Tall Tales About Small Living by Guest Blogger Wade Nkrumah

TALL TALES ABOUT SMALL LIVING

Chapter 1: Bright Lights. Big City. Small Spaces

Chapter 2: From a clutter of cranes to a sense of place

Chapter 3: Your home is your unit

Chapter 4: Room with a view

Chapter 5: Downsizing downsides

Chapter 6: When walls speak and ceilings squeak

Chapter 7: About those amenities and fees

Chapter 8: Know thy neighbor ... or not

Chapter 9: Conversion excursion

Chapter 10: Decorating small

Chapter 11: Livin’ large in a small space 

Chapter 12: Of balconies, decks and patios 

Bright Lights. Big City. Small Spaces

Living small.

It’s a winning approach to Portland’s shifting housing market.

Small-is-in works because the playing field is shrinking everywhere: Appliances. Cars (thank-you, gas prices). Computers. Furniture and furnishings. Hair (who has Big Hair, anymore?). Housing. Music accessories. Phones. Televisions.

Many can relate:

He’s not tall.

She drives small.

They don’t have it all.

In a six-year period, he moved from a 1,400-square-foot house with a 1,100-square-foot basement and detached garage to a 1,200-square-foot townhouse with garage to an 800-square-foot condominium with assigned parking space in a carport.

She doesn’t cook, so she appreciates a unique condominium feature: The single-wall kitchen, which leaves remaining space for more creative use.

A friend in ever-sprawling Houston jokes that such downsizing adventures mocks typical big house dreams.

“That’s so un-American.’’

Not so much anymore. Well, maybe still in Texas, where everything is ... um, you know. Big.

To be sure, the single-family home is almost universally viewed as the All-American dream home. But the Craftsman – they’re not building them anymore – is giving way to the condominium.

Other less-is-more signs are around us.

Portland’s neighborhoods are small. City blocks are small. Sushi is small.

Mill End Park, which occupies the base of a Southwest Naito Parkway traffic island, is so small it redefines tiny.

Even Portland ‘burbs – not one has 100,000 people – are small by national standards.

Whatever its form, living small isn’t trendy and often can be less spendy.

Small living no longer is novel nor a last resort of affordability. Rather, the living small movement is a growing phenomenon.

It’s a lifestyle that, increasingly, is much preferred.

No place is this more evident than the city’s housing stock.

The condominium explosion last decade made the small house movement a natural starting point.

Condominiums and their loft and townhouse cousins have transformed downtown and its immediate surroundings. The recent tide of homeowners who have moved into condominium buildings and towers have given Portland a long-absent big-city feel.

Downtown Portland pulsates with energy that, in large part, is fueled by this influx of condominium owners, who are attracting and supporting big-city amenities.

Downtown is the hub, with spokes extending the living small concept east across Willamette River, south into South Waterfront, north into St. Johns and to Columbia River, and beyond city limits into the ‘burbs.

Yet, not all that is small has been a poster child for the living-with-less movement.

In the early 2000s, there was widespread uproar over rapid-rising skinny houses sprouting like dandelions in east side Portland neighborhoods.

Today, those houses, tarnished reputation and all, continue to be desirable. However, as with condominiums, designs and features are more appealing and creative.

From a clutter of cranes to a sense of place

The construction cranes are gone.

Long gone, and seemingly with no large-scale return to Pearl District in sight.

Absence of cranes appeared unthinkable at last decade’s mid-point, with subsequent disappearance so swift there was no time to mourn the loss.

During the housing boom, cranes loomed large and for so long on an ever-transforming Pearl landscape as to seem more permanent, perhaps, than condominium buildings that eventually replaced them.

Time certainly tempered such grand illusions. Even so, the Pearl this decade is a vision realized: Successful makeover of industrial rail yards to a residential enclave unique to Portland.

Think about it – not a single-family home in sight.

Yes, there are apartments. But for the most part, condominiums – including lofts and town houses – are the signature housing in the Pearl. The mix is intoxicating in its breadth of depth and scope.

