Living simply is grand

The Appeal of Simple Living.

No cupboards? No matter. It turns out not everyone uses them anyway.

The kitchen’s single beautifully-crafted, glass-fronted cupboard in Mark Steward’s Browne’s Addition apartment sits half empty, and that’s just the way he likes it.

Steward chose the Marlborough building, located across the street from the Elk Public House, because it perfectly fits his idea of an uncomplicated life. The apartment has beautiful finishes, yet is small and easy to maintain. The graceful architecture supports numerous balconies, several of which are public spaces allowing for easy overflow when the small living room can’t hold all of his guests.

Aside from the great features of the apartment itself, the location is perfect for his chosen lifestyle. Steward walks to his job as a water quality specialist for the Department of Health in downtown Spokane. He walks to nearby grocery stores. And he walks across the street to the Elk for dinner and drinks and to Cabin Coffee for his daily dose of caffeine.

Walking has become such an integral part of his life he makes a little game in his mind to see how long he can go without driving his car. Weeks, sometimes, and usually the game ends when he wants to head out of town for a day of mountain biking or climbing.

With the simple living growing as a concept across the nation, Steward is among a growing sub-set of young professionals and career-types who are eschewing large houses in the suburbs for smaller, easy maintenance abodes that allow them to focus on their true passions, be it the outdoors, the arts or a private cause.

According to The Simple Living Network, “Simplicity is not about poverty or deprivation. It is about discovering what is ‘enough’ in your life and discarding the rest.”

It’s easy to equate simple living with growing herbs and vegetables, forgoing shampoo and living in a little cabin on the mountainside. Many young urbanites, however, are embracing the movement as a way of discarding encumbrances and freeing themselves to live their essential lives.

“The challenge is having businesses close enough to where people live. They need to be able to walk or ride their bikes,” Steward said. “I love the fact the grocery store is down the street. Everyone at Cabin Coffee knows me by name. Being right in the neighborhood builds up such a great base of customer loyalty.”

Vanessa Reeves chose her building, also across the street from the Elk, for the easy location. Reeves, who doesn’t drive at all, loves the beautiful walks and the easy access she has to downtown and other businesses.

With trendy restaurants and bars to frequent, a bright, new Laundromat to replace the scary old one, and a beautiful skyline view off a nearby bluff, her regular living spaces extend far beyond her apartment walls. “I’ll sit on the benches at the bluff and talk on the phone while the sun goes down,” she said. She knows her bus driver by name and loves the fact that she can walk to Hoopfest and other downtown events without having to worry about what to do with the car.

“There’s a real sense of community that you get around here,” Steward said. “When you see someone repeatedly in the neighborhood restaurant, you want to go say ‘Hi’ and get to know them.”

Even with all his apartment’s appeal, Steward still faces the same concerns of any other person living in a small space: There’s a mountain bike in one corner of the dining room and an ever-growing pile of outdoor gear lies jumbled in another; someone painted over the 100-year-old woodwork and he can’t do anything about it; and worst of all, he can’t have pets. Reeves says the incessant noise from nearby neighbors drives her mad and there are more than a few odd characters roaming the streets at night.

But for ease of living, both would be hard-pressed to replace their locations.