Thank you all so much for your kind thoughts after my most recent post. Some of you reached out to offer the benefits of living in a smaller home, and many more commented that they actually prefer our revised/simplified design over the original.

I have to say that after a few days of simmering with the thoughts of the smaller design, Craig and I are in agreement that we too prefer it! In fact, I called the contractor last night to tell him to hold off on getting bids on the larger floor plan – and instead to focus his attention on the new configuration.

In turn, I have been focusing my design efforts as well. Here is a view of the revised living room, as seen from the far corner of the kitchen. Do you spy the vaulted wall of windows? The view out of them will be stunning!

interior view from kitchen

interior view from entry

I am very grateful that my husband and I are on the same page when it comes to ‘stuff’. We are both of the mindset that if something doesn’t bring us joy or serve a purpose – it isn’t needed. The same goes for square footage. Once we realized that the smaller living space would suit us just fine, the more elaborate design was no longer appealing.

We never set out to design a large house – in fact, we have said on many occasions that living in a tiny house would be comfortable if it were just the two of us. Our family now includes seven – and so our sights are on a small house instead – one with just enough room for our needs.

It is a joy to search the web and see others living in the same way. I thought it might be inspirational to share with you some of these people, and their amazing SMALL homes.

intentionally small | 1,150 sf | owner: Nicole

Nicole has an entire blog devoted to the small spaces of her readers

mockingbird hill cottage | 950sf | owner: Claudia

Claudia offers a series of posts dedicated to small house living

smoky mountain farmhouse | 1,000 sf | owners: Alex & Susan

This charming farmhouse can be rented via VRBO!

living large in a small house | 1,300 sf | owner: Lynn

Check out Lynn’s amazing home office!

the prairie homestead | 1,100 sf | owner: Jill

Wyoming homesteading + homeschooling family of five

Continuing on with the revised/ smaller design, things seem to be falling into place. All three levels are being re-worked slightly to match the needs of our family. For now, we sit and wait for those numbers -hopeful that construction can begin this spring, but maintaining patience if we need to wait a little longer.