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emagineer

What you miss when downsized

emagineer
14 years ago

Knowing most of us have downsized to our smaller homes I realized there are a few things that would have been nice if kept.

I love fabric and regret giving it all away. Have many a day when there is a creative project which some of it could have been used for. Now I'm too cheap to think about buying any....hasn't stopped me though for a few new yards.

A couple of old pieces of furniture too. Although I still have "stuff" to go through and most likely there will always be more to consider.

'Tis the old "Letting go and then comes the day you actually could have used it". I really don't want to downsize anymore. Am not a hoarder, but boxes are in my storage shed which I know have wonderful treasures sitting inside.

Have any of you done the same?

Comments (31)

  • Shades_of_idaho
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    OH Yah I have boxes of stuff in the loft that need to be purged. Sigh. Was just thinking this morning I should also go through a cabinet in my studio and purge it of totem makings as I do not need any more totems in my yard and the fixings are taking up valuable real estate. Not sure I WILL get to it today as it resembles work for me and I am not sure I even have boxes to put the stuff into. But the thought is in my brain. Will see how I feel after doing the work I HAVE to do today.

    One thing I did get rid of was a collection of frames and now I could have used them down at city hall for some old pictures I have been framing. Oh well.

    Dang I did not get rid of enough furniture. Seems every piece is so special to me. Well I did get rid of the old family couch but I bought a love seat to replace it. It is smaller and fits the space better. Still have too much furniture.

    My brain is working on a house re arrange so waiting to see what I use and what I do not and then make some hard decisions. WAAAHHHHH

    There is not much I am sorry I got rid of. At this point I still have too much. I have space for it but feel I would live more comfortably if I did not have as much to deal with. To be honest I do not really remember most of what has gone away so that is good. In a way I guess. Maybe not in other ways. :^((

    So must move myself around or nothing will get done today.

    Chris

  • TxMarti
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Chris, I gave away some great old frames and I really regret doing that. They were gold and I never thought about painting them then. Now the same frames would set me back at least $50 each. Eeek!

  • kitykat
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Closet space. (Yes, they had to stay with the larger house!) Even though I have purged clothes, and maximized every inch of space with built-ins, larger closets would be fantastic. Bedroom closets are 2x3-1/2, 2x4, 2x4. That ain't much... good thing for unfinished basement.

  • Shades_of_idaho
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Hi Kitykat,

    Understand the smaller closet space problem. One thing we did in two of our small houses is the double rods, one on top of the other. Also I had one where we had the one rod on top of the other for almost all of the closet and just about one foot on one end left full length for dresses. Yes I still wear them. LOL

    We made these rods from pipe and screw on fittings we screwed to the walls and a T fitting for the lower rod. The pipes were so much easier to work with and stronger then the wood. Bummer with them was it did make the hooks of your clothes hangers a little dirty.

    We have been fortunate with walk in closets in three of our small houses and the smallest house of 800 SQ FT had two 4 by 6 walk in closets. Was wonderful.

    Chris

  • User
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    For 10 years, I lived on a 43' houseboat, and left it with only my clothes and personal stuff in a box, and 2 cheap rattan chairs. I rattled around in my small cottage like a beebee in a washpot for a long time.

    In this little old stucco cottage built in 1950, which we bought after Hurricane Katrina destroyed our nice riverfront house, I miss a space to spread out my personal projects. I like to sew, and like someone said, I sigh for lost fabric. I like to paint, and cannot keep the messy supplies laid out, and preparation is a lot of trouble each time. I also like to garden, and will be adding a box window over the sink in the kitchen. Such a joy to have morning light come through a filter of living greenery. And I like parrots; only have three now, and that is plenty. My hubby made a south side screen porch into a really great all season space by enclosing it with .24 polycarbonate panels--birds get the benefit of unfiltered light and we have visibility on 3 walls. While hubby was up north, I began tearing out an old leaky bathroom and wound up tearing out all the small closets in this cottage of ours. Now we have a modified shorter closet in the #1 bedroom where we sleep, a tiny 3/4 bath where 2 other closets were once located. The contents of the old closets are in big totes on the floor of #2 bedroom which will one day become our Master BR. The old bathroom lost its tub, and is now functioning as a half bath until our contractor comes back to do a bumpout for a clawfoot slipper tub. Both baths will have pocket doors, and the one for the MBath will be in the bumpout space. Our old back porch will become part of the kitchen, and we will extend that space across the back of the house behind the current #2 bedroom, and with that whole back exterior wall removed, we'll have a 7' deeper kitchen AND 7' deeper bedroom. By moving the entry to the #2 bedroom from the hall (it was a big hall because a floor furnace was once there), I will make a nice size utility closet in the hall leading to the tiny bath and #1 bedroom. Essentially it would serve as a guest bedroom suite by making the passage from the dining room closed off with a pair of separately hinged shutters. Then, the entry to the #2 bedroom would be via a barn-hung door at the end of the present back porch. I don't think this would be too personal a customization to detract from the sellability of the house. Besides, I've already told my hubby, this was my last house, I wasn't moving again EVER.

