life in a tiny apartment.

Tip #22: Hold on to what you love, part with what you don’t.

when we first moved into this tiny space, we were nervous about which of our biggest pieces of furniture we’d have to leave behind. five years of living together meant that we’d already managed to build a pretty solid collection. we’d scoured yard sales and craigslist listings and driven down questionable driveways to find just what we wanted. we’d scrubbed and painted and when we found something we liked even better, we’d listed our own pieces and invited strangers down our driveway to relieve us of our castaways.

even though moving meant we had to part with some of our furniture, we also resolved that we wouldn’t just give everything up willy nilly and start over. some things were easy to part with (goodbye terrible futon). other things were more difficult (we know you’re in a good home,  sweet chifferobe). mostly, we kept what we had. this decision doesn’t mean that each piece of furniture is the best option for our particular space, but it does mean we’re surrounded by things that are special to us. we chose love over efficiency and yes, i’ve always been a sucker for inanimate objects.

the advice is this: don’t think that just because you live in a tiny space you can’t surround yourself with things you love. sure, some things in here could work better. the space above this dresser, for instance, is a huge open wall. a savvier apartment dweller might choose to fill the space with a vertical wall unit, to build up, and maximize storage space. the romantic apartment dweller loves the old dresser that she bought for $35.00 in north carolina and painted herself. bottom line, go for the romance. if you love something, you’ll make it work, whether it was built with maximum efficiency in mind, or not.