream!--even from the time I was about 5, I can remember wanting to live in a tiny house--I'd even draw floor plans way back then! I am lucky to have been able to work with the builders to accommodate my loves in the design--a library for all my books, and storage for my fiber arts supplies. I am so happy in the coziness of small space, not having to spend much time cleaning, and I love being forced to pare back my belongings--it feels good to me to evaluate what I really need and is most important to me, and send things I love to new homes where they are also loved, even things that I treasured-- like my grandfather's antique postmaster's desk--far too large to keep, but the person who got it is thrilled and making wonderful use of it. The joy of giving more than balances out the sadness of giving it up. Also, my tiny house is situated on my daughter's property, so I can be a daily part of my grandchildren's lives-- it's a big difference from driving back and forth between houses even when close. (And a silver lining I hadn't thought of before moving in: I'm a friendly introvert, which means I need lots of time alone, but also really like people one-on-one or in very small groups... tiny living means I'll never feel obligated to host big holidays!)
Taken away: While I love evaluating what is most important to me, it can be hard to let go of some sentimental items--I'm still trying to figure out how I can keep some of them without feeling cluttered, or how I could find a home that would truly appreciate them (like a small wooden cabinet hand-made by my great-grandfather, with drawers originally for nails and such things). I know it will be okay, but the process can be painful. I didn't really know until I was in my house how much I would be able to keep, so I brought more than I can keep.