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Items one and two don't seem to surprising but I was sttracted to #3. I wonder about the phrase "first in, first out" for I might have said, for things only come in if something gets tossed out as "dead man's boots".....but I guess I'm a classic.
Of course, it might be something bigger than that in that I find that most people have only a specialist point of view, that being a generalist has no concept for them whatsoever. My stand point, in the world of things, is to have enough different things to be able to do any job.
But then again....thoughts?
Lived in an 36FT 5th wheel for four years during my 30's with my hubby & our three kids in tow! We loved it, but we had a purpose, to see the world and that we did! We sold everything, including are home, etc, etc..Took our business on the road during them years we traveled the US and abroad. Thankful we did, we enjoyed these adventure with the kids and we were young and healthy as well! We got out daily, so it never felt like a box, it felt like a place we could call home, our things we enjoyed, like foods etc were there! Now that I'm much older, kids married with family's of their own, once again the hubby and I are ready to sell of everything and return back to what we love, liven life! ... Maybe a Splinter van this time... LOL..Life an adventure to be lived daily, there so much world to see and embrace, and way to short to be spent grounded! Peace out!
The only grossly oversized furniture I can think of is the ever-expanding sectional, which sometimes reaches proportions of modular absurdity. That and perhaps full wall entertainment consoles.
Do people have gigantic furniture of other types?
A lot of couches and chairs are huge- like those gigantic recliners. The interior part is not that big, but the arms, back, etc has so much padding that it adds almost 50-75% to the actual size of the chair. There are also couches generally that are so deep that they seem to be designed for basketball players.
I go into Restoration Hardware and wonder who on earth can sit in those couches because I feel like an elementary school child. Overall the furniture there is just large in scale. The beds are big with huge head and foot boards, etc- clearly designed for homes on a large scale and not smaller spaces. I go to other stores like Room and Board and they have furniture in lots of different sizes/scales from smaller apartment size to bigger. Other stores also sell apartment collections that are smaller in scale, but not many are multifunction to work in a studio or convertible type setting. Plus, a lot of our studio apartments have a huge kitchen that is eat in. That is not practical. If someone works from home, they might need a dedicated work area with a comfy office chair, not a barstool. When I was in Japan and had small apartments, there was always adequate room to fit a small cafe table and chairs and a small desk. I had one apartment that was only 300sqft or so. Not everyone needs a place that is 50% kitchen, particularly if they live in a studio.
Not everyone needs a place that is 50% kitchen, particularly if they live in a studio.
Oh, I'd agree. I'm on the downslope, myself; for quite some time we had to tell RE agents "XXL, please" and would only have to look at 3-4 houses in any one area. I moved here with one adult child and compromised at 1700sf, which is turning out to be a lot of space; when I look for the next house I'll consider 1000sf if it has shop and garage space.
And yeah, a lot of furniture does seem... inflated to fill the vast spaces of the homes of the last 15 or so years. We had employees and friends who (as couples and with first kids) bought houses bigger than ours — which was just a sprawling ranch with additions — and had the furniture from their last apartment lost in them. And yeah, a kitchen big enough for six of the microwaves they actually used to cook...
So yeah, I can see the point of going back to human-sized furniture in much smaller space. But tiny houses take it too far, for no good reason except faddishness. You really shouldn't have to convert the space several times a day for different uses.
I lived on a 36 foot sailboat for a couple years when I was in my 30s and single. It was a great experience, but I've collected too much "stuff" to ever try it again.
To be clear, we're not talking about 500-1500 sq. ft. conventional houses built on a foundation with complete utilities. "Tiny houses" in today's vocabulary means wee little trailers built to look like houses, that can be (with some difficulty) trucked from one place to another. Since they have to fit on a trailer, their footprint is typically limited to something like 9 ft wide x 12 ft long. They're far less practical for real life than a small actual house, and most of the time as I've noted they end up parked beside someone else's real house which is used for anything other than sleeping, preparing the most basic meals, and using the toilet. But being built to simulate a house, they also make lousy trailers compared to actual RV trailers.
If you choose to live on a boat, you're trading the ability to have stuff and the need to constantly reconfigure your space when you want to change activities, for the ability to live on a boat.
Which leaves you with 18 pairs of active footwear. Nobody NEEDS 18 pairs of footwear.
Well, first of all, if one is going to be spending 10s of thousands of dollars, it better be something that you want.
