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| Average New Build Home Sizes from 2006 Survey |
Land is Finite
Growing up in the UK, I can relate to the data. The UK is a small island with a finite amount of land and a lot of people living on it. Optimizing space has been a consideration in the UK and other European countries for many years. Space optimization has not been big a consideration in the US (especially here in Texas). Just look at the below graphic which shows you can fit the UK into Texas with room for a few million acre ranches to spare:
With population growth the way it is and land still being finite (even in Texas) we do have to consider our footprint on the world. To wit, there is a growing trend in some of the more forward thinking cities (Austin, San Francisco, Portland etc.) for more people to live in multi-floor buildings in one central downtown area. With this comes a reduction in the square footage of living space. You can look at Manhattan as the poster child for US space conservation with the median sized apartment being just 550 sq. ft.
My Living Space Experience
Since living in the US, I have lived in houses varying from 1,400 to 3,000 sq. ft. Prior to moving to our condo, my wife and I lived in a three bedroom 2,400 sq ft ranch in West Lake. It was a beautiful house and pretty close to the US average size. When we bought it we actually thought we were being pretty conservative compared to some of the other monster homes in our neighborhood. In actuality the house was at least twice as big as we needed. Aside from a few months when my wife's sister lived with us, the two spare bedrooms were used fewer than twenty times in the five years we lived there. There were two living rooms and we never ended up furnishing the second one. That's three whole rooms we could have done without entirely!Looking to Down Size
When we started looking at condos, we had a lower limit of 1,200 sq ft in mind. This number was derived from some pretty basic math i.e. 2,400 / 2. We also felt that two bedrooms was a minimum. After all we had to accommodate the four nights a year that we had overnight guests! It was not long into our search that we realized 1,200 was not only a nominal number but also an expensive number. In the end, with some trepidation, we selected a 1,000 sq. ft. one bedroom one-bathroom condo. As we were renting we thought, oh well, it is only for a year and we can buy a larger one next year.Fast forward six months and we could not be happier living in our 1,000 sq. ft.
Working from Home
I work from home two days a week. There is much written about working in the same space that you live, much of it directed toward advising you not to do it. It is definitely something you need to be careful about. When living in a single living/dining room condo, separating work and home life becomes a challenge. My approach is to use the kitchen/dining table for working at and pretty much nothing else. We were not using it for eating at anyway so at least it gets some use this way. I can then get into my work mind set when at the table and escape when I walk over to the couch. I appreciate that this is a mind trick but it is one that can work for you too.In our old house, we had a whole room dedicated for use as an office. This was a pretty big waste of space given that I can be fully productive with my laptop, wi-fi and some peace and quiet. My one nod to the office is a large monitor which further limits our ability to eat at the kitchen table!
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| Our workspace & kitchen table |
For the keen eyed amongst you, you will see there are two monitors on the table (not one). The other is my wife's, honest!
Bedroom
The bedroom is the place where you can afford to cut the most square footage. As long as your bed and some side tables fit, that is pretty much all you need. Just as important as separating work from home is separating your sleeping space from your living space. Having a small bedroom helps enforce this and ensure that all you do in the bedroom is relax and sleep.Living Space
The living room is the one room you should not skimp and the living room is definitely the star of our condo. With floor to ceiling windows at one end, it feels considerably larger than it actually is. It also offers an observation deck to the outside world. This makes you feel connected to the city as opposed to feeling like you are living in a box four floors above it (which is what you are doing). You are going to spend the bulk of your awake hours in this room so make sure you feel comfortable there and that there is something interesting to look at when you look out of the window.Kitchen
Kitchens need to be clean and functional. Excellent appliances and counter top space are more important than a 10 ft island. Don't get me wrong, the kitchen needs to look good but efficiency is king and a small fully functional kitchen helps reduce your overall foot print as well as cutting back on the amount of cleaning you need to do!Storage Space, The Final Frontier
Another concern when moving from our house was the lack of storage space in a condo. We had accumulated so much 'stuff' in five years. It was hard to imagine how we were going live without a garage and the extra 1,400 sq. ft. of potential storage space. In fact, it is a very valid concern if you plan on bringing all that stuff with you. The key is not to bring it with you and to get rid of all the 'stuff'. Sell it, give it away or throw it away but go it must. Be brutal, if you have to think about it for a minute then get rid of it, if you have not used it in a year then get rid of it. I will let you in on a secret. Getting rid of all that stuff is a liberating experience like no other. Your whole life seems simpler and you feel much more agile and able to move as and when your life dictates. This is not for everyone and I can see a time when I may want to put down roots again but even then, you really don't need all the 'stuff'.Whatever you do, don't try and cram all the extra chairs, side tables and armoirs into your one living room condo. The room will feel oppressive and smaller than it really is. You will feel like you are trapped inside an episode of hoarders. 2,400 sq. ft. of stuff is just not meant to fit in a 1,000 sq. ft. condo.
Getting in Each Others Way
My wife and I often struggle to synchronize our lives. When one of us is cleaning, the other is trying to read, when one of us is watching TV, the other is trying to work. In our house this was fine. We could each go to a room and get on with whatever it was we were doing. That sounds great, but the problem is you end up with two people living in the same house but not actually living together. We knew there would be a risk moving to a single room living space but believed it would do us good to be forced into the same space.It has not been easy and we have had a few challenging conversations (that's business speak for arguments). I have noticed, however, that we do spend a lot more time together and have synchronized a lot of the activities that we do. This not only brings us closer but also streamlines and simplifies our lives.
I did mention the risk we identified before moving. That risk is real and locking up two people used to a lot of space in a 1,000 sq. ft. box could be a disaster so think before you leap.
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