The living space between where we were compared to where we are now isn’t a challenge. This place is bigger. So… we didn’t really downsize. What we did is downgrade. We basically traded a lot of stuff we didn’t care about for other things we wanted instead.
Outside, we traded brick for metal, a concrete drive for a gravel one, and a neatly landscaped yard for fescue. Inside, we traded birch wood flooring for concrete, and beautiful hardwood trim and crown molding for barn wood and cedar non-matching trim. We traded Moen and Kohler for no-name fixtures, and Anderson windows for who knows what these are. We traded a mile-long kitchen for a postage stamp.
I’m 100% fine with all that.
I’m still thrilled with the decision to move — and I’ve said it before — I love it here. That doesn’t mean it’s not going to take some getting used to. And it doesn’t mean there aren’t certain things I don’t like.
Downgrades I’ll get used to…
I miss having a coat closet. I miss having a utility closet even more. I miss my utility room and my mud room to feed the dogs. There’s a huge walk-in master closet upstairs here but it only has “closet stuff” on one side. It’s simply not enough. And while not ideal, I can adjust and will get used to the inconveniences.
Downgrades that are painful… 😔
Going from 19′ of bathroom storage and counterspace to a mere 6′ total is rough, you guys.
Before…
And now… (upstairs is a duplicate of this one)…
TIL (Today I Learned): In 1845, 79 people died in a bridge collapse that happened because a large crowd had gathered to watch a clown in a bathtub be pulled up a river by four geese.