Airstream Living

downsizing

The Celebration Table

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“Nonnie, are we going we going to be eating at the outside table or at the celebration table?” This was the question from my oldest granddaughter when she was just four. It had never been called the celebration table before, but that describes it perfectly. And so, it would be called forever more.

You see, since becoming a mother, I always dreamed of the big family table. A table that would seat my children, their spouses, and their children around it. When we purchased our big house 12 years ago, we had a large formal dining room and I was on the hunt for the perfect table. The big family dining table of my dreams.

I fell in love with a 60-inch square table that had two leaves and extended out to be five by thirteen feet. This table would be big enough for everyone to fit around. They all fit and we used the big family table a lot!

Many memories were made around that table. Thanksgiving dinners, Christmas breakfasts, Easter brunches, and birthdays were all celebrated there.  The most memorable celebration was my oldest daughter’s wedding.

My daughter and son-in-law were married in our living room with 50 of their closest friends and family. The celebration table served as the wedding party table for the reception. At the table, my daughter and her brand-new husband were toasted, given blessings, and laughed right after tying the knot.

A few short years later, the seats around the celebration table started to fill up. My first granddaughter (the one who named it the celebration table) joined us. She was followed by her sister and her brother. A couple years after that a daughter-in-law filled a seat. That made 10 of us around the table. My family had doubled!

The dream I envisioned when I was a young mom had come true. My children with their children all sitting around the table. I loved that table so much. Not because it was a nice piece of furniture, but because of what it represented. Family, a dream come true, and love.

 

When we relocated to California, I brought the celebration table with me. Because we were not able to buy a house before the move, it came along. I knew my house would be drastically smaller. But, I didn’t know if it would have a dining room or not. Maybe I would get to keep it.

When we have purchased our little 920 square-foot urban cottage, the celebration table was going to have to leave me. This was THE hardest thing I had to let go of when we downsized our home. It still makes my heart ache writing this.

I can tell myself it is just a table. Material things don’t matter. New memories will be made around different tables. However, my heart isn’t following and I miss my celebration table.

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Why I Chose A Small House

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The Big House

I chased the American dream of the big house and got exactly what I wished for and worked hard to achieve – over 4000 square feet of an American dream.

Right away, deep down, I knew it was too much house. My husband, John, and I tried selling it just a year after we bought it. We had a sign in our yard for two years and then the housing crisis hit. We decided to hunker down and make the best of it. We did for 11 years.

I did love my big house. We raised three kids in it, hosted oodles of parties, always had room for guests to stay and even had my daughter’s wedding in the living room. But, it takes a lot to live in a big house. It uses a lot of utilities, it is a lot to keep clean, it is more to maintain, and it is a lot to fill up – and fill it up we did – with lots and lots of stuff.

Tiny Houses

Somewhere along the way John and I became obsessed with the tiny house movement and the ideals that come with it. Fewer bills, less stuff, more time, and more freedom appealed to us. We seriously considered going that route. We purchased books, I started a Pinterest board, and I subscribed to tiny house YouTube videos.

In 2009 we purchased a used motorhome to tour the United States for a month and then ended up keeping it for six years because we enjoyed the freedom and relaxation that travel provided. It had everything we needed but was basic and simple. We loved that. Could we really live tiny?

Small Houses

Why did I feel like I had to live either big or tiny? Somewhere in the middle between 400 and 1000 square feet is small. Small house living offers the best of both worlds. This seemed to be the answer for us. There were a few factors that lead us toward small.

The child. I watch all of the tiny house shows so I know you can live in them with children. It can be done. We are still raising our youngest, who is in her teens. She is an artist. Canvases, paint, knitting needles cover her bedroom floor. And, of course, she produces laundry. That stuff needs to be kept somewhere. In a small house, she can have a room of her own.

The parties. Cooking and throwing parties is my way of showing love. Spending time with family, friends, and neighbors is a major part of living. My knack for design spills over into my cooking and entertaining. In a small house, I can have a full-size kitchen with (some) room for guests to roam.

The garden. I am passionate about growing my own food. Moving dirt, pulling weeds, planning how much I need for preserving, and dreaming about the meals I will make with the harvest grounds me and makes me happy. In a small house, I can have my own plot of dirt to garden and plant fruit trees.

The Move

Sometimes, life ends up shoving you into a decision before you are actually ready for it. In late 2014, John was offered a job in the same California town we had left 10 years prior.

