Tag Archives: Small Style

News from down the alley and around the town

Posted on January 18, 2014 by ladywholivesdownthelane

DH and I took advantage of the unseasonably warm weather a couple of weekends ago to walk over to Commercial Drive and shop in some of the little stores that line that avenue.

We started off our stroll by walking down the alley for about five blocks — and we found a laneway home on every block. All new, of course, all built under the former design rules with one-and-a-half stories and no outside parking pad, all looking very nice….and all looking very much the same.

I can’t blame people for wanting to avoid the extra cost of designing their own laneway homes. And the Craftsman style that predominates is certainly handsome. But I am glad that some of the local builders are including new and innovative designs in their catalogues.

Smallworks got lots of press this past week with their brand-new design for a glass-brick house. The whole house is not built of glass brick, but the all four walls have a cheery glow:

The design has got lots of attention. I read about it in The Vancouver Sun, VanCity Buzz, Curbed, and Eater. There was even a letter to the editor in the Sun that worried about the house contributing to light pollution. That’s more fuss about one laneway house than I’ve seen since the early days (oh, those pioneer days of laneway housing — two years ago).

I like the design, there are two versions of the plans, and I think it would be a welcome addition to any block. And, as I said, I am happy to see a different and innovative look available without a custom design.

I don’t think I could live there (for one thing there is my proclivity to throw stones, and you know what they say….) it’s a little too bright — on a sunny day the light would pour in. But it’s a handsome house, a good use of space, and a nice different design.

Congratulations, Smallworks.

On another note:

Laneway housing might be coming to the Queen City. New Westminster Council is currently discussing

the interest and feasibility of introducing laneway and coach houses similar to those allowed by the City of Vancouver.

Affordable housing is a problem throughout the entire Lower Mainland, not just in the city of Vancouver, so communities throughout the area are looking into a variety of solutions, and laneway housing is just one of them. New Westminster Council is discussing whether to go ahead with laneway housing or to wait and make it part of a much larger neighbourhood planning process currently planned for two years down the road.

The more the merrier, say I. I believe fervently that laneway houses has a place in the mix of housing in any community. It’s true that they don’t dramatically reduce the need for affordable housing but they do relieve the under-supply of homes in the area.

Fingers crossed the plan goes ahead.

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Posted in Cities, Housing, Laneway House and tagged glass house, Lane Home, Laneway House, Neighbourhoods, Small Style. Bookmark the permalink.

More space for less stuff

Posted on January 15, 2014 by ladywholivesdownthelane

The shelf guys were back this week to give us more space. They put in shelves in places we had hardly thought of — great horizontal spaces for us to put our stuff. And just moving boxes out of their way to install the shelves showed us once again — we have too much crap. Er, things.

F’instance they installed a shelf under the kitchen sink so we can finally put our composting, recycling and garbage out of the way….and discovered we had stored bottles of carpet cleaner under the sink for the past 6 weeks. We don’t have any carpets. Ergo, we don’t need carpet cleaner. Into the recycling they went.

Removing what we don’t need is part of our de-cluttering quest for this year. And it’s a long, hard, constant job. Or, as LifeEdited puts it,

editing, i.e. getting to that essential, irreducible quality…is something that takes time and great effort.

They have a point, this life style demands a shift in thinking, a paradigm shift if you will. One of the most important questions we have to ask ourselves is

What would my life look like in its most essential form?

So we’re changing our way of thinking in five essential ways, as suggested in this article:

1. Attention. Practice doing one thing at a time–whether it’s work, driving, reading or talking with a friend.

No more watching TV while writing, reading, doing the crossword. Let’s concentrate on what we are doing.

2. Space. ask ourselves how we can make the most of the existing space and how we can remove any elements that don’t support how we live.

Like carpet cleaner.

3. Clothing.Create a wardrobe where every item is our favorite.

And that means no more shopping for shopping’s sake — even during the sales.

