From Marketwatch
Sure, he’s been heard to grumble about the home’s lone bathroom, shared between two adults and three kids.
But residential designer Eric Hughes has few regrets about prioritizing detail, organization and high-end materials over sheer space in the update of his own 1950s ranch in Grand Rapids, Mich. Hughes and his wife chose quality and intimacy over a big expansion of their 1,300-square-foot home — 900 on the main floor and another 400 in a finished basement that holds his professional office and a playroom — that they bought four years ago.
Hughes, owner of Image Design, is a self-described disciple of architect Sarah Susanka and her “Not So Big House” book and lecture series. While the Not So Big philosophy applies specifically to housing design, it is part of a broader movement in society that attracts those who prefer to “think outside the box.”
For many smaller-living advocates, it’s all about thinking green. They’re going for less land use and more energy savings, at times with so-called microhomes that often contain less than 1,000 square feet of living space. Others, like Hughes, are after the practicality of a modest footprint in an established neighborhood and the cheaper living expenses that typically come with it. ”
In a lot of cases, houses are not fitting the way people live anyway. People feel isolated from each other. We’re all only so big, and human scale is so important,” said architect Marc Vassallo. “We won’t find such a shock upon shifting to a smaller house if we admit we need one good space to watch TV … not three.”
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For now, the statistics show that Susanka’s brethren still form the minority. Figures from the National Association of Home Builders and the Census Bureau indicate square footage has more than doubled from the era in which the Hughes home was built, even as families in general are getting smaller. In 2005, the average floor area in a newly constructed home hit an all-time high at 2,434 square feet. Thirty years ago, the average was 1,645 square feet.