The Newsome-Campbell Family Living Small

Bedrooms: 1
Property: Rental
Square Feet: Approximately 600
Adults: 2
Children: 1
Pets: 2

14-month-old Freja lets out a squeal as she spots a large labrador retriever being walked along the narrow street below. Perched on top of the sofa, Freja lights up at the sights and sounds that filter through her living room window.

As with many city kids, Freja’s front yard is her neighborhood - The Mission, a bustling San Francisco zone with a changing face and a long history. In contrast, her back yard is home to two redwood trees, standing tall on a patch of earth that is now more accustomed to sprouting apartment blocks.

This second floor apartment is home to Freja, mom Wendy, dad Brett, Flaca the Italian Greyhound and Natsu the cherished elderly cat. Wendy is a hair stylist and Brett works in corporate catering. They lead busy lives and have lived in this apartment for several years now.

Wendy and Brett managed to create a nursery for their daughter in what was previously a small sunroom occupied by pet and household storage, “we had to purge a ton of albums that we've collected and rearrange the ones that we've kept. And also find new places for our pets food dishes and litter box,” said Wendy. With a little reorganisation, the tiny alcove space off the kitchen has become a living breathing nursery. Housing a mini crib, changing table, storage for baby items, and a whimsical monster-unicorn-head-trophy thing. It’s cute.

The nursery works remarkably well for now. The mini crib fits perfectly, and a full-size crib or toddler bed could even replace it when Freja gets too big. The real challenge for Wendy and Brett is not the space itself, but the closeness of their surroundings. Noise transparency in particular.

With no door on the nursery, and upstairs neighbours that don’t share Freja’s 7pm bedtime, allowances must be made in an attempt to create a quiet sleeping environment for the youngest Campbell. Particularly difficult is the lack of access to the kitchen once Freja has gone to bed for the night, or is down for a nap. Especially for a couple that tend to work later than the traditional working hours, and for someone in Brett’s line of work, “Brett would love to be able to play around more in the kitchen and try out recipes but it's not always possible with Freja's sleep schedule,” said Wendy. The pair have adapted their lives to facilitate quiet as much as possible, “we hide away in our bedroom a lot to listen to music or chat on the phone… it is also hard to clean and get caught up when Freja sleeps, because of her room location. We'd have to go through her room to take out garbage, and the same for taking out our dog.”

Freja eats a snack in her Ikea Antilop high chair. Loved by many parents for its simplicity of design and ease of cleaning, it's also only $20.

In terms of the space itself, the kitchen has not seen huge changes since the arrival of Freja. With the exception of the high chair and a small wooden play oven. Despite the limited access, Wendy and family like to spend time in this room. The parents both enjoy cooking and Freja takes advantage of the floor space to move and play. What’s more, its view out the the redwoods is special for a city apartment (one of which they have dubbed ‘Freja’s tree’, as it lies directly outside her nursery window).

An umbrella stroller like this Summer Infant 3D Lite is perfect for navigating stairs, then stowing indoors.

Follow the aptly named dog, Flaca (skinny in Spanish), down the hall and the rest of the house unravels; revealing a bathroom, master bedroom and lastly the living room, adjacent to the front door. While the hall is not wasted space either, playing host to storage, art and Freja’s stroller, which stays folded neatly until the next outing.

In the living room, Freja’s toys are mostly neatly stored away in a basket under the coffee table with the exception of a wooden activity center. It doesn’t feel cluttered or kids-y. There is ample art and personal pieces in the room that play homage to lives lived by a young couple. When Freja needs entertainment however, toys can be pulled out to transform the room into a play zone.

So far, Wendy and Brett have enjoyed family life in the apartment, “we've been pleasantly surprised at how well we've been able to live with less,” said Wendy. Beyond the sound transparency issue, the biggest challenge has come from storage. Or lack thereof, “it's been interesting trying to fit things in every other nook and cranny that we can come up with. Our closets and drawers are packed and there's no wiggle room under our bed,” Wendy adds. The couple try to keep on top of what is being used, what isn’t, and to purge the superfluous items. Bulky things that Freja used in earlier stages of her development, such as their cherished Bednest bassinet, or baby toys like a jumper and walker, have already been moved on.  