4. Food. eat less, but better–healthy, fresh food that supports longterm health, not immediate gratification.

Now the holidays are over and all the candy/snacks/desserts are gone, let’s keep it that way until next December. The only food to grab and eat will be fruit.

5. Stuff. we might continually ask whether we need the stuff we have. Do we use it? Does our frequency and quality of use justify its residency in our lives?

As we move things from our rental storage space to our laneway home we have to keep getting rid of things we don’t use and don’t need. Yes! Everything we get rid of makes our lives simpler, more elegant, easier. And cleaner.

Living a conscious, serene life. Isn’t that what we all want?

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Posted in Housing, Laneway House, Minimalism and tagged Decor, Lane Home, Lane house, Laneway House, Minimalism, Small Style. Bookmark the permalink.

I’ll take that challenge!

Posted on January 4, 2014 by ladywholivesdownthelane

You may know that I am a decorating junkie (and if you didn’t know before…..that statement was a dead giveaway). Every Christmas my husband “surprises” me with a year’s subscription to Style At Home. I follow decorating blogs and get updates from Houzz and Apartment Therapy. It was a bit silly when I was living in an 1100 square-foot-condo that I couldn’t afford to renovate, but it’s ludicrous when we’re living in a teensy laneway house with all-new furnishings and finishes.

Or is it?

Although we are going to concentrate on de-cluttering and minimalising our lives this year, we will also have to finish off the little things that will make our house our home. And Apartment Therapy has a great way to do it, with lots of help and tips. It’s called The January Cure — a month-long step-by-step way to give yourself a

“new” cleaner and more organized home.

What’s the sense of moving into a perfect home if I keep up all the bad habits that got me into clutter-strewn life I lived when I had more space? I’m sure it will take me many iterations of the cure to rid me of all my bad habits but I will start small.

Step One (I should have started this on Thursday, but won’t have to spend a lot of time on it): Make a List of Projects.

Hmmmm. Starting in the front foyer area, we need to put a picture over our electrical panel. It’s well-recessed into the wall, so a picture on a good solid hinge can also hide lots of “front door clutter” behind it. We also want to hang some more art.

We have to wait until all the deficiencies are addressed to get some of these projects finished BUT making a list will give us a good start. I’ll go through the place room by room to make the list.

Step Two: Weekend Chores, Flowers and Floors. Hah! That’s a snap. Our built-in vacuum will de-fuzz the floors followed by a swipe with the damp mop. Quick work. Plus a visit to the market for some flowers.

Step Two also includes finding Earth-friendly cleaners. We have been relying on tried-and-true cleaners, but this is a good time to check out some of the more ecological choices we have. Luckily Apartment Therapy has some suggestions.

We’ll also see if we can’t complete one task from our project list: hanging the bedroom blind.

Well, I feel I’ve accomplished something already.

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Posted in Decorating, Housing, Laneway House, Minimalism and tagged Decor, Lane Home, Lane house, Laneway House, Small Style. Bookmark the permalink.

Christmas at the laneway house

Posted on December 22, 2013 by ladywholivesdownthelane

Back when we had a natural gas fireplace in our condo, I loved to light it when I first got up on a winter morning. No matter how grey the day it always made me feel better to see the glow. I thought I would miss it, but of course, we adapted to get what we needed.

The cable company runs a continuous Yule log that we’ve got going all day. It looks toasty but it doesn’t make the room uncomfortably warm (as a real fire would). I’ve even recorded it so we can have it even when the Christmas season is over and we need that little glow in the evenings. Thank you, electric hearth.

Over in the corner with the sectional we’ve put up an IKEA star and I’ve made some covers for our cushions that were a little more festive.

And our Christmas tree? Well we don’t have room inside for a tree — so we’ve put it out on the deck.

We’ve put outdoor lights on a white tree, set on our patio table. We can see it from our sitting area, and it just adds the right touch of Christmas. We’ve had some snow and that adds to the seasonal feeling, too. It looks especially nice in the evenings, when the lights glow through the “needles”.

