Down-Sizing…A Designer’s Own Journey Chapter One

Going from 5700 sf to 1600 sf has been quite the journey. We built this truly custom home 12 years ago. We found our 2.8 acre wooded lot with a quiet stream and it was in a neighborhood. We designed it ourselves with a little help from a great local architect. A New Old House is what we were shooting for. Designed to look like it had been in these woods for generations and built to resemble a renovated home. It was perfect. Our kids were in 5th and 10th grade. As our family’s motto says: We made memories! Many many memories! But after 11 years, with both kids out of the house, we decided to “see what would happen” if we listed it to start a new journey. Thinking it would take about a year to sell and it would take a lot less time to find our next chapter, the house sold in 10 days with 2 offers! Our emotional rollercoaster ride began. We started our downsizing in our storage rooms…yes there were 2! My husband and I spent a weekend in each sorting through memories, physically touching each one. There were trips to the Goodwill and Rescue Mission, posts on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist, and many many bins of trash. We found ourselves saying over and over…”what are the kids going to do with this”? There were laughs and tears. Of course, there were embarrassing moments as well realizing how much crap we had moved several times! Our last day in this home included a “one last” walk through. I must say it hit hard. The home that was once filled with treasures (human and non human), now sounded hollow and it echoed. We sat on the front porch and laughed again and cried again. Then we headed to our next journey…

Our Home in the Woods