I currently live in a 760 SF house (though it has an uncounted finished basement my S uses when he’s here, and we use for storage and laundry). It’s plenty big for me and D though it did require getting rid of a lot of stuff from our old house, about 3x the size, which turned out to be very liberating.
I wouldn’t go back to a big house. It’s wonderful to spend so little time taking care of the house - cleaning, furnishing, whatever. And yet there is plenty of space - I can have 6 at my kitchen table/island though I prefer 3, and I have a queen size bed and a living room. What else is really needed?
Now the teeny tiny houses…not sure I could do it with the kids in a cold climate, but I could probably do it alone and/or in a warm climate.
I could never do it with kids. Kids are the worst roommates ever.
I’ve seen the HGTV show about two times and both times the couple did not seem on the same page with what they wanted.
One summer in college I lived on Cape Cod in a newly converted 1800’s wood shed. It was about 225 square feet but had 15’ ceilings and a loft that was as wide as a double bed and 15’ long. The “kitchen” was one of those mini fridge-sink-stove combos. The bath was a tiny shower and a toilet. The kitchen sink served dual purpose. It was newly done, clean, had lots of windows and was across from the water. I loved it. I could never do it for a winter.
Our real house is pretty big. Our beach house (where I’m sitting now) is only 940 square feet. I can’t imagine raising a family in something this small.
I love thEm but it would never work for me. My running shoes alone would be a deal-breaker. Would love a week in one by myself. We have a big house- it’s sort of the way things are where we live. H has a lot of big stuff- tools, workshop, bicycles… We both have a lot of electronics. I could live in much less square footage if It were just me.
We have a small, 17 foot travel trailer and our dog takes up the entire floor space. It’s fun for a couple of days, but it gets tight.
We live in an 800 sq ft flat - 2br,2ba. Its plenty big for two of us. A bit cramped if two adult kids are home, but they are rarely home together. We’re looking for a 3 br, 2 ba house just to be able to spread out a little and have both kids w SOs visit for holidays.
We rented a condo in HI that had 2 bedrooms, 2 baths and a full kitchen with washer/dryer and storage pantry and a spacious living room. It was 1100-1200 sq ft, but looked so much bigger because everything was arranged so well that there was no wasted space. Plus a large lanai was like an extra living room! That kind of space I can easily manage!
Love the Tiny House show. Our retirement house is 1580 sq. feet. I think I could have easily gone smaller as long as I had good outdoor space. My S1 is really intrigued by the tiny houses. He bought a 740 sq. foot house 3 years ago. He says now that he should have gone smaller.
It’s one thing to have a small space when it is just one or two people but another thing if there are kids as well. “Small” is certainly a relative concept. We have the smallest home of my family, with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and about 1200 square feet. It was fine for the 4 of us and should be OK when the kids bring their significant others down the road. I hate housecleaning and if we had a bigger space, it would be more cleaning. I have relatives that have homes 2-4x the size of ours. Some hire housekeepers to come and clean while others spend a lot of time cleaning.
H and his family were fine with the 5 in them in 800 square foot 3 bedroom, 1 bath home. I don’t believe they thought if it as small, it was just home.
Tiny houses fascinate me, but my poor knees would never survive climbing up and down the loft ladder. I’d like to downsize, but DH wants to be sure we have enough space for vising children and grandchildren (who don’t exist yet).
I spent the better part of last winter designing a retirement apartment for myself and hubbie. Right now, I have two different designs, one at 600 square foot and the other at 800 square foot, both over a 3-car garage which we intend to build in the next few years on our property. We will then rent the 3B/2B house we live in and move to the apartment. We just won’t need this space when D leaves for college, although one third of the garage itself will be finished as D’s bedroom when she is home and a music room when she is not, equipped with a murphy bed. The plan is to be mortgage-free and pay half the cost of utilities, enabling us to retire on the little savings we have. Eventually, we hope to live in a warmer climate Dec-April so this will become our summer/fall refuge.
in the midwest, housing is cheap-ish, you can get a ton of space for not a huge price. The space is great for group parties though – we’ve had daughter’s drama kids (60+) over a few times for “carb dinners” and it was fun!
i look forward to slimming down our house when our 4 kids are gone for the cleaning aspect.
Never. I need lots of space. Even when I was single I longed for a bigger house that had a dining room, laundry room, and larger bedrooms than my small house. We don’t plan on down sizing. We will, however, hire people to take care of things we no longer can as we get older. Looking at the price we would get for this house, and the cost of empty nester condos, we will be way ahead financially. Plus we can enjoy our yard and the farmland that borders the backyard.
I think tiny houses work for people who live simple lives.
Thank you abasket. I’m still tweeking the plans and its been fun to do. I spend alot of time on Houzz and HGTV.com looking at space-saving ideas and such. Our only must haves are lots of storage areas and a small 8x9 room or alcove to fit our two computers separate from the living room, just for additional “get away” space. Town bylaws allow for a 600 sf in-law apartment (thus the first design) and new bylaws now allow for 800 sf apartments for low-income that can be used by family first and then town employees so we’re looking at those as well.
Our house, not counting the partially finished basement and detached garage is 1000sq ft.
I could live smaller with my books on kindle , tv on my iPad, and music on my iPhone, but I’m not so sure about my husband who like to bring home drill motors and tool boxes from estate sales like they were stray puppies.
We have so much wood in the garage, the basement and the yard, that will be turned into ?, someday.
Or not.
I know I can live small 99% of the time. When income is freed up by low housing expenses, then there is money to rent a vacation home for larger family gatherings.
