Friday, August 2, 2013

Downsizing? Puh-Lease!!!

I love home organizing/decorating sites and blogs.  I think I would have been an interior designer if I hadn't gone into special education.  (Now there's a career link!)  However, one of the things that really irks me about home decorating is their definition of a "small space."  I'm sorry but a 1600 square foot house is NOT a small space in my record book.  Maybe if you have 4 or 5 kids but it's not a small space for a family of 2 or 3.  Ever.
The Hubs and I live in a house between 900 and 1000 square feet. With a 2 year old. And a cat. And the 2 year old's stuff.  Oh, and my stuff. The Hubs isn't allowed to have stuff. (Just kidding!)  My whole life I've wanted an old white farmhouse like the one my grandparents used to have.  Similar to this...


(image courtesy of Country Living.com)


But when the Hubs and I started dating I quickly learned that the house he was in was it.  He does not want to move.  And now that I'm here I've grown to love our little house for our little family.  Granted some days it really feels like I live in something this size...


Unless it's time to clean and then it feels like this...

biltmore.com

It's incredibly frustrating to hear the benefits of "downsizing" to a 1600 square foot house when I am trying very hard to make our cozy little house a little more homey and make our space feel a little bigger.  I realize we are probably not the norm.  I also realize I am incredibly jealous of those people who live in a "downsized" house of 1600 square feet.  But I have to remember there are people in our country who live in smaller quarters than do we, with a whole lot less.  So here are 10 reasons I love MY small house...

1. Less to clean.
2. Because it was built in the 1940s it is built like a tank.  No pine 2X4s in this place.  More like oak 2X8s.
3. Red oak trim throughout the house.  While it needs some TLC it is still beautiful at nearly 70 years old.
4. We had our wedding reception in the yard when we got married 4 years ago.

 5.  My sweet Jessie dog is buried in the yard.  She was my fur-baby for almost 16 years.

6. This is the only house Babycakes has ever known.  I kind of like the idea of her bringing her husband-to-be for dinner one day to the house she was raised in. (I know my participle is dangling but oh well.)
7.  We have great neighbors!  
8.  We live in a rural area but not so rural that I smell manure on a regular daily basis (Except when the farm up the road is sludging their fields.  That's just foul!).  
9. With 2 acres of land we have room to expand or to keep it as is for Babycakes to play.  My 2 Godchildren love to come over and run in the "field" (aka our yard).

10.  Even though I complain about the outdated kitchen flooring, the old metal kitchen cabinets, the leaking basement and lack of space it's our home.  It has charm and is a wonderful place to raise our daughter.  I'd be a big liar if I didn't say I wish we had more living space.  But I have to remember to take the time to reflect on the things I do love about our house.  Because as the saying goes, "Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home."


6 comments:

  1. I feel ya, when we moved out of our apt. for more space this place seemed like a castle. Now we feel like we outgrew it in a yr and a half. But again it's too much to clean!!! And we def. don't maximize our space and utilize it.
    Lauren

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    1. Lauren, I am constantly purging to keep all of the "stuff" at bay!

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  2. aww your place is cute and having land is fabulous, makes it feel much bigger! But I hear ya on the articles in home magazines, so annoying!

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    1. Aww! Thanks Amber! I wish they had a publication for "real" living!

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  3. I hear ya! I totally feel the same! Oh and by the way you won the America's Cheapest Family Book Giveaway. Email me your details so I can send it out to you:> Conrads!

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