Hi, and welcome to the best little forum on Garden Web! You'll get lots of good ideas here, as well as making new friends. Hint- we like pictures!

Welcome marymarymaryk. I'm looking forward to hearing more about your new home. I know what you mean about the upkeep. Sometimes we talk about selling here just to be able to have some free time again.

welcome to our forum! as already posted, we love pics!

I bet you all end up loving the smaller place - and 1 level. I've lived in a few multistory homes in the past (my much younger yrs) but love the 1 level. After moving out of the last multistory (in my early 30s) I swore I'd never live in anything again but a 1 level home.

In my previous life, I lived in a 7000 sq ft home. High ceilings=high heating costs. Took all weekend to clean, had to hire a cleaning crew twice a month. Fast forward, I now have a snug little farmhouse. Don't miss the McMansion one tiny bit (or the ex-husband that wanted to keep it).Enjoy your new home!!

Welcome to the forum! I hope it feels as "homey" as your new place. Enjoy the new house!

Thanks everyone for the welcome! I absolutely cannot imagine living in 7000 sq ft! Exhausting!

We are still settling in and I have a "honey do" list a mile long, but its going well. Steph, the one level living is so nice. It just seems easier to put things where they belong, put laundry away, etc because you aren't trudging up and down the stairs constantly.

Welcome mary~~from another mary~~

You will find this the friendliest site on GW...everyone here is so kind and helpful. They were so supportive to me when I needed friends to share my feelings.

You are among wonderful people here!

I also am down-sizing....from 4,090 to 1,628...not built yet, but looking forward to the day when it is done!

Congratulations!

You are so wise to do that. So many people buy these huge homes and then wonder why they can't afford vacations or anything else. When a smaller home can be cozy, and offer so much in savings: taxes, insurance, heat, etc. And that savings can afford so much fun as well as a more secure retirement.

Good move!

Welcome, Mary. LOL, after living with the in-laws for a month, your new, smaller home will probably feel like a mansion. :)

Welcome ! & congratulations on getting rid of the anchor around your neck.
Less windows to clean is always a good thing ! Enjoy decorating it also.

You can tell your daughter that believe it or not some people have slept 6 children to a bed(my sweetheart did) and survived to tell about it.

We took a crazy one-day road trip on Saturday to IKEA, which is just under 5 hours away, stayed there far too long, and then drove home. On Sunday, my husband spent all day building me storage for the new house. Woohoo!

I'm a full-time student, and at the old house I had a dedicated office. Here, we turned the formal dining area into my "office" but it's visible right when you walk in the door, so I didn't want it to look cluttered. We built a Besta system...I can't find a picture of the configuration, but I really like it. I will try to upload a pic as soon as my camera charges. It stores all of my office stuff, school books, everything. It's great.

We also built a long, low wall of Besta cabinets along our family room - 12 feet long! - for lego storage (my son is obsessed). These were great solutions for the smaller house, just making it still feel streamlined and not cluttered, while holding a ton of stuff.

I'm back, hopefully I will post pictures if I can get this figured out!

Ok, here's my office storage open and closed:

And my son's 12 feet of Lego storage!

oh boy - those look like great storage units! good for you.

I'd use plastic bins/containers for the kids (behind the doors) - easier to wash out than basket ones. Actually, that's what I even use here for me - lol! I live in the desert and don't need any more dust collectors like wicker.

It's amazing how the dust/dirt even seeps behind closed doors. I hate that.

keep showing us pics!

WOW lovely storage office and toy system. Friends have a built in cabinet all along one wall like you have done and I am so jealous of it.

Our windows are really low to the floor. I think about 19 inches max. I have considered building a long narrow short(height) shelf across the front windows. Would be perfect book storage for us and free up so much closet space in our master bedroom. Gosh what am I waiting for??

go for it shades! and post pics!

We are in our 70's, husband just retired four years ago, and we need to downsize from our bi-level 23,000 ft. home on 1/2 acres. A 3 bedroom rancher on a small lot would be ideal, but so hard to find in our immediate area. Wondering about a Townhouse, or Condo. Anyone have a similar situation, or moved from a house to Townhouse/Condo and have any advice/opinion to share ?

" we need to downsize from our bi-level 23,000 ft."

did you mean 2300 sq ft or actually 23 thousand sq ft?

Wow...if it is 23000 SF...that must be huge!

I once lived in an apartment with a wall of closets and I have dreamed of another wall of covered storage ever since. Your IKEA pieces are so functional and also look great! You are giving me all kinds of ideas!

wow love those storage pieces ! I put in small closets in the bedrooms when we rehabbed but I wanted a floor to ceiling unit instead. The bedrooms are probably too small: about 8x9'. Looking into a murphy bed though...

yeah phoggie - I thought maybe it was CAndy Spelling posting here - lol!

I'm sure it's just an extra 0 in the number. I think...