Author’s note: In January 2012, two years after our loft experiment began, we moved into a three bedroom townhouse. It’s not huge (1190 square feet), but it gave us some much needed breathing room (as well as a smaller rent check to write every month). I’m glad we spent the two years in the loft, though, for all the reasons I’ve laid out below.

 

I live in a loft in a converted warehouse in the middle of our city.

By nature, I’m not a city dweller.  I grew up in the ‘burbs and lived in a house in the ‘burbs for years and years.  But the commute was killing us, we had no quality time together, and I was tired of living in my car.  So we did something drastic.  We went from 1700 square feet, three bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms and a garage to one big room with no closets and one dedicated parking space.

I know, it sounds nuts.

  • There are three of us.
  • In one room.
  • With one bathroom.
  • Only 750-800 square feet.
  • And not a closet to be found.

And yet, I love it. We call it the One Room Living Experiment (we like to name things) and it’s working out nicely. I love our view.  It all but cured my daughter of needing to sleep with us (praise jaysus).   We spend a lot of time together.  M and I talk more, share more, and split duties more.  I’m not lonely when I cook, so I like cooking more – and P is learning by helping me.  Cleaning is a snap.  And we are very conscious of our limited space, so we don’t bring extraneous things into it (mostly). Best of all, our monthly overhead was just about cut in half.

I used to look at pre-war houses and think, how could people raise families in houses that small?  How can anyone get by with just one bathroom?  Now I think, why don’t more people move into smaller spaces?

Would it be nice to have another room?  Sure.  Is it necessary?  Not yet.  We’ve pared down to (maybe a little bit more than) essentials.   We can live this way for probably another year before P outgrows it and needs her own space.

You can take the grand tour if you’d like.  I rearrange things all the time, and it’s different now than it was when I took those pictures.  It’s time, soon, for another update.

UPDATE: Musings on one room living, one year on.

UPDATE 2: A new tour, as of April 2011.