Who Thinks Our Place is Small?

Felice Cohen in her 90 SF home:  living room, office, kitchen, dining.

"The average size of the American home is shrinking -- it dropped in both 2008 and 2009 after 15 straight years of growth -- but most of us are still living larger than people in the Big Apple. Home size in Manhattan is about half the national average.

One New Yorker has taken her love of frugal living to the extreme. Felice Cohen’s apartment measures just 90 square feet, but she doesn’t see it as a sacrifice. With such a small space, she pays just $700 to live in a part of town where rents average $3,600 per month."

http://shine.yahoo.com/event/green/simple-life-in-manhattan-a-90-square-foot-home-2472666

I'm aware that some would read this blog and think: what is so special about a family of four in 629 square feet?  This size home is fair, especially when viewed in a historical or global context.  Both of my parents were from working class families with four children and they lived in two bedroom homes. In both of their families, my grandparents had one bedroom, the 3 boys shared the other, and the girl slept in a closet. The graphic below shows that as normal for the times.  Keep in mind, families were larger back then.

The real estate boom definitely had a role in this march to a larger and larger home (and now smaller..).  Larger homes were winners with "price per square foot game" added to the "pass the bedroom game." (my personal term for the phenomenon of people buying homes with more bedrooms needed so that the re-sale is better. Then they sell the home to someone  who is doing the same thing.  Lots of empty bedrooms getting passed around.  How about getting what you need now and adding on if you happen to need that 4th bedroom? I digress...)  Now those games are not adding up.  People want to downsize.  For good reasons!  Less Expensive!  Quicker to Clean!  Guests Won't Stay as Long! :) And it is dawning on me: maybe the McMansions were the trend and we are getting back to normal.  Maybe Scott and I live in a regular size house, not a tiny one! Wait! We live in a huge house compared to many in our world.  It has more than one room, after all.

Doesn't look so tiny to me!