![\"Thriving](\"https:\/\/sandiegodowntownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2-From-Front-Door-Looking-In.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBy JOYELL NEVINS | Downtown News<\/p>\n
Sometimes 75 square feet is all you need. Walk into Claire Sims\u2019s Downtown apartment, and you\u2019ll notice she has a bookshelf, bed, desk, dresser, kitchen, and sink \u2014 all in a space that measures 6 feet wide by 12.5 feet long by 10 feet high.<\/p>\n
\u201cI only wanted to keep stuff that [I] love, use, and need,\u201d Sims said.<\/p>\n
When you\u2019re able to weld your own furniture to fit just right, that space fills even better. When Sims originally moved into the room, she slept on the floor, and rolled up her accoutrements like a sleeping bag each morning.<\/p>\n
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But then, Sims studied welding fabrication at the Center for Employment Training. Sims used her training to build her own metal loft bed, complete with a wooden mattress base and ladder. She built and measured the bed specifically to fit in the rectangular room. Sims gives credit to her neighbor, too, who helped her cut the wood and set up the project.<\/p>\n
![\"Thriving](\"https:\/\/sandiegodowntownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/welding.jpg\")
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The possibility of a \u201ctiny house\u201d first blossomed when Sims\u2019 sister passed away. As Sims was cleaning out her sister\u2019s office of materials collected and lots of \u2018stuff,\u2019 it got her thinking about her own possessions. How much of it were items that she really didn\u2019t need<\/em>?<\/p>\n Then when Sims lost a lucrative job during the recession, the timing worked to downsize and change locations. She officially moved into the Downtown hostel-style complex in 2013, and to her current tiny space in 2016.<\/p>\n \u201cI always thought \u2018can I do it?\u2019\u201d Sims said of living in an extremely small space. \u201cThe answer turned out to be \u2018yes, I can!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n In the space, Sims still has a bookshelf, kitchen counter, her grandma\u2019s dresser, and sewing section. What she doesn\u2019t have is a giant couch, television (Sims hasn\u2019t owned one of those for 30 years), or entertainment console.<\/p>\n Instead, on her downtime, she takes a couple of pillows, props them into a little nook for herself, and either listens to the radio or gets out her writing pad. Sims notes that she\u2019s a bookworm, too \u2014 as evidenced by the wide collection of books she has fit into the small space.<\/p>\n Decorative clutter has also been weaned down. To still give color to her room, Sims goes for items she will use, like measuring cups hung like a rainbow in a patterned backdrop. Her few pictures are of loved friends and family, or inspirational Scripture.<\/p>\n For anyone considering downsizing or going tiny themselves, Sims notes the only measurement that matters is your own.<\/p>\n \u201cKeep the things that you really love,\u201d she suggested. \u201cFigure out what\u2019s important to you.\u201d<\/p>\n Does Sims plan to grow into a bigger space in the future? Although that possibility is not off the table, Sims isn\u2019t actively working toward that. She said she is content right where she is.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen God says it\u2019s time to go, the situation will change,\u201d she declared.<\/p>\n If you have questions about developing your own tiny apartment or room, contact Sims via email at darling.doggettes@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2014 Joyell Nevins es una escritora independiente local. llegar a ella en joyellc@gmail.com<\/a> or follow her blog Small World, Big God at swbgblog.wordpress.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By JOYELL NEVINS | Downtown News Sometimes 75 square feet is all you need. Walk into Claire Sims\u2019s Downtown apartment, and you\u2019ll notice she has a bookshelf, bed, desk, dresser, kitchen, and sink \u2014 all in a space that measures 6 feet wide by 12.5 feet long by 10 feet high.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":826,"featured_media":241295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"Thriving in 75 square feet","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11600,11550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-241294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-sdnews","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/826"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Thriving](\"https:\/\/sandiegodowntownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/5-Partial-Apartment-View.jpg\")
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