Condominiums are in mid- and high-rise towers. Lofts are carved into former factories and warehouses, and are designed for newer modern buildings. Town houses are of contemporary construction and are giving a second life to early 20^th Century dwellings.

Even long-standing frustrations of some early Pearl residents are easing. This is especially so regarding around-the-clock sounds of commerce-at-work generated by longtime mail (U.S. Post Office Main Branch) and rail (Union Station) stakeholders –who set up operations in the Pearl decades ahead of their residential neighbors: the late-1990s-arriving urban homesteading pioneers.

The maturing Pearl is evident in other areas, too. Front-door streetcar access has combined with bustling commercial business and lively nightlife to create a pedestrian paradise. Two parks are big attractions. A grocery stored opened in late 2008.

The transition from rail yards to urbane adult playground with condominiums galore has given the Pearl a distinct identity and reputation.

Even sans construction cranes.

 Your home is your unit

Get used to it: You live in a unit.

For you, the owner, your condominium is home. For others – many a single-family homeowner – a condo seems anything but.

It’s shared walls. It’s an apartment. It’s a unit.

Even condo-friendly professionals, such as developers, mortgage brokers and real estate agents – those who often make a portion of their living off condos – refer to condominiums as units.

Such disrespect of this not-of-the-American Dream housing option comes with the territory.

Still, condominium living is a popular defining signature of urban lifestyle in Portland and, increasingly, the ‘burbs.

So, what’s the lure and why buy a condominium instead of a house?

Maybe it’s the sales price – more affordable.

Maybe it’s the view or a higher proximity off the street that affords more privacy than a house.

Maybe it’s being in the middle of downtown.

Or maybe it’s lack of a yard – no grass to mow in spring and summer, no leaves to rake in fall, no gutters to clean in winter.

Whatever your reasons, legions of others share at least some of them.

Why? Because living small is in.

It’s not so much about lessening your impact on Earth by reducing your carbon footprint. It’s more about simplifying your life. Bigger isn’t necessarily better.

Going smaller means less: cleaning, clutter, things. And more: appreciating life’s little things and simple ways.

Equally appealing and important, housing options for going smaller – lofts and townhouses – increased as condominium numbers grew.

Plus, in the past few decades, evolving style and substance have enhanced life in condominiums, lofts and townhouses.

Higher ceilings and rooms with outside-the-box angles make condos feel less cave- and more house-like.

Finishes and touches (such as gas fireplaces) long associated only with houses now often are standard in condominiums.

Advances in sound deadening insulation makes sharing walls feel less apartment-like.

Condominiums and their loft and townhouse kin dot the cityscape in numbers few could have imagined at the dawn of last decade. It’s happened because, at some point, someone dared to think: If builders built them, the masses would come.

And yes, builders built and buyers have come, one unit at a time.

Room with a view

Riding the elevator to the 17th floor feels a lot different at 6 p.m. than at 1 p.m.

That’s because now you’re going home instead of returning to an office.

Breathing that rare air – even more refreshing if your condominium has a balcony or deck – increasingly is less novel for Portland homeowners.

The condominium set, that is.

Condo options abound downtown and into inner Northwest and the Pearl. More offerings extend north beyond Fremont Bridge, south past Marquam Bridge and across Willamette River into the inner east side.

Though the city’s embrace of the condominium tower has cooled the past few years, seeing most definitely is believing. Mount Hood. Mount St. Helens. The West Hills. Downtown skyline. Ross Island. Columbia River. Willamette River and the maze of bridges that cross it.

Certainly, going vertical by buying in a high-rise – or mid-rise – dramatically redefines urban living.

Living well above ground level is somewhat like being in a nest in a tree. There’s a greater sense of privacy, security, serenity.

The bird’s-eye view feeds the imagination with wildly varying perspectives of the surrounding area and, in some cases, much of the city.

