Cohousing-L Mailing List: Design tips for small square footage (Was: Re: How big is too big (for a house))

[William C. Wood (woodwc]

 - cat wrote:

/ > It's not the square footage so much as how you use the space./

If you have some design tips (or links to design tips) on how multiple 
individuals can live together in peace while economizing on square feet, 
can you pass them along? Here's my favorite tip: "make the bedrooms 
small 
<http://www.houseandgarden.co.uk/interiors/interior-design-ideas-small-spaces-flats/tiny-bedroom> 
and use the square footage to make kitchens and informal areas larger."

(Sounds simple enough, and my crew has always been happy with small 
bedrooms. I've been in some vacation homes and rentals that use that 
principle -- everyone can sleep in peace, and then there's space to hang 
around the fireplace and look out at the lake. But there must be 
something that the wider world thinks is bad with small bedrooms, 
because as square footage increases in standard house plans, it's the 
size rather than the number of bedrooms that typically increases.)

William C. Wood
Director, Simplicity House
http://simplicityhouse.org