What did we learn by spending more than two months living in a smaller house in a quieter town? This summer we lived at our beach house to oversee the duplex rentals, and the experience changed how we think about space, routines, and spending. Living smaller felt liberating, and those lessons followed us home to Richmond — inspiring four meaningful changes to our daily life. Whether you’re considering downsizing or just curious about trying a simpler lifestyle experiment, there are practical takeaways you can adopt. We also share why we’re finally moving forward with a long-awaited bathroom renovation, how we eliminated a wasteful habit and saved over $500 a year, and Sherry’s playful predictions for the 2020 paint color picks.
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What’s New
- Looking through photos has only made us more excited to begin our bathroom renovation. Seeing the spaces over and over helps us refine the plan and imagine the finished result.
- Our current bathroom is tight and oddly laid out, which makes it hard to photograph. We plan to create an overhead diagram in a future post so readers can better see the layout as we design the renovation.
- The photo above is taken from our bedroom toward the vanity we updated when we first moved in. We removed several interior doors to reduce the constant collision of swinging doors, which opened up the space and simplified daily movement.
- Beyond the vanity is the shower and toilet area. Previously we refreshed that space by removing a glass shower door, stripping dated wallpaper, and using a ceiling paint trick to tone down bright blue tile — small changes that made the room feel larger and lighter.
Removing dark wallpaper was an instant improvement. After living with the space for a while, we’re now confident about what we want to change and have had time to save and weigh options. That confidence makes it much easier to start renovations knowing the results will be what we love.
2020 Color of the Year Predictions
- We talk about paint brands’ Color of the Year choices often, and Behr’s 2020 selection — “Back To Nature” — is already out. Before other brands announced their picks, we recorded our guesses and shared Sherry’s predictions for what the major paint companies might choose next.
- Below we recap recent color-of-the-year trends and our best guesses. We’ll revisit this after the official announcements to see how close (or far) we were.
- We also noted a creative playhouse project being used to introduce another brand’s 2020 color — a reminder that color reveals are often as much about storytelling and mood as they are about a single shade.
Our Summer in a Smaller Town and a Smaller House
- Spending the summer in a smaller town and a smaller house was a positive experience for our family. The simplicity helped us slow down, appreciate local rhythms, and rethink how we use space and money.
- If you’re curious about Sherry’s pared-down wardrobe, we discuss it in a past podcast episode and shared a closet tour in an earlier post that goes into details about building a practical, minimal wardrobe.
- For those curious about storage solutions, we used a 3-drawer Malm dresser (shared between the two of us) to contain most of our clothes during the stay. It’s a compact, functional approach to dressing with less.
- Each child had two storage cubes for clothes, pajamas, and swimsuits. Toward the end of the summer we adjusted that room to improve book storage and overall organization, and we plan to share photos of that update.
- Most toys and games were consolidated in three drawers of the entry table, making it easy to rotate play items and reduce clutter. Limiting visible toys helped our kids focus on favorites and kept the living areas calmer.
- We’ve talked previously about intentionally reducing the number of toys in the house, a strategy that makes small spaces feel larger and reduces the time spent managing clutter.
Small Finds We’re Loving
- Sherry discovered little paper True Lemon packets that help replace flavored seltzers and single-use cans. They cost only a few cents each, dissolve easily in water, and travel well in a reusable bottle — a simple, lower-waste alternative to canned drinks.
- Separately, our Apple Watch stopped working earlier this year. While I enjoyed using a Series 3 with cellular, living without it since March has been perfectly manageable. It’s a reminder that tech conveniences can be optional, and sometimes stepping back reduces expense and distraction.
If you want to revisit items we’ve recommended on the podcast, we maintain a master list of things we’ve been digging, plus a Book Club page that collects every book we’ve talked about. Those resources make it easy to find past recommendations and highlights.
Finally, thanks to our sponsor for this episode, You Need A Budget (YNAB). They helped make this episode possible and we appreciate their support.
Thanks for listening and reading — we hope these small-house lessons and renovation plans inspire you to try one or two simple changes at home.
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