2016 was quite the year for our little family. We grew by one and moved in to our own home, which literally happened all within a one month span. We bought a small home at a great price, that needed cosmetic help- a lot of it! “The ugliest kitchen we can find” was literally our criteria while looking for a home- a realtors dream LOL. Also on our criteria: a small home (so we can heat it without cringe-worthy heating bills) and located in proximity to downtown. We come from a very trades-handy family, so renovating has always been our plan. We passively kept our eye on the market in our dream neighborhood for a few years, and eventually found the home that met all of our criteria. We went through private sale and purchased it from a great family for a great price. It is over 100 years old (hello Halifax Explosion survivor!), and though it has great structural bones, it actually does not have much for historical architectural detail, but we did recently unmask original hardwood floors under some of the house! The house had been renovated at some point because it’s full of 70s style wood paneling, and remnants of carpet lurk under the floors.

​If you haven’t guessed already by my blog and Instagram, my husband and I focus on living a pretty minimal lifestyle. After years of studying sustainable cities and economical footprints myself, and my husband studying economics and financial planning, we were both on board to make a small (on a North American scale) home function both in design and finance for our family (dreams of early retirement, who’s with us?!). People around the world live and raise families in much smaller spaces- 1200 square feet should hardly be a challenge in comparison (right?). It might help too that we have doubled our living space moving here. Our old apartment was only 600 square feet (our tv took up the whole living room…and it’s a flat screen LOL). Owning less will help us, and then creating storage solutions and functional floorspace will be key. Style-wise we love clean cut, Scandinavian-inspired design, so you will see our home renovations reflect that. We are excited for the challenge of renovating for small-space living.

So, if you’re at all interested, stay tuned for “before and after” renovation posts on functionality and design for small spaces…and maybe posts on how to tackle this lifestyle with a little one around! I’m also working on a really neat collab with the home reno’s that I’ll spill the beans on in a few weeks!

​Cheers!
​- Brit