A family of 4 downsized to a 1-bedroom home so they could live rent-free. Storage hacks help them make the most of the space.

At the end of 2024, Ashley Johnson and her family knew they needed to make a change.

Ashley Johnson, 29, and her husband live in Thomasville, Georgia, with their sons — a 5-year-old and an 18-month-old — and their dog.

Until January 2025, the family was renting a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house that was 1,675 square feet. The space worked for them, but Johnson told Business Insider that it wasn't setting them up for the life they wanted long term.

They hoped to buy land someday and build their dream house, as Johnson's husband builds homes for a living, but it didn't feel feasible while they were renting.

"We thought the smartest thing to do would be to downsize," she said.

Johnson's in-laws had a vacant home on their property that they thought could work for them, even though it was just a one-bedroom, one-bathroom house.

The in-laws were happy for them to live in the 900-square-foot house rent-free, so they would only have to pay the cost of their utilities. Between the flexibility and affordability that living on the family's land offered, the move seemed like a no-brainer.

The Johnson family moved into the one-bedroom home in January 2025, intending to live there for around a year while they saved for their future place.

Johnson knew making the house feel homey was key to feeling good in the smaller space.

Johnson told Business Insider that she was a little apprehensive about downsizing.

"I grew up with six other siblings and then my two parents, so there was a family of 9," she said. "We never had a home bigger than three bedrooms, I think, but for most of our lives, we actually had a one-bedroom, one-bathroom that my mom made work."

Johnson was determined to ensure the small space her family moved into felt comfortable and inviting, even if they didn't plan to live there long.

"It feels like home, and that was my goal," she said. "Everyone feels so normal and structured because I really wanted that growing up. It really taught me how to utilize space and that it's OK to live in a smaller space."

Johnson worked to maximize the storage space in the kitchen and make it look cute.

The house features an open-concept layout, with the kitchen, dining area, and living room all situated together.

The kitchen had decent storage built into it, though Johnson said she doesn't have a pantry. She bought a small cabinet to store food, but otherwise, Johnson focused on adding aesthetic touches to the kitchen.

"When we moved in, there was no backsplash," she said. "Everything was pretty bare."

Johnson decided to apply a peel-and-stick backsplash to the kitchen, bringing in subtle texture and color affordably. She also liked the idea of doing something that wasn't permanent since they didn't plan to be in the house long.

"I did very affordable, cheap, easy little projects like wallpaper and just anything I could do to add warmth," she said.

The decor Johnson added to the kitchen, including a rug, flowers, and displayed dishware, made it even more inviting.

The kids have a play area built into the living room.

Johnson's modular couch is one of the few pieces of furniture in her home that doesn't have storage built into it, which she has some regret about. Instead, she uses baskets to store blankets.

"I always recommend that people in a small space use literally everything they can," she said. "Your couch can be storage. You just have to get creative with it."

For instance, Johnson uses a console table on the wall behind the couch as storage for her kids' toys rather than a more traditional toy chest.

"It looks very decorative and cute, but really, that's their play area," she said. "We just need to put the toys in something that you can't see, because obviously, they have to have toys. I never wanted them to sacrifice any part of their childhood that they should have or want to have."

"I've just tried to make it pretty," she added.

Their dining table also has storage built into it.

Johnson turned one corner of the open-concept space into their dining area, using a round table that makes the space feel inviting.

The table also has storage built into its base, which Johnson uses to store books, her son's schoolwork, and other everyday items.

"I've tried not to let the fact that it's small hold me back," Johnson said of her home. "Just because I have a small house doesn't mean I can't have nice things, or that things can't be decorated nicely. I have also realized that the smaller space you have, the easier it is to make it homey."

One of Johnson's best storage hacks is the media console she found that doubles as her 5-year-old's bed.

When Johnson was a kid, she and some of her siblings had bunk beds in their living room. She thought her mom's strategy of using the living area for sleeping was smart, but she didn't want her son's bed to be visible.

Johnson got the idea to find a media console that's actually a Murphy bed.

"I got to looking on Amazon, and I found the one that we have," she said. "I was like, 'Well, that is perfect.'"

Johnson said her son is a fan of his bed, particularly because they work to give him privacy when he sleeps.

"We've made it his room at nighttime," she said of the living area. "No one comes in here. This is his space."

Likewise, he has access to alone time during the day if he needs it.

"If my 5-year-old needs a minute, I'm like, 'Do you want to go outside and take a breath?' Or, 'Do you want to go to the closet or to my bedroom? You can use my room and lie in my bed and calm down.'"

The bedroom is also full of storage for the whole family.

Johnson and her husband have a bed in the home's one bedroom, and their youngest son slept in a bassinet next to them for the first few months they lived in the space. Now, he sleeps in a crib in their walk-in closet (more on that in a minute).

"We weren't super attached to having a bedroom for ourselves. I just felt like everyone could spread out the most this way," she said.

Johnson also said she didn't want her sons sleeping together because she didn't want them to keep each other awake at night, or for her eldest to try to pick her youngest up when she wasn't there.

"Because of the age gap, I wouldn't want them to be by themselves," she said.

Johnson's bed has built-in storage, as the entire frame can be lifted. She said that was a key find for the home because she doesn't have a linen closet, so she uses it for sheets and towels.

The large closet in the bedroom serves multiple purposes.

The walk-in closet has hanging shelving, cubbies, and drawers. A washer and dryer sit at the back corner of the room, and Johnson added floral wallpaper in the laundry space.

The closet is also wide enough to fit the rolling crib where Johnson's youngest son sleeps. She uses a sound machine and blackout curtains to keep the space cozy for him.

Johnson said her son doesn't mind the washer and dryer making noise near him while he sleeps, but it can be difficult for her to do laundry at times since the closet is his bedroom.

For the most part, the small home doesn't give the Johnsons trouble, aside from the bathroom. It doesn't have a bathtub, which would make bathing the kids easier, and it's sometimes difficult to share, though Johnson said it's "not nearly as bad as it was having one bathroom with nine people growing up."

Johnson and her family decided to renovate the one-bedroom home rather than move.

Johnson said that downsizing has brought her family closer together and helped her and her husband become better communicators.

"A lot of times as a married couple with kids, you're like, 'We're gonna go argue about this privately,' but we really can't," she said. "We figured out ways to speak to each other that are very respectful, and it shows them we disagree, but everything is OK."

Plus, it's been great for her sons to be so close to their grandparents, and Johnson said it's made her family more appreciative of their belongings and aware of what they need and don't.

In fact, instead of moving to a bigger space, the Johnsons are now renovating their current home so they can live there for another five years, largely to provide their kids with stability.

Adding onto the house will also be more affordable for the Johnsons than paying rent at a different property over the next five-year period.

"We look at it as an investment," she said. "What we're spending to add on is what we'd spend in rent in one year somewhere else."

Staying at the house also ensures that the Johnsons don't have to rush to buy property, allowing them to purchase the land and build the home of their dreams.

"If we find property and things line up, we'll be prepared, and we will build a home," she said. "But now we're not pressured."

"We have time," she continued. "We can search for the perfect piece of property. We can save for every feature and thing that we want in our home. Or if we want to stay, if we still love it in five years, we just won't leave."