They Thought They Couldn’t Cope With Downsizing. They Were Wrong.

Parting with so-called essentials as your life takes turns can be both sorrowful and freeing. “At first, these changes feel like a loss,” said Washington, D.C., designer Christopher Boutlier, who shed furniture and sets of collected china when he moved into a row house. “But I discovered downsizing is really a process of refinement. It forced me to live with intention.” Here, seven other stories of deprivation turned enlightenment.

Closet case

In Sara Swabb’s 1900s row house, dreams of her own walk-in closet went up in sawdust. “It would have eaten into the entry of our primary bedroom and thrown off the circulation upstairs,” said the Washington, D.C., designer. Her solution: Share a walk-in closet with her husband and stow overflow fashion in a custom armoire. “I ended up with something more personal, more functional and, honestly, more stylish,” she said.

Modest mementos

“My grandfather’s secretary desk was his office in one piece of furniture,” said Lauren Saab, a designer in Dallas. “I still picture him there.” But the carved walnut monolith simply wouldn’t fit in her office. So Saab memorializes him by using his vintage green-and-brass banker’s lamp on her new desk. “It showed me that legacy is better honored in pieces that work for your life now, not in oversize furniture that overwhelms your home,” she said. 

Sectional severance

For years, New York designer Marissa Stokes considered her generous, U-shaped couch the “ultimate symbol of comfort.” Now, having reduced her living space by 700 square feet after a move, she gets by with a standard living room sofa and two armchairs. “It surprised me how liberating it was,” Stokes said. “Conversations flow more naturally, the space feels balanced and entertaining became easier.”

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