Convertible Desks for Small Spaces
Over the years, I’ve learned that versatility is essential for a home-office in a small space.
Can a nightstand also serve as a desk? Can a convertible standing table function as a workspace by day and a dining surface by night? Can a folding table tuck away entirely on the weekends?
There really are so many great options — explore more via my book, Small Space Style.
Small Kitchen Storage
Do you have a small kitchen? Don’t overlook valuable storage space that could be hiding in plain sight — like the top of your fridge.
Small Space Gardening: Our 2020 Grape Harvest
This week, we harvested our first batch of this year’s concord grapes grown on the Cottage vine.
Out of our 9 years here, 2020 has has yielded the most usable grapes for us.
The increase is due to the post + cable system we installed in the back garden in 2019.
We added the wires primarily to support the red trumpet vine and establish a living canopy for privacy and shade. I didn’t expect that the grapevine would reach so far along the cables and sprawl across the yard, but luckily it did.
In previous seasons, the grapes grew primarily along the fence line, granting easy access to the summer raccoons, squirrels and mice. But the animals seem to have a hard to time reaching the hanging clusters, so the fruit has been allowed to ripen completely without interference.
Above: The grapevine in July 2014.
Below: The grapevine in July 2020.
Adam, West and I picked the first clusters off the vine together.
Thankfully the StanLee and Sophee seem to instinctively know not to eat the grapes, which are toxic to dogs.
View my recent related post: Garden aprons for the family
Even after filling this basket entirely, it looked as though we’d barely made a dent in this year’s bounty.
Above: Wearing Eileen Fisher, which I’ve found to be particularly comfortable during my fertility journey.
After clipping the first round of concord grapes, Adam turned them into jam.
We’ve enjoyed jam, juice and sorbet from the cottage vine for years, but until now it was always thanks to our next door neighbors, Kevin and Donna, who harvested the grapes across both properties.
Using Kevin and Donna’s recipe (and several of their kitchen tools), Adam kicked off our first canning experience.
A few hours later, we had our first batch of sweet, sticky cottage-made jam in-hand. The process is a bit messy for a tiny kitchen, but more importantly it’s satisfying and almost meditative. And despite turning a fair number of wooden kitchen tools purple, I’d say our first foray into canning was a delightful success.
I’m interviewing Kevin & Donna about the grapevine’s history and their maintenance practices, and I’ll publish that follow up post soon…
Summering in a Small Space during the Pandemic
After 4+ months of staying Safer at Home, most of our household rules and practices are now fully out the door.
Above: West watching friend Shavonda Gardner during an IG Live.
Mealtimes are fluid.
Activities are devised on the spot, rather than planned in advance (unlike those early, ambitious weeks in March).
Laundry day is any day.
And Adam and I are much more likely become distracted and randomly get absorbed in read articles and updates on our phones, rather than delaying until West is asleep at night like we used to.
Above: West wearing a child-sized mask, handmade at Late Sunday Afternoon in Venice.
I am still working full time, while Adam and West are, of course, still unable to take the local adventures they used to.
Above: Adam Winkleman and West enjoying the remains of what was once an epic pillow fort.
Those field trips once allowed me to focus uninterrupted on my job for valuable chunks of time throughout the day. Now we have to get a bit more creative— a challenge we’re (thankfully) all still into.
(Click here to read my Tips for Working Effectively from a Small Home / Apt During the Pandemic.)
We haven’t gotten West any new toys (except an oversized crane that we’d ordered way back in winter) since the very start of the pandemic.
As such, we’ve been doing things like draping oversized linens from the vine canopy as part of an obstacle course, writing letters to friends and mailing them via a city post box (and discussing absentee voting when we do so), and setting up museum exhibitions throughout the house. (This is something West came up with on his own. He gives us slow-guided tours of the works on display, which range from rocks to dolls to pieces of hardware.)
Adam and I are also relying heavily on the Pinna audio app throughout the days. Pinna offers ad-free podcasts, audiobooks and more, helping us keep West entertained without a screen while my husband and I manage our small business.
West listens attentively to his long-time favorite series, Sarah & Duck, or his new obsession, Quentin and Alfie's ABC Adventures.
Above: Quentin and Alfie's ABC Adventures on the Pinna app— our go-to for ad-free podcasts and audiobooks for our 3+ year old.
He’s so enamored of the Pinna segments that not only will he listen to them for long stretches of time while playing inside or outside with blocks and trucks, but he also drops a portable speaker in his wagon to listen to the stories on-the-go as we all take the dogs on their walks. (Use this link and the promo code: PINNA3MONTHS for 3 months of free listening.)
Above: A borrowed library book via The Libby Ap (featuring an illustration by Christian Robinson, and a copy of Antiracist Baby by Ibram X. Kendi.
Other activities we’re still regularly doing with West include:
Reading for about 2 hours each day. In order to expand our collection of books, we downloaded the Libby library app.
Biking in the early mornings (before the heat and crowds set in).
Watching episodes of Sarah & Duck or Puffin Rock with our mini projector
Checking on the fairies’ house and using a pulley to transport foraged supplies their way.
Listening to Pinna audiobooks / stories while playing with trucks, building blocks/tiles, train tracks, etc. (Visit this special link and use the promo code PINNA3MONTHS for a free 3-month trial.)
“Painting” the fence with water
Bubbles
Cooking, baking, cleaning and laundry as family games
Dance parties
Building forts (on the couch, with a tablecloth tent, and with play silks / scarves)
Window darts (these are plastic, but I’m glad we have them—- they’re fun for the whole family and we use them constantly)
Running around the house and yard with the pups
Art class (stickers, simple crafts, color pencils and crayons, paper planes, etc)
Gardening, Farmstand harvesting and monitoring, and careful watering of the indoor/outdoor plants
Puzzles (we only have 4-5 small ones, but they’re enough)
Basketball
Video / Portal calls with family and friends
Chatting over fences and through windows with our neighbors
“Fishing” in the main room or garden
Switching up meal and snack formats in the PlanetBox for in-home picnics
Meanwhile, Adam and I have an ever-growing stack of books we’re eager to read. I ordered some for my e-reader, some from author’s sites, and others through Elizabeth's Bookshop & Writing Centre (fulfilled via bookshop.org). A percentage of all sales from Elizabeth’s goes to The Loveland Foundation to support their mission of making mental healthcare accessible for Black women and girls. West goes to bed around 9:30, so it’s around then that Adam and I finally get to open pages and read.
At this rate, I imagine it will take us quite a while to get through our current reading list. But it’s lifelong work, this learning and unlearning.
