Tight Hams

I have perpetually tight hamstrings. I think part of the problem is that I don't take very long strides in my house. If I planned well, I could take three long strides from the living room to the kitchen/back door, and that's only if there isn't a bunch of toys and other tripping hazards in the way. Otherwise, I take very few steps, and they aren't long. I was at my friend's five bedroom house the other day, and as I walked down the long hallway to the play room, I realized that I could really lengthen my stride, heh heh. Plus all the going up and down stairs. I guess I should start doing laps around house like my preschooler.

Towel Face, and other Bathroom Stories

So we have a small bathroom. It has the three most important things: place to clean your hands, place to relieve yourself, place to clean your body. That's really all you need. Well, those things and the accoutrements that go with those things. Like towels.

When we bought the house, we found some nice nickel-finished towel holders. That was nice. But turns out they were a bit large for the space. The hand towel holder, especially, has been awkward, for me anyway. With my 5'2" frame in front of the sink, the towel hits me more or less in the face. And it sticks out a lot from the wall.

Trying to show you, the towel is in my face. 

Side view--towel face.

Now that we have even smaller people trying to use the sink and the towel, I decided to just get the dang towel off the wall. So I got an over-the-cabinet-door-towel-holder-thingie.

Oh my goodness that towel looks really dirty but it isn't I promise!

So now the towel is out of the way. My face will be happy again when I finally get the old holder off the wall.

Stop trying to attack me stupid towel holder! 

Sometimes, I like to stand on my kid's stool to brush my teeth and wash my hands. Just to see what it would be like to be eight inches taller. You know, 5'10".

Oh look I'm so tall! 

In other towel-related news, we also replaced the other towel bar, which could only hold two towels. In Seattle, it's important to give towels room to breathe, so they don't get moldy. Also we don't have wall space for multiple towel bars. So I got a hook rack. Inspired by the hot pink nightlight and the hot pink in a small painting my grandma made, I decided to paint the hook rack hot pink, and then paint a shelf hot pink to put some knick-knacks on. Cutie cute. 

Get more towels into less space!

Swiss Army Cabinet

Sorry for the radio silence, but I've been pumping out in-home projects as quick as I can, because now that spring is springing all over the place, the garden and outdoors are calling!

But I've got some great small-house projects to show you, so expect some new posts with fun ideas!

First up: I call this the Swiss Army Cabinet. We had a desk with the computer, office supplies, craft supplies, files, etc. It was messy. I didn't like looking at it. I had a brainstorm one day and decided to start looking for a cabinet that could contain the desk, with doors that shut, so I can just close the doors and not look at the mess. (Cause let's be realistic about keeping things clean and tidy all the time, amiright?) I am also known to sew things, but doing a sewing project means clearing off the dining table and setting up shop for an hour or two before cleaning everything up again and getting the table ready for a meal. Then putting it all back, cleaning it up, putting it back...

And then, one glorious day, I was walking down the aisles of St. Vincent de Paul, between the shelves of old vases and the rows of 80s entertainment centers, there it was, a huge, double-doored cabinet. Something about it whispered to my soul, "Yes, I am the one you are looking for."

It looks like this on the outside:

 

I added an iron and ironing board holder on the right. Storage on the top.

Open it up, and on the left you have the office side:

Pull-out platforms for keyboard and paper, cork board on the left. 

On the right, hmm, what's on the right? Some drawers for office supplies...and... 

A *table* that FOLDS DOWN, and a sewing center!!!

Get out the sewing machine baby! 

I made a couple of mods: I found (at the very same thrift store no less!) a thread holder for all my spools of thread, I attached an IKEA goose neck light, and put a couple of clothes pins on the inside door so I can put a sewing pattern up to follow. A huge added bonus, there's a power strip inside the cabinet, so I can plug things in without dragging a cord across the floor and creating a tripping hazard. 

With this treasure, I have compacted the luxury of whole room (maybe two if you're lucky enough to have BOTH an office and a sewing room), into about six to nine square feet of floor space, depending on how much of it I'm using. 

And when I'm done for the moment, I can just wad everything thing up and slam the doors. 

Where's the mess? Ha ha! It's hiding! 

Parties in a Small House--Just Stuff Everyone In!

Pillows for seats!

As all the real estate descriptions and reality home-buying shows tout, "entertaining" is a very important part of every day living; you can expect that everyone will love being entertained in your home. So the question when you have a small house is, how many friends can you smoosh into it?

When I was single and lived in my little apartment, I liked to have parties and get-togethers a lot. Luckily, everyone liked to cuddle:

Dinner is almost always buffet-style. 

Small houses: good for games, not so much for dancing.

Sometimes people have to share chairs.

Now we have a house that is only slightly larger than that apartment, but we still like to cram people inside and have a good time. We pull out the kitchen table and put in the leaf and pull out some extra chairs. We have to carefully squeeze everyone in, but as soon as they're sitting, everyone can relax and enjoy dinner. Until someone has to use the bathroom, then it's musical chairs.

