5 Ideas for Downsizing with Style

These days there are many reasons why you may be downsizing and moving to a smaller home.  Perhaps you’ve started a new career and realize that a smarter sized home will grant you more freedom. Or perhaps your children have all left for college or university and you are faced with this too-large family home that is much too time consuming to maintain.

Whatever the reason, there are many ways that I help my clients downsize with style and ease.  A move from a family home to a condominium can be the most challenging of all and requires a great deal of space planning and expertise if you want the experience to be a pleasant one.

Do you still love to garden and wonder how you will incorporate that into condominium living? Do you find you need office space but don’t know how to make that happen in your new space?

Whether you’re telescoping a lifetime’s accumulation of belongings from a larger home to a jewel box, a little creativity can go a long way.

Pallet box for gardening

So you’ve moved into your beautiful new condominium and have this amazing balcony with a view of the city.  The one thing that you find you miss the most is gardening….getting your hands dirty, growing something from seed and watching it thrive.  You can still do this!  Simply re-purpose a wooden pallet box, staple some black landscape fabric to the bottom, place it on your balcony and fill it with dirt.  There you have a compact condominium garden you can call your own.  It won’t consume all of your time but is just enough to scratch that gardening itch.

Tower Garden

Perhaps you like to see something grow vertically as opposed to horizontally. A new way to do this is with the Tower Garden®.  It’s a new state of the art vertical aeroponic growing system that is simply perfect for small spaces.  Best of all, it uses 90% less water that conventional gardening, 90% less space and you have 100% success.  Grow you very owns fruits and vegetables right on your balcony!

Counter Dining

Often times we find that condominium spaces are so small that even a conventional kitchen table cannot be accommodated.  If you are involved in the design of your space, there is a great idea to create functional and efficient seating right in the kitchen.  Pull out counter style table and seating is right from your kitchen counter is an ideal way to incorporate an eating and seating area right in your kitchen without the need for a full sized table.

Multifunctional pieces are key

This is a fabulous find!  This table can function not only as a dining table for you and your guests, but can also double as office space.  With the added functionality of a vertical separator, you can create a separate office/working area as well as a dining table, plus some storage for your must have office supplies.

Flip down change table

Many couples downsize to a condominium for efficiency and ease of working in or close to the city.  If there is a new baby in the mix, wondering how to fit in baby furniture can be a real challenge.  One way is to forgo the traditional baby change table and switch to something more creative and streamlined. Creating a change table that flips down from the wall that contains storage for essential diaper changing supplies is a great space saver and keeps your space free of excess furniture.

As with many things in life, when it comes to moving and downsizing, the more you plan and the better prepared you are, the easier it will be.  These 5 ideas will give you a good start and if you need some help along the way, contact me directly at lindav@clutterbgone.ca