And as for the summer, I’m all for foregoing traditional activities in order to keep members of our communities safer, figure out ways to make our planet healthier in this crucial decade, and to take meaningful actions to rectify inequalities throughout our country.
Composting in a Small Home and Garden (An Update)
“Landfills continue to be built in disenfranchised communities. Food deserts continue to be prevalent in disenfranchised communities. Climate change continues to be felt the most in disenfranchised communities. Taking ‘sustainable action’ means taking action to create a greener, cleaner world for everyone. Reducing food waste and regenerating soil are two of the best ways to help reverse climate change. Composting does both.” - Compostable LA
HOW WE STARTED OUR COMPOSTING JOURNEY…
More than a year ago, we began our composting experience here at our lil’ cottage in the city in order to divert our organic materials from landfills. (Food waste is one of the largest component within landfills in the US, and it releases potent methane— a greenhouse gas.)
In the kitchen, we use a countertop bin that we fill up throughout the day before routinely pouring it into our 33 gallon Jora Composter tumbler, which sits in our back garden.
We eat a vegetarian diet, composed primarily of plant-based ingredients. Between those scraps and the greenery from our yard, the tumbler filled up quickly. But even in its compact format, it was still large enough to accommodate most of our green output.
When the tumbler needed a little time to break down its contents, we relied a touch more on LA’s “green bins" — the city-issued, outdoor containers reserved for yard clippings, branches, flowers, a variety of grasses, leaves, and fruits + vegetables from any source that have NOT been prepared for consumption and have NOT been partially consumed.
TROUBLESHOOTING
It took Adam a while to strike the right ratio of green vs brown materials in our tumbler. The contents immediately became to moist, as we had more kitchen scraps than brown matter. So Adam relied on weekly supplements of wood shavings to balance out the contents. But the shavings had to be purchased, and were packaged in plastic, which completely counteracted the positive impact we were trying to have. So after using one bag and getting the contents of the tumbler to dry out to a moderate level, Adam replaced the shavings with dried, fallen leaves rounded up from our garden. (He does this every Sunday after he tends to our two Lettuce Grow towers.)
We quickly learned not to toss anything in the tumbler that isn’t truly organic matter. We avoided adding products / materials that claimed to be “backyard compostable, as they can be problematic. (If you’re new to composting and/or want to be an informed consumer, I’d recommend doing some research on “biodegradable” vs “compostable” vs “backyard compostable.”)
At the end of spring / start of summer, we were able to use some of the compost in our lil’ porch garden, and throughout patches of the yard. We did this gradually and carefully, as we weren’t confident that the dogs wouldn’t start sniffing around in the soil and digging everything up. Luckily, that didn’t happen.
COMPOSTING DURING THE PANDEMIC
Since Sheltering at Home for over 4 months and preparing nearly every meal here during that time, the scraps became too much for the tumbler.
We explored options for a residential compost pickup service, and discovered that our home is located within Compostable LA’s service area, so we enrolled ourselves (along with our next door neighbor) in their services as a way of managing the overflow of scraps from the tumbler.
Here’s a list of what can and can’t go in a Compostable bin:
The service starts when Compostable drops off a clean bakery bucket to live out its new life as a short-term residential compost storage bin. Once a week, Compostable delivers / exchanges the buckets, and transports the food scraps to their nonprofit partner, LA Compost. Compost is used in members’ gardens and sold to urban farmers.
This is one way in which we’re putting our consumer activism to work.
*Source: The NDRC
Select photos by Lucia Doynel
To donate a box of organic fruits and vegetables to Angelenos within food deserts, click here to buy a box for $32 + delivery to be gifted and delivered by the non-profit Suprmarkt. (Please explore the drop-down menu and sidebar options for full customization and pricing.)
Renovations as a Renter
It might surprise some readers to know that we’re renters.
With the amount of time we’ve been here and the renovations we’ve undertaken across the cottage, garden and even the neighboring tiny house, most people understandably assume that we own the property.
Once folks discover that we rent, they usually ask why we’ve poured so much money and effort into home modifications and improvements.
Does the landlord pay for the work or deduct the costs from our rent?
(No, but I assure you that he is generous, supportive and wonderful.)
Are we on a rent-to-buy plan?
(No.)
My thought on renovating our rental has always been that if the update is reasonable and within our modest, allotted budget, the investment isn’t a waste. Sure, I’ll never get the money back, but I find genuine value in the pleasure sparked by the end results.
Committing a little savings to an improvement here or there slowly over time has helped us stay comfortable in our home as we evolve, and it has sustained our excitement about being here— even after nearly a decade. This is helpful, as we weren’t in a position to buy a home (tiny or otherwise) for the vast majority of that time anyway.
Besides, an improvement to our home is also an improvement to my office, since I’ve worked here, full-time, since day one.
I’ll only consider substantial upgrades if there is something that is really bothering me every single day. Eventually I’ll target the issues, draw up my creative plan, review the scope of work, obtain a realistic estimate, and then consider the following: If we were to unexpectedly leave within the year, would I regret making this investment? If I believe the answer is no, I go for it if it feels doable and responsible, and if our landlord signs off.
Regarding the financial investment, let me be transparent: While we’ve put money behind our upgrades, we’ve also been able to offset some of the costs due to the nature of my small business. Yes, this is a privilege— absolutely. But it’s worth firmly noting that it’s also an enormous amount of work beyond/behind the renovation itself. (Thankfully, I really love my job.)
There are still updates we’d like to make. For example, our floors are extremely distressed, and while I feel somewhat sentimental about the stories that the wear-and-tear tells, they are in such a state that they look grimy 100% of the time. The same goes for the fronts of our cabinets and drawers. Also, the color of the stain on many of the built-ins is more saturated than I like, but there is so much detail and beveling throughout the wood that I can’t bring myself to commit to the time and resources required to change the look.
The updates we have made have brought us so much happiness, and I don’t regret a penny I (carefully) spent. As a result, we are as in love with our home as ever, and we are grateful to be in this cottage— even if we don’t own it.
I suspect that most of our larger changes here are done. The economy is in turmoil, our small business is struggling (like so many others), and we’ve already poured so much into this beloved space. As such, I think we’ll stand-by for whatever adventures await us in the years to come…
First photo by Lucia Doynel.
Keeping a Small Space Organized
Click here to view the IGTV video that corresponds with this post.
Due to the pandemic, I’m receiving more messages than ever from parents (in homes both small and large) who are feeling overwhelmed by toy clutter. The same goes for folks struggling with what to do to accommodate the sudden influx of office supplies, as so many people are working from their small spaces for longer than initially expected (often with a significant other or roommate nearby).
