Rightsizing

Rightsized Vintage

Whitney Leigh Morris — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 17:22:28 GMT

The kids are home, the dogs are loud, the days are already too hot, my allergies are threatening to sideline me, and work is rapidly stacking up. But the daily mayhem within our household is made more manageable by the smoothly functioning systems we’ve put in place through a combination of DIY designs and thrifted pieces… and earplugs.

Here is this week’s collection of pre-loved goods for smaller, shared, and/or multitasking interiors. Sourcing secondhand is a delightful way to support independent businesses, keep items out of landfills, and add character to our homes. And since these pieces are from independent sellers, it’s usually easy to request reused packing materials.

Small Space Storage Hurdles

Whitney Leigh Morris — Wed, 10 Jun 2026 17:20:09 GMT

It is tempting to allow the topic of small space storage solutions to lead everything I publish, as I’m asked about the subject so often. Whenever I share something online, I imagine thousands of cursors hovering in anticipation of a Buy Now button that leads to one-size-suits-all, pre-assembled solutions for compact and overstuffed homes. The less transactional concepts rooted in acquiring less and repurposing more aren’t quite as alluring, it seems. And I understand. The world is exhausting and relentlessly heartbreaking, and our homes feel increasingly like the only zones where we can call for some semblance of a time out. Of course we want our personal places to function supportively.

But I’m certain that the best path to a smoothly functioning small space is one that sidesteps the big box stores. Instead, we can pick our way through a wilder route together, exploring open-ended, DIY-lite solutions that rekindle our innate creative spark for the benefit of our individual households and our one shared home. We can get the wheels turning for anyone who feels stuck with their compact interior so they feel inspired to craft their own tailor-made designs using whatever is on-hand or available secondhand, and help them experience joy and satisfaction with their smaller and shared living situations.

So here are some small space storage hurdles we’ve cleared recently that have made a positive difference in our home and a notable improvement to how it functions. These are minor moments, but they add up to keep us comfortable in our little guest house for the long run.

Above: A tote bag holds a set of tools at the porch door where we have some repairs to do.

Staying Rightsized

Whitney Leigh Morris — Fri, 29 May 2026 19:57:39 GMT

Above: Tired of sifting through a bin of tangled cables, Adam and I finally created a cord wall on the backside of a cabinet door by using adhesive hooks from our local salvage + reuse store. It works, takes up no space, and ensures that we care for what we have without accumulating more than we need. (A vintage key cabinet could work well for this, too.)

9 Secondhand Space-Savers

Whitney Leigh Morris — Tue, 26 May 2026 15:33:39 GMT

Turning a small interior into a comfortable home is about far more than figuring out how to puzzle a life’s worth of stuff into limited square footage. However, storage is admittedly the primary issue I’m asked to address through my work, which is one of the reasons why I share these recurring Rightsized Vintage collections. While the designs presented in these posts seem minor when viewed on their own, they can add up to help us better use and enjoy our smaller residences for the long haul. Plus sourcing secondhand is a delightful way to support independent businesses, keep items out of landfills, and add character to our homes.

Below is a simple collection of pre-loved goods that can be helpful for smaller, shared, and/or multitasking interiors.

Making a porch table by working with what we’ve got

Whitney Leigh Morris — Fri, 22 May 2026 15:54:31 GMT

Earlier this month, my spouse and I spent hours stoop-backed on our porch in the Florida heat, dismantling the built-in L-shaped sofa we’d constructed for our living room upon first moving in, and repurposing the materials.

Carving out personal space in a smaller home

Whitney Leigh Morris — Fri, 15 May 2026 18:21:01 GMT

Above: The tiny, thoroughfare garden at our previous home.

Rightsized Vintage

Whitney Leigh Morris — Wed, 13 May 2026 15:04:12 GMT

Last week I opened up Small Space Living Q&As on social media and received a flood of inquiries about how to create storage and manage clutter:

Above: A tiny sampling of the replies I received. (I also noticed a striking increase in folks who are struggling to carve out privacy and personal space in their compact homes. I’m working on a post about that to share here soon.)

My go-to reply to these common issues has long been that we don’t need new, mass produced storage solutions. We simply need less stuff, more creativity, and to commit to stopping the influx of unnecessary goods into our homes. (Related post: How to stay clutter-free for the long haul.) Having said that, we all have stuff and we need a place to put it, which can be a challenge in limited square-footage. This is exactly why I offer these Rightsized Vintage collections.

While the ideas presented in these posts seem minor when viewed on their own, they can add up to help us better use and enjoy our compact spaces. Plus sourcing secondhand is a delightful way to support small businesses, keep items out of landfills, and add character to our homes. Below is a simple collection of pre-loved goods that can be helpful for smaller, shared, and/or multitasking interiors. And since these pieces are from independent sellers, it’s easy to request reused packing materials.