The family are in a constant state of give and take. And this adaptability is how the Newsome-Campbells are making it work in their small apartment; crafting a home for themselves out of, and with respect to, their urban environment.

Words: Rachel Jamieson
Pictures: Rachel Jamieson

The Clivati Family Living Small

Bedrooms: 1
Property: Rental
Square Feet: Unsure
Adults: 2
Children: 1

It’s an unusually hot day, the sun is beating down on the concrete pavement squares. I’m greeted by Matteo Clivati and his daughter, Anna (16 months), outside of their apartment block. With Anna in his arms, Matteo is eager to get back inside and cool down.

The Clivatis live in a one bedroom apartment in the Marina neighbourhood of San Francisco. For those who aren’t familiar, the Marina is separated from the rest of the city by a steep hill. Situated beside the bay, it looks out towards San Francisco icons like the Golden Gate bridge and Alcatraz.

Inside the apartment we meet Sarah, Matteo’s wife. Sarah is originally from Texas and works in media, while Matteo is a chef from Milan. They met in 2012 when Sarah took a year off to work in a bed and breakfast in Lake Como where Matteo catered an event. Now three years later, they find themselves married with a 16-month-old and living in another beautiful part of the world. One that just so happens to also be home to some of the world’s most expensive rental property.

Though Sarah and Matteo moved into their one bedroom apartment as a couple, they didn’t hold any particular reservations about welcoming a daughter into the space. Even Sarah, who hails from Texas where they are not exactly famous for doing things on the small, was optimistic. Neighbors in the building had a child, so they knew it could be done (although they moved out on the day that Sarah and Matteo brought Anna home from the hospital). And the couple liked their apartment, and the safe and scenic neighborhood they had come to enjoy, “I never imagined I would live in the Marina - it wasn’t my scene, but we love it,” Sarah adds.

Anna's nursery, in what used to be the closet off the master bedroom.

The apartment may only have one bedroom on paper, but they are not lacking a nursery. It comes in the form of a large walk-in-closet off the master bedroom, “My mom helped decorate - it’s a legit nursery. It makes it feel like we have a 2 bedroom apartment,” says Sarah. The converted nursery now fits Anna’s full size crib, changing table and clothes, with shelf space to store books, toys and other household items.

Down the hall in the bathroom, the family are a little more conscious of space. The proportions of the room are slightly awkward for Anna’s bath-time. Sarah and Matteo solve this by positioning a laundry basket down the accessible end of the bathtub, creating a smaller bath zone to keep Anna from sliding out of reach.

In the kitchen, a clip-on high chair sits Anna at the dining table without adding extra clutter, “not only is it a major space-saver, but Anna eats right at the kitchen table with us,” says Sarah. And when your papà is a chef, what goes on at the dining table is not generally something you want to miss out on. In fact, while I visit Matteo prepares a simple snack for Anna that is presented so beautifully it could be mistaken for a restaurant starter.

Anna's Chicco 360 high chair saves some valuable real estate at meal times.

Whatever space the family miss in the kitchen and bathroom, they make up for elsewhere. The living room is large, the master bedroom is huge, and the apartment certainly doesn’t feel small. What they do lack appears more in the functional elements keep life with a child ticking over, “I wish I had laundry in the house instead of in the garage two floors down. And I wish I had a dishwasher - I waste a lot of time doing dishes,” Sarah says. The couple are also conscious of their proximity to neighbors. Being the only tenants with children in their apartment block now, sound transparency affects them, “either I feel guilty about making too much noise, or I’m annoyed because someone else is throwing a loud party late at night.”

But for these small challenges, Sarah and Matteo are happy here. They even surprised themselves by staying past Anna’s first birthday, “we originally said we would live here for six months - one year max,” said Sarah. Instead they have grown into the space, rather than grown out of it, “we just assumed that having a toddler who can run around would be awful in a one bedroom apartment, but it isn’t bad at all. There is plenty of room for us.”

