I decided to take a break from the tour to talk about the reality.
I love my home. I love life in my tiny home. Many have asked me how it’s working out, and I answer honestly; I’ve never been happier anywhere else!
I don’t at all feel like I lost all the “stuff” I let go of when I downsized. On the contrary, hardly a week has gone by without me leaving random things on my sister’s island because I’ve realized that I’m never going to want them after all.
Yes, when I downsized, rather than losing things, I lost pressure. I lost stress. I have what I need, all within pretty easy reach, and there’s nothing getting in my way.
My favorite art, decor, and personal pieces are here with me, and I can even see how I’ll be able to do a little Christmas decorating. The space says, “Tammy” (thanks to my decorator friend) while also being practical.
Cleaning? It’s a piece of cake to keep clean, especially the floors. First I dust mop, then I flip the combo mop over, spray the floor with a multipurpose cleaner, and wet mop. I’ve never timed myself, but I’d be surprised if the whole room took twenty minutes.
And laundry? It’s all right here, so when the washer or dryer finishes I know it instantly and can take care of it right away. I will not confess how many times I forgot about laundry before, how many wrinkled shirts I’ve had to deal with.
This place is also astoundingly well insulated. Just a few days ago, I was chilled while working in the house even while wearing a jacket. When I returned to my little apartment, though, I sat around comfortably in a TShirt.
The sound insulation is just as impressive. Unless I turn the window unit off completely, I hear absolutely nothing from outside. That is a huge difference from every home I’ve lived in for the past… actually, ever. I’ve never had a home that protected me from neighbors’ parties, the too-common sirens, and even trains like this. Never, except when we lived there, have I ever been so close to feeling like I’m out in the country again.
I was right. I’m made for this. I’m not sure you could ever talk me into moving into a regular house or apartment again. The space I have is the space I want.
We’re taking a closer look at the desk today, specifically discussing storage.
This desk offers great upper storage with one large open compartment in the center and two on each side of it. I will note that in the desk I found for you on Amazon those three compartments appear to be the same width. That is not the case here.
Moving from left to right, you can see that I simply put boxed items in the first space. The center storage is made up of 6 plastic trays that I picked up at Walmart and spray-painted teal. You would be surprised just how much that set of trays holds. The white thing you see between two of the trays is my AC remote; I like to keep it handy. Finally, in the third compartment, I have a wood box that had been hanging around for years. It fit, so I spray painted it purple. Beside it, in case you’re curious, are a glass pen (in the box) and a bottle of purple India ink.
In case it’s not obvious just from this photo, I like color. I fell in love with all the colors while cruising the Caribbean with my sister. Consequently, from my absolutely amazing vintage-style fan to the artwork and decor you’ll see throughout, color rules. Be ready.
And since I mentioned the fan, I’ll point out that my ceilings are low enough that a ceiling fan is not an option. I didn’t even think about that fact until my third night of feeling like I was suffocating from the heat prompted a conversation with my sister. She reminded me that my bedroom ceiling fan in the other apartment was never turned off; I’m used to air that moves. Shortly after this conversation, we headed to Walmart where I almost embarrassed myself in my excitement over this gem. I love its vintage style and the fact it is an almost exact match for the color of my “kitchen” cabinets. I can set it to oscillate and it has a variety of speeds. It even has a fabric-covered cord like they used when I was a kid!
Down girl. Calm down. Yes, I love my fan.
Moving on. Heading back to the photo, if you look at the left part of the L you’ll see that there is a traditional desk drawer. It is huge. I filled it with a variety of desk organizers that I may or may not ever be willing to show. (I do not have a magazine-perfect home and the drawers prove it.) To the right of that, you can see another opening that can be used in a variety of ways. I’ve chosen to slide a bamboo tray into that spot. My pencil sharpener (and, in this photo, a tube of moisturizer) fits perfectly beside the tray.
Moving on to the next photo, I’ll hit quickly on what’s on top of the desk. (By the way, the book on the easel is the one I’m pulling the American Women biographical sketches from.)
The glass jar holding peppermints is one of a set of 12 I bought on Amazon when I was working on gifts for friends. It’s 20 ounces and has a bamboo top with a seal. It’s the perfect size when you need to hold something (like peppermints) but don’t need a huge container.
The “rainbow” to its left is a clear plastic box that holds seven smaller pill boxes, each marked “Mon.” through “Sun”. This is a huge help to me. I take several supplements, as well as a couple of prescriptions, and it’s much easier to set this case up for the week than it is to haul all those bottles out from the medicine shelf every single day. Each little pill case has two compartments, one for AM and one for PM. When I travel, or even if I just know I’ll be working an extra long day at the church, I snatch up the appropriate pill boxes and toss them in my purse.
Now to the floor. (I might get killed for letting you see this part of the concrete. Remember I’m the one who insisted on no flooring; the rest of the floor is gorgeous.) This is what I meant when I said this desk allows a wealth of under-desk storage. The two white boxes in the back corner are stackable plastic drawers. The top one holds my paper towels and the bottom is essentially my first aid kit; it contains all sorts of things from bandages to lotion to ice pack sleeves to the wrist brace I wear on (thankfully) rare occasions. I did find these boxes available on Amazon and about choked at the price, but in reality these are over five years old and have held up extremely well to continual use, so they’re worth it.
Next to this is a plastic basket I bought somewhere years ago, and it’s home to a variety of items having to do with my book and blog publishing. I hope to reach a point where I have a better place for these things, but for now it works. And then, of course, you have the shredder. It may seem counterintuitive to have a shredder in a small apartment, but it’s great not only for security purposes but also for keeping paper trash volume down as well. I snagged this one at Sam’s Club and it has been more of a help than I ever dreamed.
And that’s almost it for the desk. All that’s left is the shelf on the end. It’s perfect for the few DVDs I permitted myself to keep as well as my bank (Yes, the door is an old post office box front.), journals, my Bible and notebook (when they make it to the shelf; I use them constantly), and the binder that holds my Prismacolor collection. The three zippered sections of this pencil case have elastic straps that hold a total of 120 pencils, and it’s the best storage solution I’ve ever found for my art pencils.
And that’s it for the “office.” Next, the “library.”
I decided that, for this post, it might be best to put the links at the end.
