Keeping Our Small Space Organized While on Lockdown

Our family was practicing strict social distancing for a week prior to Los Angeles issuing its “Safer at Home” lockdown order. And while life beyond our walls has changed drastically— as it has for everyone— our existence at home is oddly similar to how it’s been for years.

For example:

• We are used to being mere inches from one another for days on end. 

• We rarely use the car, as we have no daily commute and are lucky enough to be able to bike around town instead. 

• We don’t use disposable goods (such as tissues, paper towels, toilet paper, cotton rounds, tampons/pads, disposable razors, or ear swabs), so there’s no need to stock up. 

• We’ve long spent the majority of each week with our son here at home as we balance the full-time operations of our small business. As such, we’re used to both the challenges and joys that such a situation presents.

In recent months, while working from home as usual, I found myself perched at the kitchen counter more, and seated at my desk less. Since West usually plays in the main room (behind my desk chair), it no longer felt natural to sit with my back towards that area. By contrast, from the kitchen counter I can observe him while going about all of my administrative work, which is why started to transform it into my office every morning. 

Above photo: February 2019

In its neglect, the area around my desk began to get visually overrun from oversized toy trucks, canvas bags of puzzle pieces, instruments and so forth. While I firmly believe that it’s better for the planet and for our wallets to focus on curbing our belongings rather than constantly searching for storage solutions, sometimes adjustments simply need to be made to furnishings and accessories in order to cultivate comfort and calm in a small space.

Above photo: September 2019

So, despite the fact that I really love my convertible desk that transitions from a standing workspace to a seated one, I loaned it out so that I could replace it with concealed storage. (In doing this I broke one of my own rules— holding on to something that we no longer need. But one day I know I’ll require a desk again, and the lift desk has been perfect for me.)

Before selecting anything new, Adam and I reviewed how we wanted to be able to better navigate the main room, starting with the rug. 

The old rug deliberately divided our multi-purpose room into 2 zones: the play space and the work space. There was just enough wiggle room for me to scoot my desk chair back on our worn hardwood floor before bumping into the “living room” rug., where West plays for several hours per day.

We decided we wanted a few extra inches of exposed floor by the front door since we have no entryway or dedicated landing zone. And while the old rug served us beautifully in this immensely high-traffic room for years, it had become too dirty to deep clean, and it was too close to the front door to fully escape grimy shoes and muddy paws.

At the same time, we wanted a few extra inches of rug where my desk chair used to be, so that the room felt like the unified space into which it had naturally evolved.

I knew I wanted a vintage piece, but I was having a hard time finding something in the abnormal size our funny little space requires, which is around 5’ x 6’. Eventually I found THE ONE via Lulu & Georgia, which has numerous vintage home goods, as well revolving capsule collections of vintage rugs.

I’d also had my eye on some vintage dressers to put in place of my beloved desk, but I kept running into hurdles. They were too big, too restrictive in the design of the cubbies/drawers/slots, or they weren’t the right height, color or shape.

Since I was getting the rug from Lulu & Georgia, a business with which I worked in the past to outfit parts of Amy Adams’ production offices, I asked them if they had a flawed or damaged version of their Maci Dresser that they couldn’t sell that I could take off their hands. The Maci measures very close to the dimensions I’d wanted, and has 9 practical drawers. To my delight, we were able to rescue a piece, which we then introduced it to its new (tiny) home. 

Above photo was styled for a shoot, rather than set up for our standard use.

The instant we brought the Maci into the cottage I knew that it was the right piece for our needs, but it still took some getting used to. We’ve always had an open-backed, slim-legged desk in that space, which kept the line of sight open.

But after about 2 days, our routine has greatly benefitted from this new addition. 

Throughout the drawers, I’m able to store West’s sofa-bed linens and our guest bedding, our reusable to-go food and beverage supplies and bulk shopping bags, and all of West’s toys and supplies. We even have some drawers to spare for the future. 

These pieces have allowed us to function more efficiently and comfortably within our compact space, and are particularly helpful as we hunker down in our tiny home-office together.