I build BIG houses because that's what people pay me to do. As Willie said, "If they've got the dime, I've got the time." Most are well over 5,000 sq ft. But for myself, I want the comfortable, cozy, affordable lifestyle a small home offers. Here's an example:
This is a 2012 small house award winner by Seattle architect Matt Hutchins and featured in Fine Homebuilding Magazine. It's about 900 sq ft and is actually in the back yard of their 1926-vintage primary residence. They no longer needed 3,000 sq ft as their family is now grown, so they built this in order to stay close to their friends and their long-time neighborhood and then leased out their big house.
Most of my clients request I install in their kitchens $35,000 ultra-high-end appliance packages when truth be told, they rarely use anything but the microwave. Something like this (again the Seattle award winner) would work just fine for 99% of us....me for sure.
The trick is to learn to put every single nook and cranny to use, like this entertainment space (TV, old vinyl records, CD's, etc) tucked under the stairs. I have a thousand ideas such as this that can make 1,000 square feet live like twice that much.
Something like this is what I want to some day build for K and I. Fortunately she and I think alike, at least on this. ;)
The objection will come from the cities who don't want small houses. Their rationale is they'll have to provide police and fire protection, water and sewer service, trash collection, parks, streets, etc, and small homes won't generate enough tax revenue to pay for those services, while a 4,000 square footer will provide way more than enough. It's all just a numbers ($$$) game to them. Today small homes are usually "zoned out".
One option would be to go out in the country and build....cities have no jurisdiction there....but I refuse to live out in the sticks. I have no idea if I can pull this off, but I'm gonna try. It may take years for all the stars to line up, but it'll be worth the effort if it works. Wish me luck.
S
