Hosive

in the book series, not so big house, the key to getting the most out of a small space are niches. even in big homes, what makes a home “homey” are the small little places that feel cozy and safe. where memories are made. so good architects, builders and home makers build little spots into a house or apt to make the space memorable and alive. i’ve been blessed to live in a few places with little nooks and spots that radiate with life.

we bought one of the not so big house books because we were moving from a 2400 sq/ft md house into a 1100 sq/ft nyc apartment. but it turns out the not so big homes in the not so big house books were not so not-so-big. they were huge places! we have different definitions of not so big house!

in these features, i’ll detail mundane little spots around our apartment…..the spots where we live…and life is made.

this is the prized possession of nyc apartments…your own washer and dryer in your own unit.

people outside of the tri-state area are surprised to find out that not all nyc homes have washers and dryers. where do you do your laundry then? when theresa and i lived on the lower east side, we would trek to the laundry mat and do our whites and colors in the coin operated machines. other options include drop off laundry by the pound and some people have their laundry picked up and delivered clean! we’re too cheap to do either of those last two options. and i don’t really want someone handling my wife’s underwear. or my underwear.

having the machines changes your whole lifestyle. likewise, imagine not having them and how that would change your life!

actually, we are lucky enough to have an apartment with plenty of closet space including a closet right across from the washer/dryer that we keep our laundry basket in. we kept it from our suburban maryland home despite the fact that it was unlikely a nyc pad would have room for it. but we kept our hopes up.

the way it wound up working is that we have a laundry room in the middle of our home that closes up and disappears when we close the doors. a very cool thing to have in nyc: the vanishing laundry room in your own space.

the laundry room isn’t just a laundry room of course. in nyc, you use up all the space you have…creativity is a necessity. everything has its place. everything has its niche. so its also a shoe closet, cleaning supplies storage, christmas ornament storage, games storage, umbrella rack and lost and found.

we spend a ton of time doing laundry….the result of having a constantly revolving door of guests taking advantage of free new york housing when visiting. sheets, towels, mats, pillow cases……and pretty small units keep me in and around the disappearing and reappearing laundry room.

not thrilling but here’s our life. a (laundry)life some in the city would like to have.

Posted under not so big house blueprint