Even a limited amount of “stuff” can quickly make a compact room feel cramped. But you don’t necessarily need a bigger space to relieve that sensation of overcrowding— it can often be solved with the help of a few surprisingly simple tools, such as book repair tape, pouches + envelopes, and multi-tasking baskets. While these are clearly not earth-shattering hacks, they can truly make a remarkable difference in appearance and function when used in varying formats throughout a tiny home or apartment. You don’t need to spend money buying plastic bins (that will sit on this strained planet until the end of time) or bulky storage solutions to keep your home organized and feeling uncluttered.
The one hack that we use across all areas of the house and all categories of items is to keep goods organized within their primary storage space via concealed, upcycled containers.
For example, my office supplies are primarily located in one drawer, which is built-in to our sofa’s side table. Within that drawer are multiple pouches: An old toiletries bag holds stamps and ink. An old folding camping stool’s carrying case contains hard drives and similar tech. A repurposed portfolio keeps stationary and envelopes filed together. (Click here to view our 1-minute video about Streamlining a Tiny Home Office.)
Similarly, in the bedroom within a drawer built-in to our bookshelf/nightstands are two travel / packing cubes— one for my bras, one for my underwear.
And in our only dresser, which sits like a buffet in our living space, West’s toys are corralled using a myriad of containers— vintage brick forms, cleaned to-go containers, canvas drawstring sacks, box lids, and so forth— which contain everything from puzzle pieces to blocks and figures.
The point is not just to keep the drawers orderly (which sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t). It makes everything easier to tote from point A to point B, and also helps with cleanup.
West is much more likely to return a set of toys back into a box or little bag (which we can then drop back into the drawer) than he is to carry each individual piece back to the drawer and then arrange it all in an orderly way.
The packing cubes are particularly helpful, as we can dump them out and use them when we travel as well. Ours also have handles, which West uses a lot when hauling around his toys.
This is such a simple, inexpensive (or even free) way of keeping objects under control without infringing upon productivity or joy.
Intimacy in a Small Space
At the start of California’s “Safer at Home” order, I was interviewed by a sexual wellness brand and blog that focuses on modern intimacy through arts, science, and relationships. While some of the questions they posed and responses I provided speak specially to general human connection and physical intimacy while sheltering in a small space during the first months of the pandemic, much of the interview is applicable still, even as our state has inched towards reopening.
I’m sharing this slightly updated/modified version of the Q&As here on my blog, as I’ve recently received several messages from folks wondering how we manage time together, time apart, and physical intimacy here in our compact home.
Q: With social distancing & quarantine, how has human contact changed?:
A: Inside our home, not much has changed. We are used to being in close quarters with one another 24/7, although we used to have a few hours of exception sprinkled throughout the week, as we split or paired off to do various activities away from home. But now we’re learning how to connect with others in a whole new way. Thanks to technology, we can instantly be digitally united with our friends, family and colleagues from afar, while also discovering their unprepared homes, their unfiltered moods (many of them raw), their evolving habits, and their struggles along with their daily triumphs. And while we haven’t experienced the abundance of free time that so many others have referenced, we have indeed experienced a transformation in how we perceive and prioritize time throughout the day and night, which leads to increased connection in some ways, and reduced connection in others…
Q: How do you make space & time for intimacy?:
A: Depending on the form of intimacy, it isn’t easy. But I acknowledge what an immense privilege it is to be able to “shelter at home” with the ones I love, so I won’t complain.
In certain respects, our close proximity and constant exposure to one another make our deeply-seated bonds extremely strong, which is one of the reasons we live the lifestyle we do. However, when it comes to uninterrupted in-depth conversations and physical intimacy as a married couple (with a three year old who is constantly mere feet away, and while juggling a very small business that’s been rattled by recent events), those moments are limited and have relatively inflexible boundaries. But that’s okay— it’s certainly a new learning exercise, and we’re open to figuring it out.
Being physically intimate as a couple in a small space with a child always has its minor challenges. But we were creative in the first years of our relationship— now, 10 years in, I think that it’s helpful (though not always convenient,) to have the excuse to be mindful of how and when we connect, rather than lean into routine. And when I think about it, space itself doesn’t play as much of a role in finding places and moments for intimacy as much as general stress and exhaustion do.
Q: How do you carve out solo time?
If Adam or I are in need of a bit of air, one of us can walk the dogs or take a bike ride. But I can’t recall a time in recent memory when this has been necessary. Throughout the day we have the space we need to divide and conquer. For example, Adam and West can play and garden on the porch while I work on the back stoop. And while we can easily access one another (and I can enjoy the sounds of my child’s giggles, and the twinkling of the water circulating through the hydroponic stands ), we still have the space we need to be our independent selves and experience our own unique version of each day.
Q: What is a movie you will definitely watch?
A: We haven’t watched many movies as a couple— when we have time together we usually like to use it in other ways. But we did get a tiny, portable projector that has been a surprisingly fun way to transform several zones throughout our home into a cinema without the need for bulky equipment and wires. It’s proven useful for turning the living space or garden into screening rooms so that the bedroom can remain dedicated to self reflection and physical connection for my husband and myself.
Photos by Lucia Doynel
Small Space Gardening to Manage Anxiety (and How to Donate Fresh Produce in Los Angeles)
Over the years, @adamwinkleman and I have been given hand-me-down items (like an inflatable splash pool, a bounce house, a playhouse, and a deep potting bench) that instantly became comically huge in the context of our small garden. We of course passed those items onward— they never would’ve fit, or fit in a way that would’ve allowed us to navigate around them, as our outdoor zones are all only about 8’ - 10’ wide without taking any landscaping or architectural accents into account.
When we were planning where to grow our vegetable garden, we first considered how our family, the pups, and/or the neighbors naturally use each area of the yard. Ultimately we decided that the best spot was our 8’ porch and the path leading up to it.
The reality of this slim porch is that every day it serves as a play area, a living/office space, a grow zone, a pathway, and a drying spot for laundry and kitchenwares.
We’re now about 3 months into our growing experiment and in its current state the porch is certainly not particularly stylish, and it’s always somewhat of a mess. But it is highly functional, well-used, much loved, and deeply appreciated.
I’ve shared the following quote twice before, but I’m doing so again because it was this particular passage that helped us picture how we’d transform the space pictured above into the space pictured below.
“Every vacant lot, every grimy unused alley, has been repurposed and turned into a shady grove. Every rooftop has been converted to either a vegetable or floral garden. Windowless buildings that were once scrawled with graffiti are instead carpeted with verdant vines… Things that used to be done individually are now done communally— growing vegetables, capturing rainwater, and composting… In community gardens, on rooftops, at schools, and even hanging from vertical gardens on balconies, food sometimes seems to be growing everywhere.” - The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis
We opted to turn our storage benches (which we adapted into seating with the help of 2 custom outdoor seat cushions and 2 back cushions) into raised-bed planters. We simply removed the lids and lined the boxes for seasonal use as planters.