    Of course, a guest room is a waste of space if it does not contribute to our lives every day. So that is where we will move the computers, the sewing machine, the paint supplies. It is street side, facing west, so not a prime bedroom location. One whole wall in #2 bedroom will become a closet. Not walkin, but I think 12'x2 of closet will be fine. We will use a queen bed, but space is adequate for a king bed. Keeping it simple is my goal.

    Hubby asked me to design a window seat for the dining room, and that will give us space for file storage. LOTS of files. Maybe a little FABRIC too. At one end of the window seat will be a really high cabinet, housing our rollout pantry. The other end I see a base cabinet for dishes, and a wall cabinet to the ceiling for glassware. I did not replace most of my dishes after Hurricane Katrina, so this space might serve adequately.

    And we have a derelict cinder block 20x25 garage with NO roof, which I want to turn into a multifunction greenhouse with a Lexan roof, maybe a "green" roof on half of it with plants growing there. The space should give us a lot more room for storage, or really for LIVING. The program HOARDERS really scares me, so I've been tossing quite a few things. And trying to organize what we keep.

  • Shades_of_idaho
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    moccasinlanding,

    Welcome. Sounds like you have it pretty well worked out for your small house. Lots of things for you to get done. Doing it in baby steps will help.

    So sorry about Katrina. Having lived through a flood and our house really torn apart but repairable for us. I do understand lots of your feelings. So hard to re-group and compared to so many of Katrina we were able to repair our house after day full year of flat out slave labor day after day of it. Lots of tears and frustration. With ourselves and the government. Never trust the saying I am from the government and I am here to help you,. Sheese run for your life.

    I use the sewing room as our guest room when needed otherwise it is for sewing or napping for me. I did buy a futon because I did not want space taken up by a bed full time. We do not have that much company. Hind sight I wish I had bought a pull out couch or hide a bed whatever some one chooses to cal it. The futon is not handy to set up and back. Since we have it now I am not going to change it and it works. I just would have bought the hide a bed. Dilly Dally has some great small furniture from RV and boats that I would love to get for the guest bed. Still considering finding something like that. Mostly because of the hidden storage. Would be great for the fabrics.

    And That hoarder show scares me too. I still have too much stuff but have pared it down to manageable at this point. Still purging.

    Chris

  • flgargoyle
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    We were talking about our future downsizing plans last night, and ran into a problem. We want to get our house on the market soon, and it is rather cluttered. The question is, what do we do we the stuff we plan to keep so that we can stage the house to sell it? We once rented a storage unit, and after a year's time, we realized that we had spent more on rent than the stuff inside was worth! I know we need to get busy selling stuff, but there is still a lot of stuff we plan to keep, some of which isn't all that attractive to folks that aren't in to 'rustic' antiques. I wish I could get the barn built on our land, and just move stuff up there, but time and $$$ don't allow, for now. I guess between selling stuff, and renting a storage unit, we could manage. The trick will be to keep the stuff in storage for the minimum amount of time.

  • TxMarti
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    We are facing the same dilemma. We will probably pack everything we can and stuff it in the attic, but some things are just too big to go up there. My goal for 2010 was to declutter, but every time I pick something up that has no home, I find a reason to keep it. I think if I did dh's stuff, and he did mine, we might be able to part with a few more things.

  • wantoretire_did
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Same here. We listed just before the crash, fall of 2008. I am a persistent de-clutterer, but we still rented a small storage unit for summer 2009 for books, art supplies, yarn and some odds and ends. Didn't make a bit of difference in sale prospects, so we brought everything back but keep it all in boxes upstairs (no real attic) and in the garage. In answer to OP's title question, I haven't really missed anything I got rid of, yet!

    DH had 3x bypass in Sept. then got a staph infection so had to go under the knife again in October to clean it out and rewire the sternum. Then he was in a rehab for 6 weeks on a wound-vac and 3x a day IV antibiotic.

