Less House, More Home

I haven't shared much about our home on here.  Deciding to share came at a perfect time with a project that Compass is running right now called Starter Stories.  They're a newer company that looks to connect those looking for NYC Apartments to their perfect place and neighborhood based on their personality.  For me, the truth is, I truly love our little space.  We moved to, what we call the Lake House, almost exactly two years ago, and it has truly become our home.

Although it's technically our second place together, husband and I felt like it was the first place we truly made ours.  Since we live in one of the most expensive cities in the United States, buying is not as common twenty-somethings.  Although we'd love to own our own place one day, for now, making our rental feel like home is what we have to work with.

We really feel like we lucked out here.  Our complex is spacious, beautiful and full of nature.  We call it the Lake House because this tiny lake is right outside of our complex.  Although, sometimes I like to call it a tree house because living on the second floor, surrounded by trees, it feels like a tree house I would have dreamed about having as a little girl.

Our tiny home is 540 square feet.  It's exactly half the size of our first place, and we absolutely love it.  We had to sell almost every piece of furniture we had when we first got married because our new place was so much smaller.  Fortunately, I love craigslist and garage sales, so it was a fun challenge to make everything work.

For me, making my home functional and beautiful is a priority.  With the little space, I need to make use of every corner and wall.  Since I have such a small galley kitchen, I use food as decor like I did with the jar of Farro on my shelf (I also store fruit in bowls throughout the house).  Organization is my jam, so I made it all work.

I love gallery walls.  This space near our kitchen table is not functional, just beautiful.  I've framed handwritten recipes from family members and made this fun EAT sign from this tutorial.  This is my favorite part of my house, it makes me so happy.

Again, I love gallery walls.  Our living space is so small, we can only fit a love seat (we do have a chair on the other side of the fire place).  One day, I will be so happy to have a space that will fit a big comfy couch, but for now, this love seat works for the two of us.  That tall skinny window is my favorite window in our place, too, because not only does it bring light to our place, but it has a gorgeous redwood right outside that it frames.  We used to live in a redwood forest, so it's a great reminder of that time in our life.

I love memories and light.  Our bedroom is basically in our living room, which means, it must be beautiful as well, since everyone who comes over will see it.  Husband has bought me little boxes from every country he's traveled and I love to use them as jewelry storage.  They are fun and unique pieces that I love to display and see every day.  I think people have the misconception that if you have little space, you can't decorate as much since you must use that space for practical things.  But I see no reason why those two can't go together.  Practicality and beauty can totally go hand in hand!  And it's definitely a fun challenge living in a tiny home.

And see?  Another gorgeous redwood tree outside our window.

I love our little space.  I love that I can clean the entire place from top to bottom in less than an hour.  I love that we can have a conversation from any part of the apartment since it's so small.  I love how it is functional, yet beautiful.  And I love that it feels like us in every way.

I love that our marriage begins with the great reminder that we need less house and more home.

One day, we'll move from this place and be excited to have more space to work with, I'm sure, but I know I'll also really miss the simplicity of this space.  For now, our home is exactly what we need.

And we love it here.