In addition to the box planters, we have two Lettuce Grow Farmstands, which enable us to grow up to 72 plants within about 4 sqft. We also have an array of hanging and potted edible plants.
Even though we’re typically home most of the time (as this is also our full-time office), Sheltering at Home has provided us with the unique opportunity to observe in detail how the garden has evolved over the past few months.
In our slim, city garden, we’re growing:
grapes
pumpkin
cherry tomatoes
tomatoes (3 varieties)
zucchini
broccoli
carrots
radishes
herbs
leafy greens / lettuces
sugar peas
red peppers
sweet peppers
jalapeño
cucumber
strawberries
watermelon
squash
But more than providing us with food, this is also providing us with a much-appreciated form of stress relief during this tumultuous time.
Above photo by Lucia Doynel
By putting down our phones, stepping into the sun, and working as a family (or solo) with our hands, Adam and I have noticed that we feel immensely better after gardening during periods of particularly heightened anxiety.
No matter how small this space is, having access to it — and the food it provides— is a privilege.
Green space is beneficial for community health, happiness and overall success. However, there is significantly less public green space in low-income and BIPOC communities.
In Los Angeles, access to natural commodities such as shade are an issue of equity and a marker of inequality— particularly in this era of climate crisis.
So is access to fresh food and produce.
One of the organizations working to address inequalities in access to fresh produce is SÜPRMARKT.
SÜPRMARKT is a low cost organic grocery servicing low income communities in LA. It operates weekly, providing 100% organic produce to make great health and healing available to the communities which need it most because everyone deserves healthy food.
- SÜPRMARKT
You can donate fresh produce to an individual, couple or family living in a local food desert by signing up as a one-time or repeat donor here.
SUAY also offers a way to donate farm boxes ($33) to those in need here in LA. They teamed with other like-minded businesses to create a CSA style food bank called “Know Your Grower, Know Your Sew-er.” Through this initiative and with their partners, they’re feeding over 200 garment worker families per week during the COVID crisis, as the average hourly wage of a garment worker in LA is $6, and the COVID crisis has crippled their already low income livelihoods.
We are deeply grateful for the opportunity to grow edible plants through therapeutic practices here at our tiny home. Through donations, informed voting and community activism, we aim to participate in remaking LA into a city where everyone has access to green spaces and green foods.
How to Politely Handle Unwanted Gifting
Every time I open up the Q & A section on my Instagram Stories, I get a few of the same inquiries on repeat. Without fail, they include:
“What do I do about well-intended friends and family who insist on buying gifts for me / my children when I don’t want anything?”
“How do I kindly tell my child’s grandparents to stop sending toys?”
“What do I do with unwanted gifts?”
My response to the first two questions is pretty simple, and thus far it has worked for us most of the time.
We gently tell our friends and family that the absolute best gift they can give to our son is an inhabitable planet for his generation and those that follow, and that giving him stuff doesn’t help him in the long run.
(For folks who just don’t quite understand the climate crisis or would like further explanation, I ask if they have an e-reader, then I gift them a digital copy of The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis. )
We have a cheat, of course, as most people know by now that we live in a tiny house and cannot accommodate excessive belongings. But even if we lived in a bigger home, we’d still take the same approach when it comes to unsolicited gifting.
It’s important to keep in mind that folks usually are just trying to convey their love in a tangible form. As such, it’s productive to provide them with some sort of alternative / example of what sorts of gifts are welcome.
In our case, we tell our loved ones about the types of books West enjoys. (We always welcome books, knowing that we can ultimately give them to our library or a local school once West outgrows them.)
We also talk about museums and activities we enjoy, in case they’d like to gift a membership or admission fee that supports the organization while also providing our family with a new experience.
When it comes to regifting unwanted items, I look at it this way: If someone circles back and asks me to reveal the whereabouts of a present they once gave us, that relationship is probably one that needs some reconsidering or deep work.
And besides, there are so many people, families and organizations in need of certain goods that I feel no guilt in passing along a thing we do not need here, and giving it instead to someone who can put it to good use. And hopefully the gift-giver would understand and support that action.
Photos by Tinylicious.co
Enhancing Privacy in our Tiny, Shared garden
This blog post (which is about enhancing the privacy of our tiny shared, multi-use outdoor area around the garden shower,) was sponsored by eBay and ShopStyle. As always, all words, opinions and images are my own.
This time of year, we use our compact thoroughfare garden and our shared porch almost as much as we use the interior of our tiny cottage.
Since all of the outdoor areas here at the cottage are either used or visible by other neighbors, privacy (or sometimes just a sense of it) played a key role in the design of these spaces.
Although our back garden is shared in parts by one neighbor and is visible by two others, it’s still the spot that is most dedicated to just our family. As such, it was the logical choice for the placement of our outdoor shower.
Last year the shower was almost entirely used for quick rinse-offs upon our return home from the beach, bike rides, or various other outdoor excursions.
Now, however, as we’re still sheltering at home to best keep our communities and medical systems as safe as possible, we’ve started to incorporate the shower in our routine as a way of winding down and relaxing.
To enhance the privacy a bit — whether or not we’re wearing our swimsuits — we wanted a solution that was mobile, since our shower can be moved if need be thanks to the hose-style water hook-up.
We also wanted it to be temporary / easy to move, so it wouldn’t infringe upon our limited garden space when the shower isn’t in use.
Lastly, we wanted something light and airy to suit our SoCal lifestyle and style of home.
We found our solution via a folding privacy screen on eBay, which is such a handy site for sourcing both new and rare/retro home decor.
What I enjoy most about eBay is the ability to discover unique items that keep a space from looking like countless others. Plus, it’s an easy resource for unearthing sold out items, and both on-trend AND out-of-the-ordinary styles.
I also appreciate the ability to set eBay’s search parameters to source from within a set number of miles, helping cut back on the carbon footprint of long-distance shipping.
It also serves as a convenient accessory for holding robes, bathing suits, undergarments, and towels.
We’ve long stuck with lightweight, versatile towels in natural fibers like this one. They dry quickly on the line, can be used in multiple ways, and don’t require much space for storage.
To create an extra surface for our low waste haircare bars and dog bath bars, we mounted a porcelain soap dish to the nearby wall as a supplement to the one built into the shower.
(There were a few other styles I loved, but ultimately, I picked the simplest style for this space, since there’s so much going on visually thanks to the overgrown vines and plants.)
We also introduced a sturdy, waterproof stool we found on eBay for a touch of extra surface space.