Plus, natural light is a more direct companion; it is less filtered and influenced by the natural landscape and urbane cityscape.

That said, views vary and not all will be or remain postcard perfect.

Still, the appeal is intoxicating.

Sound like a mixed bag? Well, it is. Even as the sights from such heights can be breathtaking, the price of reaching them can take your breath away. 

Downsizing downsides

Basement.    

Garage.

Closet.

You’ll have the latter when you move into your condominium. You’ll wish you had at least one of the former two, which are among what you’ll miss when you downsize from your house to a condominium.

Even in single-family homes, there’s often not enough closet space. Thus, basements and garages function as catchall storage in a great percentage of houses.

Therefore, if your house has a basement and garage, your what-I-miss list doubles when you trade your house for a condo. In most cases, closet and storage space in your condominium won’t double.

Lack of adequate closet and storage space can be the biggest downside to condominium living. So, if you’re a collector or pack rat with hoarder tendencies, you’re going to have to curb your enthusiasm or stay in the house with the basement and garage.

Of course, there are creative storage solutions a plenty, even for the smallest condominium. Yes, you guessed right, they don’t come cheap.

So, the smart condominium shopper puts closet/storage on par with that which he or she considers the single most important living component or space.

For some, it’s the kitchen. For others, it’s high-ceilings. For her it’s the living/dining area. For him, it’s the wall of floor-to-ceiling windows. 

Whatever is deemed most important, the priority mindset when looking for a place should be, for example, kitchen and closet/storage or floor-to-ceiling windows and closet/storage.

Most everyone needs space for computer/electronics packaging, fitness/recreational/sports equipment, suitcases, and miscellaneous collectables.

Thus, if having a place to store those skis or surfboard is a must, the condominium at the top of your list might be the wrong fit if there’s closet space only for your clothes and no other storage space in the building.

Many condominium buildings have additional storage space, but many don’t. As for garages, unlike in your house, the assigned spaces in condos are for cars, not storage.

When walls speak and ceilings squeak

Condominium living is not for the quiet-as-a-church mouse set.

That’s because, in most cases, the soundproof condominium has not been built.

At some point – maybe with great frequency, even – you will hear your neighbors, whether they live above, below or next to you.

It might be faint, muffled voices of conversation; or not so subtle sounds of more interesting activity.

It could be thumping bass from stereo speakers. Maybe it’s a bump out of the blue of a slammed drawer to built-in desk or cabinets, or a too-free sliding closet door panel.

These unwelcome intrusions will happen no matter assurances to the contrary from developers and real estate or sales agents. Their mantra: new construction condominium insulation soundproofing nearly is foolproof. They often support their claim by referring to a one-inch space they say deadens (their common phrase) noise transfer between double-ply drywall of adjacent condominiums.

Don’t believe the hype.

And, needless to say, the older the building, especially with apartment to condominium conversions, the greater the chance walls will talk and ceilings will squawk.

Just be aware: While the nostalgic charm has been preserved in the 1920s-era building fancifully updated into a modern day conversion, the space likely comes with the soundproof shortcomings of the bygone era.

And yes, you’ll know it when your walls and ceiling start quaking to the sometimes not-so-gentle rumble of your neighbor’s washer going into it’s 5- to 10-minute spin cycle.

Such intrusions, the stuff of daily condominium living, could be white noise for some; minor inconveniences for another; or major nuisances for others.

It’s one of the tradeoffs of not having to rush home from work to mow already-too-high grass before threatening rain clouds burst open and leave the overgrown lawn too damp to mow for another two days.  

The important thing: Know what you’re getting into.

That way, when the inevitable bump in the night occurs, you won’t be startled into the harsh realities of your new surroundings.

Instead, you’ll simply turn over and resume pleasant dreams of your newfound simpler home life.

About those amenities and fees

Homeowners association dues can be the wild card in condominium living.

The dues – an extension of your monthly mortgage – never, ever, go down.

This can make the fees – on top of the mortgage payment – a bitter pill to swallow, at least initially for the newly minted condominium owner.

