It has become a little ridiculous. Ikea is our go to store to furnish our entire flat. Cutlery, our white ceramic dishes with a place setting for six, mugs, drinking glasses, even our two house plants. The list could go on and on... sheets, pillows, bedding, pots and pans, curtains, not to mention all of our furniture. Knowing that our time here in Hong Kong is limited, we're not looking to invest a lot of money into our furniture. Ikea provides an economical solution for our budget and wonderfully delivers everything to your front door.
And while small space living is very popular these days, it is a necessity here in Hong Kong. Let me introduce you to our flat which is under four hundred square feet. Yes, you read that right. Under four hundred square feet.
Thankfully we have moved out of that house in Tai Po. With our rent paid for a full month, we only lasted two and a half weeks. As soon as we had the keys to our permanent flat in Kowloon City, we got out of the mildew infested village house as fast as we could.
We love the space we will be living in for the next two years. It's clean and it's new. And after the two and a half weeks, of life in Tai Po, we place a premium on those two commodities. Originally I had dreams of white furniture. The white wrought iron bed that I've had my eye on for the past four years whenever I look through an Ikea catalog. But the reality was, even though white would have been perfect in our chic flat, I have two kids and white gets dirty too soon too fast.
Gradually over the past couple weeks we've furnished our home, I've started cooking meals, and I've unpacked every single suitcase.
Everything in our flat serves a double purpose. Boxes on the book case are decorative and are used to store sheets, books, and towels. We place a large importance on storage. Our bed, though not what I had in mind the day I placed our order into Ikea, can be lifted up from the bottom and has wonderful storage underneath. The window in our one bedroom has a deep ledge, which I've turned into the closet for our two kids. It now holds a bar to hang their clothing from, as well as two dressers to store the rest of their clothes. You would never know just by looking at it, what double function it is serving since the black out curtain we purchased from Ikea is covering the clothing.
I have found that the key to small space living is to stay organized. Keeping everything neat and in the proper place helps our family of four function in our small space. This means that as soon as the kids wake up, we put away their beds.
Small space living is definitely a totally different way of approaching life. I love the simplicity of small space living. Now when I purchase anything (this includes appliances, groceries, paper products, etc.), I always take into consideration whether or not I have the space to store it. Gone for now are the days of purchasing items in bulk.
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