Cozy dinners here! 

Thankfully we have the backyard for the summer...but still just one bathroom. Maybe we should rent a porta-potty for the summer?

Lots of room to circulate. (Yes, it's the same tablecloth!) 

Plenty of room to sit! 

To Sleep...Perchance...to Sleep? Ever again???

We may be short, we may be petite, we may be small of stature, but we are strong of lung and loud of voice. Especially the younger ones. Especially between the hours of 1 and 4 am. We have an infant here who thinks it's super fun to wake everyone up in the middle of the night. 

It's a two bedroom house, and the girls' room is, shall we say, dainty. I have this dream of my daughters sharing a room all their growing up years, of becoming best buddies, of me walking by their room and hearing "Mom's coming, shh be quiet!" So far it's not working, they just make each other cry. 

Five out of seven nights, the plot goes as follows: baby, HS, goes down around 7. She falls asleep easily, thwup thwup thwuping on her pacifier. Her big sister, B, goes down about half an hour later, usually after trying to wheedle out an extra story and/or song. 

But then...

Around 2 am, we hear a cry. Suddenly startled out of a deep sleep, we lay in our comfy warm bed, holding our breath. Will she put herself back to sleep? A moment of silence, and then, a louder cry. "Where the heck are you guys?" We wait, not wanting to be too quick to attend her, so she doesn't get the idea that she can just call and we come running (yeah, I know you're laughing). 

The crying intensifies, and the solo becomes a high-pitched, wailing duet. Two crying girlies. Two parents trying to hide. Finally, Tom gets up, takes B out to the couch, tucking her favorite blanket around her legs. And then we let the baby continue, if she wants. Sometimes she stops, sometimes she starts and stops. Mostly, we try to wait until 3 am or 30 minutes, whichever comes first. Then I feed her. Then she sleeps. We all sleep.

Until...

4 am. Maybe 5 am. More milk. Seriously? The worst is when she wakes up again at 6 am, because it's too close to regular wake up time, and if she happens to wake up B, then we're all up at 6 am. Oh joy. 

A few months ago we did sleep training, because HS was waking up every two hours. We wound up with either Tom or I on the couch, and the other in our bed with B. After a week it would work...for about a week. Then she'd just keep waking up earlier, and earlier...These times, I kind of wish we had three bedrooms. Or an extra bedroom, so we could let the baby cry without bothering the big sis. Maybe we can convert the attic?? 

Every Square Inch of Space Counts...the Floor Edition

As much as I'd like to pare down my life to, say, three pairs of sensible shoes and two sweaters, I just can't seem to do it. So where to cram everything? Each and every bit of floor in our bedroom has a specific function. Let's take a tour!

Behind the door, we have a shoe rack, and a shoe/boot basket:

The space next to the shoe rack is the docking bay for the Roomba, and the spot for the pillar fan (we sleep with white noise in our house). Blow dryer hangs from a hook on the armoire, power strip has spots for other hair devices as needed. 

To the left of the armoire, we have the dirty clothes baskets (why yes, I am sharing my dirty laundry with the world!). To make room for husband's shoes, we put a crate on the floor that he stuffs them in. An old clothes butler holds stuff that most people would throw on an upholstered chair in their room, like clothes that need hemming or mending. 

Over on my side of the bed, the night stand, my footstool for reaching the top shelf in the closet, my gym bag on top of the footstool, the heating pad is stored behind the footstool, the closet space, and next to the chest of drawers, my extensive slipper collection (I have the world's coldest feet). 

And over on the Mister's side of the bed, eh, not much, just enough to walk through, and some power cords for the Christmas lights in the window. And the spot for his awesome robot robe I made him for Christmas a couple years ago? At the end of the bed, on the bedpost. 

The floor space under the bed is completely full as well, with clothes, pajamas, and wrapping paper and supplies. 

After all, what's a bedroom really for? Sleeping and storing clothes and shoes. Got the bases covered! 

Obstacle Course and Buzzfeed Small House Tips

Living in a small house means you have to keep limber and drink lots of milk, because you are constantly maneuvering around tight spaces and tripping hazards are everywhere. You can't just skip through your house singing "La La La" waving your arms all over the place, or you'll whack both your arms and slam into furniture and trip and fall and break your legs.

Every space has multiple uses, for example the bed isn't just a place to sleep, it's also the office and study space for any graduate students in the house.

The kitchen isn't just a place to cook or eat, it's also for laundry, and the kitchen floor is the baby car seat storage area as well as baby storage area.

Yeah I cook in here too, at the same time. 

It would probably be easier if laundry day looked like this instead: 

Can you find the baby? Hint: her favorite color is green and she loves snuggling in clean clothes!

As for small kitchen storage solutions, Buzzfeed, the Internet and Pintrest Conglomerator, has put together a handy list. We already do several of these (shelves within shelves, spice racks on doors, etc) and there are many, many handy tips on this post: Buzzfeed Lifehacks for Tiny Kitchen

Spice racks on the pantry sliding doors. Disorganized pantry.