There’s simply no denying that association dues can leave you feeling like you’re paying maintenance taxes in addition to property taxes.

Yet, dues, for the most part, carry their weight. The ever-growing funds provide ready money for on-going maintenance and reserve money for emergencies or the unforeseen – both of which are something few single-family homeowners have at their immediate disposal.

Given that dues revenue is budgeted by the homeowners association Board of Directors, the condominium community is best served by a committed and dedicated board – members who are honest and work well together. Having such a board dynamic will greatly help ensure association dues are administered efficiently and responsibly.

This is important because:

As owners in the condominium community, you’re all in this together. When there’s a structural, landscaping or other problem in part of the building or community, everyone feels the financial pain;

Homeowners association dues cover a range of fees. These might include utilities, such as electricity, gas, garbage, water; routine maintenance for landscaping and parking areas; amenities, such as a community/game room, fitness center, swimming pool. 

Consider this: No matter what kind of housing you own, be it a condominium, duplex, house or townhouse, a big-ticket cosmetic or maintenance item is always looming. It might involve replacing the roof, painting siding or wood trimming, repairing the backyard fence.

For the condominium owner, payment for care and maintenance is ongoing. Sticker shock is up-front: monthly homeowners association dues can vary from roughly $225 (or $2,700 yearly) to $350 (or $4,200 yearly) and higher.

For the owner of a single-family home, payment for care and maintenance can be deferred until needed. Sticker shock might be $15,000 for a new roof or $20,000 for painting the exterior of the two-story Craftsman – though, hopefully, both won’t be needed in the same five-year period.

Additionally, the condominium owner must assess the worth of so-called amenities, as in: Will you use them, and if so, how much?

How many times, during the four months of the year the pool is open, will you take a dip? How many days a week will you workout at the fitness center? How many weekends will you entertain or escape to the community/game room?

Questions, questions, questions.

Is all of this, the range of amenities and services – electricity, gas, garbage, water; routine maintenance for landscaping and parking areas; community/game room, fitness center, swimming pool – worth that $225 to $350 per month or higher in homeowners association dues?

The answer lies in the bottom line – and how the wild card plays. 

Know thy neighbor ... or not

The peculiarities of condominium living can influence, in all sorts of ways, how you get to know neighbors and if you want to.

Mostly, though, it depends on you and how neighborly or un-neighborly you want to be.

In single-family home enclaves, owners often introduce themselves to new neighbors. They meet when their kids start playing together. They greet while doing yard work.

In a condominium community, getting to know neighbors might not happen so organically. Taking advantage of condominium amenities, though, can be a meet-and-greet icebreaker.

It starts with a conversation while sitting around the pool, working out at the fitness center or strolling common areas and waiting for the dog to take care of business.

But if you have kids, don’t expect your daughter or son to find many playmates. Condominiums almost exclusively are the province of adults with no kids or parents with adult kids who don’t live with them.

In general, neighbor-to-neighbor social interaction can be greatly influenced by the number of condominiums in a development. In this case, size matters.

In a community with 25 or less condominiums, owners likely will know of most neighbors, if not develop friendships with a handful, at least.

If you join the homeowner’s association Board of Directors or board committees, you’re sure to meet people you otherwise never might meet, no matter how big or small the building or community.

This can be good or bad, depending on the size of the board, issues addressed and membership concerns.

Every owner has a stake in the well being of the condominium community; so serving on the board truly is altruistic. And, you’ll definitely meet a cross-section of homeowners – fellow board members or neighbors who might have a beef with the association.

So, before plunging into the board battlefield, ask yourself: Is this really the way you want to get to know your neighbors?

Conversion excursion

Ah, yes ... I remember, you sigh.

This is it: The two-story, c-shaped apartment building with asphalt parking lot where the front yard would be for a single-family home.

It’s the building at which you and your friends scoff numerous times as you drive by. It looks like an economy motel. You snicker. It’s the apartments where you’ll never live, you say.

