It’s like a Hobbit house. That is, its feet are larger than one expects.
The footings for the laneway house are now poured concrete, not just forms.
They are solid concrete — a sound foundation for our new home. Poured in the pouring rain.
The rebar sticking out of the footings shows where the walls will go for our main floor.
We are in our rental place, and the cleaners have gone through our condo until it sparkles.
The move went quite smoothly, seeing that DH and I have not moved in 13 years and had forgotten what a horrendous job it is and were not truly prepared for the discomfort and the shock. It’s rather like childbirth in that way.
We are learning our lessons, and hopefully when we move (for the last time ever!) into the laneway, we can use those to ease us into our new life and our new lifestyle.
Lesson One: We have too much stuff. I know, I know, we have been tossing and donating things for months. But we brought too much stuff with us — even after stopping at the storage space to drop things off en route. Since the rental is approximately the size of the laneway, it’s plain we have been delusional about how much we can keep.
There is nothing like trying to stuff two full bedroom closets and one hallway closet into one bedroom closet to make you realize that you have been holding on to things that do not fit, do not flatter, and you will never wear/use again. Seriously, give it up. As we speak bags are being prepared to take to Sally Ann (after we dropped a half-van-full of stuff there yesterday).
We are committed to our new lifestyle — but the transition is going to take some time and a lot of effort. And it’s also plain that we will have to rid ouselves of most of the stuff in the storage space if we are ever going to be truly free of our belongings.
Terence Conran is not a household name on this side of the Atlantic, but he is a legend in Europe (and kind of a hero to design fanatics here).
Now 81 years old, he’s been at the forefront of design (residential, commercial, graphic) since the 1950s, and he started some innovative companies to bring great design to the masses.
Ever the innovator, Sir Terence has gone online now with The Conran Shop and Conran Home and ever the prolific author, has put his ideas about living small into a book – How to life in small spaces.
Lord love ‘im, he’s had his finger on the pulse of what is fashionable, cool, and avant garde for over 50 years. And living better in smaller spaces — is fashionable, cool, and avant garde.
Here’s what we saw week 0:
Here’s what we saw at our last visit:
The trees at the front of the house have all their leaves now, and the work is literally taking shape.
Thursday evening was our first official, regular site visit with Laurel and Angelito from Novell. We met at 6 and viewed the developments, and developments there were.
Here is what we saw:
Here is what we learned:
What we have to start thinking about:
Also — moving! It’s happening and we are busy up to our eyeballs in the process.
On this Sunday’s Home Discovery Show on CKNW, Ian and Steve and I will be talking about the newest developments at the laneway site, as things start to literally take shape!
By the way, tomorrow’s show will repeat on the Corus Radio Network across Canada next Saturday.
Thius 425 square foot Manahttan apartment comes to us via the Inhabit website.
It’s another sleek, cool looking micro-apartment, built into a loft and over 3 floors. Of course it is loaded with built-in storage — the space beneath the stairs is non-stop closet. And it manages to maintain a comfortable feel while keeping clutter to a minimum.
The owners are using it as a pied-a-terre, not planning to live there full time, but I think it would be perfect for a single person (or a very compatible couple). I hope they hang a few paintings to take advantage of all that light.
BTW, you may want to subscribe to Inhabit’s newsletter. It’s NYC-centric, but full of articles of interest to all sustainability and small-living fans.
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Artist and Desert Dweller with Big City Style.
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my journey towards sustainable living in the city
building a home that's not too big and not too small
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