Tell me about your choice to live small. Was it a conscious decision or did it just evolve?
It started as a conscious decision. After living and working in Dublin and Paris for four years, we wanted a walkable Vancouver neighbourhood where work, friends, shops, and restaurants were close by. The trade-off was a smaller living space. The trade-off was less space, but it felt worth it. What we didn’t anticipate was how long we’d stay, especially once our family grew to include two kids.
How would you describe your home style? ex) modern, minimal, bohemian, vintage?
Modern and economical – with a lot of wood
Can you tell me a bit more about the kids room and bunk beds? They look smaller than a standard twin bunk bed? I love the mix of tall and low storage in the kids room too!
The bunk beds were custom built around IKEA junior mattresses (70 × 160 cm / 27½” × 63″), which are much smaller than a standard twin and allowed us to fit two beds into a very compact footprint. We used an IKEA slatted base for the lower bunk and a painted MDF platform for the upper bunk, creating a cleaner finish and avoiding the exposed underside of a mattress for the child below.
We DIYed almost everything in the apartment slowly over time, as our kids grew and needs changed. We tried to incorporate as much wood as possible to add warmth. Most of the materials came from hardware stores and with hardwood from local specialty wood suppliers.
We did the work ourselves during evenings and weekends, incrementally over time. While this helped us keep to a modest budget, it was as much about creating something ourselves as it was about saving money. That said, similar built-ins could easily be completed by a millworker or small contractor for a faster, less hands-on approach. (ed. note. so impressive, I figured you hired it out)
The kids’ clothes are stored in the built-in drawers within the desk. Their toys and games are kept in the large built-in cabinet in their room, some in underbed bins and some stored in Muji bins in the living room. Similar to a boat, we tried to make every inch work hard and serve more than one purpose. When the kids are at school, the desk doubles as a home office workstation.