It provides a practical place for things like the jewelry I remove when showering, mugs or glasses, or a mosquito-repellant stick. The stool also serves as our side table on the porch when not near the shower.
When we bathe, slim plant trays slid beneath the shower platform catch water, which we then use to water the plants around our home.
(Here’s a shower that’s similar to ours.)
With these simple accessories, we feel like our lil’ outdoor shower space is both refreshed and finally complete.
Thank you, eBay, for helping us finish our garden shower and for sponsoring this post. Thank you as well to the readers of this blog for helping us keep our small business going, and our tiny home’s twinkle lights glowing.
Anniversary of Our Wedding at the Cottage
Today is the anniversary of our wedding here at our tiny cottage!
Adam and I had been engaged for years, but it wasn’t until we decided to say our vows here at home that the celebration seemed financially + logistically doable, and right for us.
By the time we got around to it, I was 20 weeks pregnant with West, and I love looking back at the photos and videos from this day and knowing that our little one was with us.
Our family and friends stood or sat all around us— in the garden, within the house, and along the porch.
It was a simple, beautiful and happy day.
View the 20 second recap video via my Instagram account, here.
Photos by Monica Wang.
Displaying & Storing Children’s Art in a Small Space
In the past, I’ve been asked by magazines, blogs and clients how to best store, display and manage kid’s art in small spaces. Over the years my responses have remained the same, but it wasn’t until this year that I started having to put them into practice myself in our tiny home.
My typical solutions are as follows:
Keep a single, dedicated art portfolio for the most recent and beloved pieces that your child is likely to remember and want to revisit.
Scan or photograph pieces to compile for a photo/art book to be organized, printed and bound by a magazine/book printing service online.
Use string + clips and/or Washi tape to create a magical little secret, ever-changing gallery on the inside of a closet door.
West is now 3½, and he’s into nearly any art project for up to 30 minutes or so.
From simple drawings to molding clay to crafting sculptures with upcycled items from around the cottage, he’s been creating with Adam’s guidance for a while now.
To corral the art, we initially we used a paper portfolio that was hacked together from a brown bag.
I later found a second-hand, wooden art portfolio at The Mart Collective here in Venice, which I purchased with the intention of organizing West’s art until I get the chance to have it printed and bound at regular intervals throughout the year.
When it comes to the sculptures, they usually get pulled apart to make something else, or they get used on West’s garden table or Fairy Garden.
To display the art for photographing, I simply use magnets or hold it by hand against our white refrigerator.
I started searching for an accessible online printing service for custom art and photo books/magazines, and decided to try Recently as recommended by 600 Sqft & a Baby in this lovely blog post of hers: Kid Art in a Book.
As for repurposing old pieces and putting them to clever, extended use without holding on to them permanently, I pull a lot of wonderful ideas from this “Kid Art” post from Reading My Tea Leaves.
For those who prefer to hold on to the tangible a bit longer, Oh Joy! created a delightful how-to via her post entitled: How to Organize Your Kid’s Art.
Vintage Folding Laundry Racks for Small Spaces
Since publishing a recent post about styling a small stoop, I received many questions about our space-savvy drying rack. It’s been our goal to not use our shared dryer at all during spring and summer, so the rack is now a common sight in our garden.
It was a vintage Etsy find, so I’ve rounded up similar designs below:
Right now, laundry is not simply laundry.
It’s a family activity meant to educate and entertain a preschooler about household tasks (shared by BOTH parents— not just one). It’s a well-worn collection of reusable goods meant to reduce our trips to the store as we attempt to keep our communities and families healthy by staying Safer at Home. It’s a round of linens washed together on cold and dried in the sun to help us reduce our negative environmental impact. It’s a vintage rack meant to save precious space in our tiny thoroughfare garden while supporting a small business. And it’s a bunch of overgrown plants — some edible — meant to enhance our positive footprint.
To make laundry lighter on the planet, we handwash delicates, wash on a cold setting (unless it’s a seriously mucky batch), and do fewer, larger loads vs smaller, color-divided loads.
We use our secondhand (but new-to-us!) collapsible rack in combination with two other tools: a folding rack from Helen Milan home (which is compact enough to easily use indoors or outdoors), and a makeshift drying line.
We do a fair amount of laundry, as we use washable/reusable goods in lieu of disposables, and because indoor/outdoor life with 2 dogs and a preschooler generates a bit of a mess.
Luckily I find laundry rather enjoyable and therapeutic. (Dishes, however, are Adam’s forté… I’m not a fan. And we share our household, parenting and business duties here.)
If you’re newer to line / sun drying, Simply Living Well: A Guide to Creating a Natural, Low-Waste Home by Julia Watkins offers some excellent tips on this topic (among many, many others).
Working From Home: Folding Desk for Small Spaces
Note: Click here to view the standing desk featured in this post. (The child’s desk was a vintage find.)
At the start of the new year, our 3 year old graduated from his folding baby/toddler desk to a proper kid’s desk. I patiently searched vintage and secondhand shops until I finally found the piece that best suited his needs, along with the the format of our home.
We eventually ended up with a vintage wooden desk + chair + chalkboard combo that folds up neatly, allowing it to slide behind our sideboard or be suspended from a wall.
I liked the piece so much that I was determined to find something similar for myself.
For years I’d had a dedicated desk, but we replaced it at the start of the Safer at Home order to help us simplify our main room and keep our small home better organized. (Full details on that here.)
I discovered an Etsy maker/shop that crafts clever folding tables of varying sizes, heights and formats - click here to view.
I selected their standing desk*, an original, handcrafted design that can be customized to accommodate specific heights. This is particularly helpful for me, as I’m 5’11” and I usually have to use a laptop riser on most standing desks.
(*Note that the shop appears to make everything to order, so they don’t always have all listings marked as available at all times, depending on their pending orders. I had to check back a couple of times before I was able to place an order for my desk.)
This model has an optional lower shelf that can be slid on for a touch of extra storage and surface space without requiring any additional inches.
With or without the shelf, the lower bars are great for a footrest if, like me, you can’t stand up without pause for the entire work day.
My favorite thing about this piece is the ease with which it can be moved and set up, allowing me to work in the smallest pockets of our home, and anywhere outdoors.
For those struggling to work effectively from a small home-office during the pandemic, I shared some tips/lessons I’ve learned during my 12+ years of working full-time from tiny, multitasking spaces here.
Before + After: Styling a Small Stoop for Versatile Daily Use
I’ve been missing spring, despite the fact that it’s all around us here.
In the blocks surrounding our home, Jasmine plants are dripping over fences and climbing up light posts, ducks are pairing off and tending to their eggs along the canals, and a myriad of pollinators are touching down into bursting gardens.
