Small Home Big Style: Astrid’s Amazing A-Frame

Hi Everyone!

Happy Monday loves. I’m so so excited for today’s home tour.  Its been far too long since my last small home feature and this is a GOODIE!!  I first “met” Astrid on IG, and let me tell you it was love at first scroll. And by love I mean intense stalker status. Her feed is so so good y’all. 

Astrid lives in the most amazing small home and I am so thrilled to have her here today sharing how she lives and loves in only 800 sqft!!  Her home is full of gorgeous eclectic/boho style, and as a maximalist living in minimal space she’s a woman after my own heart.  Lets jump right into it shall we….

Where/What city do you live in?

We live in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire, in a quaint little town by the name of Sanbornton.

Who do you share your home with?

I live with my Husband, Brian, and his daughter, who spends the weekends with us.

Do you own or rent?

We own our home.

How many sq ft is your home?

Our A-frame cottage is just under 800 square feet in area.

What do you love most about small space living?

Apart from always feeling cozy in your surroundings, we have found that it is delightfully and surprisingly easy to infuse a small space with personality because everything just seems more concentrated. Everything you introduce into the space has the potential of being highly impactful, whether it’s the materials chosen or pieces brought in to furnish and decorate. As a result, it always makes for an extremely fun design exercise when you feel the inclination to refresh and restyle the interior. A little seems to go quite a long way in a small space!

What challenges have you faced?

Admittedly, the challenges have been numerous, and way beyond the obvious ones which are inherent to living with spatial constraints. We renovated the entire exterior and interior of the cottage ourselves, while living in it. To say that was a challenge would be a grave understatement…haha!

Any unique storage solutions?

Built-ins! Built-ins are an absolute must for storage and for maximizing usable space, especially in our case. With the angled walls of the A-frame construction, you lose quite a bit of space which would conventionally house standard furniture. We created built-ins to plumb some of the angled walls and strategically incorporated ceiling shelving in the kitchen and living space for additional storage.

 

What’s your favorite room in your home?

It’s hard to choose, because I truly enjoy all the rooms in our cottage for one reason or another. Perhaps our bedroom? It feels rather special with the cathedral ceiling, and there’s a tiny meditation lounge that we created in the loft that can only be accessed through our bedroom.

Do you ever wish you had more space?

Sure, there are moments when we feel like we could benefit, as a family, from some additional square footage for a myriad reasons. Our decision to make this tiny, once seasonal cottage our year-round residence wasn’t primarily motivated by politics, so to speak. It was more of a design challenge that we both decided to embrace. That said, it has been extremely enlightening as far as realizing just how very possible it is to live a large, full life in a home with a very small footprint!

Best piece of small space living advice?

Be extremely clear about your family’s lifestyle, and how it would best adapt to small space living. I truly believe you can be either a minimalist or a maximalist and thrive in a diminutive dwelling, so long as you plan, design, and live accordingly!

See told ya!!  Fabulous, right!!  I couldn’t agree more about being clear about your family’s lifestyle and making real adaptation goals. It’s very very important to do so, especially when going into a downsizing situation. There’s so much that goes into the psychology of space, and for some it takes overcoming those mental barriers before really being able to embrace and enjoy small space living.

Thank you so much Astrid for being here today.  For even more of her home check out her recent Design Sponge feature, and for daily inspiration make sure you follow her on IG

Xo-Shavonda

*Gotta small space story of your own you’d like to share?  Id love to feature you.  Shoot me an email at shavonda@sgstyleblog.com. Cant wait to hear from you*

Posted By: Shavonda Gardner · In: features, small space living