A San Franciscan?s first home offers a sanctuary?and an opportunity to live slower Catie Nienaber was talking to a friend when she had an epiphany. ?We were chatting about what we wanted to accomplish in the next 15 years,? she said. ?I suddenly realized that I didn?t want to be 50 years old and still sleeping in a closet.?
Nienaber is referring to her 430-square-foot San Francisco apartment, which we featured in 2015. She turned the studio into what she calls ?the world?s smallest one bedroom? by making the walk-in closet a sleeping area.

Catie Nienaber went from a lifetime of renting to owning her own home near Joshua Tree. Here she sits in front of a wallhanging she purchased at a local thrift store.

Even back then, she had posted the goal ?buy a home? on her refrigerator. And after this exchange with a friend, she was determined to make the statement more than an index card taped up in the kitchen. ?I felt a huge need to own a home of my own; it?s something I value,? she says. ?A lot of people wait to become a couple or a two-income family before buying a house. But I didn?t want to wait for that?it might never happen. I decided to do it myself.?
In the Golden State, famous for its breathtakingly expensive homes, that?s a goal that can be easier to set than to manifest. ?I?m a realistic person. I knew San Francisco was not the place where it was going to happen,? she says. ?But I wanted to stay in California. And, if possible, I wanted to be ...