Visiting a small town can give you culture shock. Visiting a small house can do the same. I adore looking at tiny houses on the internet. I would also adore seeing them in person and sitting in the the tiny kitchens and looking out the tiny windows too if they were some around here. But here all I see is big big big.
I have a big house but I moved our life into a small part of the big house. I do not like suburban sprawl. I put our bedroom in a the smallest room of the house. It is 7 feet by 20 feet long. We don’t need that much space. Ideally I would like a 10 by 10 every room. Even for two you only need that much space to live.?So 400 feet would be plenty big for everything.
What size do the interior designers say to make a conversation area. 10 by 10. They say that because that is the space that is most comfortable to talk to several people. I think four 10 by 10 buildings in a square with a courtyard would be a great way to live. I think I t would be fun to have to go outside to get to the kitchen or bathroom. You would need another shed if you had a child. Everyone could be in a small space that was perfect for thinking all time.
I am in my bedroom and it is too big. I don’t need this much space. My theory is that Americans live in too big of a house because they are used to it and it has the effect of making everyone alienated. In Europe the rooms are tiny the villages are tiny the streets are tiny the streets are one inch from the front doors of the small houses. You can walk down the street and look in the lace curtains of the house that is right there at the end of your nose and look in and see the tiny table and chairs. People stand next to each other there.
Even if you don’t know anyone in the tiny village you love them because you have seen where they live. It is super intimate. I love those villages. I remember looking in the windows and thinking how I wish they were home to I could see them and talk to them. New York is a little better than here because of the stoops where people hang out. But in the wealthy neighborhoods you have gates. Keep out. America with the big lawn and yard in front and our big back yards with lots of privacy. We all have lots of cars to hide in too and lots of parking lots.
Give me a village any day. I want to see you.
photo from this person