Our 886 Square Foot Life
Daniel & I got married in April 2014. I then moved in to his home that he had purchased in 2009. The home is located in a metro Nashville neighborhood called Inglewood, which is just north of East Nashville, but south of Madison. We love our neighborhood — the neighbors, the proximity to downtown, and our lot.
The house sits on 2/3 of an acre. It was built in 1933 and the “official” documents state that it is 1025 square feet. It’s a 2 bedroom, 1 bath square house with what I lovingly call a “servant’s quarters” kitchen and a sizeable dining and living room. It was built on top of a full, unfinished basement. The basement houses our washer & dryer, and we access it through a tiny staircase in the middle of the house.
The house has a stucco exterior with cool iron detailing on the front porch. Previous owners also added a large deck off the back. People comment on it’s unique look all the time, although there are a few rare others scattered throughout our neighborhood.
To give you an idea of what’s going on with the real estate industry in Nashville: 100 people a day are moving here. Our city is growing exponentially. Exploding. There are HGTV shows that focus ONLY on Nashville homes. It’s crazy. With that said, the home was purchased in 2009 for $139,900. In 2016 the property assessor’s office appraised it at $280,000. We have not done a thing to the home since it was bought in 2009. Nothing. Nada. And it doubled in value.
What that also means is that homes larger than ours in our neighborhood are going for about $225-$250 a square foot. Yikes. For two self-employed people, just trying to get a mortgage for a larger home would be a total nightmare. So, in February 2015 we began exploring options to add some space to our existing home.
It took several weeks for us to get anyone to even call or email us back (it’s a great time to be in the contractor business). But, finally we did, and we had a company come out and give us a quote to add on 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, and a kitchen expansion to the back of our house. If I remember correctly, that would’ve added about 800 square feet to our house and was going to cost $200K+. Nope. Back to the drawing board.
Then, we decided to get a quote on adding just a 400 square foot wing to one side of the back that would add a master bed/bath. Also included in this plan was to expand our existing kitchen into our existing dining room. That was going to cost $160K+.
So, what we were facing was either being around $300K+ in debt for a 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom house and a new kitchen or $260K+ in debt for a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house and a new, smaller kitchen. After coming across some major runaround from our bank, we decided to pause the entire process in October 2016.
In April 2017, we decided to contact one of the contractors that had worked up a quote for us before that we really jived with. He sat down with us and went over our options again. Then, he asked us what our goals were and why we were wanting to renovate/expand.
That turned into a really great conversation about minimalism. Most people really only actively use about 1,000 square feet of their homes. Check out some in-home foot traffic heat map studies that prove this. He explained to us that he could give us a 3 bedroom, 2 bath layout WITH a laundry area and brand new kitchen within the walls of our existing home.
I laughed in his face at first. I’m a girl that needs time alone and needs my space. But, he explained that our current layout was a completely inefficient use of the little space that we do have, and that he could give us something that would serve our needs much better. That, once our home was completely renovated, it would feel much larger than what it was.
He actually invited us out to his 1,500 square foot home in White’s Creek to show us what he meant, and we were totally blown away. His home felt like a 4,000 square foot oasis straight out of LA. We were sold, and gave him our blessing to get started creating the new layout.
After about a month, he invited us back out to show us what he had come up with. We were absolutely stunned with the plans that he showed us. He was able to fit a nice master bedroom and master bath with a tile shower, a nice-sized bedroom with a small closet, a guest bathroom with a jetted tub, a laundry closet, and an additional smaller bedroom with no closet in our home. Plus, an open concept living/dining/kitchen with a 11'x5' island.
Then, he told us that the government had it wrong — our house was only 886 square feet on the inside.
So, that’s where we are. And I’m excited to share the journey with you. Be sure to check out the Netflix documentary Minimalism if you have a chance — it will make you think twice about all the stuff we hang on to and the space we “think” we need.