    I had a lot of free time, so decided the he!! with it, and hung some new pictures and did a little rearranging, just to please me. I was just so sick of a year of prepping for showings, hiding paperwork, jewelry, meds, etc. and getting remarks as "it's so cute", "lovely home", "I love your yard", etc., but NOT ONE OFFER.

    We just lowered the price AGAIN. Our house is a 70s Cape Cod. Lots of shiny new crappy construction out there on the cheap as competition.

    DH is going under the knife once again next week to remove a stray wire. Supposed to be outpatient simple.......And, I just hired a cleaning lady. Tired of doing it all.

  • idie2live
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Oh, wantoretire, sounds like you have had a stressful year. I hope everything goes well for your DH next week and he is finally on his way to complete recovery.

  • User
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Bless your heart, Wantoretire! Sometimes you can't win for losing, as they say. I hope your husband is fine soon.

    Being persistent about clutter removal is the best approach. Like the best time to diet is when you are only ONE POUND overweight. But most people do not "spring clean" any more, and as a result, our closets and drawers become packed.

    This year, I hope to have a real spring cleaning. Also, a lot of things I have may be worth something, but it is too difficult to find a buyer and too expensive to build more storage for things I don't really need.

  • TxMarti
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Oh my Wantoretire, I hope your husband bounces back quickly after all this. Those are two very stressful things going on in your lives.

  • Shades_of_idaho
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Wantoretire I too hope your husbands surgery goes well and he is on the mend soon. Having sold so many houses I understand the frustration of getting up every morning and sweep mop vacuum dust scrub the toilets. I even did it AFTER we moved in this house for a short time. Habit of years and years of doing so. And then when you least expect it the right person shows up and your house will be sold. Now I keep our house clean and de-cluttered but nothing near the constant spotless state I used to. And good for you to finally get some one in to help.You need to take care of you so you will be healthy enough to care for DH. His stress is also your stress. Be sure to set yourself ME times.

    I just took several more boxes of good stuff to the thrift store on one of our last trips to town and already I am glad the stuff is gone and am enjoying the space removing the stuff made for other stuff. Well that sounds wrong but it is a good thing.

    Chris

  • TxMarti
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    You cleaned the toilets every day????? Oh my, I really am a slug.

  • Shades_of_idaho
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Well Marti there is a story behind the toilet cleaning. We moved from a house we built for three years then back again. I was not feeling all that well and just getting moved was a real strain on me. We still had that house for sale but sold the other one we were living in. My Mom and Dad were coming the next day for a week. I had dashed to town for groceries.I was unloading and dealing with a plant I had bought,rolling my eyes I do crazy things when moving. Anyway a guy stopped and he asked if he could ask me some questions about the house because our realtor was 125 miles away. I said sure and offered to let them all come in and see the house. I just asked if I could finish putting the groceries away and told him we were having company come the next day.

    So five minutes later he and family are in the house. Remember we moved in just one week from sale of last house starting Monday closing Friday and we were out on Saturday. This is only the following Thursday or so. I had to put my whole house away in the second week and I had not gotten to scrubbing a toilet that had sat for three years not used. It was sort of green.

    So after they left I said to Joe. Thank Gawd they did not ask to use the bathroom because I had just remembered the toilet. Joe said oh they did while you were showing the barn. OH NO. I was so embarrassed. From then on I was a maniac about the toilets. Not so much now. I am over it. Hehehehe

    Chris

  • wantoretire_did
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thank you all for your good wishes. Hoping this is the last hurdle.

    Chris, we are hoping to buy a DW in an "over 55" park near where we are now, so I've been saving decorating pics of yours, Ronbre's, and at the link below. I'm not crazy about shabby chic, but like some of her ideas. It's an interesting story about her home. She did all of it while recovering from breast cancer. Very inspiring!

    Here is a link that might be useful: Shabby Chic DW

  • Shades_of_idaho
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    OH MY Wanttoretire I could reach right through my screen and give you a big hug!!! I have been looking for this link for a long time!! I had it bookmarked and then lost it. OH Goody Goody.I love how pretty her house is.

    I like shabby chic but am leaning towards abstract lately and trying to make them mesh. Hehehehe Where opposite ends of the world meet.

    Thank you for the compliment on saving the pictures to our house. I also love the look of ronbre's home. Really well decorated.

    I am on a rest break from building shelves for the hall closet. Hubby offered to rip the boards tomorrow but since our bed is piled high with all the stuff out of the hall closet it is not an option, I NEED to finish this project today.Tonight. Taking longer than expected. Sigh.

    So roast in the oven and I am back out to cut some more wood.

