What Makes a Tinier Home So Amazing?

The smartest stuff I've learned from my 750-sf apartment. And, what sketch comedy and small spaces have in common.

Hi everyone. Firstly, to anyone/everyone affected by the devastating wildfires in California, you are in our thoughts, and for those of us who can help, here and here are links to what I hope are useful resources. Please stay safe.

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This edition of ATA has a jillion rad design images, so please tap the headline to read this post in your browser or marvelous Substack app so it doesn’t get chopped off. You’re amazing✨

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There is an art to living small. Not just a mindset or strategy, but a story that is deeply, dutifully cultivated over years and years of living your life while also making it work. This personal, almost invisible practice of imprinting yourself inside your home. And, in the process, finding your own unexpected way of living outside the status quo. Because living smaller is living outside the status quo. Reframing the idea that big or a lot always means better (it doesn’t).

And making choices as opposed to choosing everything.

Editing your life and possessions constantly is often way harder than just counting on an extra room or closet to solve the problem. Because what if there isn’t any extra stash of space to borrow from? What if what you see is what you get? Living small isn’t about just finding space for our everyday lives and things—and finding the right things to begin with—but about creating space and a vision where there isn’t any. Seeing opportunities and these tiny exquisite victories in the face of a VERY slim room (is it even a room??) or zero storage. As small space people, we take on that job of not just making it work but somehow astonishing ourselves in the process.