The Home Page | Cozy Cottagecore in Santa Barbara

Good Things Come in Small Packages

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This edition of The Home Page was originally emailed to subscribers on August 21, 2022. To receive Sarah Sinclair’s real estate newsletter in your inbox each Sunday, sign up at independent.com/newsletters.

If you’ve been following my columns for awhile, you’ll know that I live in a small house. I love it. The front door opens into a bright, comfy living room, with my one bedroom and one bath behind that on the left-hand side, and a narrow galley-style kitchen on the right. The kitchen leads into a small “office,” which opens out onto the backyard. Another doorway connects to the bathroom, which provides a circular traffic flow, necessary when there’s more than one person trying to navigate through the house. I wrote a column about my home sweet home back when it was new to me five years ago, and I love it now more than ever.

So I often gravitate toward cozy cottages and tiny-home living tips. This week, they’ve seemed to find me. Here’s an article that came across my desk on maximizing space in a small bedroom. These tips likely work for all rooms in the house, and as always, some are simpler to accomplish than others. For example, bright throw pillows for a pop of color are an easy trip to “Tarjay” and a $40 investment. Custom cabinetry, on the other hand, is more of an endeavor.

I like this in-between idea of finding or building storage solutions that go all the way to the ceiling, taking advantage of that often-empty space above a tall cabinet or piece of furniture.

My small-house preference also comes into play when I’m out looking at open houses, or choosing what to write about next. This week, a cute Rancho Santa Barbara mobile home caught my eye. At more than 1,300 square feet, it’s twice as big as my place, but it still qualifies as cheery if not cozy living. It’s got two bedrooms, two baths, and a den or office, all laid out in an open floor plan.

The address is 333 Old Mill Road, space 97. Rancho Santa Barbara is one of the sought-after over-55 parks in town, with a year-round heated pool and spa plus other enviable features, all in a great midtown location. Listed at $695,000 by my friend Mia Wamsley with Douglas & Associates; contact her today for a private showing.

Whether you’re spending the weekend out adventuring, or in your cozy home, I hope you can relax à la Scout, shown here in her favorite window perch. If you are out and about, check out the 40-plus open houses around town today, shown here in this week’s issue. Enjoy!