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<\/a>Photos courtesy of Adrian Crook<\/em><\/p>\nThe kids are all right — really, they are. Adrian Crook is a father and video game design consultant living in a 1,050 square foot condo in Vancouver\u2019s trendy Yaletown neighbourhood, raising five children between the ages of three and nine. He\u2019s chosen to forgo suburban homeownership for a two bedroom plus den rental, that emphasizes functional design and walkability.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe condo lifestyle kind of goes with the downtown lifestyle. You\u2019re not choosing it explicitly for the type of space it is, it\u2019s more about where it\u2019s located,\u201d said Crook, who has previously lived in a townhouse and a single-family detached home.<\/p>\n
Two years ago, following a divorce, Crook and his brood moved into a suite on the 29th floor of a building built in 1994. He started the blog, 5kids1condo<\/a>, to document his family\u2019s experience and share his thoughts on minimalism, sustainability and the benefits of living in an urban environment. By challenging conventional notions of how North American children \u201cshould\u201d be raised, Crook has generated significant online buzz. We checked in with the Dad-blogger to find out how his large family makes it work in small space.<\/p>\n Adrian Crook: I grew up in a suburban, single-family home about 25 kilometers outside of Vancouver. When I moved out of my parents\u2019 house, I moved into a condo downtown and loved it for all of its walkability. When my ex and I had our first kid, we continued to live in a condo downtown, but then we moved to a house in North Vancouver, because that\u2019s what you\u2019re supposed to do when there\u2019s another kid on the way. I hated that, and I couldn\u2019t really figure out why at the time. In theory you could still walk places but no one was ever on the streets, cars were flying by and there wasn\u2019t enough density to make it interesting.<\/p>\n Now, I\u2019m on the 29th floor and everything\u2019s on one level. One thousand square feet is more than enough if you don\u2019t own a bunch of crap, and I don\u2019t. It\u2019s pretty minimally decorated, which is the way I like it.<\/p>\n BBH: Why have you chosen to rent rather than own your condo?<\/strong><\/p>\n AC: If you own your place, there\u2019s a real tendency to upgrade it constantly. You\u2019re thinking about resale value, modernizing the kitchen — and that adds up. Living in a downtown condo means I don\u2019t have to own a lot of stuff. My life is not given over to maintaining things, like a car or a lawn. Renting saves me money and saves me time. Recently, our fridge broke and [the property manager] just…put in a new one! As a family with five kids, our appliances get a lot of wear and tear, but we don\u2019t have to worry about replacing them ourselves.<\/p>\n In Vancouver, the resale value of condos has kind of decoupled from the single-family home market, which has gone crazy. So the resale value of condos is back to around 2006 or 2007 levels, so it\u2019s not as if by renting, I\u2019m missing out on some incredible skyrocketing market in condo values — our condo is probably worth seven to eight hundred thousand and I\u2019m renting it for $2,200 a month, which is hard to beat.<\/p>\n AC: I get this question a lot. Many times the response [from other people] is, \u201cWell just wait until they get older!\u201d and it\u2019s like, this isn\u2019t the first time a family this size has lived in this type of configuration. I think it has more to do with what you expect out of your space and your family. I expect that we all learn how to live together and if my children get to an age where they don\u2019t want to always have to be in the same space, well then by all means go to the park or a coffee shop! They\u2019re a bit young for that now but we don\u2019t currently have any issues with living in the same space.<\/p>\n Maybe one of the reasons why kids live at home until they\u2019re in their 30s is because it\u2019s too comfortable. If my kids want more privacy, they\u2019re going to have to move out [laughs]. Kids only know what you put in front of them, so if you\u2019re being raised in [this type of] environment, you\u2019ll think it\u2019s normal — and it is normal for huge portions of the world.<\/p>\n BBH: What\u2019s your case against the suburbs?<\/strong><\/p>\n AC: I have an objection to single-family home ownership from a sustainability perspective. Virtually everyone I know who lives in the suburbs drives everywhere — you end up driving between these little islands of activities. Once you get in that mode, you don\u2019t question it.<\/p>\n If you change up your routine and begin to walk everywhere, you sort of lose your appetite for driving. Now when I\u2019m behind the wheel, I think it\u2019s madness! I don\u2019t know how people stand being stalled in traffic for long stretches of time. I don\u2019t know if people really calculate their decision to live in the suburbs — the time spent commuting, the cost of operating a vehicle, parking, etc. You\u2019re not really saving money by moving farther away from the city. It\u2019s a weird calculation that people do to justify it.<\/p>\n BBH: When did you adopt a minimalist lifestyle? What spurred the change?<\/strong><\/p>\n AC: When I was in my 20s, I definitely lived a minimalist lifestyle, and then it became less-so when I got married. It\u2019s not entirely up to you when only one of you is a minimalist! After my divorce, I basically started with nothing again, which was how I wanted it. I furnished my house with only what I knew I needed. Every bit of floor space counts in a condo.<\/p>\n AC: I get messages on the blog that say, \u201cIt looks like my eight-year-old has as many toys as all your kids!\u201d And I totally believe that\u2019s true, there are certain types of toys we just don\u2019t buy. Specifically, single-purpose or large plastic toys that can\u2019t be reconfigured in an imaginative way or stored easily. We have IKEA shelves with 5×5 cubbies and everything has to fit inside. We\u2019ve got LEGO and costumes and puzzles, but it\u2019s all stuff that can be stored in an attractive and minimalist way.<\/p>\n Over time you just need to adjust your kids and your own expectations of what they actually need. Take away their screens and look at what they play with — they\u2019ll reinvent anything once they get over that initial boredom hump.<\/p>\n BBH: What advice would you give to someone who wants to begin purging the non-necessities?<\/strong><\/p>\n AC: I\u2019ve moved around a lot. I\u2019ve lived in Texas, Los Angeles, Toronto, Playa del Carmen [Mexico] — and every time you move, you lose some stuff. If that\u2019s how your life works, that\u2019s one way to pare down. We\u2019ll frequently dump all the boxes on our IKEA shelf onto the floor and ask the kids to sort things into \u201cdonate\u201d or \u201ctrash\u201d piles. But I think the biggest thing is to keep an eye on what you\u2019re using. What\u2019s interesting about not having anything in storage is that everything is right in front of you. I suggest moving the things you deem important out to where you can see them. Then, if you\u2019re still not using an item, sell it, because you clearly don\u2019t need it.<\/p>\n<\/a>BuzzBuzzHome: Why did you choose a condo over a townhouse or single-family home?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a>BBH: What are your plans for when your children get older? Will you move into a larger space?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a>BBH: What would you say to someone who believes that minimalism isn\u2019t possible with children?<\/strong><\/p>\n