6 Tips for Downsizing and Moving into a Smaller Condo Unit
Downsizing to a smaller condo unit can be both exciting and challenging. This article presents expert-backed tips to help streamline the process and make the most of your new living space. From choosing favorites for efficient living to transforming limitations into luxury, these insights will guide you through a smooth transition to your compact yet comfortable new home.
- Choose Favorites for Efficient Living
- Design Space Around Current Lifestyle
- Listen Deeply During Downsizing Process
- Measure and Edit Before Moving
- Plan Downsizing Like a Project
- Transform Limitations into Luxury
Choose Favorites for Efficient Living
Moving into a smaller condo is a big change, like trying to fit all your favorite toys into a smaller, super-efficient box - you can't bring everything, so you have to choose wisely. The single best tip I can give someone downsizing to a smaller condo is to only keep your absolute favorites and the things you use all the time.
Why This Tip is So Important
Imagine trying to play in a room crammed with too much stuff. It's not much fun, is it? A condo unit has less space than a big house, so if you bring everything, it'll feel squished and messy. It's about making your new, smaller home feel comfy and spacious, not cluttered.
More Room to Play and Live: When you have less stuff, you'll have more space to move around, play games, and just relax. It lets your new home breathe.
Easier to Find Things: No more digging through big piles to find your favorite shirt or toy. Everything will have its own special spot, making your daily life much smoother.
Less Chores, More Fun: Less stuff means less to clean up, put away, and worry about. This leaves you with more time for things you enjoy.
A Fresh Start: It's like starting a new adventure! You get to decide exactly what you want in your new home, making sure everything there makes you happy and serves a purpose.
How to Make the Move Easier (My Approach)
When I help people move to a smaller place, we work through it step by step to make the transition as smooth as possible.
Measure Everything Like a Pro:
Think of it like building with LEGOs - you need to know where everything fits. We always recommend getting exact measurements of the new condo unit, including the rooms, walls, and even door frames. This helps you figure out if your big furniture, like your sofa or bed, will actually fit and if you'll have space to walk around it comfortably. Sometimes, it's better to sell a big, old couch and get a new one that's just right for the smaller space.
The "Super Favorites" Game (Decluttering):
This is the most important part! Go through all your belongings like you're picking your all-star team. For every single item, ask yourself:
"Do I use this all the time?"
"Does this make me super happy?"
If you haven't used something in a long time (like a year or more), or if it doesn't bring you joy, it's probably time to let it go. You can give it to someone who will use it, donate it to a local charity, or find a new home for it.
Design Space Around Current Lifestyle
If I had only one piece of advice for someone downsizing and moving into a smaller condo unit, it would be this: Design the space around how you live now — not how you used to live. When most people downsize, there tends to be an attempt to make a smaller condo work by "fitting" their past life into it rather than embracing a different way of living. That can result in clutter, frustration, and rooms that don't flow.
When Danielle and I were hired to help a couple downsize from a 3,000-square-foot home to an 850-square-foot condo, we began by walking through how they lived — morning coffee, work calls, laundry, having grandkids over — to create zones that would support those behaviors. We even replaced their bulky dining table with a built-in banquette, with hidden storage and a drop-leaf edge. This space-saver provided them with the comfort they wanted, after all.
We also learned the hard way — on our own — that not everything would have to come with us to the new apartment when we'd temporarily be living on the road between project homes. Instead, we focused on making one closet work overtime as a multiuse space — the pantry, the linen closet, and the office supplies. It was challenging, but the solution was liberating.
Downsizing doesn't so much mean losing space as it means redefining how that space serves you. And when you stop trying to recreate what you had, design opportunities start to open up in unexpected places.
Listen Deeply During Downsizing Process
Downsizing as an Opportunity and a New Beginning
I have always considered every time I've had to relocate as a sacred opportunity - an invitation to pause, reflect, and realign. A chance to ask myself: What do I want now? What is ready to be released?
I see the process of moving to a new place as a moment of conscious crafting - a chance to update my life in a way that feels more aligned with who I am in the present and who I am becoming.
Over the years, I've found a few guiding principles that have helped me make each transition more graceful and conscious, and I'm happy to share them here.
One powerful tip I'd offer is this: use the downsizing process to listen deeply to yourself.
For every object or piece of furniture, ask: Is this needed?
Does it currently make me happy? Does it support the life I want to create now? These simple questions can be a really good compass.
It's amazing how many things we keep out of habit - objects that reflect an older version of ourselves. A bookshelf filled with books we no longer read. A chair we never sit in. Gifts we feel obligated to hold onto. When letting go of these items, we are not just decluttering - we are also clearing old energy and identities that no longer serve us.
Whether you're moving to a smaller condo or simply relocating to a new home, the process can be approached as a chance to gain something meaningful and positive such as more clarity, simplicity, or more freedom and lightness.
As I sorted through my belongings, I asked: Is this truly needed? Does it make me happy? Does it reflect who I am now?
For objects I couldn't keep but held emotional value, I created a photo album, a visual archive of memories, that helped me honor the past without feeling burdened by it.
When organizing a new space, we can choose what to keep based on how we want to feel in our home.
A smaller space also means less upkeep, which opens time and energy for what we may value most - whether it's creative work, new meaningful connections, more time for ourselves, friends, and family.
And a new environment can give us a chance to reimagine how we want to live and focus more on what is truly important for us.
So if you're in the process of downsizing, let it be more than a logistical step.
Let it be a conscious clearing. A conscious new beginning. A chance to align your outer space with what is currently meaningful to you and your life journey.
Measure and Edit Before Moving
One tip I always give someone downsizing into a smaller condo is this: measure your new space before you move anything—and be ruthless about editing what you bring. When I went through this with a family member, we sketched out the layout, measured every wall, and mapped where each major piece of furniture would go. If it didn't have a place, it didn't make the cut.
We treated the move as a fresh start rather than a sacrifice. That mindset helped us focus on what really added value to the space and our lifestyle. We prioritized multifunctional pieces—like a storage bench near the entry and a wall-mounted desk in the bedroom—and donated or sold items that no longer served a purpose. It made the new space feel intentional rather than cramped.
The key is being realistic about what you need and letting go of the rest. Downsizing isn't about losing space—it's about gaining clarity and comfort in a home that truly fits.
Plan Downsizing Like a Project
Downsizing felt a lot like when I first got into real estate back in 1985; I didn't know what I didn't know. At first, I thought landlording was just collecting rent checks, but I quickly learned that poor planning leads to big headaches. The same goes for moving into a smaller condo. The best tip I can give is to approach it with intention.
I treated the transition like prepping a rental or flip. I took inventory of everything I owned, kept only the essentials, and made sure the new space was clean, functional, and efficient. Having systems in place made all the difference. Just like I rely on contractors and tenant screening processes in my business, I relied on checklists for mail forwarding, utility transfers, furniture downsizing, and storage.
The transition went smoothly because I planned it like a project, and in the end, I enjoyed the shift. Focus on quality over quantity, and make sure your new space supports the lifestyle you want, not one that weighs you down.
Transform Limitations into Luxury
My best advice when downsizing to a smaller condo is this: treat it like a creative challenge, not a compromise. I approached the transition by designing vertical custom shelving, wall-mounted storage, and multifunctional stone surfaces that added utility without clutter. One reclaimed marble island I installed served as a dining space, prep counter, and hidden storage unit. The key isn't what you leave behind; it's what you repurpose with intention. Downsizing isn't about having less; it's about elevating what stays. Thoughtful design turns limitations into luxury.
