A carb dinner for drama kids!!! Wow! I’ve done carb dinners for athletes, but never would have dreamed of it for my drama kids. That idea kind of scares me.
We had 6 people in a 2 bedroom/800 sq ft apartment back in the 90s. We have a big house now, but kids are flying the coop and it is too much for me to take care of. I dream of a retirement “cottage” with an open kitchen/living area.
Outdoor living space or screened porch would be great. Maybe 3 bedrooms/2 baths. I think about 1200 sq ft would be very comfortable if planned correctly–but I could live in a super tiny space alone or with H if no kids were around. I love looking at those tiny house plans. I like efficiency.
I have a question- why is it harder to take care of a 2500 SF as opposed to 1000 SF if only 2 people live there? Seems like the kitchen and living area and bathrooms would be the same work.
More vacuuming/dusting/mopping? I can actually plug in my vacuum and do my entire house without unplugging it 
By square footage we have a very large home. But we have only 3 bedrooms. Our rooms are very spacious, and DH has an enormous room which he has converted to his office. It’s not a “home office” but his *actual *office where he runs his business. Our Master bedroom is very large and has two full bathrooms. The family room and open kitchen are not that big, so I notice no difference in keeping our general living spaces clean. We are blessed to have a cleaning crew every other Friday for the bathrooms/floors, so keeping this house clean is not a problem for me. What has improved vastly over our other house is that we are on a zero lot line looking at a golf course. This gives us the illusion of space, but nothing we have to take care of. We have a tiny back yard big enough for the dog to do his business, but almost zero yard work is required. What little we have is covered by the HOA dues. That’s been a huge monkey off DH’s back.
I like having the space and would never want to go “tiny.”
One advantage, for me, of living in a small space is less clutter. We got rid of so much junk when we downsized and learned that we really don’t need that much. I’m even planning on getting rid of more clothes and books this month. And it takes so much less time to clean! Entertaining is a little more cozy. We want to have a cocktail party and realistically we need to keep the list to 10 people. And not everyone can sit at the same time!
megpmom, when we sold our family home, we did a whole lot of decluttering. We sold our house before we had found another one, so we quickly moved into a rental. When that ended, we had another round of decluttering/giving to charity/garage sale. It was such a huge ordeal doing all of that, I can’t even express. BUT it was incredibly liberating. Mentally it was very freeing to disengage from so much of that “stuff” that was cluttering up our lives.
My best friend and I rented a 450sq ft studio and stayed for a week. We both agreed it was just the right amount of space. It was laid out just right (and I think that’s the key to tiny home living) - there was a separate full bath, a galley kitchen (small but fully equipped) a lovely sitting area with 2 love seats and one big comfy chair & flat screen mounted, and a small dining/office area - There was little “clutter” and nearly everything had a use. My cable company has all the HGTV Tiny House Hunters on demand, and I did an all-night marathon over the holidays. I really liked the yurt the best, and thought the young girl was perfect for it!
The yurt is the only one I haven’t seen! Ours are “on demand” also. 
I have been looking at tiny homes for 2 years now. I want one that is on wheels and is registered as an RV. The norm for a tiny house is about 128 sq ft, I am looking for about 170. I need the extra sq ft for a real staircase instead of a ladder, and a washer/dryer combo. Insulation and quality windows are a must, and I would like solar panels as well. I Have been pricing them and it seems about 50k will cover all upgrades.
I’m not sure where my dh would put his tv in these places. I can do small but I don’t think I could do tiny.
just watched a netflix on tine houses. quite interesting. the one the guy built was $23000
I started a thread a few years back about the Tiny House Movement here, because the concept intrigued me, and the reasons stated for such drastic downsizing by those who advocate doing so were thought-provoking. I absolutely love the creative use of space and ingenious storage strategies employed by the best designers of small and tiny houses, as they are ideas that would enable many people to rather painlessly downsize from their current housing. But there are several reasons why I don’t think I could go below about 1000-1200 square feet: 1): I’ve got lots of hobby stuff which I have a very hard time imagining myself parting with. Currently, my hobbies occupy two rooms in our 1700 sq.ft. house. The formal living room (who even uses those anymore?) is my art studio, where I paint, and do paper crafting. And the formal dining room (another space we’ve never used for such) is my quilting/sewing room. I expend a lot of time and energy maintaining both a pleasing aesthetic, and intelligent use of storage in those two rooms so they stay conducive to creativity. I honestly can’t see being able to do that I do with less space than what I have. 2): I need to be able to move as far away from the center of noise and activity as possible at times. When my H is watching TV downstairs (invariably, some shoot 'em up, or thriller), I have to be out of earshot of the sounds of violence and general Malay. Our upstairs bedroom, door closed, is my silent retreat. I read, or noodle around on facebook, Youtube (or CC 
) during those times. These quiet times alone have always been very important to me. I can’t see constantly living cheek by jowl with anyone, not even my my incredibly wonderful husband. So, unless a downsized space would allow me to maintain these two imperatives, it ain’t happening.
@GA2012MOM, are you looking for a tiny house for main house purposes or for travel or vacation purposes?? Amazing that you can fit a staircase into 170 sq feet! I’d love to see a photo of something similar to what you are looking at!
Go to livingbiginatinyhome and you will see some different examples of staircases. I like the ones that incorporate storage into them. I would like to have a tiny home as a primary residence, not for travel. You can put blocks under the trailer that they are built on, that gives it more stability and takes the weight and pressure off the tires.
If I had a small (note, not tiny!) house, I would attach it solidly to a slab foundation! I don’t want to be blown away in the wind…
^^Yeah, I would not want to have a conversation with my toilet, “Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas any more.”
D1 and H live in Germany in a 380 SF studio apartment with a cat. It is laid out nice and has a large closet and large bathroom. They have their 2 bikes there too. It would be harder if they did not work and go out and travel on the weekends. A cute balcony would have been nice but it was not available. The whole outside wall is glass and there are large mirrors in the bathroom. That size is very doable for one or two people. They have a queen bed, kitchen on one wall side, (1/2 stove and 1/2 refrigerator). No washer dryer. Dining room table and chairs and couch. Any smaller would we harder unless they had a yard, warm weather, and ability to build up like shelves. It feels very open in concept.
I think 650 S.F. living area is about smallest local building code allows in my county. Few build that small because it would be tough to resell small house like that. 650 would be one bedroom or two small (9’x10’) bedrooms and tiny kitchen and living area, 5’x8’ bath and a little utility area.
If the tiny houses are built on a trailer, they can be registered as an RV.