Step inside Becky’s apartment and you will discover an aesthetic that could belong to no one else.
A carved table from Bali has been cleverly altered to serve as a makeup vanity. Bells gathered over decades hang near the windows. A breadboard that once belonged to her great-grandmother rests on the kitchen counter – still part of daily life more than 60 years later. The chairs on her balcony, surrounded by plants and flowers in warm months, sit poised for morning reading or an evening glass of wine.
And yet, this carefully curated senior apartment is only three rooms – including her open kitchen and dining area.
For Becky, a former interior decorator who spent years collecting art and furnishings from around the world, moving from a full-size home into a senior living apartment meant making some difficult choices. Downsizing was not simply about square footage. It was about editing a lifetime.
“I only looked at the apartment twice,” Becky recalls. “And then I went back to my house and sorted out the pieces I knew would fit.”
What she discovered, however, was something she hadn’t expected: that letting go could feel less like loss and more like relief.
Designing a life that fits
Becky moved to Atria in late 2024, about a year after her husband passed away – and after many long conversations with her daughter. They planned to tour five or six communities to explore their options, but Becky was instantly won over by Atria.
“I walked in and saw how light it was going to be, and I just thought, ‘Oh, this is my place.’”
Knowing where she wanted to live next didn’t make it easy for Becky to leave her home of 10 years – and the lifetime of personal artifacts she’d collected from Mexico, the West Indies, India and Africa. Downsizing meant making hard decisions about what to keep and what to let go.
“My daughter had a lot to do with it,” she admits with a laugh. “She kept saying, ‘Mom, you don’t need this. You don’t need that.’ And I would take it back after she left.”
Despite the challenge of letting go, Becky knew the key to success was to edit her belongings. She gave careful thought to how she wanted the space to look and feel and began sorting with an eye to which things would best suit her new residence.
Putting it together
On move-in day, her daughter and son-in-law helped her settle in by hanging pictures, installing shelving and adding a hanging bar to a cabinet so it could serve as a second closet for coats. It was a big change, and it wasn’t necessarily easy.
Waking up on the third morning in her new home, however, something shifted for Becky: The layout and décor felt right. Every piece that remained from her impressive collection had earned its place.
“When I got up, I sat on my sofa and cried and called my daughter to thank her,” Becky says. “I felt relieved. I was in this place surrounded by beauty, and I just – I had scaled down, and I felt really good about it.”
Today, she says her apartment feels curated, not reduced, and still steeped in her personal history.
Fewer worries, more freedom
Once she’d settled into her new space, Becky discovered that the move wasn’t just about letting go of stuff – it also meant letting go of daily tasks and the stress she’d felt as a homeowner.
“You don’t have to take care of things,” she says. “The windows are washed for you. I had trouble with my AC, and within an hour, maintenance was here.”
Even meals feel lighter. Becky was once a cook who owned her own tearoom. Now, she happily heads downstairs where meals crafted around senior nutrition are prepared for her.
“I love the dining room,” she says. “We have such a selection to choose from.”
Her new community also provides crucial support when she needs it. When Becky came down with pneumonia and bronchitis last year, she was able to stay in her residence and have meals and medical personnel come to her.
“I was in my apartment for about four and a half weeks,” she says. “Food arrived, maintenance responded and neighbors checked up on me. All through that time, I never felt alone.”
Becky has embraced the opportunities community life presents, hosting spontaneous happy hours and decorating for holidays. Stop by her living room on a Saturday evening and you might find her chatting with three or four friends over Aperol spritzes and showing off her six-foot-tall witch and matching pumpkins.
“For some reason, everyone comes to my apartment,” she says with a laugh.
How to downsize with intention
Moving is stressful at any age. Fortunately, there are resources to help make it better. From sorting and gifting to outsourcing the heavy lifting, the tips below will help ease the transition.
Focus on the rewards
According to Becky, downsizing is all about perspective. The more you approach it as a way to refresh your life, the better your chance of having a positive experience.
Throughout the downsizing process, keep these three benefits in mind:
- Less maintenance, less stress – In a senior living community, housekeeping and meal prep are taken care of, reducing the need for many household items and offering a simplified, uncluttered living space.
- Preserving legacy – Sorting through belongings with family often sparks conversations and opportunities to reminisce. It’s a chance to pass heirlooms on to family members and share the stories behind them.
- Enhanced safety and comfort – Fewer belongings can make a living space safer and easier to navigate, which can be especially beneficial to older adults with mobility concerns.
Make a plan for sorting
When going through belongings, experts recommend simplifying decisions by slotting each item into one of four categories.
- Keep items that are especially meaningful, beautiful or essential in the new home.
- Gift treasured pieces and heirlooms that can be passed on to children, grandchildren, siblings and good friends.
- Donate useful items that could benefit others in need.
- Sell or discard belongings that hold no sentimental value or no longer serve a useful purpose.
For items that are difficult to part with but don’t quite fit into your plan for your new home, consider creative ways to preserve them. For example, you might digitize old photos, letters and documents so that they’re accessible and easily shared with family.
It’s also important to be mindful of the emotional aspects of downsizing. It can be challenging to let go of sentimental belongings. Don’t be afraid to talk to family, friends or professional counselors about the feelings involved.
Don’t do it alone
Minimize the burden and stress of downsizing by involving family and friends. Call on people who will listen to and share stories, assist with the physical labor and join you in celebrating little milestones along the way, like clearing a closet or choosing the final furnishings for your new space.
And keep in mind the experts who are already there, helping create your new home. At Atria, many of the staff have decades of experience helping families make this adjustment. Ask for moving company referrals, apartment information and what logistics the community can help with.
A full life in a cozy space
Downsizing can feel like subtraction: less space, fewer objects. But Becky’s story suggests something different.
When she looks around her apartment now, she doesn’t see what is missing – she sees a lifetime elegantly distilled. The Bali table reimagined, the bells that catch the light and a treasured photo of her and her husband in Florida.
“I scaled down,” she says. “And I feel really good about it.”
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