What is a small home?

12 years ago  •  By  •  0 Comments

Is it a place to live that is smaller than where I currently live?  Is it a specific amount of interior square footage per person?  Is it a house that is smaller than the average new house in the USA?  Is it a house the same size as the average house somewhere in Europe or Japan?  Is it a backyard cottage?  A place that retirees downsize into?  A house that was built in 1950?

In attempting to answer this question for myself, I typed lots of words into Google:  small home, small house, downsize house, house size, small house size…you get the idea.  There are many answers to this question.  I found articles and blogs discussing housing trends and how the recent recession  reduced the average new house size a little.  I found a Wikipedia article on the Small House Movement (AKA the Tiny House Movement).  There are articles discussing how our energy use increases with the size of our homes.

A small home is one that feels “just right”.  It has plenty of daylight.  It fits with my values.  It consumes a small amount of energy.  Energy defined as: what is required to heat it, clean it, furnish it, organize it, maintain it, live in it.  That is what a small home is to me.