Rightsized Vintage

Whitney Leigh Morris — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 14:57:38 GMT

Last week, the most-needed secondhand items at our little home were probably the many mismatched bowls and saucers we filled with fresh water and set out in the garden for thirsty animals who are on the move in search of something to drink due to the high heat and drought in our region. When the various vintage vessels aren’t in use, they’re nested in a neat stack on the ledge beneath the kitchen counter, lined up on a thrifted bookstand repurposed as a plate rack, or suspended from the side of the kitchen island with the help of s-hooks.

Below is a simple collection of pre-loved goods that can be helpful for smaller, shared, and/or multitasking interiors. And since these pieces are from independent sellers, it’s easy to request reused packing materials. Sourcing secondhand is a stellar way to support small businesses, keep items out of landfills, and add character and improved function to our homes.

Staying Rightsized

Whitney Leigh Morris — Tue, 28 Apr 2026 20:05:36 GMT

Above: The drop-down projector screen in use over the weekend.

Rightsized Vintage

Whitney Leigh Morris — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 16:12:43 GMT

Last week, the most used secondhand item at our little home was probably this wall-mounted handwashing station in the garden:

Our region is in a drought, which has recently been coupled with wildfires and exceptional heat for April. As such, we’ve been working to protect the food we’re growing while also aiming to conserve water. This compact, wall-mounted wash station helps us easily clean our hands as we go about our outdoor tasks, and the used water then gets soaked up by the (very) thirsty plants beneath it.

Sourcing secondhand is a stellar way to support small businesses, keep items out of landfills, and add character to our homes. Below is a simple collection of pre-loved goods that can be helpful for smaller, shared, and/or multitasking spaces. And since these pieces are from independent sellers, it’s easy to request reused packing materials. Better yet, let these items be inspiration for creating your own clever household solutions by using what you already have on-hand.

Staying Rightsized

Whitney Leigh Morris — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 20:10:53 GMT

Above: I thrifted this imperfect produce stand and converted it to a rolling grow cart for starting edible plants from locally saved seeds.

Rightsized Vintage

Whitney Leigh Morris — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 17:28:40 GMT

Last week, the most-used secondhand item in our little home was probably this thrifted spice rack, which we turned into a sewing cabinet years ago:

The cabinet organizes the thread and needles we used to upcycle part of an old bedsheet into a much-needed replacement shower curtain. It corrals the snips we used to trim our 4 year-old’s blunt(ish) bob. It displays the travel-sized mending pouch containing the tools we needed to stitch up a hole in a much-loved, hand-knitted sweater. And it holds the twine we relied upon to reestablish our seasonal, makeshift mini drying line over the porch railing.

Sourcing secondhand is a stellar way to support small businesses, keep items out of landfills, and add character to our homes. Below is a simple collection of pre-loved goods that can be helpful for smaller, shared, and/or multitasking interiors. And since these pieces are from independent sellers, its easy to request reused packing materials.

Refusing to “build bigger!”

Whitney Leigh Morris — Tue, 31 Mar 2026 18:51:48 GMT

When we built our little home, many people enthusiastically recommended that we “just take down some nearby trees and branches and build bigger!”

These are some of those nearby trees and branches:

Rightsized Vintage

Whitney Leigh Morris — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 15:38:11 GMT

As we shake off several freezes and fully unfurl into spring while preparing our home for the warmer weather, I’m reminded yet again that the items we use the most are the simplest ones, and those that multitask. Objects like s-hooks, tension rods, folding racks and step stool chairs are constantly in use, being shuffled from one zone to the next for mundane and creative projects alike.

Related posts:

While our mailboxes are constantly overwhelmed by messages urging us to buy new and scale bigger, I’m sending out this quiet reminder: If you’re seeking a specific item for your compact home or outdoor space and can’t seem to craft that item yourself, sourcing secondhand is a stellar way to support small businesses, keep items out of landfills, and add character to our homes. Below is a simple collection of pre-loved goods that can be helpful for tricky and/or smaller spaces. And since these pieces are from independent sellers, you can send a message to request reused packing materials as well.

Planning for Planned Obsolescence

Whitney Leigh Morris — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 13:30:55 GMT

2026 has proven to be too much of a headache for lots of our household tech, which collectively burned out during the course of March. While I was tempted to do the same, I instead strategized ways to mitigate the fallout of planned obsolescence in the future.

Above: The work-in-progress cover for our washing machine, which was recently decoupled from the dryer stacked above it.

