ARE THERE BENEFITS FOR YOUR FAMILY?
Sure, Tillery’s living spaces can feel a bit crowded, but there are positive aspects. “I never have to wonder what the kids are doing because I can always hear or see them,” she says. “And my kids have grown up understanding you can’t just keep getting more stuff . You have to make trade-off s and cycle out clothes and toys you no longer use.” For a family it can be empowering. “We spend time together,” Tillery says. “We can’t
all go to our separate spaces and isolate ourselves. T ere’s room for private time, of course, but a house this size encourages togetherness.”
WHAT ARE THE ULTIMATE TRADE-OFFS?
Every living arrangement has compromises, and reduced square footage is no diff erent. Fivecoat-Campbell hasn’t given up her mom’s china, even though she can’t display it. “T ere are things I have in storage that I haven’t gotten rid of. We may not need them, but there’s an emotional attachment,” she says.
But it’s a small price to pay for other
freedoms, including lower house payments, a smaller carbon footprint and a higher quality of life. “I live on a huge lake and in the mountains, so we love to hike and canoe and spend lots of time outdoors,” she says. “If I neglect the house—I mean, let it get really dirty—it takes me all of two hours to clean it top to bottom.” Living smaller doesn’t necessarily
mean going without. In fact when it came time to renovate a bath, Tillery invested in custom cabinets, and better fi xtures and tile for storage space and usability. “With so many people using it, this bathroom gets a lot of wear and tear, so going high-end made sense,” she says. Able seconds that: “In small spaces,
higher-quality materials and fi nishes make a really big diff erence.” And because you’re outfi tting a smaller space, you can spend a bit more. Fewer rooms don’t necessarily equal
cramped quarters, if you live in them and think about them the right way. “I was at a party recently in what was
probably a 4,000-square-foot house,” Tillery says. “It was gorgeous. But I was standing there, looking around at all that
space and thinking, ‘Wow. I
wouldn’t trade my little house for all of this. I like my house. It’s cozy and homey.’ And that was really a satisfying moment.”
You’re spending less on materials, like fl ooring, so go for quality furnishings. “In small spaces you can live luxuriously without spending a lot,” says Apartment Therapy’s Aaron Able.
18 goodneighbor
Using a closet for an offi ce or crafts area is one way to reimagine the original purpose of a space in a smaller home.
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