We’ve definitely had to cut back on the decorations from when we were living in a larger place, but that’s OK. We still get a Christmassy feeling, and we are so looking forward to Christmas day, and carrying our casserole (world-famous broccoli cauliflower souffle, recipe a la Susan Mendelson) across the yard to the big celebration, and being able to imbibe without worrying about getting on the road to get back home. The whole family will be there, including my sister, niece, old friends, and even an ex-spouse.

We have so much to be thankful for this year. We have this beautiful home that we love so much, and we are so close to the people we love so much. There have been some tough times, too, and I am missing my parents a lot, but somehow being in this new house with new traditions makes it easier.

And we hope everyone is having the best holiday season ever!

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Posted in Decorating, Laneway House, Small House and tagged Decor, Lane house, Laneway House, Small Style. Bookmark the permalink.

Decorating for a tiny Christmas

Posted on December 21, 2013 by ladywholivesdownthelane

Of course Christmas is not tiny — it’s as big as you want to make it! But finding room for Christmas decorations can be tricky when you have so little space.

Tomorrow I’ll let you know what we’re doing here at the laneway house, but meanwhile here are some clever ideas on how to finesse setting up that massive tree.

You can go all Charlie Brown and get a simple twig or two to represent the tree.

Put it in a container on your table top, or attach it to the wall

Or why bother with the tree at all? Attach the ornaments directly to a nice blank space of wall.

Make it as small or as big a display as you wish:

See the nice mix of scale?

Or you can create your own tree with wooden sticks suspended or nailed into a tree shape:

Keep is sleek and modern, or make it more old-fashioned and nostalgic,

Don’t have the time or the energy to make a Christmas tree? That’s what you think. All you need is some Washi tape and string:

Even if you don’t have room for a tree, you can always include a little Christmas decor on the corner of a shelf. Here’s what I’ve done this year with a few ornaments that have been in our family for years;

Next year I’ll take off the wire hangers, this was kind of an experiment this year. But it looks great on our shelf, and is the perfect touch right there.

So squeeze a little Christmas into your small space.

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Posted in Decorating, Small House and tagged Decor, Lane Home, Lane house, Laneway House, Small Style. Bookmark the permalink.

How much can we stuff into our laneway house?

Posted on December 14, 2013 by ladywholivesdownthelane

Stuff is a noun. And stuff is a verb. It’s either the things you own, or it’s how you fit them into a small space.

So how much do we need to make us happy? Comfortable? Content?

It’s a long trail of discovery. With many things discarded along the way.

Last night I watched a movie called “Happy“. It was a fascinating study of people around the world and what makes them happy. And guess what doesn’t make them happy? Stuff. Scientist types explained that wanting stuff makes us happy. And the anticipation of owning something makes us happy. We’re even happy when we’re acquiring the stuff. But owning it does not make us happy. Because once it’s ours, after a very short time it just becomes part of “the stuff we own”. And apart from it losing that new-car smell and getting a little worn, it also needs to be taken care of. Polished. Ironed. Painted. Dusted. More work for you.

Oh, sure, I know you love that guitar/vintage Chanel purse/motorcycle. But how much of our stuff do we really love, and how much of our stuff is just…..stuff?

We’re lucky in that our two moves this year have brought us face to face with everything we own. And we own too much. During the first move I was astonished by the stuff I found in the back of cupboards or the top of closets. Things I had not even looked at in the 13 years we had lived in that condo. I said good-bye to it quite happily. Now, as we sift through our Christmas decorations for the ones we can use, the ones that will go to family or to decorate my workplace office, and the ones that will be used to decorate our laneway home, we will be freeing ourselves a little bit more from the tyranny of owning too much stuff.

Huang Qingjun is a Chinese photographer who photographed families with all their belongings posing in front of their homes. These people own very little. What they have is precious to them. You can read more about the story here, here, and here, and read an interview with the photographer here.

My favourite shots are these:

Even in a yurt or a mud house built into the side of the hill, these people have their TVs and their satellite dishes. They are connected with the world outside their small homes.

