I truly laugh myself silly at the McMansions in all their tawdry finery, but I must admit, I’d like a bedroom that’s just a wee bit more than the 12×12 that I have. I’m constantly whacking my toes cutting corners around the bed too closely. And my husband’s office is about 9×10, with three computers, four book cases and two desks. It’s impossible to cool. We have a beautiful piece of property to build on eventually, but my only real requirements are a huge seating area for dining, a claw-foot bathtub deep enough to soak in, and an office I can lock myself in to write in peace. My desk in the bedroom really doesn’t work for privacy. I’d love an older Victorian, or even a Craftsman bungalow style, with nooks and crannies, but as I loathe housekeeping, more space probably isn’t a good idea.

I’m no longer there, but I grew up in a suburb of pittsburgh called Mount Lebanon. During my teen years I felt it was an oppressive “voted-for-reagan-twice” enclave. But now, people from my generation are buying there and starting to raise their families and totally changing the demographics. Anyways, the housing stock consists of very well built smallish homes with manageable lot sizes, good public transportation and top notch schools. To top it off, it is undervalued because the former residents have all diffused into the more remote exburbs.

I think that NYC’ers have these quality of life issues nailed. Having a small living space enforces discipline and keeps clutter in check. When you don’t have an extra room to use as a place to toss stuff to deal with it “later”, it keeps you aware of how much you have and forces the decision to remove something when something new is brought in.

Unless you have more than one wife….

~haslin jasman~

No, thats pretty much the case everywhere. I live in Oregon, and I was just saying to my wife our next house will have to be an older home, because we want a yard.

And, while a small house can be nice if you don’t do a lot of parties and so forth, I’ve found it to be pain. We did our family’s Christmas in our 1500 sqft home, and it was a bit of a nightmare. Mostly with the kitchen. However, I have seen some people do that quite easily.

The freedom from “stuff” must be experienced to be appreciated.

Now we live in a modest just over 1200 square feet home with six acres of land if we ever needed to expand. We could honestly live in a smaller place, but we moved to this house to be closer to my sister-in-law who lives just up the mountain. When we were looking to build we wanted something smaller than this but it worked out better in the end. We have room to breathe, but not too much room to store clutter or to clean. I love it.

It amazes me the people who buy these HUGE new homes and flat out can’t afford them. Banks were willing to loan us way more than we should/could afford for our income. People love to keep up with “THE JONESES” and that is what makes the large home subdivision so popular.

My husband and I are both tired of ’stuff’. We want space and open areas. The house we purchased is well made and has all the upgrades so we will actually be paying lower utility bills. We want rich colors on the walls, only the necessary (and functional) furniture, wireless EVERYTHING, and space. The fact that it’s on over an acre and is a ranch appealed too. That and the giant front porch where I’ll be living. It’s not in a subdivision, either, which was a requirement. I hate homeowners’ associations.

So I agree it’s how you ‘use’ the space, like Jenk said.

Oh and the house we bought was built in the 1940’s and we had no problem getting a loan.