Inside Your Small House
Organization is everything in a little house
If your house is small, then you already know how important it is for everything to have a place and to be stored after use. Clutter can be claustrophobic, so editing possessions is an ongoing challenge. That said, small houses are comfortable, comforting, and cozy as well as being manageable.
To live large in a small home, incorporate some of the following suggestions.
- Assess your kitchen and bathrooms for efficiency, ease of maintenance, and functionality. Make changes to these rooms first to get the most from your house as well as increase value. Often a talented designer can help optimize space usage and flow to make your rooms seem much larger.
- Add light anywhere you can by incorporating open-beam ceilings, larger dual-pane windows, and skylights.
- Make it richer by adding touches of custom detail. In larger homes, it can be cost prohibitive to add real hardwoods, brass hardware, or custom moldings and tile. In a small house, a little goes a long way.
- Increase storage. Older houses are notorious for lack of storage. Built-ins, though somewhat expensive, streamline organizational tasks by providing places for everything. Think of your house as a sailboat. Everything you have needs to have a purpose for living in your home as well as a permanent storage place regardless of whether it's functional, necessary, sentimental, or aesthetic. (This makes cleaning and maintenance a breeze in a home of any size.)
- Get rid of extra stuff. Avoid hanging on to old clothes and furniture. Small houses can accommodate only so much. If something new comes in, something old needs to go. Failure to observe this single rule can cause your home to eventually explode.
- Insulate. Insulate everything from ceiling and floors to ductwork. Insulation is affordable and returns energy savings year after year. Power companies in many cities offer free energy audits; take advantage of the service to find out what you need to do to reduce your power usage.
Resources
Tumbleweed Tiny Houses —Small houses CAN be efficient.
AntiqueHome.org —Antique Home is posting catalogs and other resources for old homes. Many are really little houses but still functional. This is a brand new site, so expect to see more posted regularly as it grows.
Design your own small house, then find a custom homebuilder at UpdateRenovate .
