St. Petersburg Times, April 30, 2005
[Times photo: Brendan Fitterer]
Doreen and Mark Lewis sit with their son, Kevin, 15, daughter Kelly, 12, and dogs Cindy, top, and Yogi in front of an
antique piano they bought on eBay in the living room of their New Port Richey home in Deer Ridge. The Lewises
sold their 3,400 square-foot Tudor home in a nearby neighborhood. "Even the kids love it here," Doreen says.
Her smaller house makes her happiness grow
By ELIZABETH BETTENDORF
Published April 30, 2005
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW PORT RICHEY - You've heard the old maxim, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
Doreen Lewis squeezed a pitcher full.
After losing her $87,000 a year marketing job, she wrote a book, got her real estate license, opened a bed and
breakfast and downsized to a smaller house.
Definitely cute, but smaller.
Definitely the right decision.
"You get laid off, you have money problems and you have to make some hard choices," she says. "Now we say all
the time: "this house or the old house' and everybody always says this house."
Doreen and her husband, Mark, sold their 3,400 square-foot Tudor home in a nearby Pasco neighborhood and
bought a three bedroom, two bath, 1,800-square-foot house in Deer Ridge for $194,000.
They moved March 14.
Swapping a big space for a smaller one while avoiding a cluttered, crammed-to-the-rafters look presented a
challenge. Doreen solved the problem by keeping only the most sentimental pieces, such as her
great-grandparents' buffet and china cabinet, and getting rid of the rest. She bought inexpensive, multifunctional
furnishings including trundle beds for her two teenagers that incorporate storage underneath. Instead of her old
bedroom drawers, she opted for sturdy plastic drawers from Target that fit nicely inside the small walk-in master
bedroom closet.
Putting dressers in the closet frees up space in a room and "keeps it looking neater," she explains.
The kitchen is a clutter-free zone thanks to one set of everyday dishes and only a few pots and pans: "It's all we
really need and use," Doreen says.
For once, the family actually uses the living room - with its rocking chair and old-fashioned upright piano (purchased
where else but on eBay) for reading and relaxing.
The doors open to a screened porch and a back yard that faces a small wooded area.
"We love it, love it, love it," she says. "Even the kids love it here. We had no idea we could be so happy."
As serendipity would have it, the downsize coincided with the publishing of Doreen's first novel, Her Backyard,
($16.95 Helm Publishing) about an overworked New York executive who returns to New Port Richey to care for her
ailing father. The book, which is available from Amazon.com, recently won the Royal Palm Literary Award from the
Florida Writer's Association.
Her job upheaval also coincided with a long-awaited green light from the New Port Richey City Council to open a
family-owned bed and breakfast, Lewis Cottage. The 1927 bungalow with its cozy bedrooms and small lending
library of books on Florida history, is a labor of love for Doreen and Mark, who have spent the past two years
readying the business for guests. Sounds like a lot of work after losing a corporate job.
But to Doreen, it was cathartic.
"For one thing," she jokes, "I don't have to wear pantyhose anymore."
The 40-year-old mother of two teenagers - Kevin, 15, and Kelly, 12 - Doreen had spent years on the fast track.
After earning an MBA, she switched her career from social work to marketing and public relations, spending the past
decade or so of her life working for big real estate companies.
"Just like the character in my book, I was pondering the simple life," she says. "In many ways, my life has been
parallel to hers."
After watching her father lose his battle to pancreatic cancer a few years ago, Doreen had a battle of her own to
wage. A long, tense commute to her job in Brandon meant late dinners, missed ballgames and a short-tempered
existence.
Losing her job to downsizing "was the worst and best thing that ever happened to me," she recalls. "I was so afraid
of failing, that overachieving was the only way I had ever known how to live. But I also didn't know how to live
anymore."
Slowly, she did learn how: The book she had been dictating into a tape recorder during her long commutes finally
got written. The pain of countless rejection letters was quickly forgotten when a small Chicago publisher accepted
her manuscript.
Though the Lewises contemplated selling the bed and breakfast - particularly when they didn't know if they would
ever be able to open it - they decided to hang onto it. Doreen managed to furnish the entire place on a dime: "eBay
and garage sales," she says proudly of the decor that's a happy melange of historic styles from the $50 garage sale
wardrobe closet to the floral down-stuffed sofa bought for a few bucks used. Colorful art-glass lamps are steals from
Big Lot and the 1920s dresser came from the Salvation Army.
"Don't ever be afraid to dream," Doreen advises.
Or downsize to smaller digs, for that matter.
Her book dedication - to her husband, a 41-year-old copy center employee who was her high school sweetheart
and whom she calls her soul mate - pretty much says it all.
"This book is dedicated to hard-working women who come home from work cranky and mean," she writes, "who want
nothing more than to have someone who simply understands and loves them just the way they are. I know, I know -
God, I know the need."
