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.

because theresa is healing, we won’t be heading up the stairs to our roof deck for a holiday bbq. but we can relive past bbq’s and show off some of our outdoor space…which is sacred space in the city.  apartments are usually cramped…sometimes with very little light coming in….sometimes with no windows or worse! windows that open up to a brick wall. in the summers, people are out and about rather than trapped at home.

so to have some access to the outside right in your own home……magical.

each apartment in our building has their own deck except our place but there is this common deck that is almost used by nobody except us! our building mates even graciously allowed us to keep a grill up there.

a few times a year, we do summer right with burgers, chicken, corn….enjoying eats outdoors. we invite friends and family to hang until the sun is too much. we need to get an umbrella and some proper chairs up there so that we can lounge longer. the fall might be a more pleasant time to hang.

the ironic thing is that theresa and i aren’t very outdoorsy…we have all these plans for deck life but they never come to fruition. ministry life, family life, concert life, city life, travel seems to fill the schedule.  not a bad tradeoff.  but with zoe keeping us at home, the deck may have more appeal.

finally, we do not have the traditional breathtaking ny skyline views but we do have some great expansive sight lines giving us a surge of freedom. there are not many tall buildings so it feels like nyc…but a wes anderson version(i suspect he filmed quite a bit up here for the royal tenenbaums). we’ll gladly revel in it!

hoping to use the deck some more in the summer and the fall!