Making Space to Breathe

Whitney Leigh Morris — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 18:38:41 GMT

I’m offering up this week’s collection of photos as an earnest reminder to myself and to others that we typically don’t need more space for more stuff. We just need more space to breathe.

For me, that looks like designing and maintaining a flexible smaller space that not only addresses the essential needs of our family, but also inspires ongoing creative energy — particularly while so many other aspects of life are siphoning energy away from us all.

Above: My spouse and I shuffled the furniture around to create a little bistro-style seating arrangement for the two of us in our favorite spot within the house.

Above: We made the counters 41” tall in the hopes of alleviating back pain (we’re a household of giants) and keeping the dogs away from the food. Only one of those goals was achieved.

Above: We thrifted (and sanded) this larger dresser for the area by the front door to provide an easy storage solution for the kids’ shoes, which kept falling out of the previous vintage hutch and ending up in the jaws of our youngest rescue pup, Henson. I added a vintage fold-down hook to the side of the dresser to create a pop-up drop zone.

Above: A makeshift drying rack for a few freshly washed garments that were still damp after getting rained on while hanging on the garden line.

Above: The new-to-us dresser in the living room came with a great cabinet topper, which we separated and used in the children’s shared bedroom. (One day we’ll add small feet to the unit to lift it up of the recovered pine floors a bit. ) With this cabinet, both kids (ages 4 & 9) can easily see and access their collection without Henson getting to the pages and chewing the covers off.

Above: Planting regionally adapted, climate-resilient tomato plants in one of the raised garden beds in which we grow food for our multigenerational household and mutual aid grocery resources.

Above: Our 4 y-o painting on a reusable water canvas that can be rolled up for easy storage.

Above: Secondhand playhouses tucked behind a cafe curtain (made from a bedsheet) in the dining room. This way, our youngest can reach her larger toys on her own without the items staying out in the open all the time given our limited floor space.

Rightsized Vintage
While our mailboxes are being increasingly flooded with messages to shop more, buy new and scale bigger, I’m sending out this quiet reminder: If you’re seeking a specific item for your compact space and can’t seem to craft that item yourself, sourcing secondhand is a stellar way to support small businesses, keep items out of landfills, and add character to our homes. Below is a simple collection of pre-loved goods that can be helpful for tricky interiors. And since these pieces are from independent sellers, it’s easy to request reused packing materials.

I've missed our smaller home.

Whitney Leigh Morris — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 00:33:32 GMT

I’ve spent the majority of the last seven months working in an office building across town, then volunteering elsewhere at the end of the day. It was the first time in nearly twenty years that I didn’t work from home full-time. I’ll admit — I’ve really, really missed being here in our smaller space. I’m eager to slowly slip back into my own routine in March, and reimagine this same compact square-footage for the next chapter, rightsizing life yet again.

Above/Below: I added a screw + string to both of the magic art canvases so the kids can roll the fabric up once it’s dry, making storage much easier.

We don't need more space. But we do need more time.

Whitney Leigh Morris — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 16:50:27 GMT

My work in small space design is, in part, an ongoing exploration of how we can work with what we’ve got without expanding. It’s not just about the stuff or the footprint. It’s also about time. And time has never felt as important to me as it does right now.

Rightsized Vintage

Whitney Leigh Morris — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 16:39:10 GMT

Above: A view into our <400sqft home of ten years. Out little one is sitting at a folding desk + chair + chalkboard, sourced secondhand.

While our mailboxes increasingly flooded with messages to shop more, buy new and scale bigger, I’m sending out this quiet reminder: If you’re seeking a specific item for your compact space and can’t seem to craft that item yourself, sourcing secondhand is a stellar way to support small businesses, keep items out of landfills, and add character to our homes. Below is a simple collection of pre-loved or handmade goods that can be helpful for tricky interiors. And since these pieces are from independent sellers, it’s easy to request reused packing materials.

Sharing tips about interiors feels wildly absurd these days, but I truly believe it can serve a worthwhile purpose when done mindfully. Embracing smaller spaces, repurposing, choosing local, sourcing handmade and secondhand, and sharing / borrowing resources are all ways to make our voices heard through our spending choices while looking out for our one shared home. It’s also a way to connect locally and show one another support and love. And this world sure needs all the love it can get. We are all neighbors. We all belong.

Analog vs. Digital in Small Spaces

Whitney Leigh Morris — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 18:42:59 GMT

The conversation concerning analog escapism seemed to increase exponentially in volume as we collectively careened into 2026. I won’t invest my time here dissecting the trend, but I do think it’s worthwhile to consider the potential impacts of the analog vs. digital conversation on mindful smaller space living.

Above: Our 4 y-o playing with foraged natural items and tiny animal figurines at the kitchen window.