I have a great affinity and admiration for small, efficient spaces. I even forked over 2500 yen for a magazine-style book in a fancy architecture shop in Aoyama on the (mostly modernist) wacky buildings scrunched into the tiniest bit of vacant lot in Japan. And there is no place where small and efficient is more fully realized than Japan, where 5 seat restaurants and full apartments half the size of Western one car garages are common.

When Trevor and I sold everything we owned and moved to Japan a few years ago (and then moved back almost immediately because we were unwilling to live double, schizophrenic lives as second-class citizens/rockstars), we vowed to never again live in a space dominated by stuff. We moved into a small but beautiful apartment (and even so, it still has a kitchen the size of our Japanese apartment), and decided to make our fantastic neighborhood our living room.

Well, 5 years, a bookstore job with a hefty discount, my rediscovery of vinyl record collecting, and bazillions of shoes later, our place gets a crammed-in feeling if we aren't constantly mindful. Fortunately, our recent acquisition of a platform bed (yay storage!) has remedied some of those problems.

My point with all of this? I am excited to have discovered Little Diggs: a chronicle of "the Big things that make Small spaces livable — 500 square feet or smaller."

Oi, the living spaces there are just dreamy! And many appeal to my outdoor and slow-living aesthetic: I could drop everything and move right now into the Beach Chalet or the Small Cabin For The Masses. But equally represented is the flipside for you sophisticates: check out this wine cellar.

Although two of the small spaces that immediately appealed to me were in the States, funny how so many of these places are outside the U.S., hmmm? No matter. I've been planning on buying a small house -- with land for building additional small work and play spaces -- forever, and these "little diggs" give me so much inspiration!