I would like to introduce you to countess Alexandra Tolstoy-Miloslavsky who downsized from a big home in Chelsea to a small rental cottage.

Alexandra Tolstoy is a descendent of the very famous Tolstoy family of writers, she is a horseback riding adventurer, and a writer, She travelled The Silk Road on horseback and wrote ”The Last secrets of the Silk Road” She also travelled on horseback through Mongolia and Siberia.

She organizes horseback riding holidays in Central Asia. Alexandra is an accomplished Interior Designer and business woman.

I could easily say that Alexandra Tolstoy is a true renaissance woman and a Mother of three beautiful children.

Via House and Garden/Photo Simon Brown

2018 Alexandra Tolstoi in her former Home in Chelsea,  the house was decorated with the help of Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler design director Emma Burns.

Alexandra was evicted from her home after The Russian government claimed it against debts owed by her ex-husband father of her children Sergei Pugachev.

Via House and Garden/Photo Simon Brown Alexandra 2021 auctioned three quarters of the content of her home at Christie’s auction house and found a small house to rent in London. Having downsized myself, I believe that ii is not easy to move to a smaller space. Some people like to purge and cut down and like to become Zen.  Zen has never been my forte nor by the look of her new home Alexandra’s forte.

Via House and Garden/Photo Simon Brown

2018 Chelsea, you will notice that the entire home is painted white and the ceiling is incredibly high.

Via House and Garden/Photo Simon Brown

Chelsea 2018 White walls and ceiling with colourful accents.

Via House and Garden/Photo Simon Brown

2021 rental home in London, contrary to her Chelsea home, she used a lot of warm colours on her walls, colour is comforting. The rug is fantastic and shares all the colours of the room.

Via House and Garden/Photo Simon Brown
Alexandra kept these curtains, they followed her from her house in Moscow in 2010 and the curtains  lower parts are appliqués of Yvan Bilibin’s illustrations for Alexander Pushkin’s fairy tales.  As you will realize when you downsize, they are certain things you will not want to part with as they are too meaningful. Be very cautious when you get rid of certain things, you might regret it.

Via House and Garden/Photo Simon Brown
Alexandra 2018 kept her dining room table and chairs but did away with some curtains.

Via House and Garden/Photo Simon Brown
Alexandra  2021 with her original dining room table and chairs in a much smaller space. Armoires are also great for more storage.

Measure all furniture to make sure they all fit in your new home. As you can see Alexandra new dining area is much smaller than the one in Chelsea, but her table and chairs fit perfectly and the room is quaint and absolutely charming.

Via House and Garden/Photo Simon Brown

Alexandra sold this armoire and replaced it with the Swedish armoire below.

Via House and Garden/Photo Simon Brown The Swedish armoire is antique but a new acquisition, it comes from (https://thetolstoyedit.com/)  her portrait painted by Craig Hanna has a smaller place but still looks terrific.  You sometimes can hang a big painting in a smaller area, so think before you dispose of your art.

Via House and Garden/Photo Simon Brown

Alexandra’s 2018  Chelsea mezzanine white bedroom.

Via House and Garden/Photo Simon BrownAlexandra’s 2021 blue bedroom totally different style from the Chelsea bedroom.

Via House and Garden/Photo Simon BrownThe Chelsea 2018 children’s bedroom white with colour accents. Alexandra kept everything from the Chelsea children’s bedroom. It is difficult for children to move to a new place, so it is important to bring all their belongings so that they do not feel too displaced and like strangers in a new home. 

Via House and Garden/Photo Simon Brown The 2021 children’s bedroom light mint green with fuchsia  bunk beds are new as the ones from house 2018 were built in.  Same night tables and all their toys were brought in.

Via House and Garden/Photo Simon Brown As you can see Alexandra’s new kitchen is filled with personal objects and memorabilia. If you need to be surrounded by objects you love and were part of your everyday life but you have to part with furniture, you might like to keep objects that make you happy, it is said that objects can also have a soul.  You want your new home to have a soul.

I know that most of us do not have a home like Countess Alexandra Tolstoi, but the guidelines of downsizing apply to all of us my lovelies.

A FEW DOWNSIZING GUIDELINES

1- Prepare yourself mentally

2- Do one room at a time, measure every room in your new home, you will probably have to  part with certain items or pieces of furniture as you may not have the same amount of rooms.

3-Measure all your furniture

4- Measure all storage old and new

5-You can give a few items to your children and friends

6- Get some boxes and purge clothing, books, kitchen items, some holiday decorations, some non sentimental items that you could do without.

7-Make a yes and no list of all items

8- Anything double you give, like kitchen stuff for instance.

9- It comes down to: DOES IT MAKE YOU HAPPY- IS IIT SENTIMENTAL-WILL IT FIT IN YOUR NEW SPACE-

10-Can you sell it, if not can you give it.

11- If you are a young family, your needs may be different from a retired couple or person, but all and all the same guidelines apply. 

12- Visit some downsizing sites, they are quite helpful, this is a very good one. https://www.rocketmortgage.com/learn/how-to-downsize-your-home

HAPPY DOWNSIZING MY LOVELIES, FIND YOUR HAPPINESS WHERE EVER YOU ARE

Via House and Garden/Photo Paul Massey

Painter Craig Hanna and Family  he is the Artist who painted Alexandra’s portrait  to know more about him go to https://www.houseandgarden.co.uk/article/artist-craig-hanna-paris

The post Downsizing not an easy task appeared first on Decogirl Montreal.