Is bigger really better?

If you're like me, you have a dream house in your head. And it's huge. Massive kitchen with the ubiquitous island cooktop and granite countertops, a playroom with a pool table, dart board and a wet bar, and probably a dedicated home theater (actually mine has a big gym with a sauna instead of the home theater). Tons of space, 5 big bedrooms with ensuite baths, walkin showers AND jacuzzi tubs. In short, a palace. The kind of house that they feature on HGTV dream home shows.

But do we really need all that? And how many of us can afford it? I certainly can't. When did the concept of the "starter home" enter our vocabulary? How many of our parents and grandparents owned more than one house? My parents still live in the first house they ever bought. My grandparents only ever owned one house, and I think they counted themselves extremely fortunate to have managed that. But as the world has gotten faster and we have become more consumption oriented, we have bought into any number of things that are not necessarily good, and trading up houses every decade or sooner seems to be one of them. And if you are trading up, you are always in debt, unless you are both lucky and good. I am both of those things, but I think I prefer to take a completely different approach.

My house, which I love, is about 1,100 square feet. Quite small as things go, but enough room for me, if I am smart about how I use it. And I believe that if I design effectively, if I am clever, I can put about 2,000 square feet of use in that little house. I also bet I can make it incredibly efficient in other ways too, so it costs me less each year to keep up. Along the way I am bound to "overbuild" for the neighborhood I live in, but since I am doing these things for me, I don't care. The other thing to consider is that I will be doing all the work myself, so for every dollar I spend I can reasonably expect about 3 dollars in return, even if I do overbuild for the area.

So lets focus on quality over quantity, efficiency over grandeur, and comfort over consumerism. Maybe we'll learn some things about the good life along the way. I certainly hope I give you some ideas you can use to live large in your own small space.