Many late night talks, early morning walks, and notebooks full of pro and con lists were made.  Nine months later we broke the news of our relocation and a year later we moved. This was a really good time to downsize.

We were going to buy smaller. And we did. It took us 6 months of hunting, bidding, and patience to land in our 920 square-foot urban cottage.

I would like to inspire others who want to downsize or who already live small. Having a full satisfied life doesn’t have to be restricted by the size of your house. Do you live small? Do you want to live small? Share with me why in the comments. I would love to hear from you.

6 Houses We Missed Out On – Part 2

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What? No one wants to rent a house to someone with 3 cats?! We can’t find a house to buy and now we can’t find a house to rent. Just when I was about to lose hope, enter the miracle worker, Jodi. You can read the beginning of the story here. The plot thickens and now onto house number five.

Side Note . . .

Up to this point, all the above houses we missed out on were before our actual move across the country from Michigan to California. We moved in August of 2015 and the three of us were living in three different towns, all in different guest rooms. I moved in with my parents 75 minutes away, our teenage daughter moved in with John’s parents 60 minutes away, and John stayed with gracious friends near his work.

What if we couldn’t find a house in our desired neighborhood? What if we just kept getting outbid? How much longer could we stay apart? No one would rent to us with three cats so we started looking at other options. This is when we strayed from the plan. I know, I know. We spent about a week looking at homes outside of our target neighborhood.

The Waterfront Property

We got super duper close to purchasing this house. Oh. My. Gosh. The house and the property were absolutely everything I wanted. It checked off everything on my wish list–plus some.

Do your research. This property backed up to the water treatment plant. Thus our funny little description of the waterfront property. The plant was blocked by trees so it really wasn’t that big of a deal until we looked up the property line on the county website. The backyard was technically only half the size that was currently being used. The other half of the backyard was an easement to the water treatment plant. Meaning, the backyard looked like it was twice its actual size. We spent a week asking questions and trying to find answers to see if this part of the property could ever be taken back. We could not get a concrete answer. That was too much of a red flag for us, so we walked away.

What we loved about it. The floor plan, the vaulted ceilings, the white kitchen, the large outdoor covered patio, the fruit trees, the rose garden, the berries, the giant oak tree in the backyard.

Why I’m glad we missed out. It wasn’t in our target neighborhood. This was a non-negotiable issue for us. What were we thinking? Desperate times call for desperate measures and we lost focus.

The Rental House

Our friend Jodi, aka the miracle worker, work in property management. She knew one of her clients was considering selling a house in our desired neighborhood. She contacted the owner and they allowed us to walk through. Spoiler – this is now our urban cottage because after reading there is more to the story.

I don’t know why I didn’t like it at first. Maybe it was because the tenant was there watching us walk around. This made for a really awkward 5-minute walk/run through of the house. It didn’t have everything on the wish list. I knew I wasn’t going to get everything on my list but, to be honest, I think I was tired, frustrated, and just not paying close enough attention to the miracle that was going to happen. Plus, the house just flat-out smelled bad.

To make a long story short, we told Jodi we weren’t interested in buying the house but we were wondering if the owner would rent to us month-to-month WITH the cats until we found something to buy. The answer was yes, but she would want to sell it after the holidays. This would buy us some time to keep looking and all be back together under one roof.

The Garden House

Shortly after we moved into the rental house, the garden house hit the MLS at 8:30 a.m. We toured it at noon and placed a nice big offer over asking. We were going to play the pool house game and win! This was really a yard with a house to go with it. Fruit were trees everywhere, birds and nature galore, an outdoor pergola, and a koi pond. Everything was looking great. The selling realtor told our realtor it looked good and we were the highest bidder. That was until the 72-hour mark. Boom. They got an offer they couldn’t refuse. Sold! Darn it, again.

Why I loved this house. The yard. I just really loved the yard. It felt like paradise to me.

Why I’m glad we missed out. The house was going to be a lot of work. It was a fixer-upper. I think it would have been a complete money pit.

Home Sweet Home

On a warm September evening sitting outside on our patio at the rental house, we were eating a late dinner. John said to me “let’s just buy this place.” We had moved in about 20 percent of our things – beds, sofa, and basic kitchen needs. Knowing we were going to up and move again, we didn’t want to fully unpack the storage unit.

 

We were functioning perfectly fine on just the basics in our new little home. We contacted the owner and she said she would sell to us, but not until the spring. With the busy holidays and traveling back to Michigan to see family, that timing would be fine with us.