And I suspect they are happy.

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Posted in Housing, Laneway House, Minimalism, Uncategorized and tagged Lane Home, Lane house, Laneway House, Minimalism, Small Style. Bookmark the permalink.

Settling in

Posted on December 7, 2013 by ladywholivesdownthelane

The upstairs of our little home is just about finished, which allows me to sit at my kitchen counter/table/desk in our kitchen/sitting room/office and enjoy an extraordinary amount of sunlight pouring in. The coffee is poured, the soft-jazz Christmas music is drifting down from the built-in speakers in the ceiling , and the cat is trying to get my attention by being cute and naughty in turns and sometimes both at once.

Life is good.

We are rapidly getting to the point where the things that have not been done in our laneway get fewer and smaller. It’s hard to believe it’s so far along when we consider the chaos we moved into…….

**cue time-travelling music**

We had packed up all our belongings, we actually had enough boxes and bags for everything. The movers had come on time, and had shuttled back and forth to the truck and soon we were all packed up except for the cats and the fish tank and the furniture we were holding for the charitable pick-up later that day.

“Hmmmmm”, said DH, “I think it would be a good idea if we left the cats and fish until we’ve unpacked some stuff.” Wise words. It was then about noon and that was the last minute we were in control of the situation.

We drove the five minutes to the laneway to find….at least 15 people working on it. There was a team of cleaners valiantly trying to rid the place of the sanded plaster dust that the painters were creating. A nice young couple were putting up the frame of our closet system. There were people wiring and people moving us in, and well, frankly, I lost track of the jobs everyone was doing when the truck pulled up to blow top soil into the yard between the houses so the landscaper could put in the sod.

We unpacked a few things, made the bed, and went back to the rental to feed the cats and the fish, eat a pizza, and await the gentleman from the charity who was picking up the last of our furniture.

We went home to laneway to shower and sleep, but we really felt we were camping out.

The next day a crowd again descended, while I slipped back to the rental to feed the cats and the fish, and to do some shopping. All told I went back and forth to the rental four times that day — mostly by foot. That was the day when it seemed we were just not making any headway at all, when we had to move boxes to get to boxes, move boxes to get to the fridge, the washer and dryer, the bathroom sink. We were unpacking but we just could not make any headway.

But we brought the cats “home” and set the fish up on their new shelf, bought specially for that purpose. The cats promptly disappeared into the bowels of the pipes and tubes that are tucked away at one end of the storage space. It took days until the cats were comfortable to make the whole house their own. But now….

What are sunny kitchen ledges for, anyway?

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Posted in Housing, Laneway House, Small House and tagged Lane Home, Lane house, Laneway House, Small House, Small Style. Bookmark the permalink.

We’re home!

Posted on December 1, 2013 by ladywholivesdownthelane

This is just a quick note to say that we have successfully moved into our new home. It’s still a bit of a work in progress, with a few touches to be completed, but it is coming together nicely and is so adorable!
Things that surprised us about our new home:

how quickly we adapted to the smaller space, and how completely comfortable we are in it. The rooms seem exactly the right dimensions
how much storage we are finding in every nook and cranny. We are still downsizing, and there will not be room for everything we currently own, but we are still putting things together and there is room for what we need

Things that pleased us about our new home:

the appliances! The Blomberg washer has been going nearly non-stop. Got some bright red tea towels you need to wash for the first time? Do them by themselves! The washer weighs the load and automatically adjusts the amount of water it uses!
the under-fridge freezer has drawers for better storage options.
and the natural-gas stove! What’s not to love!

What completely blew us away about the new house? That is a toughie, as we have been thrilled with just about everything about the place. But for face-dropping dramatic day vs night transformation, we have to go with the enormous difference the landscapers, Vantage Landscaping performed. Amro and his team took a back yard that had been ripped apart and chewed up until it looked like the set for a WWI trench warfare movie of the week, and turned it into a lush oasis complete with plum tree, artfully arranged boulders, and even our “dry river bed” up the west side of the home. Plus plantings outside the laneway entrance that look so lovely! In two days! From Verdun to Versailles!

