So far…
Yep, the story of this blog… quit my job, sold our house, gave away our possessions and moved to the beach. Extreme decluttering and minimalism. Happily ever after. Is that the end of the journey? Does minimalism become a lifelong obsession? The benefits of minimalism have been fantastic. Ensuing freedoms cannot be overstated. The cleansing of the mind, and physical world.
“Since my house burned down
I now have a better view
of the rising moon”
― Mizuta Masahide
Yes! Our lives are so much better. Self awareness, vanished stresses, sustained happiness. But is it a destination? Or is it steps in the journey? What comes next?
Saying no to find “Yes… this is the place”
The worst answer would just be to chuck it all off as an experiment and buy the same shit over again. That’s not going to happen. Minimalism has changed us forever. Now we will rebuild in a new simpler way.
We decided to place our final roots in Western Michigan close to the lake. Buy a condo. Our last home ever. Bubbling up from our minimalism journey we have developed “hates” or “despises” or at least strong dislikes. Not all minimalist based. One thing about tastes, our will be different than others. You might love things on our “no” list.
Deciding where within our larger community
Leading the way No, no, no….
No older construction… been there, done that, and more difficult to be sleek and simple
No identical condo groupings… we refuse to be “another brick in the wall”
No high traffic high density areas… gotta be away from the tourists
No nearby busy roads…. never done it, never will
No shared walls…. ok, could maybe do one soundproof multi hour fire wall
No shared floors… obviously, in our 2 year apartment experiment we suffered thru “The Thundering Herd” above us
No lack of green space… our dog and eyes need trees and grass
No hike to the beaches…. water very close by, Lake Michigan a few minutes
No outside maintenance… shoveling, mowing, weeding, worrying about the roof… never again
All led us to build with Eastbrook Homes in Hathaway Lakes. Existing condo offerings just had too many items on our bad list. Here we can have a unique home. For houses or condos, you pick from ~50 existing floor plans. And then you have close to 2,000 options. And if you don’t don’t see what you want among the 2,000… you can always do your own thing. They do this to try and not overwhelm buyers. Want to be standard and quick? Choose just colors and quality upgrades? You can do that with them. I’ve seen people nearly overwhelmed just with that.
Saying No to live “Yes!”
But we perused the 2,000 options. Then searched for what custom things we really, really desired. But first, another list of “No’s”…
No all white kitchen… too sterile… see the picture above
No farmhouse style… a fad that is over-ish… and one we never liked
No country chic either… just no
No barn doors… except on a barn… and we aren’t building a barn
No industrial style… the simplicity is good, but worked in too many factories… don’t want to live in one
No traditional style either… we don’t want to live in our parent’s houses, and not minimalist
No silly nautical stuff…. we don’t live on a boat, Gilligan’s Island decor really is… silly
No huge light fixtures… what is it with these popular ugly huge beady or wicker basket lights and bulging aerial blimp things cluttering the open space? Maybe in style now… but ugly always
No matte black faucets, no white matte… they are prone to scratching… no shiny ones either
No fad cabinet colors… ok, light blue or grey is nice… but we will stick with white
No yellow wood… not on our floors, not on cabinets … or anywhere… someday they will be hated again… we hate it now and forever… once you see the ugliness of yellow, you can’t unsee it
No white walls, or grey… need a little life to our home… but just a little
No “bold” accent walls… jarring to us, ruins the mood
No carpet in our main living areas… wood floors and area rugs
No “real wood floors”… want highly upgraded product that looks exactly like wood but is indestructible… we have always been dog people and know scratches on wood are inevitable
No sliding external doors… just forever reminds us of apartment deck doors.
No laminate anywhere… no, not even in a spare bathroom
No clutter… visually taxing on the mind
No microwave over the stove… put it in a pantry or behind a cabinet door
No appliance, not even a coffee maker, on a counter
No stainless steel appliances….. there are better choices now
No crowded rooms… open space is good
Yes!
We have the opportunity to do it perfect… for us. All of this drew us to a modern coastal minimalist style. Blending decades of previously owned house experiences, our last two years of apartment living, with our minimalist successes. We have burned the past down. Shrank our life to an 1,106 square foot apartment. Now, with the rare opportunity to rebuild… simply… but with 2,500 square feet of living space to craft in a minimalistic style for the two of us… and hopefully lots of visitors to come.