But, since we we’re on our 9th week of strict social distancing here at our <400 sqft home, we’re experiencing this season from the narrowed scope of our tiny lot here in Venice.
Thanks to steep reduction of auto transport in this time, we can hear birds flying over our cottage, the waves crashing on the beach, and the sea lions barking in the marina. Through our skylights and on our shared porch, we can feel the light changing as the sun beams down on us longer and with increased intensity.
In order to best enjoy it all from this sliver of land, we’ve been making the absolute most of our outdoor spaces— now more than ever before.
Four years ago this month, Adam and I were married on our tiny front stoop. We said our vows under the pendant lamp (that we forgot to turn on,) while our friends and families stood around us, both inside the house and out.
Our home wedding, 2016
Since then, we renovated our outdoor spaces and poured sweat and love into our garden and porch. But over the course of those larger projects, our little stoop itself and the surrounding yard/pathway suffered some neglect.
As this part of our home sees some of the highest traffic, we felt it was time to give it a good scrub, some fresh paint (an imperfect match, as we worked with what we have on-hand to avoid an unnecessary trip to the hardware store), and a deeper appreciation of how our family seems to have limitless experiences in this limited space.
We paid close attention to how we used the stoop and side yard within a 24 hour stretch. Within a day it was a place to:
Read books with our son
Dry laundry (both via a makeshift clothesline and a collapsible vintage rack)
Take on/off our shoes (and masks) for our quick dog walks
Tend to our container and vertical gardens
Pluck mint to drop into our mason jars and share glasses of water in the sun
Check in on the fairies and add to their garden
Chat with our neighbors across the fence
Play with the pups
Blow bubbles
Watch a few episodes of Sarah & Duck via the projector
When we first moved in, we were gifted two lovely, low + wide terra-cotta planters with boxwoods, which sat on either side of the stoop. They were simple and pretty, but they consumed valuable inches that, with a bit of creativity, could be used to enhance everyday life.
Since then I’ve styled this area to be practical, versatile and suitable for our lifestyle and climate. (Those planters are still being put to excellent use 9 years later… just not right here.)
Instead, I’ve filled our welcome area with smaller plants— one on a pedestal and one suspended from above— to save space without losing the impact of greenery.
I decided to forgo the traditional doormat, and opted to use a squat runner-style outdoor area rug instead. This expands the stoop visually, and makes it feel more like a miniature room than a step.
On one side of the doorway, a low vintage chair creates the perfect petite perch for putting on / taking off shoes, sorting mail, corralling toys neglected throughout the garden, and gathering leashes.
On the other side, a vertical rack holds a hand broom, our sun hats, and baskets that we once used daily on our trips to the library, local bakeries and farmers markets.
Now, as we shelter-in-place during the pandemic, the baskets are being put to use in various playful ways throughout our home and garden, and contain a few odds and ends as makeshift storage containers.
A ceramic dog bowl tops it all off, as this is where the dogs rehydrate after barking loudly when the mail gets dropped off, or after our (sadly abbreviated) walks.
A small stoop can be magicked into something so much greater with the help of a few key accessories.
For example:
Hanging tiered troughs from either side could enhance privacy while offering valuable space for a vertical garden.
Slim rolling carts can organize most-used shoes and reusable bags + to-go containers.
A compact storage bench can house necessities and double as a reading spot with the help of a cushion and a throw pillow.
With clever hardware and a bit of handiwork, wall and overhang hooks can hold everything from collapsible strollers to umbrellas to bikes.
Above: Lighting a non-toxic, bee-safe mosquito repellent stick in preparation for an outdoor movie night during sunset.
It’s not just about creating more space. (If we wanted more space, we’d explore finding a bigger home.) Instead, it’s about using what we have to the fullest, and finding creative ways to enjoy the same handful of inches in an endless permutation of ways as the years go by.
We don’t take any corner for granted. Each bit of space is either used in movement, or to grow something green to aid in cleaning our air, providing bugs with a place to live, and giving soil (and compost from our tumbler) a place to thrive and regenerate.
I never realized just how important soil is for our overall wellness until recent years. The way it impacts the food we eat and the fabrics we put on our bodies is hugely important to our human and planetary health. Our bodies absorb not just what we ingest and apply, but also traces of what we wear.
Throughout the imagery in this post, the three of us are mainly wearing Pact fair trade clothing, made with organic cotton + linen that not only feels good on the skin, but is good to the skin.
Pact uses no toxic chemicals nor toxic dyes in their clothing, and they practice organic cotton farming, which saves vast amounts of water compared to modern conventional cotton farming.
Another reason to transition to a wardrobe comprised of natural, organic fibers it to prevent microplastics from seeping into our waterways with every wash. Synthetic fibers like polyester, nylon and rayon (among others) are plastic that we’re unwittingly draping on our largest organ, and then flushing into our water systems.
Pact offsets the carbon footprint of their shipments, and uses biodegradable, recyclable and compostable packaging. They also partner with local non-profits to whom they can donate your used clothing if you’d like to ship any garments (Pact or otherwise) to them via a pre-paid shipping label provided by Pact. But before doing this, please keep in mind that the majority of donations (in general) end up in landfills. So I say buy less, buy better, repair more, and wear your comfy sustainably + ethically made clothes until the end…
…and then turn them into endlessly reusable cloths for polishing up that beautiful small stoop of yours.
This post about creating and enjoying a small, versatile outdoor space, was sponsored by Pact. (Thank you to Pact and the readers of my blog for keeping our small business going, and our home’s twinkle lights glowing.) As always, all photos and words are my own, and any imagery featuring my child and/or pups was taken as they interacted in their own natural ways.
Clothing pictured:
Drying line undergarments: Lace Hipster + Smooth Cup Bralette
Whitney’s painting shirt: Featherweight V-Neck Tee
Adam’s painting shorts: Essential Sweatshort
Whitney’s dresses: Trapeze Tank Dress
Adam’s afternoon garments: Garment-Dyed Henley + Woven Roll Up Pant
West’s shorts: Softie Shorts
West’s t-shirt: Everybody’s Friend Tee
West’s pants: Classing Leggings
Quarantining in <400 Square Feet for Two+ Months
Recently, Domino asked me to answer some questions about what life has been like in our tiny house since we began self-isolating— the questions + responses are below.
We hunkered down on March 13, and we intend to continue the course as long as our state and local officials instruct us to do so, in an effort to keep ALL members of our community as safe as possible.
(Thank you to Elly Leavitt for the questions and the Domino feature!)
Q: How long have you been self-isolating in your space?
A: We’ve been practicing strict isolation and physical distancing since March 13th.