Elizabeth Bettendorf can be reached at ebettendorf@hotmail.com
St. Petersburg Times, April 30, 2005
[Times photo: Brendan Fitterer]
Doreen and Mark Lewis sit with their son, Kevin, 15, daughter Kelly, 12, and dogs Cindy, top, and Yogi in front of an
antique piano they bought on eBay in the living room of their New Port Richey home in Deer Ridge. The Lewises
sold their 3,400 square-foot Tudor home in a nearby neighborhood. "Even the kids love it here," Doreen says.
Her smaller house makes her happiness grow
By ELIZABETH BETTENDORF
Published April 30, 2005
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NEW PORT RICHEY - You've heard the old maxim, when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
Doreen Lewis squeezed a pitcher full.
After losing her $87,000 a year marketing job, she wrote a book, got her real estate license, opened a bed and
breakfast and downsized to a smaller house.
Definitely cute, but smaller.
Definitely the right decision.
"You get laid off, you have money problems and you have to make some hard choices," she says. "Now we say all
the time: "this house or the old house' and everybody always says this house."
Doreen and her husband, Mark, sold their 3,400 square-foot Tudor home in a nearby Pasco neighborhood and
bought a three bedroom, two bath, 1,800-square-foot house in Deer Ridge for $194,000.
They moved March 14.
Swapping a big space for a smaller one while avoiding a cluttered, crammed-to-the-rafters look presented a
challenge. Doreen solved the problem by keeping only the most sentimental pieces, such as her
great-grandparents' buffet and china cabinet, and getting rid of the rest. She bought inexpensive, multifunctional
furnishings including trundle beds for her two teenagers that incorporate storage underneath. Instead of her old
bedroom drawers, she opted for sturdy plastic drawers from Target that fit nicely inside the small walk-in master
bedroom closet.
Putting dressers in the closet frees up space in a room and "keeps it looking neater," she explains.
The kitchen is a clutter-free zone thanks to one set of everyday dishes and only a few pots and pans: "It's all we
really need and use," Doreen says.
For once, the family actually uses the living room - with its rocking chair and old-fashioned upright piano (purchased
where else but on eBay) for reading and relaxing.
The doors open to a screened porch and a back yard that faces a small wooded area.
"We love it, love it, love it," she says. "Even the kids love it here. We had no idea we could be so happy."
As serendipity would have it, the downsize coincided with the publishing of Doreen's first novel, Her Backyard,
($16.95 Helm Publishing) about an overworked New York executive who returns to New Port Richey to care for her
ailing father. The book, which is available from Amazon.com, recently won the Royal Palm Literary Award from the
Florida Writer's Association.
Her job upheaval also coincided with a long-awaited green light from the New Port Richey City Council to open a
family-owned bed and breakfast, Lewis Cottage. The 1927 bungalow with its cozy bedrooms and small lending
library of books on Florida history, is a labor of love for Doreen and Mark, who have spent the past two years
readying the business for guests. Sounds like a lot of work after losing a corporate job.
But to Doreen, it was cathartic.
"For one thing," she jokes, "I don't have to wear pantyhose anymore."
The 40-year-old mother of two teenagers - Kevin, 15, and Kelly, 12 - Doreen had spent years on the fast track.
After earning an MBA, she switched her career from social work to marketing and public relations, spending the past
decade or so of her life working for big real estate companies.
"Just like the character in my book, I was pondering the simple life," she says. "In many ways, my life has been
parallel to hers."
After watching her father lose his battle to pancreatic cancer a few years ago, Doreen had a battle of her own to
wage. A long, tense commute to her job in Brandon meant late dinners, missed ballgames and a short-tempered
existence.
Losing her job to downsizing "was the worst and best thing that ever happened to me," she recalls. "I was so afraid
of failing, that overachieving was the only way I had ever known how to live. But I also didn't know how to live
anymore."
Slowly, she did learn how: The book she had been dictating into a tape recorder during her long commutes finally
got written. The pain of countless rejection letters was quickly forgotten when a small Chicago publisher accepted
her manuscript.
Though the Lewises contemplated selling the bed and breakfast - particularly when they didn't know if they would
ever be able to open it - they decided to hang onto it. Doreen managed to furnish the entire place on a dime: "eBay
and garage sales," she says proudly of the decor that's a happy melange of historic styles from the $50 garage sale
wardrobe closet to the floral down-stuffed sofa bought for a few bucks used. Colorful art-glass lamps are steals from
Big Lot and the 1920s dresser came from the Salvation Army.
"Don't ever be afraid to dream," Doreen advises.
Or downsize to smaller digs, for that matter.
Her book dedication - to her husband, a 41-year-old copy center employee who was her high school sweetheart
and whom she calls her soul mate - pretty much says it all.
"This book is dedicated to hard-working women who come home from work cranky and mean," she writes, "who want
nothing more than to have someone who simply understands and loves them just the way they are. I know, I know -
God, I know the need."
Elizabeth Bettendorf can be reached at ebettendorf@hotmail.com
St. Petersburg Times, April 30, 2005