Now, you’re thinking: I could live here.

Oh. My. Goodness.

Apartment-to-condominium conversions can have that affect. The feeling is particularly so for the first-time buyer. He is equal parts anxious and eager to transition from renting to owning. She feels priced out of the single-family home of her dreams.

Conversions can be the most accessible and affordable entry into ownership. In most cases, a square-foot for square-foot comparison reveals conversions generally to be less expensive than new construction condominiums.

That’s why you’re giving this motel look-a like a second glance.

Sure, on the outside, it still reminds of you-know-what (an economy motel). But new doors, landscaping, paint and windows soften those rough edges. So does the assigned parking space that comes with the condo. At your downtown apartment, you’re paying $100-plus a month extra for that parking space.

Inside, updated bathrooms and kitchen and new or refinished floors give the space in this you-know-what a comforting, polished 21st century feel and look.

Of course, there are tradeoffs going the conversion route. Because the building was built in the 1980s or earlier, noise transfer between walls and ceiling of your condominium and your neighbors’ will be more noticeable – considerably so in some buildings – than in new construction.

Also, you may have few or no amenities, such as: common area meeting room or outside deck for bar-b-q and grilling; fitness center; storage; swimming pool.

So, no, it’s not the condominium equivalent of a boutique hotel. But it could be yours for a better price. And for a much, much longer stay than at you-know-where.

Decorating small

You’re the new owner of a condominium.

Finally, you think, you can do what you couldn’t do in the house where you rented a room the past two years.

In your condominium, you can make the décor a reflection of you. That wasn’t an option in the house you shared, with the living room over-whelmed by the over-sized couch with over-stuffed pillows.

Buying new furniture often is the first thing a new homeowner wants to do. Buying big furniture is the last thing you need to do in an 800-square foot condominium. But the tendency to buy big – having moved from a house – often can be too hard to resist.

It doesn’t have to be. Thinking small, you still can have it all.

For starters, if you don’t have a laptop, get one. Think of it – or an iPad, even – as the ultimate space-saving muli-tasker. You can do email, internet and word-processing, and store your entire music library, too. With this gadget, your desk is anywhere you sit.

Plus, with a laptop’s DVD capabilities, you almost don’t need a television. Because you do, a big-screen mounted on the wall fits your small-feel focus.

Closet organizers are a good next step. They go a long way toward maximizing critical space – which often doubles as storage – that never seems to be plentiful or roomy enough.

The final frontier, which isn’t so vast in your 800-square-foot one bedroom, is the living/dining area.

The right look and feel comes down to two defining characteristics: Furniture that is stylish and functional; a room that has style and function, in practical terms.

Achieving both is a worthy goal, though execution will be challenging. It likely will require sacrifice – in dollars and sense.

For example, in this condominium’s living space, your eye for furniture (style) might be too exacting as you try to budget equally for comfort (function); and your desire to mesh wow (overall décor) and function (maximum traffic flow, minimal clutter) might mean a slight slip in style points.

Reconciling the situation could necessitate visually returning to that couch in the living room of the house you shared. Taking this mental trip will make more worthwhile your next shopping outing.

Once on the showroom floor, you’ll know you’ve hit style-meets-function pay dirt when your eye greets the right-sized sofa that you sink into, almost falling asleep; as opposed to the look-away wrong-sized couch that you slump into, nearly smothered by too-big throw pillows.

Finding the sofa – the focal building block – helps you more easily add to the mix remaining living/dining room accessories.

Reaching this point, you can relax, but only briefly. Soon, friends will be clamoring for a housewarming.

As a new homeowner, you must oblige.

Livin’ large in a small space     

Yes, you can have big music sound in your 800-square-foot condominium.

No, you don’t need a wall-unit cabinet of shelves for a four-piece stereo system (compact disc player, equalizer, receiver, turntable) and two large floor speakers.

Too big.

So 1995.

