Very excited to share this Small Space Living Feature with you today! I have Medina from Grillo Designs. Medina lives in England with her husband and son. She has amazing style and is beyond creative. You would never guess that they live in a 1200 square foot rental or that they have wallpaper on their floor! You will walk away inspired to make your home be a showcase for your personality no matter the size or location.
What is your home Motto?
My home motto is most probably live within your means and learn to enjoy and be content with it! Don’t feel like you HAVE to buy brand new things for your home all the time to keep up with trends. Be resourceful – shop your home, upcycle furniture and DIY!
Why a Small Home?
I live in small home purely because I live in Europe! haha. Most of the houses here are quite small and compact – that is unless you happen to be quite wealthy and are able to afford a mansion in more rural areas. I do love it though – I find decorating smaller spaces much more exciting and challenging (in a positive way). I’m forced to think out of the box a lot when creating functional spaces for our family.
Kitchen:
Where do you keep all of the small appliances and food?
So I don’t really have a pantry and actually I think a lot of British houses my size don’t. All my food is stored either on the counter or in the top kitchen cabinets (things like pots and pans are in the lower cabinets). I have also created some small diys in my kitchen to help me organise a little better, for example: A DIY utensil rack for my wooden spoons (the ones that I use often), a dish rack to optimize cabinet space, mini pots and pan ladder (which I have yet to attach to the wall) and also a spices wall cabinet! Can you tell I like to DIY!?
We entertain in our dining space which leads just off the living room. This area is still pretty much a work in progress. My favorite part is the chalkboard wall!
Kids and their Toys:
What is your approach to kids toys?
Toys have always been a problem in our house. My son is 6 years old, and like other kids his age, he doesn’t like to play with toys in his room. He brings them down to our living room – and kind of just takes over! It drives me crazy sometimes!
How do you store or keep the kids toys and games organized?
I think my best solution to our toy storage problem is implementing effective storage systems in each of our rooms. Stylish baskets (that match our home style), and having dedicated places for my sons toys have helped a lot. I’ve also created additional storage spaces for toys – i.e under- bed storage boxes. We store his books in the dining room in these book slings I made from the IKEA rails – so handy!
Closets:
Are you able to fit all your clothes in your master bedroom?
Thankfully when we moved into this property we had built-in wardrobes in our main bedroom with great storage potential. Unfortunately, they did look a little ugly – so we revamped them a little and added on own our OSB doors. I love how they looked in my bedroom.
I then went through a mad decluttering stage (thanks to overdosing a little on the konmari method) and this was kind of how my wardrobe looked at once stage. Haha its not like this now – but I like to reminisce about the good times! I also bought some IKEA wooden creates for the bottom of the wardrobe to store small accessories.
Small Space Living Rapid Fire Questions-
SEASONAL DECOR-
I don’t really decorate for seasons that much. However I do sometimes switch up décor between summer and autumn. For example I’ll get out the blankets, candles and throws in colder weathers , and maybe add brighter vibrant cushions in the summer.
ORGANIZING PAPERS ETC.-
The office I created in my bedroom alcove and also the under stairs work station under the stairs for my son! And is where we keep papers etc.
HARDEST PART ABOUT SMALL SPACE LIVING?
The hardest part about small space living is sometimes feeling a little suffocated when things are out of place or untidy – sometimes it can be a struggle finding a place for everything.
BEST PART ABOUT SMALL SPACE LIVING?
The best part is that living in a small space can feel so homely! This compact way of living really brings our little family together more.
You can find Rental inspiration on Medina’s blog HERE
Continue reading more Small Space Living inspiration HERE
This might be my favorite one yet! Of course, I love anything British, but her answers were so fun and cute, and I love her DIY projects so much. Her style is gorgeous too. Great post, Brooke! Thanks for doing these features. I’m not in a very small space (2200 square feet), but I still get so inspired by organization and creativity.
I’m so intrigued by her OSB wardrobe doors too! I normally hate OSB, but I went to her blog and she has done an amazing job giving them a cool modern design. Amazing!
So amazing! Love this space 🙂
Love her style. What an amazing job she’s done of making her home a real show place. Gorgeous.
I agree! It is so much fun and I got so many ideas!
Again, great inspiration for living in a smaller space! We are in the process of moving from our 2200 sq. ft. home into an 1100 sq. ft. beach house. It’s definitely a process but such a fun challenge!! The hardest part for me is our home now is not only twice as big but has a lot of built in storage, including a two car garage and 2 sheds in the yard. The house we are moving into has no inside storage, no garage and no space for an outside shed! I am loving the idea of such a simpler life!! We will see how it goes!
Love her home!! And I totally want more pics of her kitchen banquette! I need a “backing” idea and I love those wood slats. I need more pics!!
yes!! She has an awesome blog!!! Lots of details there!
Lovely! I like her style – thanks so much for featuring her. I am inspired.
She’s really talented. I love her use of black and white. Also really like the soft pink. I subscribed to her blog
Thank you so much for the feature!! These comments are so lovely too ❤️❤️
Thank you so much for such a lovely feature!! And honestly love reading these comments!