Continuing with the essential questions to ask yourself before plunging into downsizing, in my earlier piece I focused on the importance of lifestyle considerations, but now you need to consider the scale and capacity of your new home.
With scale and capacity, obviously it’s important to understand how many bedrooms you’ll need, how many bathrooms and the configuration of the living spaces required.
It’s important to get this right because you’ll more likely be living in these rooms a lot more, now that you’ll be spending less time at your workplace or office.
For many of our clients a ‘downsized life’ is about setting up their absolutely ideal lifestyle. It’s about the establishment of a new order…a culling of no longer required minutiae, a reassessment of what’s important and a burgeoning interest in new opportunities and pastimes.
Consider this….In order to create the David, Michelangelo had to chisel away all of the extraneous marble before his masterpiece could be revealed.
The new home you downsize to should reflect a lovely balance between housing the items you truly love and currently need, and having the flexibility of accomodating future eventualities.
Before starting the editing process…
- Identify your non-negotiables. These are the items you would save in the event of a fire. These pieces need to be incorporated into the design concept of your new residence, as they’ll add valuable patina and character.
- Consider the rooms your new home will need to have…bedrooms, bathrooms etc. In my book ‘The Art of Luxury Downsizing’ I identify key pieces of furniture required for each room and if you already own good examples of these, then in the name of sustainable design they could be used.
- Feel free to mail us for our template which allows you to easily allocate excess items to either being sold, donated or given to family members…and don’t forget, give family members a time frame for picking these things up, otherwise they will go with everything else to be donated! info@luxedomain.com
- If you’ve already received a marketing floor plan for your apartment or townhouse, the scale should be accurate enough for you to measure your rugs and furniture and then, using a scale ruler you can check how they fit into the new residence. Also, take note of where power points are positioned and of where you would like additional ones placed.
Because of the smaller living space a new, more compact dining table was required.
- If you have a day to access your new property before moving, by all means use masking tape to measure and position on the floor any larger pieces, such as rugs, sofas or coffee tables, for peace of mind.
We were able to remodel and recover our clients’ existing sofa and chairs, to make less bulky and for a more contemporary look in their new townhouse.
When first looking at a potential new home, try to identify if there will be enough space for all of your already edited items. Try also to identify opportunities where, if need be, you can add custom joinery for more storage.
However, remember: you no longer need 36 cheese platters, 12 casserole dishes, 8 beach towels and all of those paperbacks and magazines!
If adding custom joinery, my view is that it’s preferable to replicate existing cupboards or shelving, as much as possible…that way, you’re not adding extra elements which will visually take up more space.
Then, when you do want to introduce a beautiful sideboard or drinks cabinet for example, they will be rightfully viewed as highlight pieces.
In my next post I’ll talk about the joy of having a place for everything in your new home.