So, don’t just think small. Think smaller than small. Think tiny, even.    

Even big people, are living and thinking small.

Often, it starts with their music library, thanks largely to the fits (almost)-in-the-palm-of-your-hand mp3 player.

An mp3 can hold all your music. Simply connecting to your computer – laptop or iPad, of course, given the living space – allows transferring your 10,000 or so songs and the ability to buy new songs.

Add book-sized speakers, and your home stereo system – small enough to sit on a coffee table – is ready to give your little space big sound.

Baby boomers are old enough to remember when the stereo sound system was bigger than big. To have big sound, you needed big space.

The wall-unit – yes, there actually was such a thing – was the nerve center.

In its ‘70s heyday, it was stacked with all sorts of sound system goodies: amplifier/receiver, cassette tape deck, eight-track tape deck, reel-to-reel tape recorder, and turntable.

Strategic points around the room were reserved for two to four floor speakers the size of small end tables.

Plus, there were all those big, easily breakable and scratchable long-play albums eating shelf and floor space.

Thank goodness for the ‘80s.

The eight-track died and the portable Walkman cassette player thrived.

Advent of the boom box provided bigger portable sound and was small enough to fit on a bookshelf, making a sizable dent in the big – as in girth – sound system market.

The home stereo footprint shrank farther in the ‘90s with consumer embrace of compact discs. More durable than albums and cassettes, discs did for music storage what the cassette couldn’t: eliminated albums from hundreds of thousands of music collections.

Now the mp3 rapidly is doing to CDs what CDs did to albums: pushing them to extinction/novelty/survival status.

It’s just another blow to the empire for those in 800-square-foot condominiums and, actually, the minimalist in all of us.

Of balconies, decks and patios

When it comes to yard work, the grass certainly seems greener in a condominium: Nothing to mow nor leaves to rake.

Cheers to attaining freedom from these dreaded chores, which many a homeowner universally reviles as dull and thankless.

Living in a condominium won’t require attention to such routinely tedious maintenance.

Of course, freedom from these weekly hassles comes at a cost: lack of space you can claim as your own in the great urban outdoors.    

Thus, more so than with a single family home, premium value is placed on the feel and look of interior space when considering condominium living.

Direct access to personal outdoor space truly can enhance condominium living.

If you’re lucky, your piece of the outdoors is a balcony, deck or patio – though, probably not a very large one.

Having any of the three – hopefully sizable and usable enough to enjoy regularly when cabin fever lurks – is a bonus.

No backyard means little or no breathing room for guest overflow during your spring shindig.

Sans backyard, the vegetable garden of your dreams is relegated to a forgotten corner in your parents’ yard, where rose bushes dominate and get all the attention.

Securing that prime tanning spot a backyard affords is reduced to trekking to the nearest park. There, you’re at the mercy of dogs at play and frisbees and softballs flying in all directions. All while competing with families scouting for the perfect picnic patch.

To be sure, private outdoor space in condominiums hardly can be considered prime real estate. Unless the condominium is a penthouse with a spacious deck, balconies often are large enough only to accommodate a couple of people – standing, not lounging in Adirondacks.

Some so-called balconies have space only for small pots with flowers.

Less inviting are European or Juliet “balconies,’’ which are no more than sliding glass doors with a rail immediately outside and mere inches from the glass door.

Patios for ground floor condominiums generally are as large or larger than the biggest non-penthouse balconies or decks. But patios usually lack privacy and the security of higher floor balconies and decks.

So, maybe the grass isn’t as green without that backyard.

Still, how much you’ll miss a yard depends on the purpose served by the balcony, deck or patio.

Some like the idea of a balcony but rarely step onto it. In such cases, a European or Juliet will suffice.

For those who simply need a smoking refuge, standing-room-only space will work.

If the outdoors serves as a party central extension of the living room, you’ll be better served by the deck a penthouse offers.

Can’t afford a penthouse? No worries. There’s a single-family home with a nice yard out there somewhere for you.