This week I’m talking to small house dwellers for an upcoming article in Mother Earth News. I’m inspired by their commitment to minimalist living, and I’m learning a lot of tips and tricks for making the most of tiny spaces. Most of all, though, I’m inspired by the obvious joy and satisfaction that living in a smaller home brings to these folks. Living in a tiny home is a choice that no one regrets. (If you’d like to tell Mother readers your story, send an email to rlawrence@motherearthnews.com.)

This morning, coincidentally, I received an email from Hunter Douglas with five good tips for “living larger with less.” They’re worth sharing.

The Container Store’s Water Hyacinth Bins offer an attractive option for storage in three sizes.

1. Contain It: More items in view means the room appears more crowded and compact. Contain as much as you can in stylish storage. First, designate a spot for every belonging so that there are a few items on tables and desks. Putting small items in neutral-colored boxes or decorative bins. Line up the storage pieces side-by-side and organize books or other items by color for an orderly look that, along with uncluttered surfaces, makes the room feel more spacious.

Viva Terra ’s wool ottoman supports weary feet while storing magazines and media remotes in its secret drawer.

2. Furniture that Fits: Replace large, overstuffed furniture with trim, tailored pieces more in scale with the space. Place the heaviest piece in the room, whether a couch or a chest, along a wall to save space. To create balance, position another weighty item across from it. Place smaller furniture pieces such as chairs diagonally in corners to not only look inviting, but to open up the room. Find something the eye can focus on when entering: a beautifully dressed window or unobstructed view, piece of art, decorative mirror or well-kept fireplace. Lastly, invest in as many multi-tasking pieces as possible, like a coffee table that doubles as seating and also has built-in storage or a compact drop-leaf table that opens up to a desk or dining table.

Interior designer Shelly Handman uses translucent glass and mirrors to create the illusion of more light.

3. Lighten Up: Mirrors can act as virtual windows to enhance the light a room receives. Hang them so they can reflect something you want to see (artwork or the outdoors). Brighten the room with window coverings that make the most of mood-boosting natural light.

Pale yellow walls give this Chicago bungalow a sense of cohesion and space. Photo by Michael Shopenn/Natural Home & Garden

4. Color that Creates Space: Bold and warm hues make a room feel cozy, while light and cool tones instantly expand the space. Try light yellow, soothing soft blue or always-complimentary ivory on walls. Continue with a neutral palette for the overall design to further optimize the space. adding only a few “pop” colors and patterns on pillows, art or tabletop accessories. Keep these cooler hues harmonious throughout the home to break down walls and create a flow.

Hunter Douglas ’s Skyline Gliding Window Panels feature a track system that allows them to be used as room dividers.

5. Divide and Conquer: Create a breakfast nook, home office or even separate bedroom with a decorative divider.

Google Docs Integrates More Deeply with Office & Box.net

For a cloud-based service like Google Docs, one of the major challenges is integrates fully and effectively with the popularity productivity mechanisms already in place. While Google does offer the advantage of innovative cloud storage and document creation options, that advantage is likely to vanish in the near future thanks to Office 365. Likely to ensure the continued lifeblood of Google Docs, Docs integration with two major services – Microsoft Office and Box.net – is being expanded.

For Microsoft Office, the partner in question is certainly not Microsoft themselves. Rather, it’s the standalone “Google Cloud Connect” software that’s tuned to Microsoft Office. While the Cloud Connect service has been around for some time, several features have been missing. One of the more prominent is now being added: the ability to open files directly from Google Docs, viewing and editing them right from Microsoft Office. You can even use a search option in the provided dialogue box to locate your target document quickly.

Box.net, meanwhile, will allow users to open their Google Docs files directly from their Box profile. As explained by Aaron Levie, CEO of Box.net, “Box’s 6 million users can easily create and collaborate on Google Docs and Spreadsheets from within Box, as well as edit the existing 50M+ Word and Excel files already stored on our platform.” Box.net hopes that the collaboration with Docs will help expedite how quickly cloud software takes over as the main way to interact with documents and files, and by choosing Google Docs over Microsoft, Box.net is making an easily observable statement about how open the cloud should be. In the Box.net press release, Levi stated, that the company is “betting that platforms built around openness will triumph over the closed, proprietary approach” – such as that represented by Microsoft Office 365.

No organization cares about you. Organizations aren't capable of this.

Your bank, certainly, doesn't care. Neither does your HMO or even your car dealer. It's amazing to me that people are surprised to discover this fact.

People, on the other hand, are perfectly capable of caring. It's part of being a human. It's only when organizational demands and regulations get in the way that the caring fades.

If you want to build a caring organization, you need to fill it with caring people and then get out of their way. When your organization punishes people for caring, don't be surprised when people stop caring.

When you free your employees to act like people (as opposed to cogs in a profit-maximizing efficient machine) then the caring can't help but happen.