When someone signs up for a small space consult with me they get a short questionnaire to fill out and the option to send along photos, videos or floorplans of their space. Sometimes it’s easy to understand what someone needs/wants from their consult from their answers and sometimes I feel less clear. For example if they say they are adding a first baby to a one bedroom condo and they need help making that work, I am ready to go! I can meet them where they are at and provide many ideas and options for their unique space. But sometimes it is less simple and we spend some of the call getting to ..read more

set up for brunch in our space I thought I had written alot about entertaining in a small space. Turns out it was one post 5 years ago! Whoops! I feel like this should have been talked about more here and I apologize. We entertain quite a bit and we’ve done it in 600 square feet with 2 kids and now we do it often in 900 square feet. It is truly much easier in our bigger space but more important than space is the fact that our kids are now 10 and 7 and don’t require constant supervision. I still think we have found some systems/habits that are helpful in a variety of small spaces. Living in Va ..read more

In the midst of the holiday rushing and celebrating while simultaneously watching horrors unfolding on the other side of the world through our phones, I’ve found it hard to find the right words. There are no “right words” as our lives carry on while others end. Yet we keep carrying on to make magic for our kids even when it is unfair. So what I wanted to say is that, I hope you didn’t take on more than you could manage this holiday season. That you received and gave just the right amount of thoughtful, beautiful and useful gifts. That you had time with loved ones. That your small space was fi ..read more

This home tour is brought to you by a friend out scouting for me while on a playdate. She sent me a couple photos and said I had to feature this apartment that was so bright and fun and clever. I immediately answered back, saying please ask her if she’d be willing!! And lucky for us Marina was so generous in sharing her space. She opened every closet and door in her apartment and shared her love of small family living, design and problem solving. This probably could have been a 2 part-er as I didn’t even get to elaborate on her closet organization but I hope I captured the joy you feel when y ..read more

These past couple of years have felt like a personal reckoning for me. I don’t know if it is turning 40 or a post-pandemic awakening, or the fog lifting from the intense early parenting years but old patterns and ways of thinking that seemed to be working for me suddenly stopped working. More than anything what came up in therapy for me was that my perfectionism was running my life. I thought I had tackled my perfectionism in my twenties but apparently it has been quietly ruling my professional life this whole time. Perfectionism I have found that my perfectionism persists in scenarios where ..read more

While my last post was obsessing over sofas I was dreaming of buying, I had actually done a little sketch of a wood sofa and sent it off to my favourite millworkers. I didn’t know when they would have time to fit my little project in so it was a lovely surprise when they emailed me to let me know it was ready a couple weeks ago! I designed this sofa in the style of Donald Judd daybeds. I wanted to take the lessons from our current sofa layout. I knew that in a small sofa, having crease or gap in the middle wasn’t working for us. No one wanted to sit on the crack. What was working was the low ..read more

us in our living room by Amy Highton Modern Nest Photography So our living room is quite small and the only way I manage to keep it feeling spacious is to not fill it with too much furniture. Our current sofa has taken a lot of abuse from us and isn’t the go-to seat anymore. We need every seat in our small space to matter. Therefore, I have been dreaming of and researching sofas. I thought it would be fun to share the ones I’ve had my eye on. Firstly, I should try and explain our tricky layout. well it’s not super tricky but there are a few small angles and windows that make furniture placeme ..read more

The updated kitchen and grand piano that doubles as dining table and food styling station. Long-time readers may recognize this apartment and family as one of our very first home tours, which you can revisit here! They were our neighbors down the hall for many years and remain our friends. We bonded over raising our kids in tiny apartments and our commitment to city living. And as Melissa once said to me with her chic french accent, “I don’t like many people but I think I like you” (the greatest compliment? And a phrase I have also been known to say to future friends, which shows our similar ..read more

a beautiful shared backyard garden by @sarahkonyer After sharing our city garden plot on common property I asked you to share your city gardens. So many beautiful examples of city gardens were sent to me. Here is just a small collection of them. From windowsill gardens, to teeny patio food gardens to rooftop planters. Others shared their community garden plots that they travel near and far to. Mostly, I could feel the joy across the screen that you felt towards your gardens, whether big or small. Hope these images inspire you to grow something green wherever you can! another image of the abu ..read more

On the playgym by Modern Nest Photography I received this sweet email from a reader and I wanted to share with her permission here. The way she took key lessons for the site and applied them to her space is really inspiring and I’m so happy to hear it is working for them! “We recently moved in January from a 5 bedroom house to a 500 square foot one bedroom with my toddler and dog. In the 6 months between buying the house and moving, I read YOUR ENTIRE blog and it was my favourite thing on the whole internet!!! It helped me calm fears and feel so excited to move to our new place. The top thi ..read more