Q: What tweaks have you made to accommodate everyone staying inside at the same time?
A: While life beyond our walls has changed drastically— as it has for everyone— our existence at home is remarkably similar to how it’s been for years. We are used to being mere inches from one another for days on end, as my husband and I both work full-time from our <400 sqft live-work office, and our 3½ year old was not yet in a full-time school.
However, just before the lockdown here in Los Angeles, we swapped out my desk in exchange for a large credenza. This has helped us all tremendously, as it provides a generous, streamlined and accessible storage solution for our son’s toys (among other items). This has lead to a simplified clean-up process, which is helpful in space of any size, but particularly a compact home
Q: Your main room is a multipurpose area - can you elaborate on that a little?
A: We’ve been in our tiny house for 9 years, and the main room has always been a multi-purpose room. As such, we didn’t need to acquire anything new to help us keep the space adaptable while sheltering in place. With the help of rolling and folding furnishings and accessories, this zone can easily become my office, our son’s place space, our workout room, a pop-up dining room, a makeshift office, a screening room, and our son’s bedroom at night.
Q: How do you carve out time (and physical space) for yourself at the home?
A: We are lucky enough to have a small yet highly usable garden and porch. When the weather is nice, any one of us can separate from the group and sit outside under the shade of our canopy of vines. It’s a great place to read, work or enjoy an outdoor shower.
Within the house, we’ll sometimes set up a mini, portable projector to create an oversized screening surface in either the main room or the bedroom at night, which keeps our son occupied while my husband and I check in with each other about the business and/or personal matters.
Q: What does your work-from-home station look like? How have you altered it (if at all)?
A: I’d always had a dedicated office zone within our cottage until this Spring. Now that I no longer have a desk, I either work at the kitchen counter, or via a pop-up office that consists of a garden table and an easily portable basket of essential office accessories and supplies. (My favorite spot is on our tiny back stoop, as it strikes the perfect blend of indoor and outdoor.)
Q: Can you tell me a bit about what it's like having a kid in a tiny home during this time? How do you balance everything?
A: I’m less interested in finding “balance” and more interested in going with whatever flow seems healthiest and most natural for us as a family and as individuals, day by day. Sometimes I’ll pass the entire day with my brain focused on work while my husband, Adam, cares for our child and our 2 dogs. Sometimes I’ll stash my tech away and focus solely on family and the house/garden. While we miss our library, beaches and community events, we feel so grateful to be here right now. Sheltering at home is a privilege that we don’t take lightly, and by turning every little thing — like gardening, cooking, cleaning, creating, reading, and exercising into family activities, the days have rushed by.
Q: Are there any fun activities you've loved doing together? (IE crafts, ways to get West involved around the house)
A: We have 2 Lettuce Grow Farmstands that we tend to daily— they’re great tools for growing leafs greens and vegetables in small spaces like ours. West loves monitoring and harvesting the plants with us. We also do simple activities like paint our fence with water, play “darts” with suction cups, set up tetherball within the house (aka a ball in a stocking tied to an overhead beam), go “fishing” from our folding Pikler Arch with magnetic rods, hang laundry up to dry on the line, and more. Everything can be turned into some sort of a game with a bit of creativity and patience. I am not a cook, and at best I’m a DIY-lite sort of person, so none of these things require extensive crafting or specialized skillsets. (Whew.)
Q: What have been your biggest challenges?
A: Teaching small space living tips via live online classes has been a joy, but also a struggle. With 2 loud pups, a delightfully playful young child, and neighbors in close proximity, there is a lot that’s beyond my control when it comes to creating a quiet and focused environment during the sessions. But that’s quite all right— this is a time for global empathy, understanding and patience.
Q: What are you doing to unwind together as a family - how has that routine changed?
A: Family yoga (thanks, Cosmic Kids!), gardening, and movie projector sessions have all been so enjoyable lately. We’re much more lenient about how much time we spend viewing shows— I think our son has seen every episode of Sarah & Duck and Puffin Rock 1000 times, but he still loves them. And we’ve been making (and thus eating) cake a bit too often. But the last thing I’m going to do while trying to keep the family and business thriving during a pandemic is guilt myself over such things. Instead, we’re embracing them. (Further details via this blog post.)
Q: What tips can you share for those living in a smaller space during quarantine? What have you done that you've personally found to be the most helpful?
A: I have countless blog entries, IGTV videos, and even a book that are dedicated to cultivating comfortable, beautiful and efficient small spaces! But the main takeaways from these resources that I’ve been implementing at this time are: continuing our use of washable goods in lieu of disposables (this saves so much space and prevents unnecessary household waste), creating pop-up offices that offer a bit of a visual barrier so my son better understands when I’m working, and communicating clearly and efficiently with my loved ones so that we’re all on the same page and happy to be together in our tiny home, 24/7.
Enhancing a Small Outdoor Space with Vertical Gardens
The Cottage is on the Lettuce Grow blog today in a feature entitled: You Don't Need to Live Large to Live Beautifully: 6 Space Enhancing Tips From Whitney Leigh Morris. (Click here to read.)
Even the tiniest slice of outdoor space surrounding your home can be transformed into a functional and tranquil retreat without much effort. A stoop, driveway, porch, or miniature garden can all be effective ways to enlarge and enhance your living space.
Tailor your outdoor oasis to suit your style and the members of your household, being sure to keep your climate and safety in mind when selecting furnishings and accessories.
If you have an outdoor area—and even the slimmest balcony will do—don't miss the opportunity to make it into a practical yet dreamy retreat.
I’m sharing 6 tips for livening up a lil' patio via the Lettuce Grow blog— click here to read.
Self Care Through a Low Maintenance Home
Reading about everyone’s varying experiences while sheltering at home has been fascinating. This past week I’ve spoken with someone who works in the medical field and is staying in a hotel room to keep his family and home safer, parents of newborns who are ecstatic to have so much unexpected time with their new babies, parents of multiple kids who are antsy in confinement and missing exposure to physical contact both with people and the natural world, and folks who are at home alone and longing to be reunited with their friends and loved ones.
While not much has changed for us here in terms of our day-to-day lives, this time has helped me realize how deeply I cherish simplicity when it comes to our home, and why it’s relevant to my role as a business owner, a partner and a mother.
Above: Vase and no-maintenance-required dried/preserved florals from Bloomist.
Before so many of us were staying home 24/7, I appreciated our pared-down residence because it made me feel as though we have more time to get out together and explore the world beyond our walls.
Now that leaving home for anything other than essential errands isn’t an option, I appreciate our home for similar reasons, but from another angle…
Above: A handmade multi-use caddy on the bedside cubby holding an e-reader with access to a library’s worth of books with no printing, packing or shipping necessary.
