Moving Forward: Seeking Environmental Justice
The primary focus of my work is to help people feel comfortable, confident and content in their small spaces, hopefully emboldening a shift away from the “bigger/newer/more is better” mentality that contributes to hyper-consumerism, allowing us clearer access to a greener and more equal path forward.
In recent years, I began to wake up to the fact that I was — and still am — approaching my work with a vast amount of privilege, and that I needed to start engaging in never-ending research (unlearning and relearning) on topics such as environmental racism, anti-racism and white privilege, which not only surround my work, but surround everything we do and the very air we breathe.
The same air that George Floyd can no longer breathe. The same air that is clean in some communities, and — by no accident — heavily polluted in others.
(Read Up on the Links Between Racism and the Environment by By Somini Sengupta via The NY Times.)
“Intersectional environmentalism is an inclusive version of environmentalism that advocates for both the protection of people and the planet. It identifies the ways in which injustices happening to marginalized communities and the earth are interconnected. It brings injustices done to the most vulnerable communities, and the earth, to the forefront and does not minimize or silence social inequality. The longer racism is not addressed, the harder it will be to save the planet…” - Leah Thomas (Instagram @GreenGirlLeah)
Intersectional Environmental Activist and Eco-Communicator
As I continue to do this job I hold so dear, I’ll do some things differently, and some things louder.
I will carve out much more time to further study, unlearn, relearn, and to listen closely to marginalized voices, and thread their wisdom into my everyday practices and into my business (hopefully without centering myself the way I’m doing right now), and direct readers to other sources while encouraging tangible support of the creators.
I will stick to the Intersectional Environmentalist Pledge created by Leah Thomas.
When it comes to vetting our partnerships, I will now always apply an Inclusion Rider. This is something I’ve done repeatedly in the past (with the wise guidance of my friend and fellow blogger Lily Diamond), but I haven’t advocated fiercely enough 100% of the time. That will no longer be the case.
I will continue to give a portion of the income that our small family/business earns via paid partnerships to The RightWay Foundation. Additionally, we are currently working on an initiative to get 20 former foster youth safely housed here in Los Angeles. (Please click here to read the updated post about this.)
In addition to our work with RightWay, I will routinely seek out other organizations — particularly local ones— that are working towards addressing systemic oppression and inequality, and who we can support with hands-on action and/or with financial contributions.
I will confront overt and covert white supremacy whenever it manifests in both our personal and business interactions.
I will continue to protest in the streets and via creative methods born from the COVID crisis. (Note: In order to best keep all protestors safe, we won’t share the images here without careful consideration. Plus protesting isn’t about performance— it’s about disrupting the status-quo to help spur deep, systemic changes.)
We will join our community in celebrating Black joy and Black healing when our presence is appropriate.
I will devote time and resources to supporting efforts to increase voter registration and ensure equal access to voting.
I will devote time to reading an evening roundup of current articles on environmental racism (Google alerts is a helpful tool for this), in tandem with our book lists and daily discoveries via social outlets.
Adam and I will continue to read and engage with anti-racism and environmental justice work by authors and activists, and apply what we learn to West’s everyday life and education via methods appropriate to his age over time. We will teach our child how to stand up against racial injustice throughout his life, as, in real-time, we learn how to better do so ourselves.
Recent related articles from around the web:
I’m a black climate expert. Racism derails our efforts to save the planet.
‘Turn off the Sunshine’: Why shade is a mark of privilege in LA
Recent related posts on this blog:
There is No Climate Justice Without Racial Justice
“To white people who care about maintaining a habitable planet, I need you to become actively anti-racist. I need you to understand that our racial inequality crisis is intertwined with our climate crisis. If we don’t work on both, we will succeed at neither.”
I know that many folks are here for content regarding ways in which we can tackle aspects of the climate crisis from right here within our homes. An essential component of this topic that I haven’t addressed nearly enough is that the fight against climate breakdown is also a fight for justice.
Environmentalists have a special duty to speak out on racial injustice. I will continue to do so in a more proactive and productive manner from here on out.
People of color are more likely to live near polluters, and thus drink polluted water and breathe polluted air. (Despite this fact, the current EPA is in the process of rolling back regulations on pollution, even as the agency itself has confirmed these truths.)
