TL;DR
Regina Lark, a Los Angeles-area professional organizer, says planning a move to a smaller home should focus on what supports daily life and feels personal—not simply on reducing possessions. Her advice draws on helping her mother Carmel move from a large house into a smaller apartment after her partner died.
Professional organizer Regina Lark says downsizing can be less disruptive when people plan around the belongings and routines that make a home feel like theirs. In advice published by Veranda, Lark recounts helping her mother, Carmel, move from a large house into a smaller home near her after Carmel’s partner died.
Carmel, an interior designer in her late 80s, had spent a lifetime collecting furniture, books, handbags and jewelry. The move meant she would have only a fraction of her former space. Lark, who runs a professional organizing and estate-transition business in the Los Angeles area, says the practical decisions were bound up with the emotional work of leaving a long-held home.
Her first recommendation is to talk early about what life in the new home should look like. Rather than treating the move as a simple exercise in getting rid of things, Lark suggests asking which possessions still offer meaning, use or value, and what surroundings help a person feel at home. She advises identifying the spot where someone spends the most time in the old house, photographing the area and its details, and using those images to help recreate it in the new space.
Familiar, useful objects can anchor that effort. Lark recalls advising people to bring a table used for puzzles, for example, if it will fit and serve the same purpose in the new home. In her mother’s case, she kept holiday decorations Carmel could still use, along with photographs and selected coffee-table books. Lark says she gave away gardening supplies her mother would no longer need without a yard.
Keeping Familiar Routines in Less Space
The advice shifts downsizing away from a room-by-room count of possessions and toward how a person will live day to day. Recreating a favorite reading chair, kitchen-table routine or puzzle area can help make a smaller home feel familiar, while keeping selected objects preserves personal identity without requiring every item to move.
That distinction matters when a move follows bereavement or a major change in health or living arrangements. Lark’s account does not claim that letting go is easy; it emphasizes that decisions about possessions can carry emotional weight. The report also suggests that support from a trusted relative or friend may help, provided the person moving is comfortable with that help and their preferences remain central.
There may also be practical benefits to a smaller home, Lark says. She has observed that some people feel relief when there is less to maintain and that moving can create time to revisit papers, journals and memorabilia. Those are observations from her work and her family’s experience, not a guarantee that every move will feel easier.
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Carmel’s Move Near Her Daughter
The article presents Lark’s advice through her mother’s experience. Carmel’s partner had died, and she was moving out of a large house to be closer to Lark. The source does not give the exact date of the move, the size of either home or the specific circumstances behind the decision beyond those details.
Lark describes the move as a process requiring both practical sorting and a deliberate goodbye. On moving day, her sister walked through the house with Carmel, giving her time to see her gardens and favorite spaces one last time. Lark recommends taking photographs of meaningful belongings and, if helpful, assembling them into a coffee-table book. The report also references designer Bunny Williams’s decision to add a downstairs bedroom to her Connecticut home so she could remain there as she aged, illustrating that planning for a next chapter can involve adapting a home as well as moving.
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The Limits of One Family’s Experience
The source is a personal account and organizing advice, not a study comparing downsizing approaches. It does not establish how much time or money Carmel’s move required, whether she needed professional moving or care services, or how she felt about each individual decision. Lark says her mother trusted her to make some choices, but that arrangement may not suit every family.
The report also does not specify Carmel’s apartment size, the amount of property she kept, or whether the move improved her health or finances. Advice about what to keep, sell or donate depends on a person’s circumstances, preferences and available space; the article does not provide a single checklist or a guaranteed outcome.
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Planning the Move Around Daily Life
For anyone preparing to move, Lark’s steps begin with conversations about what the next home needs to support. Photographing a favorite area, listing frequently used pieces and identifying objects with personal meaning can help guide decisions before moving day. She recommends asking family and friends whether they want particular items, while recognizing that relatives may decline them.
Items without a new place in the family may be passed on through an auction, estate sale or donation. Lark suggests contacting community centers and churches about possible donations and says finding a home for some objects, such as pianos, can take persistence. The article offers no specific schedule for Carmel’s remaining possessions or a follow-up on how the apartment suited her over time.
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Key Questions
Who is Regina Lark?
Regina Lark runs a professional organizing and estate-transition business in the Los Angeles area. The Veranda report presents her recommendations through her experience helping her mother move.
What should someone decide before moving to a smaller home?
Lark recommends discussing what the new home should support and identifying belongings that still provide meaning, use or value. She also suggests noting which routines and spaces matter most in the current home.
How can a smaller home still feel familiar?
Photograph a favorite area in the old home and bring useful objects that support the same routine, if they fit. Lark also recommends keeping selected personal details, such as books, photographs or familiar decorative items.
What can happen to belongings that do not move?
Lark suggests asking family and friends whether they want particular items, then considering an auction, estate sale or donation. She recommends checking with local community centers and churches about donation needs.
Does downsizing always make life easier?
No. Lark says some people feel relief because they have less to maintain, but the report describes her observations and her mother’s experience rather than a result that applies to everyone.
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