I’ve discovered that this house is not just my happy place. It also helps me manage stress.
Above: An open book on display as art on an easel in the main room.
Studies show that Americans spend exorbitant amounts of time each year just looking for things in their homes, and waste financial and natural resources replacing items they can’t seem to locate.
By contrast, here in our small space, we know where just about every single object is placed. (Though I must admit that we’re still on the hunt for a small orange rubber ball and a set of spare keys…) And anything we’re looking for is easily within arm’s reach. There’s less to maintain in general, less to outfit, less to organize, less to clean, and overall less to manage. And for me — a person whose default mode is WORRY!— those little things add up to a form of notable stress relief.
For whatever reason, I never understood just how hugely important that is for me until now.
Above photo by Tinylicious.co.
In recent years, whenever a holiday draws near (just as Mother’s Day is about to), I find myself bracing for the well-intended gifts I never asked for and don’t want. I don’t want to sound ungrateful— I’m just being honest. The random boxes and packages dropped onto our property for my business and family don’t usher in serenity and relaxation. Instead, they spark images of the manufacturing used to make the packaging, the resources required to create the goods, and the recycling bin filling up as I break down the boxes, and sort the reusable materials from the single-use materials. While these are small issues for an individual and a household, they have monumental global ramifications. (And it perpetuates climate injustice.)
Above: Vase and dried/preserved florals from Bloomist.
Yes, I still order things online sometimes. And I am neither “zero waste” nor an actual minimalist by definition. (Just look at the bursting basket rack on our stoop.) But a low maintenance home allows me to direct my energy with greater clarity towards engaging in pleasantly slower activities with my family, and it opens up precious time to concentrate on keeping my business and household afloat in this upside-down moment in history. And, for me, that’s certainly a form of self-care with lasting and meaningful benefits.
Over the weekend, I took a slow stroll through our home and garden to visually identify and acknowledge some of the ways in which I’ve cut back on my daily to-do list when it comes to our home.
Above: The grapevine and trumpet vines creating their seasonal draught-tolerant canopy over the garden.
Turns out that the examples are diverse, and they’re everywhere.
Above: Resilient succulents on the vertical garden wall.
From unfussy succulents, to lightbulbs that we rarely have to swap, to vines that grow on their own without interference, to dried florals that beautify our space with no upkeep efforts on my part, to artwork that can be swapped out at home within seconds rather than at a frame shop, to edibles growing outside our windows with the help of recycled materials and recirculated water, to a bathroom vanity that is free of the clutter of haircare products (despite the fact that I’ve had long, thick hair my entire life), I was touched by how we’ve prioritized and minimized certain elements of our home in order to better support that which enables us to thrive.
Above: Lettuce growing on the porch via a hydroponic stand.
So, with some of this “extra” time and energy surrounding this Mother’s Day, I’ll be turning my attention to Every Mother Counts, because I believe that safe and respectful maternity care is a fundamental human right.
This organization is working towards championing long-lasting health improvements for every mother, everywhere.
Above graphic from Every Mother Counts.
This work is vital, as 303,000 women die around the world as a result of complications of pregnancy and childbirth, every year, and almost all global maternal deaths can be prevented if women have access to quality, respectful and equitable maternity care. Learn more about the organization here, and read about their efforts with respect to the pandemic below:
Childbirth and newborn care is by far the leading cause of hospitalization in the U.S., and the maternity care system had been failing to meet families’ needs prior to the COVID-19 crisis. Now, pregnant and childbearing people face greater challenges to accessing prenatal, childbirth, and postpartum care, as hospitals are restricting labor support companions and visitors and labor and delivery units are being closed to make room for patients with COVID-19.
Join Every Mother Counts by using this form to contact your policy-makers in local, state, and federal government to demand policy action that supports pregnant, childbearing, and postpartum people in the response to COVID-19.
On Mother’s Day, 10% of sales from Bloomist will go towards Every Mother Counts.
Before + After: Creating a Canopy of Vines
We have two fast-growing, seasonal vines in the garden of our tiny house: grapevines, and trumpet vines.
While the grapevine plant recedes completely and becomes bare in winter, the trumpet vine recedes only partially, so we can enjoy it in varying degrees of fullness year-round.
When we first moved in 9 years ago, the trumpet vine was only a few feet high:
Above: Years ago, when the trumpet vine was just a handful of feet high (as seen on the right in dark green), and tucked beneath the grapevine.
Now it spans the entire length of our back garden. (See the video here.)
Above: The house when we moved in 9 years ago.
Above: The house in Spring 2020.
Bright red flowers burst out in Spring, just as the tiny grapes are starting to form on the other vine:
For the most part, the grapevine is trained along our side garden and fence line, as it originates on our neighbor’s property.
But it spreads from there via strong branches and slim creeping tendrils that latch on to anything within reach, ultimately landing on the roof of the cottage.
The trumpet vine is mainly concentrated in our back garden. For years we watched as our string lights drooped lower and lower under the weight of the greenery— so much so that Adam and I had to duck beneath them to traverse the compact corridor below, and to ensure that we wouldn’t disrupt any birds’ nests.
Above: Baby hummingbirds in their tiny nest in the trumpet vines.
Last year we worked with our friends at Big Red Sun to lift the vines out of the walkway, and up towards the roofline. They installed 3 slim vertical steel beams in the garden via concrete as anchor points to start the job.
One post was attached to our back gate/fence.
The other 2 were positioned on either side of the space allocated for our custom sofa and mirror set, which was in the process of being crafted here in LA.
Above: 2019, immediately after the posts and sofa were installed.
From the posts, the Big Red Sun team attached strong cables, which they then anchored to various points along the house.
Above: Fall 2019
They zip-tied the vines to the new cables as a method of wrangling the mess, and left us with a beautiful zig-zag of greenery that followed the path of the twinkle lights intertwined within it.
Above: A close-up look at one of the 3 posts.
As the trumpet vine continued to grow and branch out, I then used lightweight wire to connect the stretches of space between the main cables, so smaller tendrils could then span the open areas to create a more comprehensive canopy.
The canopy has a few larger gaps that allow sunlight to pour through and pass across the garden throughout the day. But otherwise it’s almost as though we have a living ceiling of green out back.
This provides us with much-appreciated relief from the intense sun during the summers.
It also creates a safe home for hummingbirds, as well as a spot for bees and butterflies to congregate and rest.
Above: The view while standing on the garden sofa and breaking through the main/bottom layer of vines.
I’d never had a garden before this one, and I had no clue what I was doing when I started out. The yard was cracked, dry and bare.
This “before & after” is proof that even the most barren patch of city soil can give birth to a sea of life.