Over the next few months, we started to fall in love with the house more and more. I began dreaming up the projects we would do to put our own stamp on it. At the beginning of April 2016, we closed on the house.

Jodi, the Miracle Worker

I really do think of Jodi as our miracle worker and this house as a true blessing. We purchased from the owner, so the house never went on the market. No chances of being outbid! Woot! We were able to test drive the house, and the neighbors, before we bought. How many people get the chance to do that?

Living small has been an adjustment but we welcome the challenge with creativity and anticipation. We have lots of plans for our urban cottage. Some of those plans are going to take years to accomplish. I look forward to sharing those projects as well as personal stories along the way.

6 Houses We Missed Out On – Part 1

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We found our house by a miracle thank you to our friend, Jodi.  Be sure to read more about her role in the story at the end of part two. It is a competitive world baby! When you are determined to live in a popular neighborhood, and you aren’t an investor that can drop cash, you need to stick to your guns and not give up.

We almost strayed from our goal at one point. We house-hunted for eight months and two of those we were all living apart in three different towns. I think shopping for a house when you are tired and desperate is like shopping for groceries hungry. Stay focused, stay focused. Here is a list of the houses we missed out on before our urban cottage came along.

Small But Super Cute

This is the first house we wanted. John started traveling one week per month four months before we moved, to transition into his new job. So, house-hunting began without me. Our teenage daughter went with him on the visit where they toured this house. They both fell in love it. The house had been listed for months and months and months, so we thought by the time our house sold it would be here waiting for us. Whoops! Sold. Darn it.

What I loved about it: it’s cute. I mean, just look at it. The flower beds, the arch, the lap siding, the paned windows. It had a white kitchen. The bathroom was black and white. The backyard was big.

Why I’m happy we missed out: the second bedroom really wasn’t a bedroom. It was a room attached to the living space that you had to walk through to get to the bathroom. It didn’t even have a closet. Though it was a Jack and Jill bathroom with the master bedroom, this floor plan wouldn’t give our teenage daughter enough privacy.

The House On The Hill

Our big house in Michigan was in a sale contract and John looked at this house the day it hit the MLS. It sits on THE main street in town, and just up the hill a block from the coffee shop, the yummy eats, cute stores, and street fairs. Because we had just gone into contract on the sale of the big house, we hadn’t gotten pre-approved yet. We got that ball rolling and two days after the house on the hill was listed – sold.

What I loved about it; it had a fireplace–something on my wish list that I don’t have in my urban cottage. It had wood floors throughout. The kitchen was a hot mess. Well, there really wasn’t a kitchen – starting from zero, in my favorite room of the house, got me super excited. It had a garage.

Why I’m happy we missed out: I can’t think of anything. I think this would have been a great house for us.

The Money Maker

This was the one that got away. We were under contract for over a month on this one. It was $100k more than we were willing to spend but, it had a money maker attached. This cutie was rumored to be an old country store in the late 1800’s. It was (mostly) updated and had a studio apartment in the back. We had planned to use the studio as our moneymaker to offset the outrageous mortgage. I was really excited to throw my entrepreneurial spirit into our new backyard business! Forty-five days into the sale, we were at the appraisal stage and it did not appraise–by a lot! The seller would not budge on the price. Bye bye, to the business idea (and cute house).

What I loved about it: the front porch was nice and deep, perfect for a big ceiling fan and lemonade with friends and neighbors. The backyard had a ton of potential. I had already mapped out where to throw parties and where I could have had my garden.

Why I’m happy we missed out: the price. Though starting and running a new business would be fun for me, it really was way too much of a mortgage for us. I’m happy I don’t have that stress in my life today.

The Pool House

Right after we dropped out of the money maker, the hunt was back on. John took a tour of this house as soon as it hit the market, and I toured it online from the other side of the country. There was so much potential in this place. We could see it everywhere. We knew that the house on the hill sold for a good chunk above asking, so we decided to offer $10k over asking with a personal letter and a picture of the family. We were outbid by $1k. Sold. Darn it, again!

What I loved about this house. After we punched out a wall, it would have had a really nice, big, open-concept living space. It had an addition above the garage that would have been perrrrrfect for our teenage daughter. It had an outdoor fireplace.

Why I’m happy we missed out. It had a pool. You may think this is a bonus, but we’ve had a pool in the past. It was great when the kids were growing up, but it takes maintenance, money, and backyard space–where I could have my garden to grow food instead.

There are two more houses we missed out on in part two of the story.