Words: Rachel Jamieson
Pictures: Rachel Jamieson

The Rubin-Davis Family Living Small

Bedrooms: 2
Property: Rental
Square Feet: Approximately 900
Adults: 2
Children: 1

The climb up to the Rubin-Davis’ house is not for wimps. Yes, hills are a familiar part of the landscape, but this family might live up one of San Francisco’s steepest. And then there are the stairs.

Ariel and Steve complete this climb with Rosie, their 14-month-old daughter, in her stroller or carrier at least once a day. Ariel is a musician and creative, while Steve works in tech. Their home is high aloft San Francisco, opening up views to the East Bay. A sweet two bedroom with a small yard out back where Ariel grows giant zucchinis.

The family of three moved here just six months ago. In Boston they lived in an apartment twice the size and paid half the rent. Moving to San Francisco meant some creativity with their new space was necessary.

In the living room, Ariel installed shelving “I got industrial shelving brackets and sanded back some quality pieces of pine from the hardware store.” The lower levels neatly house Rosie’s toys in baskets so that everything within reach of little fingers is fair game. While the upper levels are home to books, art and the television.

Once again in the kitchen, wall space has been thoughtfully capitalized on to store knives, pots and pans. 

Floor space on the other hand is minimal, so their eating zone is set up in the living area. “The living room is a pretty decent size, but to be able to fit a table and chairs in the living area felt a little challenging,” said Ariel. A paired down version of a dining set-up worked for them “We chose a small table and just two chairs, and the table can fold down,” added Ariel. While Rosie’s high chair is moved between rooms as needed.

One of Ariel and Steve’s concerns about living in a smaller space was how to accommodate guests. “Because we’re not from here, we have lots of visitors and we always hosted people before,” explained Ariel. They now regularly host friends in their living room. “We have couches that can be pushed together to form a king sized bed,” she said. By putting together two twin memory foam mattresses from Target and covering them with denim futon covers, Ariel created her own modular system. The only other slight change for guests staying at the Rubin-Davis’ new place is their toddler-sized alarm clock “when she wakes up everybody wakes up.”

Across the apartment’s two bedrooms, Ariel worked to maximize storage by moving their clothes out of the closets. In the master bedroom she used a freestanding clothing rack, “we put our nicer looking and more often worn clothes on it and rotate them seasonally,” she said. While in Rosie’s room, Ariel removed the closet poles and mounted them to the wall. This allowed her to add shelving and create storage space in the newly free closet.

Rosie’s crib was also selected with apartment living in mind. It converted from a smaller bassinet to full-size, but has a smaller footprint than a standard sized crib. It’s a popular model with apartment dwellers; a Craigslist find that Ariel snapped up while they were still in Boston.

Though the bedrooms are a good size for a small place, sound transparency is another challenge. Rosie’s room is off the main bathroom and the kitchen, which makes it difficult for Ariel and Steve to entertain, “noise seems to wake her up a lot more easily in this apartment,” said Ariel. “So we don’t have people over as much. And when we do, we have to keep our noise down, keep the doors closed, and put rolled up towels under the doors,” she added.

This noise factor also limits Ariel’s music in some ways. It makes it difficult for her to play, to work on new songs, or even just to have the head-space to do either. Not only a challenge that results from living in a small apartment, but also from being a parent.

As much as a small space can be restrictive, it also opens up a lot of opportunity to venture outside. Ariel and Steve really enjoy their neighborhood and city life, and on weekends use their compact station wagon to get out into nature for hikes. The location works for them with a small child “We are at walking distance from so many great parks, cafés, and cultural spots like the museums in Golden Gate park,” said Ariel. She also likes living here from an aesthetic viewpoint “San Francisco is so beautiful architecturally, it’s inspiring to be living amongst all these old homes.”

Words: Rachel Jamieson
Pictures: Ariel Rubin and Rachel Jamieson