“We see firsthand how these groups suffer disproportionately from industrial pollution, toxic waste, and other forms of frontline environmental hazard and harm. This, too, is the result of deeply entrenched racist patterns and policies, the direct upshot of which is physical suffering and premature death.” - Mitch Bernard, Executive Director and Chief Counsel of the National Resources Defense Council
I recently began reading: “A Terrible Thing to Waste: Environmental Racism and Its Assault on the American Mind” by Harriet A. Washington. Last year, when the author, Harriet A. Washington, was asked by an NPR correspondent why people of color are disproportionately affected by environmental racism, Washington’s response was as follows:
“For the same reasons they're disproportionately affected by many things. It's various racist policies that have persisted for decades - and in some cases centuries - have herded them into areas where they are exposed to toxins. Segregation is a factor in many urban areas. In Baltimore, black people live in certain parts of the city because they can't go elsewhere. When lead was found to be devastatingly harmful - and it was harmful to everybody, white and black people - when that was found to be the case, whites were able to go to the suburbs to housing that had not - never been exposed to lead and live away from the hazards. But black people were not allowed to move into suburbs. They weren't allowed to move into white communities at all. They were trapped in these areas where they tended not to have ownership of their homes because of redlining and other racially - racial policies. So they did not have the force that a homeowner might have in terms of forcing some kind of government action. So a lot of racial policies conspire to create communities that are relatively powerless and have been concentrated in areas that are harmful.”
- Harriet A. Washington
While we cannot visit our beloved libraries to further educate ourselves on this topic at the moment, we can take the simple action of setting Google alerts for news on this issue. In the past few days alone there has been a flood of articles and posts highlighting experts discussing the intersection of the climate x social justice movements.
Let’s listen closely, and VOTE for candidates at local and federal levels who act with Environmental Justice at the top of mind when at the ballot box.
Below is a small sampling of outlets run by individuals or organizations whose work is either rooted in or overlaps with environmental justice:
National Resources Defense Council (Instagram + Newsletter + Racial Justice Statement)
NAACP Environmental and Climate Justice Program (About + Twitter)
Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson (Instagram + Recent article from The Washington Post)
Heather C. McGhee (Instagram)
Green Matters (Instagram)
We Act (Instagram)
LALCV (Website)
Sunsrise Movement (BLM Statement + Instagram + Week of Action in Defense of Black Lives + Website)
Fibershed (Instagram)
UPROSE Brooklyn (Website)
Christiana Figueres (Instagram)
We Must be Anti-Racist
The goal of this blog and my work is to help people feel comfortable, confident and content in their small spaces. But I cannot continue to talk about those things without addressing the fact that, here in America, many Black citizens can’t even feel safe in and around their own homes due the extreme and unrelenting dangers and threats that accompany racism. (A recent example of this is the murder of Breonna Taylor.)
To the members of this community who are white: It is our daily responsibility to dismantle white supremacy and the systems of oppression that continue to burden and destroy Black lives. It is our responsibility to learn how to be anti-racist by researching, listening, not centering ourselves, and addressing overt and covert white supremacy whenever it manifests in both our personal and business interactions. It is our responsibility to commit to raising anti-racist children. It is our responsibility to keep Black friends, neighbors and strangers safe from hateful, biased and baseless attacks.
And we need to VOTE for anti-racist leadership at all levels of government.
Thus far, I’ve found the following materials to be particularly helpful regarding recognizing and addressing the issues of internalized racism and white supremacy:
How To Be An Antiracist by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi
Me and White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad
White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo, PhD
Also helpful is this list of Anti-racism Resources (articles, books, podcasts, films, social media accounts, organizations, etc.) compiled by Sarah Sophie Flicker, Alyssa Klein in May 2020, and brought to my attention via Brittany Packnett Cunningham.
Our local library and The Conscious Kid routinely suggest excellent children’s books by authors and/or illustrators of color that focus on children of color.
Of course our to-do list reaches far beyond reading and sharing books. Our good intentions aren’t enough. We must translate what we learn into action, and do so every single day.
“There is justice. There is injustice. There is no neutrality. No sideline. No bleachers. No exits. We are all in the human rights struggle to save humanity from human tyranny. Black people, especially, are struggling for the right to live, for the right to breathe.”
- Ibram X. Kendi
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.
