Lessmore

One of my friends bought a tiny house that sits feet away from a soft sandy stretch of Pacific Ocean in Oceanside, California. It serves as her weekend get-a-way. This place, built around 1927, is a simple Spanish Revival style that holds just one bedroom and bathroom, a tiny porch area, the narrow kitchen and a compact living room/dining area at the front of the structure. The precious fireplace in the main room, no longer working, is flanked by two small crank out windows.

The original owner lived here full time for all those years confined to about 880 square feet. Granted she had the amazing Pacific as her front yard, but still there was virtually no storage space in a home with just one bedroom closet and limited cupboard space. Perhaps she had a garage out back or a storage shed, but it couldn't have been much. Surely not like the use of a basement or attic space. It gets me wondering about this lady who moved in this place during the depressing Depression era. Was this a down-sizing move for her at the time? Was she experiencing the same shrinking up of a household that lots of people are encountering today? Often the real estate on the shore costs so much more than inland and what gets built typically is a much smaller sized home for more money.

During those years in the late 1920s and 1930s thousands of Spanish Revival bungalows were built that offered two and three bedroom homes with garages. While larger than this place, they still were relatively tiny homes by any standard. Folks thought nothing of having just one bathroom at that time. But then, there were owners alive at that time that very easily might have been raised using out-houses to go to the bathroom. My own grandparents, immigrants from the impoverished South of Italy, grew up in homes that shared the downstairs with animals and they used outdoor facilities for human needs. They were elated to just be here in America, so the idea of just one bathroom was of absolutely no concern to them. They were grateful for everything here in this country, especially their Spanish Revival home at 1818 W. 70th Street in Los Angeles with two bedrooms and one bathroom for everyone.

What changed during the last 80 years or so that makes young people feel that they are entitled to their own bedroom and bathroom? What makes perfectly successful Boomers feel apologetic and not eager to entertain friends in their own home just because they live in a condo and not a larger home? Where does the idea of proving one's worth with the size of a home come from anyway? Wealth can be defined in many ways. Worldly possessions come and go and can be lost at any time. We have attached significance to the size of one's house and the amount of influence or wealth that accompanies the larger homestead. We assume that the people who live in larger places are richer and happier. Not only is this not true, but this path of thinking can interfere needlessly with finding contentment in a much smaller home.

Oh to have lived in this place - on this blue ocean - and drink in all those dreamy sunsets, fresh sunrises and balmy breezes. On this lonely beach with few houses in those days and little noise other than the pounding rhythm of waves. That woman, whoever she was, she was a rich lady!

Frugalista Fad

For a kid who grew up in an extremely frugal household - the grandchild of thrifty Italian immigrants who had no use for frivolity - the ad on the TV the other night just blew my mind! There it was, looking sleek and attractive and packaged for a youthful audience: Frugalista. I'm laughing partly because the suffix 'ista' seems to be an endearing label of our unusual times. Why even the former Elderhostel has claimed the new name of Exploristas and ditched the elder thing. But to pair being frugal with being cool is absolutely amazing. Do not misunderstand me. I think that this is the best message to come from American business in a long time. I wish that the world of interior furnishings would hear this advertisement from the smart retailer Target loud and clear and follow their lead.

Professional designers and architects have suffered immensely during the great recession for rather obvious reasons; there is very little business for people in the residential interior design trade and one has to fight hard for what is out there these days. In the most difficult economy since the Great Depression there are few discretionary funds for buying new fabrics, sofas or dining chairs; draperies, bedding, or lamps. The past two years have been like a great draught with some very famous and large companies failing, extremely popular magazines - such as Metropolitan Home and Southern Accents - suddenly disappearing and availability of goods hampered by cut-backs and slow downs. No construction loans mean no new building starts and the real estate market is self-explanitory. Many architects have not seen a new project on their boards for several years now.

We designers sell merchandise and are essentially the dream maker "middle-men" when it comes to home interiors. The issue has been that the products available in multi-line showrooms and direct from manufacturers are expensive. And I am quite sure that most people think that the designer is an elitist based solely on the fact that fine furnishings are so costly that the American public no longer is interested primarily in quality. They cannot afford to care. Only the very, very wealthy can contemplate a $7,000 arm chair and quite frankly, most people would be embarrassed to purchase such an item in this new world economy.Think Haiti. Think total disaster in New Orleans. Think tent cities in these United States. Think $300 a yard fabric. It doesn't compute.

So I'm hoping that the producers of plumbing fixtures, lighting, furniture, carpet, fabric, tile, wood pieces, etc. will take a look at Target's simple and smart formula! Give us good design for a reasonable cost. Give regular middle class Americans some real choice. Otherwise the only thing for a cost constrained person to do when trying to spiff up the house is to seek out re-purposed furnishings and live the life of a frugalista. Perhaps considering new options at more affordable prices can help all of us.

Expect More!

