Airstream Living

tiny house

How To Hack Ikea Magazine Boxes

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Living in a small house, I have to find storage wherever I can.  There is one built-in shelf in my hall that I use for storage. I have got all kinds of goodies hiding in those gray Ikea Kvarnvik boxes: wrapping paper, ribbon, the glue gun, essential oils and more.

But this is how I updated some Ikea Knuff magazine file boxes and I’m thrilled with how they turned out. Inside of them, I keep a few of my favorite magazines, a couple books on my reading list and a backup supply of an obsession of Leuchtturm 1917 notebooks.

Let’s dive into how I hacked these into cute shabby holders. Some of the supplies are affiliate links. I’m supposed to tell you that…just so you know, it doesn’t cost you any extra.

Supplies

Check Fit

Before you get going, make sure the Knuff magazine boxes are going to fit on your shelves. Whew–good thing I checked, mine barely fit.

Prep

Give the magazine boxes a little sanding with a fine sandpaper. They may be a tad rough here and there. Sand just enough to get the baby splinters and the rough edges off. You don’t need to go crazy.

Paint

Apply a couple coats of chalk paint. I picked this one up at my local Walmart. Make sure you let the paint dry between coats.

Sand

Allow the paint to dry completely. Using fine sandpaper, begin to sand off the paint exposing a little bit of the natural wood here and there. Be sure to sand around the edges. This helps give it a time worn look. Keep going until you find the look you like.

Paint the Numbers

Hop onto your computer and print out your numbers. How cute would it be to use alphabet letters in a nursery or initials in a shared children’s bedroom? Make them your own. Choose a font you like and play around with the size. Print the numbers, then cut them out. Did you spy that I also hacked an Ikea Skogsta box?

With a pencil, lightly trace around the numbers, then fill in with craft paint with using a small paintbrush. Allow paint to completely dry.

Add the handles

Here is the tricky part I didn’t take pictures of before I started. Because the file box has a finger hole, you will need to cover this up and give something for the drawer pull to grab onto.

I just happen to have some little cardboard gift tags that were already painted black on one side. A small piece of chipboard would work great here as well. Put a couple little dots of glue or adhesive around the outside of it and cover the finger hole from the inside. You don’t even need to let it dry because when you attach the handle, it will pull the chipboard against the file box.

 

Because the file boxes are fairly thin, I did not pre-drill holes for the handles. I just lightly traced where they would be so I could see where to begin the screw from the back of the box. I used these handles and you can see that they almost cover the finger hole.

 

 

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.