Recent Features Roundup (Dwell, Domino, Chalkboard, Insider)
Occasionally we like to select a few features from the Cottage that were published by other outlets, and share them via our own blog as well. Our mid-May roundup includes Dwell, Domino and The Chalkboard. Click the links below to explore.
Below is an excerpt from our Dwell feature:
As climate change continues to impact the way we live, Whitney believes small spaces can work spectacularly for a variety of family structures with different income levels.
"Living within a modest floor plan can help folks lead a greener existence," she says. "The average American home is about 2,500 square feet and uses a commensurate amount of energy. A small space runs on a sliver of energy by comparison. After all, it doesn’t take much to warm up, cool down, or illuminate a 400-square-foot home. Through our work and our home, we’re striving to be a resource for those who are interested in self-sufficient and restorative small space living, requiring less of the earth while also giving back to it."
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.
Frequently Asked Question: What do we do about bugs?
Thanks to the weather here in Southern California, we live a very fluid indoor/outdoor lifestyle year-round. Our windows and doors are almost always thrown open wide, welcoming in the ocean air, the occasional hummingbird, and, inevitably, some bugs.
Not a day goes by that someone doesn’t message me to ask what we do about critters making their way into the Cottage, or finding their way down from the vine canopy. So I thought it was time to post about what we do (and don’t do) to manage our tiniest housemates.
First, keep in mind that bugs in Los Angeles are nothing compared to bugs in many (probably most) other places. I’m from Florida, and we could never leave our home open there unless we wanted to be swarmed by mosquitos and joined by snakes (and perhaps an alligator or two) while going about our business indoors. Screens and overhead fans are borderline necessities in my childhood home, whereas here at the Cottage we have neither.
At the end of the day, it’s not my goal to rid our home of any living thing beyond our family of 5 and our plants. I feel like it’s all a natural balance, and that if we have healthy soil and thriving greenery we’ll have more pollinators and bugs. (And other than the damned mosquitoes, that’s quite all right by me.) Here’s how we handle it.
MOSQUITOES
Since we’re located by the canals, we sometimes get mosquitos. During the drought, there were few to none. But in the (blessedly) wetter years, we get mosquitoes from roughly April through November. (As we had a particularly wet March, the little rudelings already here for 2020.)
To keep them off of us at night, we use a box fan that we point at the bed. This is nice anyways, as we don’t have (or want) AC. When in the garden during sunset when they’re most active, we’ll wear long linen clothing and burn these non-toxic, bee safe mosquito repellent sticks, which we simply stake into the pea gravel. The smell doesn’t bother me the way citronella sometimes does, and the sticks burn smoothly.
For a bit of extra coverage if we’re hosting or if we’re in the thickest part of summer, we’ll sometimes add a citronella hanging coil, and/or a traditional multi-wick candle. We also have a smattering of Aunt Fannie’s Mosquito products— West is particularly fond of this tin of “balm-balm,” as he calls it.
SPIDERS
I know spiders give a lot of folks the shivers, but they simply don’t bother us. In fact, since they helps us keep other bugs at bay, we appreciate them. If we find one in a corner of the shower or up on the ceiling bends, we just help them outside via a jar. No biggie.
When it comes to the vines, we sometimes see webs, but rarely are they occupied. They’ve never repelled down onto us. However, we tread slowly through the garden during the early morning hours, as more than a few set up camp overnight and need a some extra seconds to raise up out of the pathway back into their secret hiding spots.
HUMMINGBIRDS & BUTTERFLIES
Winged beauties will sometimes fly into our home and try to escape through the skylights (which, sadly, don’t open). With a bit of patience, we’re always able to get them to land on a potted plant that we then carefully carry back outside.
MISC BUGS
We almost never see other bugs in the house. (Again, it’s LA— I know that’s not typical of other environments.) But if we get sugar ants or or fruit-flies (which sometimes happens in July/August), we use non-toxic fruit fly punch and simple soap-and-water solutions to curb the onslaught.
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.
Simplified Video + Photo Editing
For years, I used to love all things tech. My work life and personal life have long been deeply intertwined, and, as a result, my large desktop, accessories, and my collection of reference books were items I used constantly and couldn’t imagine functioning without.
But technology changes, as do priorities. And, after having West, I realized that the majority of the tools I relied upon for business for were no longer tethered to my dedicated work area or desktop computer. They were increasingly accessible via the phone in my pocket, and through my tablet. It dawned on me that I could truly conduct most of the administrative and creative aspects of my job from anywhere.
