Could You Live In A House The Size Of A Closet?
Given our current economic climate, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that people are looking to downsize. But I am surprised at how far down some people are sizing, trading in their old houses for abodes as tiny as 100 square feet.
CNN recently profiled Bill Kastrinos on their website, a builder who not only manufactures such mini-homes, but who lives in one himself. The houses, which go for between $15,000 and $20,000, are on wheels, so they can be easily moved.
But Kastrinos isn’t alone in his thinking. Other builders have begun offering tiny condos in wealthy cities, such as San Francisco, for people who are willing to give up space for price and location. Condos in the Cubix Yerba Buena building range from 250 to 350 square feet in size and start at $279,000 – which is stone cold cheap for San Fran, where the median home price is about five hundred thousand dollars more than that.
Obviously, families with kids would have difficulty living in such cramped quarters. But is this something you might consider, if you had no kids, or perhaps for when your kids are grown? How much space do you really need?
Elendy asked if Bill’s unit had a bathroom, the answer is “Yes.” It has a full-size shower, toilet and washbasin.
Elendy – go, you! I was going to post and say that I’d lived with my then-boyfriend (now-husband) in 500 square feet, which was actually pretty comfy, if hard to handle differing schedules (I used to sit in the closet to read if he’d gone to bed) – so I bet 250 would work ok! I guess I’d have to give up some of my fancy pans, though – they take up a lot of space in my current kitchen!
When I was young in Manhattan, I lived in a place that was a little less than 200 square feet. There was a bathroom of not horrendously small size, a wall that served as a kitchen (complete with under-counter mini fridge), a walk-in closet about the size of a photo booth, and the rest of the space, which allowed for a single bed, a desk and chair, a dining set for two, and a bookshelf. The view — well, there wasn’t one, but there were beautiful tiles in the bathroom and hardwoods everywhere else. It was really all I needed, and although my guests were often a bit shocked at the size, I did just fine.
Until my boyfriend moved in. We were out of there in a month.
If you have a pickup mounted camper, it would be less than 50 square feet, to put this in perspective. Yes Elendy, I believe you could have a bathroom. I read about something like this awhile back, and that unit had overhead beds that would provide sleeping quarters for a family of four, but the privacy is limited.
Yes! If I lived alone, I would definitely love to live in a tiny house. With two kids and a husband, I sometimes wish I had a mansion just so I could find a place to hide… they always find me:)
Hmmm – well, right now my family of 4 lives in 500 sq feet in Brooklyn NY – so I guess that’s almost like 100sq ft per person. It’s a little insane and sometimes I go through massive cleaning fits -throwing out all sorts of stuff in an effort to make more space in our tiny little apartment. But I do really love our neighborhood and can’t imagine living anyplace nicer. We step outside our door and it’s like Sesame Street out there
Actually, I think NY is pretty notorious for people living in small spaces. My ex used to live in a room that was basically a closet.
There’s no way that little house has a bathroom in it though, right?
I could never do it. I am claustrophobic, and I don’t care about living in fancy neighborhood enough to willingly put myself in a little box. I’m trying to imagine how I would handle it if I had no other choice, but I can’t.
If you live with anyone – even the person you love more than life itself – you need to have enough room to GET AWAY from each other! Or you might find yourself loving them a little less!