Living in a small studio apartment, I would love the idea of having a large, empty room to use as a “yoga room,” as some people suggested. Beats having to fold up my futon to sitting position just so I can roll out the yoga mat! On the other hand, I can’t beat the cheap monthly rent that comes with being able to get by with a studio.

WilliamB, you B smart. I would have done exactly the same thing, because everybody DOES end up in the kitchen!

My DH and I have a 2BR, 2BA mid-century apartment that has (with semi-private patio) nearly 1500 sq.ft. Our “living room” has only glass-fronted bookcases and wall-mounted mirrors; we use it as a practice and teaching studio (we are dancers). The “den” is our TV room. The dining room is a staging area until we throw a dinner party, which is fairly often. The 2nd bedroom is a home office + guest room. It’s a great space and as a rental costs us approximately 1/3 what it would cost to buy that square footage in our area.

And having lived with two bathrooms for two adults, I will never willingly go back to only one!!

So I knocked the wall out between the two rooms.

Now I have a double-sized kitchen with a large eat-at island in the middle. The kitchen-side has plenty of counter and cabinet space and the den-side has chairs and a couch and a rug. It’s very homey and welcoming and 80% of living goes on in that room.

There were a lot of wonderful suggestions. As for me, I’ve been blessed with a handy man and I am considering having him take down the walls that connect the formal living room and family room ( as they are side by side) making one large room and then using one section (what would’ve formally been the formal dining room) as a study

I’m a think outside the box women and my significant other is a stuck in the past man. I’m modern, and he’s traditional. Trying to find a happy medium is difficult. I am really consumed with making the house function around the way we move and behave… so I am enjoying the fact that there are so many like minded individuals on this site.

There were a lot of wonderful suggestio

1. If I have more room, I will “need” more furniture to fill the space, but
2. If I have more room, I will have larger house payment and no money to buy said “needed” furniture, and
3. Once I have said extra rooms and said “needed” furniture, I will simply have a larger area to clean, more to dust and less time to do it in since I would have to go and work another job to cover the cost of the bigger house and the more “needed” things.

Instead we found a modest house with a great backyard and much less space than I thought I wanted. But it lends to more family togetherness, less place to put stuff and more time to spend with what really matters– those in the house.

Subsequently, I’ve been told Woman’s Day has a good article this month relating to this “house fat” mentality. It’s very interesting.

Also see the Not So Big House movement by Sara Susanka who points that we really need about 1/3 of the house we think we do if it is done with quality and thought. (http://www.notsobighouse.com)

Anyway, all of this is completely beside the point. The so-called “formal” dining room was a staple of traditional home design. In other words, all the smaller houses that were being built back in the 1950s and earlier had “formal” dining rooms. So the excesses of modern construction have nothing to do with this.

Instead, the real problem with dining rooms today is that most contemporary new homes give you multiples of things you only need one of. E.g., why have a 12×14 dining room and a 11×13 eat-in space in your kitchen? How many places do you need to eat?

Another comment I love from that broker is about ‘bulky objects’ and no storage space – We don’t have outside space, extra wall space, etc. and I have had to configure all kinds of things to get art portfolios, bicycles, our stroller, high chair, and my husband’s music equipment to fit. I’m so sorry if those items ‘look horrible’ – but I use them daily or don’t want to place them in a rented storage facility where they can get damaged.

As unclutterer staff can attest to, I am constantly commenting about getting down to the basics, but I really get frustrated with real estate brokers who seemingly want us to live in 100 square foot apartments with our children and pets. I apologize for being so open — but I’m really bothered by the unrealistic suggestions.

We moved out of DC into Bethesda mostly because we actually got *more* space for the money than if we had tried to get a slightly larger house in the old neighborhood – with the added benefit of better schools. The extra space was for people, not stuff, and we have been going through multiple rounds of decluttering as we get the new house organized better.

The point of the extra space was to accomodate guests better – a real benefit between visiting grandparents and a steady rotation of friends coming to conferences in DC – and also make telecommuting more of an option via a small home office. My company allows it, but working in the (unheated, un-air-conditioned) basement or bedroom of our old house was the only way to steer clear of my charming but extroverted children – and that wasn’t making it.

So, I’m taking up more room than I used to, but I drive less… and if we ever feel like we’re busting out of this house, it will only be a signal to de-clutter. And I’m only about 3 miles further from my clients downtown.

As for finding somewhere closer to the city that’s cheaper, I’d like to see that trick completed in a neighborhood that’s worth living in – near any major city. Perhaps the person who described getting McMansions for $500K – as opposed to 2/3 of a townhouse – could achieve it, wherever it is that they live.