Above: Photo by our professional videographer, Tinylicious.co.
As a result, I streamlined and pared down my equipment and office in general, passing on select items to folks who could use them, and swapping out my lift-desk (full details on that here) in exchange for mobile work zones.
My office supplies are now totally corralled in a single drawer nestled within one of the three built-in cubbies in our multi-purpose room. My reference resources are no longer on our bedroom bookshelves, and instead are either accessible online or via our local library.
When I need to physically be in my content, or when the project requires a polished and professional look, we work with our exceptionally talented friend Lucia Doynel of Tinylicious.co. Otherwise, I happily do most of my content creation myself.
With this shift in how I create came several reader questions about the software / apps and devices I use to edit my media, and what tasks I accomplish via each.
Above: Our masks drying on the line over our stoop— a normal sight these days, but one I never expected to get used to. Shot on my compact Canon and edited via Lightroom + ColorStory.
So here is my very 101, unfussy and unabashedly amateur method of editing my videos, Stories, and photographs.
CAMERA
Canon EOS M50 mirrorless
I use my camera for most brand and blog imagery.
iPhone 11 Pro Max
I rely on my phone for nearly all of my IG photos (as they’re taken in-the-moment), and for ALL of my videos. (I also use my phone for most of my editing… more on that below). When using your phone, ALWAYS wipe off the lens first. It makes a huge difference in the quality of the photo or video.
VIDEO
Adobe Premiere Rush
I use Rush (on my iPhone and iPad) to cut and arrange and compile video clips. Beyond organizing and tightening content, I also use Rush to alter the speed of select footage. I also use this app for basic exposure adjustment.
Filmm App
I use Filmm via my phone to add styles / effects to videos exported from Rush. It also has stock songs that can be applied to footage, or you can import an audio file of your own to add to your video.
PHOTOS
Lightroom (mobile)
Before anything goes up on my blog or Instagram, I adjust it in Lightroom. I don’t use any presets, as I prefer to edit every photo to tell its own story.ColorStory
I use ColorStory for all the fun stuff in photos, like more playful effects and filters. I also run some of my Stories videos through this app.Snapseed
To quickly target areas of a photo for more precise editing, I’ll sometimes adjust a photo in Snapseed after using Lightroom.
STORIES + TEXT OVERLAYS
Unfold
I use Unfold or Template to format ALL of my Stories. They’re simple apps for adding various frames, scrapbook-style visual accents, and text overlay to both videos and photos alike. Plus they’re handy for creating Stories in advance, as well as creating title-card style video frames to add into Rush and splice into larger video projects.
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.
DIY Hanging Board Frame for Children's Art & Photos
When West was born, we bought 4 of these clipboard-style frames to use fluidly throughout our space:
Even though the boards/frames are not new to our space, readers still ask about them regularly. They’re a great way for switching up your child’s art, photos, calendar pages, and and prints with ease.
To my knowledge, this particular style is no longer available, so I thought I’d share a quick and super simple visual DIY guide for creating something similar using NO new materials— just repurposed items from around the house.
We used a postcard / photo our videographer sent us, an old bulldog clip, twine from our jar of used wrapping supplies, a flat-head thumb tack, and a small box top from a gift crate that was recently sent to our home. Wine crate lids and clipboards would also work well for this project.
If your child is looking for a way to display their art, these can be strung from doorknobs, wall hooks and S-hooks to be enjoyed and swapped out within moments when desired.
Current + Upcoming Events & Recent Features
There’s been so much going on here lately! Below is a brief roundup of current and upcoming events and appearances, as well as recent editorial features. Thank you as always for visiting our lil’ blog, and I hope you and yours are staying safe and feeling well.
NEW & ONGOING
Create Calm in a Small Space
Online Live Interactive Class via Airbnb Experiences
Click here for info and/or to took book a tour
Your home is where you play, relax, work, and imagine. And it can be inspirational, functional and comfortable no matter the square-footage. Over the course of an hour via this live and interactive Airbnb Experience (conducted via Zoom), guests and I will explore how to generate and maintain sense of calm, maximize space, and create a truly unique small space unlike any other with the help of plants, pop-up zones and functional decor. We’ll explore my home and garden via a detailed tour as a way of demonstrating small space solutions first-hand, and we'll touch on the topic of sustainable sourcing, and eco-friendly space-saving swaps. (Note: new dates and times being added regularly to the class schedule.)