Now, about boots. Who could have foreseen this stop-go-STOP economy? Well, those that did in some sense have probably been handling it better than those who didn't and FACE IT, that is the kind of world we live in. It would not surprise me that if we ever get to a point of something before, those who were hurt in these times will stock up.
Are they going to be buying boots? Well, that is probably low down on the list, but come the opportunity such as maybe a pass through Hillsboro, TX, the boot outlet capital!, they just might.
(never shopped there, had the fortune of having boot outlets closer)
Last edited by TamaraSavannah; 06-30-2020 at 03:23 PM..
I think they’re often “cool,” like I respect the movement for the right type of person. I like to see what people do with such small spaces. Me personally? No. I spend 95% and now 100% of my time at home. I want my home to be basically like the microcosm of a city - I have a gym, office, pool, arcade, pinball, multiple 7.1 surround sound systems, etc. I want leaving the house to be an option not a necessity, so that if, day, there was some sort of - I know know - crazy pandemic, for instance, I wouldn’t be stuck like most people without the things I need to be happy. And you can accomplish these things in a small space it’s just about priorities. I had a studio condo in LA and still fit a Bowlex, elliptical, a large collection of my valuables, my equipment for work in storage, a multiple screen desktop system, a large TV, a small TV, etc. all in 920 square feet. But I far prefer dedicated spaces.
Other people, maybe more extroverts, prefer to live life almost entirely on the road or outside the home and they just need the absolute basics. They surely must be single or crazy, though. Every two bedroom place my wife and I have lived we were unhappy and fights ensued. They went away entirely once we had more space so that I could hang out with friends or she could without disturbing the other person, or someone could stay up late and watch movies without worrying it’ll wake them up. Small spaces I can tolerate if I’m single. Otherwise it’s exponential - I can do 920 being single, maybe even 600 (I’ve done it and I enjoyed it), but with someone else 2,800 to 4,000 is minimal.
What are you talking about? Americans had much smaller homes until recently. The average size of a home in 1920 was about 1050 square feet. Now it is about 2600 square feet. People were having about 2-3 kids in the 1920s, not so much different than now. People in NYC live in small spaces and aren’t tiny people. People make do with the space they have available.
At least in the 70s, there were still "starter homes". Our first in Mission Viejo, California, was 1,000 sq ft as was the whole neighborhood. 3 bedrooms, 1 1/2 bath. We were fine there. Later added a family room.
I'm guessing this vacation rental we've been stuck in for over 3 months is maybe 500 sq ft and it's amazing how you adapt.
There's a small washing machine in the kitchen typical in Europe. Half-size fridge so we have to shop much more. It really doesn't feel cramped now that I'm used to it.
But I do prefer our 1,000 sq ft condo back home. Plus, we have a garage for all that inevitable stuff.
When we built a 3,000 sq ft split level, we found that we lived on the upper floor and never went downstairs, lol.
It's not self-sufficient. It requires you to have mom and dad's place in order to fulfill your fantasy of being a wild independent child of nature and minimalism - as long as you can walk across mom and dad's yard when you need to do a big load of laundry, or take a shower.
Reminds me of Thoreau "living in the woods all by himself" - except every week he walked over to his parents' house and had Sunday dinner and his mother did his laundry.
The dependence is more extensive than relying on relatives for free use of their land and house. I’ve read dozens of CL ads in which total strangers beg someone to provide “just some space to put my tiny house [or RV or travel trailer or van] on.” Inevitably, the seekers state that they “might” need to use the kitchen or bathroom or they don’t mention anything at all about needing a human waste dumping facility. Often they “require” a yard for their “sweet, well-behaved” dog(s), too, and a garden.
The line that always makes me snort in derision goes like this: “Non-420-friendly or non-animal-lovers need not apply.” HUH? Apply? Who’s begging for free or dirt-cheap, often illegal use of property?
I could live in 500 square feet of "house", just give me another 500 sq.ft. for kitchen+pantry, an attached 3-car garage, and a separate 2000sq ft of heated workshop (so my cars don't get covered in metal shavings and sawdust)...
Freestanding houses are expensive, and playing games with the way real estate ownership is handled does nothing to reduce that expense.
For those who want to address homelessness, they should be designing tiny apartments and tiny condos, not tiny houses.
That is 3000 sq ft of insulated, heated buildings PLUS the additional attached 3-car garage (total of at least 3700 sf). NOT what anyone would call a small house. The 1000 sq ft of house without the garage or the workshop is a small house.
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LOL..Life an adventure to be lived daily, there so much world to see and embrace, and way to short to be spent grounded! Peace out!
