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Make a list of the activities and what you need for each activity. Decide which activities could share space and furnishings. For example, the living room in your downsized home could double as a guest room with the addition of a sleeper sofa or futon. Entertaining and television watching could be done in the same room.

Look at stuff you love and try to make it fit these purposes. Be creative. The bed you love could be turned into a daybed. If you love your kitchen table more than your dining table, it could go into the dining room. Favorite tables and chests can be used as television stands or small writing desks in your downsized home. Decide how all your favorite pieces can function in your new home. Then decide what you still need, and assign a couple of your less loved pieces to each function as possibilities.

STEP FOUR: MAKING IT ALL FIT

Look at the floor plan of your new downsized home: decide where you could do each activity. Try to come up with a couple of options for each activity. Fit in the pieces you love in the floor plan. (You measured everything, right?) You may have to adjust your ideas. There may not be room for your favorite pieces to function how and where you had planned. Reassign these pieces. Now see what is missing from the floor plan. Try different combinations of your less-favorite furniture on the floor plan until you have a place to accomplish everything in your new downsized home that you normally do in your old home.

What about your artwork? If you've limited yourself to the 25 percent of your artwork and accessories that you love the most, you should have room for all of them in your downsized home. For large artwork, treat it like a piece of furniture and plan where it will fit on the map. Remember, it can go in different room than it is currently. If you do not have enough wall space, keep in mind that framed photos can be unframed and put into an album. Art can also be hung vertically or above each other, rather than horizontally or beside each other. Consider rotating your artwork seasonally, but be sure that you have a place to store the artwork when it is not being displayed.

Too many books? Design built-ins in your new downsized home, and have these built before you move in! If that is impossible, maybe you don't need so many books in your downsized home. Only keep what you will read again. In your downsized home, use your best linens and china: if they're worth the effort and expense of moving, they're worth using.

STEP

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