What do Echo Boomers think when they look ahead towards the future? If I were 25 right now I'd be kind of over whelmed at the wicked negative vibes about job prospects. Lots of new grads are landing $8.00 per hour jobs while carrying $40,000 to $50,000 in student loans. They don't particularly want to slave away as their Boomer parents did because they are noticing that what their parents worked for has been shaved in two. We were the generation of working moms who thought they could have it all; marriage, kids and a fabulous career. A lot of our kids didn't like having a working mom. I put off having children at first because I loved being a Yuppy - young upwardly mobile professional - and I did expect more! I wanted a house and a neat car. I wanted to travel and buy lots of clothes. I wanted to have fun and I wanted to keep on making more money. By the time I thought about babies, it just didn't happen for me. The most memorable quote from Barbara Walters goes something like this: You can have a great marriage and a great kid. A great kid and a great career. A great career and a great marriage, but you cannot have it all! Sobering, but true.

The kids today want mostly to be wired into every possible electronic media device and thereby be connected to their world. They are o.k. with living in a really tiny place, provided that it has some pizazz! Include communal laundry, game rooms, social activities and exercise facilities and they are in. They are about style and brands. While we were about getting rid of our bras, buying funky clothes at the Goodwill and smoking a little dope, these kids are quite frank about their sexuality and shockingly pragmatic about how they solve certain intimate challenges in a way that reflects the impossible situation we over indulgent parents created for them. These are the kids that have been nurtured into being unrealistic and spoiled, narcissistic and selfish.

Into this reality two huge American companies have introduced a thought process that I believe will spread like a virus. Several years ago a representative from Target spoke at the national ASID (American Society of Interior Designers) conference here in San Diego ad unveiled their brilliant plans for creating a cutting edge brand. These people are brilliant and their mission statement - Expect More. Pay Less - is exactly what Gen-Y or Echo Boomers want. The genius of Target has been to align themselves with well known designers of clothes, house ware products, shoes and furnishings and create favorably priced, but really cool products. Quality is not as critical to the young as style and being chic. WalMart in certain parts of the country began with a reputation for being the cheapest place to shop. Elitists on both coasts wouldn't be caught dead inside a WalMart store and frankly I've been in only a handful of WalMarts in my entire life. However, they will have the last laugh with their slogan Live Better. Pay Less! They are nipping at Target's style heels and introducing a bold new program to assign a Green rating to each product that they carry. This ain't your grandma's WalMart!

When the young think of their future, do they ambitiously want it all, just like their parents? I would think so, but from my mid-life vantage point I now realize that few people attain everything they wish for from life. When we tell ourselves that we should expect more, how realistic is that? While it is obviously true that we can engineer products to be affordable and attractive, life on the other hand is not as easily controlled.

It's Shrinking!

Downsizing is the word! I write a weekly syndicated column called Small Spaces for Creators Syndicate and when I started writing a decade ago, the subject was not quite a "hot" topic. But right now it is THE topic in home improvement, interior design and the architectural circuit. Americans have downsizing on their minds and the trend is spreading, in part due to the worldwide economic woes and in part because we are all waking up from what were wasteful and selfish environmental practices.

Obviously our bank accounts are dwindling. Our investments are on a hunger strike. The future for Baby Boomers like me is not looking anything like I thought it would look ten years ago. Millions of us Boomers and millions of our kids - the Echo Boomers, Millenials or Gen-Y-ers or whatever you want to label them - are staring at a shrinking lifestyle. Ten years ago everyone sought designer products from eye glasses to cookware bought in chic stores that gave out stylish bags. Now the cool purchasers are picking up products designed by well-known people for Target and WalMart where you can live better and pay less! Pretty quickly it will be those that can create a certain look for less that will be celebrated on the streets of America. Waste and greed are out.

At the recent NAHB International Builders Show in Las Vegas Eliot Nusbaum, Better Homes and Gardens Executive Editor of Home Design presented the results of the Next Home Survey along with reported trends from a nationwide network of field editors, the magazine's Home Improvement Challenge and editorial coverage. "Not surprisingly, we continue to see a 'cents and sensibility' approach when it comes to buying or improving a home, with practicality and price being top priorities," says Mr. Nusbaum. Americans want smaller and more energy efficient homes. 36% in 2009 (32% in 2008) of a sampling made up of new home buyers and current home owners indicate that their next home will be smaller or 'somewhat' smaller than their current home.

This Baby Boomer grew up in one of those 1,000 square foot post-WWII suburban floor plans with 1 1/2 baths and no great room in view! Generations lived in homes that ranged from 850 square feet up to about 1,400 square feet. The funniest part of what is happening now is that the Gen-Y group or Millenials tell information gathering groups that they do not mind living in really tiny space. Like we are talking 400 to 880 square feet! Chicago's The Streeter offers luxury high-rise units under 600 square feet; the River Oaks apartments in Houston average about 880 square feet and at least one Washington, D.C. condo is less than 400 square feet. Of course such small places have been common in Manhattan or London for generations, but that this trend is inching across the entire country is what is notable. However the kids demand amenities: Wired for every possible electronic device, communal exercise and game rooms, planned social events, and door-to-door laundry service. Real life for this generation takes place outside of their small home anyway.

Everything from our bank accounts to our homes to our sense of security is shrinking! Get ready for the new normal - smaller!