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Posted in Housing, Laneway House, Life, Small House and tagged Decor, Lane Home, Lane house, Laneway House, Small House, Small Style. Bookmark the permalink.

Boxed in and loving it!

Posted on November 27, 2013 by ladywholivesdownthelane

Currently I am surrounded by boxes, with more coming and every time I tape one shut I give a little happy dance. Although it looks chaotic, we are actually being quite systematic, and looking forward to unpacking in the new place — tomorrow!

So there’s not much to report here. We have met with our builders for our final walk-through and expect most things to be done by the time we are unpacking. I’ll update once we are in the new place and have internet connections once more.

In the meantime, let’s take a look at some other small houses worth noting:

At Tiny House Talk we learned about the Kanga Room Systems — prefabricated structures that can be used for outbuildings, or for homes.

Take a tour of this 280 square foot city house from Kanga:

Looking for something a little more compact? This 200 square foot home is available in Portland, Oregon, and is built on a flatbed so you can move it to your lot:

And for a truly heart-warming story, learn about a Colorado couple who built their tiny home by hand — learning how to do it every step of the way. They even made a movie of the whole process. Their take on the situation is this:

What is home? And how do we find it?
One couple’s attempt to build a Tiny House with no building experience raises questions about sustainability, good design, and the changing American Dream.

TINY: A Story About Living Small (Teaser Trailer) from TINY on Vimeo.

I’ll catch up with you when we are moved into the laneway. I am excited beyond description about this step of our journey.

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Posted in Laneway House, Minimalism, Small House and tagged Lane Home, Lane house, Laneway House, Small House, Small Style. Bookmark the permalink.

Making the bed — the hard way

Posted on November 24, 2013 by ladywholivesdownthelane

One thing must be said right from the beginning: DH and I are not handy. We do not make things. We do not know anything about carpentry, or wiring, or plumbing, or tiling, or any of those DIY things that the TV shows tell us we all can do (but we know we can’t).

LiftBed

But I felt sure we could put together a Lift And Stor bed by ourselves. There’s a video at the website that shows how it’s done. You don’t need special equipment — just a mallet, a screw driver, some allen wrenches, a nut driver. What could be easier?

We weren’t attempting to actually BUILD the bed, although you can order the hardware by itself and get your own boards and save lots of money. We’re optimistic, not delusional. We had purchased the kit, where all we had to do was get the pre-cut pre-finished pieces connected with the supplied hardware.

Seriously, what could be easier?

We have a system that we employ when we assembled pre-made furniture (cough**IKEA**). We get all the tools together. We unpack the components. We read over the instructions together. We set aside all the nuts, screws, bolts and nuts in an easy-to-reach place. Then we spend the next few minutes-to-hours grousing, smashing fingers, grunting, swearing and throwing invective at each other. At least one thing will be attached incorrectly and will be nearly impossible to fix. There will be a running argument. Tempers will stretch, fray, and break.

In the video on the website it shows the experts putting together the bed in less than an hour. It took us closer to 3 hours to do it. We pulled up the video on our phones to help us, as we were completely unable to decipher the instructions. The boxes had been stored in the garage space and were covered with fine dust, which we got all over ourselves. Our knuckles were skinned.

But it was done! Finished! Assembled! It looks very nice and operates beautifully, easily lifting up to reveal storage below.

We high-fived each other and went off to collect a Zip Car for a trip to IKEA.

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Posted in Laneway House, Minimalism and tagged Decor, Lane Home, Lane house, Laneway House, Small Style. Bookmark the permalink.

The Lady Who Lives Down the Lane

Tag Archives: Small Style

News from down the alley and around the town

More space for less stuff

I’ll take that challenge!

Christmas at the laneway house

Decorating for a tiny Christmas

How much can we stuff into our laneway house?

Settling in

We’re home!

Boxed in and loving it!

Making the bed — the hard way

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