When we reviewed "a Little House on a Small Planet" we talked about how it is not just about how you design, but how you live. Apartment Therapy takes up the theme from an urban point of view. "Perhaps 100 years ago, small could only mean "poor". But now, with less stuff and less overhead, the small space resident can also mean "rich." Rich in being able to live in a great part of town. Rich in having less maintenance. Rich in living more closely with their community. Rich in being able to afford to splurge on some things. As with the iPod, we've discovered lately that small allows mobility."

It is obvious that if you are not paying to heat and maintain and furnish a big place then you are going to have the time and money to do with less but better stuff. It is all about living light but living well. Thats why we keep showing all the transformer furniture and keep referring to phrases like Harry Wakefield's Less is the New More, Piers Fawkes "Less, but Better" or Seth Godin's "small is the new big" although I think AT's "Small is the new Black" mixes metaphors beyond recognition.

Apartment Therapy goes further and proposes that no matter where we live we should lighten up: "Try this: take one thing from your home that you no longer love, need or use and place it on the curb tonight. Leave it there to be taken, recycled or thrown away. Experience how that feels." It feels like a Spike Jonze IKEA commercial; perhaps a better idea is to Freecycle it. ::Apartment Therapy read also MocoLoco's spin.

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