For the size of our family, most people would say we are renting a small house. The house is roughly 1200 sq. ft., 1 bathroom, 3 bedrooms (1 is 10 ft.. x 10 ft.). Given its small dimensions, it’s incredibly quaint having been built in the late 1940s, been updated, and has 1/2 acre backyard (in addition to the land we are using for the farm).
Amazingly, with 8 people (a handful who are 3 ft and under) we fit in here just fine. (I must admit our toilet clogged and had to be replaced because of “high traffic volume” and because someone flushed my make-up down it. So we’d gladly welcome another!)
I recently spent some time at a friend’s who is blessed with a large home. I prayed as I drove down her driveway that I wouldn’t envy what she had but would be content, cherishing our simplicity.
From living in a variety of homes over the last decade, we’ve learned from experience that more space = more stuff which means more time managing the space and the stuff.
Maybe less really is more?
Presently, one of the books I’m reading is Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life
As new farmers, I was intrigued by the following fact found in this book:
“According to the USDA records from 1990s, farms less than 4 acres in size average net income of $1,400 per acre. The per-acre profit declines steadily as farm size grows, to less than $40 an acres for farms above a thousand acres.”
WHY?…I’ll tell you. 
“Smaller farms maximize productivity in three ways by:
- using each square foot of land more intensively
- growing a more diverse selection of products suitable to local food preferences
- selling more directly to consumers, reaping more of the net earnings.”
I see a parallel application of productive small farms with efficient small homes(I’m not just talking energy-efficient but family-efficient!).
So, I am going to do a little blog series called: “Ideas for Small Living Spaces.”
I’ll share practical tips for use of space and furniture and hopefully get us all thinking about some of the advantages of small living spaces.
Part I: Ideas for Small Living Spaces: Be Purposeful
Ideas for Small Living Spaces: Christmas Decor
America’s motto of bigger is better may not apply to everything.
Instead, let’s maximize the homes we’ve got, increase their efficiency, and be content with what we have! These are my personal goals and I hope to help you achieve them as well through some practical tips and information.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
As a student of Architecture, I have to tell you many architects agree with you. It’s been said a house doesn’t necessarily represent a home. I used to dream of big “Von Trapp” homes as a child but came to realize over time what would make me really happy is a small cottage where there was a space for everything and hopefully everything in it’s place, lol (especially a tudor style one or 1920′s bungalow
. Often those who are wealthy will become enlightened with this idea, how often have we read maybe a biography on Queen Elizabeth who preferred her “small country house” — come, come let’s not forget it’s small to her. Actually, a good example is Marie Antoinette. In her last few years as she grew close to her husband, who was less extravagant and more down to earth then his predecessors, she began to grow bored with court life and such grand, cold and lonely environments offered by the halls of Versailles and passionately poured her life into pretending to be a milk maid in a “small midevil ” hamlet she constructed on Versailles’ massive grounds. It goes to show that having everything at our fingertips doesn’t guarantee happiness but hopefully having enough and the desire to work hard for it or make do with what we have is where true happiness begins.
http://www.artisansofleisuretraveler.com/photos/hamlet_animals.gif
Here’s a picture of Marie Antoinette’s little village.
Beautifully said! I’d move in there any day! I have visited Versailles and although the palace and gardens are breathtaking, I’ve always been fascinated by the queen who preferred the cottages and find that most of me would have to agree with her! Probably because it is unfamiliar to me, there is a wee-bit of me curious about life inside the palace. However, after reading some history about various royal families, palace living seems to challenge family life as we know it. So I guess it is learning to add beauty to our “present-day cottages” to turn them into the “palace” of our dreams.