SG Style

a design & lifestyle blog by Shavonda Gardner

Small Home, Big Style: Rachel’s Live/Work Haven

Hi Everyone!

Happy Feature Friday loves! I’m so excited to share today’s tour with you.  When Rachel reached out to me about sharing her home for the series I was immediately intrigued. Among other things, I loved the fact that she and her family are nomadic.  Growing up constantly on the move really shaped my desire for ever-changing surroundings.  It also sparked my interest for creating beautiful, comfortable, and personal spaces.

Not only does Rachel live within limited space with her growing family and their furry family member, she also runs a successful photography business out of her home.  Its one thing to share your space with those closest to you, but its an entirely new ball game when you also share your home with the general public! 

The girl does it and does it well my friends.  Lets have a look shall we,

 

 

Good stuff right? So gorgeous, and I love all the amazing storage she’s incorporated.  Rachel shared a bit more of her small space story with us:

Where/What city do you live in?
We moved to Kansas City, MO a year ago after spending almost 7 years in Jackson, MS. We live in the West Plaza neighborhood of Kansas City and love it. It’s an older neighborhood with a great mix of people and centrally located so we can easily hit up all of the hot spots the city has to offer. We’re really enjoying it!
 
Who do you share your home with?
Our home consists of me, my husband, our three children (a 5yr old, 1.5yr old and 1mo old), and our German Shepherd, Max.
Do you own or rent? We rent. I am excited for the day we decide to settle down in a place so we can buy a house and make the changes we’d really like. As renters, we’re usually resigned to paint changes, if we’re lucky.
 

How many sq ft is your home? The home we’re in now is roughly 1,200 square feet.
 

What do you love most about small space living? It’s funny because I grew up in a really small house, so 1,200 square feet doesn’t feel terribly small to me. I’d have to say, though, that I enjoy having obvious gathering spaces for our family to spend time together. The kids share a large bedroom that doubles as their play space, so all the “kid stuff” is contained to one area. The living room, dining room and kitchen are open to each other, so it makes for easy interaction. Our 5yr old even longs for our previous home that was even smaller. She says she likes it when everybody is close together!
 

What challenges have you faced? I am a bit of a pack rat, (I blame my inner artist-I always think I’ll find a use for everything!) so the challenge of finding a place for everything has actually turned into a bit of a blessing. It has forced me to face my problem and embrace de-cluttering!

 
What’s your favorite room in your home? I would have to say my home office. Even though we do our best to keep the kid stuff confined to the kids’ room, with the three little ones it’s still hard to keep the rest of the house perfectly in order, so my office is my sanctuary! Because of my business it’s usually the first place I get organized once we move, and it stays in order (for the most part!) because that’s where I meet with clients for consults and ordering sessions.
 

Do you every wish you had more space? Sometimes the idea of more space is tempting, but with my personality (even though I’m working on it) I know that the more space we have, the more junk I will find to fill it! I really think that our next move will be to a slightly smaller home, if we can find the right layout. 

 
Best piece of small space living advice? Be very intentional about how you use each space, and what you put in it. I once heard someone say that you should think about the objects in your home in terms of how beautiful and useful you find them. If they aren’t really beautiful or useful, you probably don’t need them! 
 
Oh Rachel…I’m with you on the pack rat train my friend.  How bout we call it “selective collecting”.  Sounds better, right? I adore that she deliberately chooses small spaces to call home and the fact that her sweet kiddo prefers it that way is icing on the cake. As if this space wasn’t awesome enough, how bout we take a gander at her previous space…
 
 
 
 
 
Umm so here’s what I need to know… can I just get ONE set of French doors!  How this lady managed them back to back is a BEYOND awesome. I’m not scorned at all. #sorta
 
Thank you so much for sharing your home with us today Rachel.  If any of you are in the Kansas City area and need photography, she’s your girl.  To see even more of her home and photography hop over to her blog or check her out on Facebook. 
 
Have a great weekend friends. Until next time….
 
Xo-Shavonda 
 
*All photos courtesy of Rachel Kabukala

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