Couple planned carefully, then easily downsized to a ranch home in Milwaukee's Story Hill

For some homeowners, downsizing would be an overwhelming task.

What belongings do take with you to fill a much smaller new home, and what do you leave behind? 

When Jim and Gail Zieman decided to downsize about 3 ½ years ago, they said they knew it would take a good amount of work to move from their 3,000-square-foot, four-bedroom home on over three acres in Genesee Depot to a smaller home.

So they formed a plan of attack.

A year before they hoped to move, they each wrote out a list of the furnishings they wanted to keep and what pieces could be donated, and they systematically began purging unused items from their closets and cabinets. 

But they knew that how much they could take with them wasn't the only issue they would have to face.

They also needed to give thought to what kind of home and lifestyle they wanted.

“I still wanted to have a yard and a garage,” said Jim. 

“And I like to garden and I knew a patio in a condo wouldn’t be satisfying for me,” said Gail. “We also wanted to live in a community … in a neighborhood. And we wanted a walkable lifestyle” in an area convenient to the rest of the city, she said.

They found the perfect home 2 ½ years ago in Milwaukee’s Story Hill Neighborhood, and fondly call it their “condo alternative.”

“We knew we wanted a brick ranch because it would be maintenance-free and it would have all the living space on the main floor,” said Gail. The couple are Realtors for FirstWeber Brookfield, but previously were educators.

Gail said that their new home, which was built in 1955 and measures about 1,300 square feet, has three bedrooms, a living room, dining room, two bathrooms, sun room, rec room and a large wedge-shaped backyard. 

While it lacks the storage space they had in their previous home and the much larger garage, the couple say they were able to find creative ways to add more storage space and to make the home look larger.

For extra storage in their kitchen they bought an island and also purchased new cabinets that match those already in their kitchen to create a food pantry. 

In their bathrooms, storage areas were carved out wherever space allowed, and vanities replaced pedestal sinks; and in their guest bedroom they used a bed with a storage platform underneath.

To make the home feel spacious, they removed a partial wall with a pass-through that was located between the kitchen and dining room, and they also painted walls in their sun room and master bedroom flat black.

“That makes the room appear bigger, as it makes your eyes recede,” explained Gail.

They also updated an existing bathroom and turned a half-bath and a closet into a small master bathroom. 

“We took out a closet that was located near the back door and connected that space to a half-bath located behind it. We reconfigured the space and opened up the wall in our master bedroom to access the new bathroom,” she said.

The couple recently talked about their new home.

Question: Was it a lot of work to downsize?

Gail: It took us the full year to go through all our belongings so that we wouldn’t have too much for the much-smaller home we knew we would buy. We made about 12 trips to Goodwill.

Our old house was Scandinavian modern and built in 1995, so we also looked at what pieces would best fit our new midcentury-style home. Most of our pieces in our previous home were mission-style.

Jim: We did take some things with us that we're not using now. We have them in the basement and we rotate our furniture.

Q: What was the biggest challenge?

Gail: The garage. We had a three-car garage then and we had three vehicles, a boat and a camper. We got rid of the boat and the camper. When you're downsizing, you have to think about those things.

Q: Did you have to buy any new furniture?

Gail: We got a new living room sofa. We wanted a sofa that was a lighter color because we have two cats, and it also better fits the room. 

Jim: We also bought a few pieces of midcentury modern furniture.

Q: How would you describe your dining room table?

Gail: It’s an old art table from a school. I love all the paint splotches and carvings.

Jim: It’s one of a kind.

Gail: We used more modern leather chairs on the two longer sides, but got clear chairs for each end to make the room look larger. When we first moved here, we had different chairs. They worked because they were Danish modern, but they were falling apart, so we got new ones.

Q: How did you update your bathrooms?

Gail: We did them both in black, white and gray. In each room we used a different graphic-style floor tile with big and bold patterns. Tile in the master is a sand color, and the guest bathroom is a very light gray. Both have subway tile installed vertically.

In the new master bathroom we also put in a shower door that looks like a wall of mullion glass windows, and we also put in a white toilet with a black seat and added a dark gray vanity with a black granite countertop. We also put in a medicine cabinet that matches the vanity.

Q: What finishes are on your kitchen countertops? 

Gail: The island has a black granite top. It was a steal at a HOBO clearance, and the color of the top matches the laminate countertops in the kitchen. 

Q: What colors did you use when you painted the interior of your home?

Gail: The rooms are all neutral. We used a warm gray because it goes with anything.

Q: Do you have any family pieces in your home?

Jim: The two side tables in the guest room are from my parents. The round one is a drum table and is made of mahogany. The other is made of oak.

Q: You have some unique artwork in your master bedroom. Where did you get it?

Gail: I made it. I take hollow core doors and paint them. On this one I used acrylic paint and then put water on the still-wet paint with a hose. There’s one in the hallway that I painted with a putty knife. It has four squares of different colors that designate north, east, south and west.  

Q: Did you make changes to your front yard?

Jim: We got rid of all the old landscaping and planted new trees. We put in a weeping cherry, Japanese maples, globe arborvitae and grasses. We also put arborvitae along the alley. 

We also created a little sitting area outside in front of the living room windows. We did that because it’s so neighborly.

We used reclaimed brick and stone. We also got a slab of granite we used to make the top of a bench.  That was originally a roof panel on a Miller Brewery building, and I made a base for it. We also put two black chairs out there.

Gail: It’s our favorite place to sit when we want to visit with our neighbors. We also have a rock fountain that we put out there in summer. 

Q: Do you have a favorite spot inside your home?

Gail: We love sitting by the windows in the living room where we can see our neighbors go by. We can also see great sunsets there. Sometimes we sit in the dark. We turn off all the lights and watch the sunset. 

Q: Where do you buy furniture and accent pieces? 

Gail: We like WasteCap Resource Solutions, ReStore and HOBO. Also estate sales. I get stuff all over. We like reclaiming pieces because once they’re gone, they’re gone. There’s also more character in used pieces. We have a coffee table in the rec room that used to be a library table. We just cut the legs down. That was a found piece. 

Jim: And then when Gail changes her mind about pieces in the house, it doesn’t cost a lot. 

Q: Did you make changes in your rec room?

Jim: No, this was done by the previous owner. We just added furniture and accent pieces. It has black and white floor tiles and some of the tiles have musical notes on them. There’s also red wallpaper with a party theme. I got an electric fireplace in red to match the wallpaper, and there’s also a disco ball in the corner. 

Gail: My favorite part of this room is the bottom of the bar. It’s made of tufted vinyl. I call the rec room the cosmic basement.

Q: Was the house in good shape when you bought it?

Gail: It had a new roof. That was a plus. And the hardwood floors were redone. But we put plenty of money into it to make it our own. 

Do you, or does someone you know, have a cool, funky or exquisite living space that you’d like to see featured in At Home? Contact Fresh home and garden editor Nancy Stohs at (414) 224-2382 or email nstohs@journalsentinel.com.