Journeys In Greenery Podcast Episode with Hilton Carter
Click here to listen via your preferred platform
(Warning: I say “like” repeatedly in the first few minutes while I’m getting settled— sorry about that, folks. It’s only at the start, I promise.)
“My guest today is Whitney Leigh Morris of the wonderful blog The Tiny Canal Cottage and the beautiful and informative book, Small Space Style. Whitney is a small space lifestyle consultant based along the canals in Venice, CA and as she would say, "a firm believer that you don't need to "live large" to live beautifully." She, her husband Adam and son West are all featured in my new book Wild Interiors where you'll see how they found such an elegant way to utilize plants in a <400 sq.ft. space, while blurring their outside patio into the inside of the home.” - Hilton Carter
UPCOMING
Create & Cultivate Money Moves Digital Summit
May 2, 2020 (All day event. My live segment is from 4:00 - 4:30 PDT.)
Click here for info & tickets
As part of this all-day online conference, I’ll be conducting a 30 minute workshop entitled: Staying sane while working from home in a small space and the hacks you need to thrive. I’ll cover creating a pop-up workspace, minimizing distractions, and maximizing productivity for those who are working from home during the pandemic or year-round.
RECENT PRESS & FEATURES
Lula & Georgia:
Whitney Leigh Morris on Living with Less
(Click to read)
Travel + Leisure
You Can Chat With a Famous Author or Listen to Drag Queen Storytime With Airbnb’s New Literary Experiences
(Click to read)
Insider:
Tiny House Residents Reveal What It’s Like to Live in a Small Space During Coronavirus
(Click to read)
PopSugar:
Styling an Entryway (or lack thereof(Instagram Stories Takeover)
Small Space Style on World Book Day
It’s World Book Day, so I’m sharing a bit about my book, Small Space Style: Because You Don’t Need to Live Large to Live Beautifully, and my writing experience:
When I began writing the book, West was an infant and Adam was still working at an agency full-time. I never took a single day for maternity leave, because that’s how it goes when you run your own small business. I’d get up at 3am to write the book at a 24-hour diner, and at 6:00 I’d bike back to the Cottage to nurse West. My husband and I would walk the dogs with our son in the baby carrier, we’d eat breakfast, and then Adam would get ready for work. At 8am, I’d take calls with my East Coast and European clients, and an hour later Adam would leave for his job. All day until around 7pm, I’d care for West and the pups, attempt to blog and Instagram, and work for clients when the baby slept. When Adam returned home, we’d put West to bed, eat dinner, and I would get right back on the computer to resume working on the book (while sporting my hands-free breast pumping bra) until I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. Then I’d feed West on demand until 3am, when we’d start the whole routine over again.
It was dizzying, but I believe it was worth it. I ended up with a sweet lil’ book that features 200+ tips for folks looking to make the most of their compact quarters.
My book was released in November 2018, and since then I’ve been surprised and thrilled by the ways in which it has unexpectedly connected me with folks all over the world. I’m sending heartfelt appreciation to everyone who has contacted me to share their positive experiences with Small Space Style, and to everyone who contributed in the making of the book.
About Small Space Style: Because You Don’t Need to Live Large to Live Beautifully:
For me, the key to living in a small home or apartment is not figuring out how to Tetris a life’s worth of stuff into limited square footage. It’s about understanding what you truly need — and don’t need— in order to live comfortably and contentedly, day by day. Compact homes aren’t necessarily stepping stones on our path to larger lodgings. Small space living can work (and work spectacularly) for all sorts of evolving family structures and income levels. Plus it can lessen our negative impact on the environment. Living tiny can be fulfilling, comfortable and, yes, stylish.
My intention is for Small Space Style to help you as you embark upon your own journey into the world of small-space living. I hope that the book’s pages provide you with ideas for crafting a tiny space that feels infinitely beautiful, inspiring and welcoming for you and your loved ones.
The book features 200+ tips for making the most of your little home, with chapters centered around the essentials— living, sleeping, eating, and bathing. It offers imagery from our home as well as others, and is brilliantly illustrated by Magdalena Zolnierowicz.
Click here to shop via a small, independent shop that ships with no waste packaging.
Click here to shop via Amazon.
