<p>There’s a movement afoot in recent years that advocates the virtues of living with alot less, namely square footage. This in turn requires the consumption of far less in the way of energy and other material resorces. It’s called The Small House Movement, and I was wondering if any of you here have heard of it. </p>
<p>I saw a brief segment on this new eco-movement (some would say eco-fad) on a news show a couple of weeks back. Some of these miniature houses are as small as 3 to 5 hundred sq. ft. Needless to say, there’s not room for such luxuries as washers and driers, or well-functioning kitchens. This is exactly the point, some advocates say. There are supposedly whole communities comprised of these tiny dwellings that share a communal laundry and commnual kitchen, the purpose being that it promotes community and discourages the wasting of resources. It goes without saying, this lifestyle isn’t for everyone. I see them as an expressed backlash against the ever-larger McMansions that are overspreading the country. Sadly, given the average home prices in many markets, homes such as this may be the only way some people will be able to afford a house. These little cottages make the average mobile home look positively palatial. I guess this means tornados will have to start taking aim at small house communities instead of mobil home parks :p.</p>
<p>Small can be good, but I don’t think I could manage with 300 sq ft. My first home was 800-900 sq feet, and there was plenty of room for me and my husband, along with the dog. When we had kids, we wanted something a bit bigger and with more land for them to run.</p>
<p>The website mentions sharing kitchen facilities, laundry, and restrooms. Sorry, I want my own bathroom. I could share laundry rooms and maybe kitchens, but NOT bathrooms! But maybe that’s just me… To each his or her own, I always say.</p>
<p>Yeah, I forgot about the shared bathrooms. That I could not do. I get up at least twice a night to “go”, so I’d hate to have to leave the house in order to do so. CGM, did I say there was anything wrong with a small house? Small is one thing, minature is an entirely different thing. They are cute, though. It’s also absolutely amazing how inventively some of these tiny home dwellers maximize their limited space.</p>
<p>Sarah Susanka is an architect who focuses on creating usable space. I’ve looked through one of her books, and I really like the way she uses every little space. She is a proponent of smaller homes, and if a house is really well-designed, I think it’s more comfortable than a huge barn-like space. I particularly don’t like a kitchen that’s too big – it’s too hard to cook if I have to walk half a mile between the cook top, refrigerator and sink! Here are a couple of links about her work.
<a href=“Home - Sarah Susanka”>Home - Sarah Susanka;
<a href=“Home - Sarah Susanka”>Home - Sarah Susanka;
<p>Well, the first half of my kids’ childhood, we lived in a four room apartment over a pizzeria (helped with heating costs, though it got a little warm in the summer…) I’d guess it was about 500 square feet. We too had shared laundry facilities–the laundromat a mile away!</p>
<p>Now we live in a five and a half room house (S’s room doesn’t have a closet, and is about 6X7, so doesn’t qualify as a whole room --dorm rooms seemed palatial to him.)</p>
<p>3 or 400 square feet would be small to me, but I really don’t need that much more. I think an overall downsizing would be a good thing for the country as a whole, definitely wouldn’t call the concept an “eco-fad”. I think the McMansions are more the fad.</p>
<p>the last few years we have lived in a rather spacious home, and we have entertained and the kids have entertained and it has been a blast. many times there has been 15-30 kids in and out of the house for different events–and it was a blast. now that our youngest is leaving for school, we are so excited to be “down-sizing” and i just can’t wait! i think i would feel guilty heating/cooling this larger home for just two people. however, i couldn’t do with a tiny house. i do need a little space!</p>
<p>I live in an old mansion, built around the turn of the 20th century. I feel as much a caretaker as a resident. I loved all the space as we raised our family, and I continue to love the fact that we can host significant, large family events such as Thanksgiving and offer overnight stays to extended family members. However, as we experience another empty-nest summer, it’s clear that we should scale down. My two favorite rooms in my house are the library and the dining room. They’re both huge rooms–18’x24’ or so. When we do decide to scale down, I intend to combine the two–a dining room surrounded by bookcases–or a library with a big dining table at the center–take your pick. I saw this once at a beautiful upper-east side apartment in NYC, and it was fantastic. Other than that , I just need a good kitchen and master bedroom, and a couple of guest-rooms for the kids and hopefully, grandkids.</p>
<p>I started adult life in a 1905 prairie style house of 3000 sf on a small lot. Now it’s 1140 sf of house, 1260 sf of shop, and 11 acres of peace.</p>
<p>Driver, I have the same idea about combining dining room and library. My problem right now is that I have run out of wall space for my ever expanding collection of books. Any attempt at downsizing will have to take into account my reading habits.</p>
<p>Yes, Marite…One of the downsizing things I have to deal with is books that I no longer really need. I mean, there are some that I read and will revisit for the rest of my life…others I look at and think “huh…I read that? I wonder why?” The library/dining room combo is incredibly useful and cool, though. The table is there for when you want to simply do research, and the books are there for settling passionate dinner table discussions! A salon fit for a soiree.</p>
<p>Hey - some people live on boats. And even a pretty big boat makes a pretty small house. I certainly relate to this “movement” - I may even be a “claustrophile” as the idea of living in a compact space with efficient utilization seems to appeal to me on a visceral level.</p>
<p>I was speakng in GENERAL about small houses, in a nation were we think small is bad, that somehow bigger is better, the land of the monster house, small is just fine</p>
<p>My ideal house would be a 2br/2ba around 1400 sf with a six car garage including a lift and a nice dry heated storage shed. Also a large screened porch/deck and outdoor kitchen.</p>
<p>I know we should downsize, but I don’t think we can make ourselves do it. Like Driver, I like having the space to have large family groups in or the kids having 15 or 20 friends over. Later, I would like the grandchildren to enjoy coming and staying. I remember how my kids hated visiting my H’s parents because they were in small condo with cramped rooms, no where to play and no yard to speak of. Guess I just can’t part with the memories either ;).</p>
<p>I know an older, wealthy couple who built a beautiful home with only one bedroom, the better to discourage all of the overnight guests that used to descend on them - including their own kids, which I thought was kind of sad. They considered it to be the ultimate luxury (lousy resale potential) !</p>
<p>Well, we’re looking to buy a teeny tiny house within walking distance of the beach. Perhaps our grandchildren (in the far future when we have them) will be more forgiving.</p>
<p>We’ve got a pretty big house at the moment, and I can definitely see in the future scaling back once the kids are out. Its a beautiful house, but there’s always some issue with it to deal with that always is expensive. I like the idea ALOT of condo life but H won’t hear of it, even in retirement years. He told me to go live in one, and he’d come and visit…I might just do it! ha!</p>
To each his or her own, I always say.</p>