What We Own Update – Our Minimalist Living

January 30, 2013 in My Simple Living

our dinning room - minimalist home, simple living, organizationMy previous post about ‘exactly’ what we own has (by far) been the most popular post on this blog.

I figured I would post an update because we have gotten settled and cleared out more. We love our little apartment!

If your new to the blog (welcome!), we are a family of 4 (kids are 9 and 5) who have downsized from 2000 square feet to a small 1 bedroom apartment.

Come on in!  Have a cup of tea and a cookie and let me show you around.  This is what we own:

…. I wanted to give witty funny commentary with this post… but I got nothing.  We live pretty simply (or boring) but it has made such a HUGE difference in our life to cut back.  We have what we need and what we love and lots of space for running or making blanket forts or Lego cities or puppet shows … or even driving the scooter through the house.

Above you see our dinning room.  My daughter got a rose for a talent show she was in last week so we have a special flower for the table.

Here is our kitchen:

kitchen - minimalist home, simple living, organization

I love how we have the open area in the kitchen. It gives us less cabinet space but we can pass plates through and I can see the kids at the table while I am cooking (or cleaning).

This is how I sort: (if your interested)

  • Small cabinet above stove – spices and oils
  • Big top cabinet beside stove – extra containers, small appliances, storage containers, vitamins, hot drinks, pie plates, baking tools.
  • Small cabinet above fridge – china, cloth napkins, fancy glasses (everything we need for parties)
  • Lower cabinet beside stove – pots and pans, dried food (cans, crackers, cereal etc)
  • Drawers beside stove – 1st has pens, bags and foil.  2nd has silverware

Right side:

  • Top cabinet (hid by the wall) – dishes, toaster, glasses,
  • Under sink cabinet – trash, lunch box, extra bags, soap etc
  • Right lower cabinet – ice cream maker, crock-pot, mixing bowls, baking dishes, salad bowl
  • Two drawers – 1st – Large mixing spoons, place-mats, 2nd is towels and recipes

Our kitchen was bit and beautiful in our house before we downsized.  I had to do lots of simplifying to get into this smaller space but we still cook almost all our meals and it works good.

Living roomliving room - minimalist home

I love this living room because of the gas fire place.  This is also the room that converts to a bedroom for my kids at night.  Just outside the picture to my right is our keyboard.

This is the room we do most of our living in.  I got the floor cleaned for the picture but usually it is covered with toys, books, and kids.

All the art in the house is by the kids (paintings) or by my husband (photography)

Bedroombedroom - minimalist home, simple living, organization

Except for the small dinning room we really just have 3 living spaces (kitchen, living room, and bedroom).

The bedroom is the reading room, school room for at least one child in the morning (I homeschool) and our office.

Under the bed my husband has built storage for our out of season cloths and our camping gear.

To the left of the bed there are 2 closets.

The first is for our clothes:minimalist closet, simple living, organization

Since all 4 of us dress pretty simply we have fit pretty well all into one closet . When it isn’t winter and we don’t have our big coats and sweaters in here there is even more room.

  • My husband and my clothes are on shelves on the left.  There is a basket of shoes for each of us on the floor.
  • The kids clothes are on a hanging organizer on the right and the small 3 drawer organizer has their pj’s and undergarments.  Laundry is in the middle.
  • The top of this closet is used for photography gear, cooler, homeschool books and sewing supplies.

The second closet doubles as an officeoffice - minimalist home, simple living, organization

Welcome to the office where we run our construction, photography, blogging, and property management businesses.

We keep as much of our records electronically as possible and move past years data out.  Sometimes the little desk space can get pretty cluttered, but we try and keep it cleaned off and it is plenty of space to get work done. (and we can close the door and forget about work when we need to)

The top shelf has more photography gear and our big travel bags.

Not pictured in the bedroom to the right is a small bookshelf, and two reading chairs.  (also the printer is hidden under the bedside table on the far side of the bed)

Also in the apartment:

The kids toy closet in the dinning room that has their toys, scooters, balls, more homeschool stuff, craft stuff, games, and our box of Christmas decorations.

There is a small shallow closet in the hall that holds our laundry supplies, towels, hair products, and more homeschool supplies.

We store old business files and our 2 memory tubs with Bryon’s parents.

There you have it!

Thanks so much for coming by for the tour… not sure it was that exciting, but I share what we are doing as an example.  Lots of people live as minimalists with way less and way more than us.  This is what works for us :)

Written by: Lorilee Lippincott

Related posts:

  1. Minimalist Living — What We Own
  2. Minimalist Kids – New Small Space
  3. Apartment Living
  4. Apartment Update
  5. Entertaining and Holidays – Minimalist Style

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