    Chris

  • emagineer
    Original Author
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Wanto,

    I did post a couple of days ago to tell you I would have good thoughts for all you are going through. Am sending them now.

    Anyhow, the post didn't go through, along with a couple others. Gave up, must have been when they were having problems with the server.

  • wantoretire_did
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Chris - Lovin' your girlfriend hug :-) Emagineer, thank you also.

    DH's pre-op is Monday and surgery is Thursday. Will keep you all posted. So nice to have so much support here at the GW. Oh dear, did I highjack this post?

    I had a good colonoscopy yesterday (Gawd - does it never end....), so that's another hurdle over.

    At least, we are still in our January thaw here in northeast upstate NY, but will surely pay dearly before too long.

  • TxMarti
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Wanto, I cringed when I read the word "good" next to the word "colonoscopy". Just had one myself, and I'm glad it's over I'm glad you got good results. One less thing to worry about.

  • wantoretire_did
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I've bypassed anger and am numb. As you know, DH is scheduled for surgery at 0 dark 30 tomorrow AM.

    Our realtor scheduled a showing with a co-realtor from her office this evening between 5:30 and 6:30, so I spent the afternoon hiding jewelry, meds, bills, etc., dusting, Bissell on the rugs. Even printed out some pics of the yard from last summer, as we are in January thaw - pure ugliness second only to November. We decided to go out to dinner because of the hour. Our realtor showed up at 5:20 and we left.

    Came home about 6:45 and THE OTHER AGENT AND LOOKERS NEVER SHOWED UP!!! Our agent waited here until a little after 7:00 then went back to her office. Said this is not like that agent; she's reliable, etc. She later called us and said the other agent isn't answering her cell. No contact whatsoever.

    This is the second time this has happened. I am appalled by the absence of at least a courtesy call from the showing agent explaining why they never showed. Articles/media about rudeness just sort of go by me until it hits home. Rude, inconsiderate, thoughtless come to mind. What are these people thinking???

    I don't wish ill will, but nothing aside from that can excuse this.

  • Shades_of_idaho
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    OH (((((Wantto.))))) That is just plain mean to do that to you.

    Sending prayers your way for tomorrow and both of you to sail smoothly through your day. Please let us know when you can.

    Your house will sell when the time is right. We have always been surprised when no prospects in sight and then suddenly we were moving.

    Chris

  • emagineer
    Original Author
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Will think of you both today. I am so sorry all of this is happening. Life can turn around when least expected and hope your's will bring good things soon.

    I second Chris's sentiments.

    Bless you...

    Sandy in CO

  • wantoretire_did
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    DH came through the wire removal with flying colors :-) He's in quite a bit of pain but has good meds and is now taking a well-deserved nap. Surgeon said about 2 weeks for the incision to heal, then he will remove stitches. Thank you all, once again, for your prayers and good wishes.

    Still no word on the real estate problem. Our agent cannot reach the no-show agent or her office.........

  • Shades_of_idaho
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    So glad to hear from you Wantoretire. Hope DH has a good nights rest and is not in too much pain tomorrow. Thank you for letting us know. You get some rest to now.

    Sorry about the real estate deal. :^(
    Chris

  • wantoretire_did
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Seems the other agent didn't think the appt. was "confirmed", which it had been more than once. She (other agent) was in tears and apologized profusely. They will try to set something up this weekend. Stay tuned - Meanwhile, I will attempt to keep house in "unlived in" mode ;-)

  • idie2live
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    wantoretire, so glad to hear your DH is on the road to recovery. Hoping he has a peaceful and restful weekend (you too).
    I've never sold a house, but I've heard it is very stressful. I hope your hubby gets well enough that you can have a "me" day (or 'us' day).

    {{gwi:2067056}}

  • TxMarti
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    wantoretire, I'm so glad the surgery went well, and hope he recovers quickly. I'm just evil enough to let that other realtor set up another appointment and then not let her in. But I guess that's a good example of cutting off nose/spite face.

    You must have a good realtor too. I would never imagine any I've ever had to get that upset about it for you. Hope you get it sold fast.

  • wantoretire_did
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    You all are the best! DH is doing pretty well, and we have a different showing tomorrow. Keeps me on my toes :-)

    Bitter cold here these days.

  • TxMarti
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Good luck with the showing, bring out the apple pie and have that smell wafting through during the showing. Nothing like hot apple pie on a cold day.

  • Shades_of_idaho
    14 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    OH Yippieeee another showing!!!! Sorry it will put you through the bother but I hope this is the right one this time. Will be keeping good thoughts for you.

    Chris