Living Large {in less than 200 square feet}

Somehow most of my homes recently have come to me a bit randomly.  Last year I had three short days to find a place to live and thankfully had two amazing friends come to my rescue.  I lived there for almost 6 months and then vagabonded (new word?) around over the summer not really settling in one place for too long.  About a two weeks before I was to start my new job in a new town I still didn't have anywhere to live, so my mum called a couple churches in the area and we found a sweet lady who just happened to have her basement apartment available.  I agreed to it sight unseen and when I arrived was a little surprised at just how small it was.  I figure it's about 200 square feet.  Which really isn't much considering many master bedroom suites are bigger than that these days.

My window sill flowers.

I quickly learned however, that I can not only live with less space, but I can live with less stuff - and like it! 

I did a closet purge, I narrowed down just how many books I needed to keep on hand, and I carefully chose which shoes I would keep with me.  I do still have some things stored at my parent's and grandparent's houses but for the most part I have it all here in my cozy little apartment.  Oh, and a bit in the trunk of my car.  Currently I haven't made space for my new ironing board so it stays in my car! 

I thought I'd show you how I set my space up and also this gives a little peek to my family and friends who haven't had the pleasure of coming to visit yet. 

One thing I really noticed after taking these pictures, is that I need to decorate the walls!  I honestly didn't think it looked that bare, but looking at these pictures and it's clear that I need to put something up on the walls!

 When you first walk in this is what you see.  It's kinda weird having my bed right by the door, but the only other option was to put the bed really close to the kitchen part, and I liked that idea even less. 

 It's a queen sized bed and as you can see I store lots of shoes and random stuff under the bed. 

 If you were to sit on the bed and look back at the door this is what you see.  I bought the dresser off Kijiji and then changed up the hardware.  I haven't yet done the top drawer because it involves drilling new holes and I can't be doing that down here. 

 The top of the dresser houses a few pictures, my jewelry and a stand with all my belts hanging off the side.

To the right of the dresser is a little space heater that I can move out when I'm cold and then a little plastic storage thing that holds other shoes and winter stuff.  With no space for a coat tree I just added two hooks to the back of the door for my current coats.

 I only have the space for a love seat, but it suites me just fine.  A little coffee table and the matching bedside table finish out my 'living room' area. 

 I probably wouldn't have purchased a TV but my parents had this old one sitting in the basement so I took it.  Under the TV I store all my power cords and electronics as well as all my extra makeup.

The multi-coloured drawer thing is full of craft stuff.  On the other side of the desk there is another plastic storage drawer thing that also houses paper supplies. 

The two doors at the end lead to a bathroom (on the right) and a closet (on the left).  It looks like there is a hallway beside that, but it's actually just another door to the shared laundry. 

Someone was giving this desk away last year, so I took it and I absolutely love it.  I don't think it's super old but I love the map on the top.

My desk turns into a disaster zone when I start doing crafts but I do try to keep it tidy.

You can see my mini kitchen to the right.  It has everything I need.  I decided against a kitchen table, because then I would have had no space for a desk.

In the bottom right of this picture you can see another dresser.  In here is lots of kitchen things that I don't have space for in the cupboards.  The top of it is also where I've started putting all the glass vessels I have collected!

The biggest thing I've noticed with having such a small space.  All it takes is one dirty sock to be sitting on the floor and the whole apartment looks messy! 

I hope you enjoyed this little peek into my space!  Do you live in a tiny apartment?  What are your tricks to keeping it clean?

em

x