Small vs. Large

Our tiny house is somewhat "open" at least compared to all the other ones in the terrace.  In the other houses there's usually wall between the dining room/kitchen and the living room, but I guess our landlord wanted to open it up.

I love it, because it makes it nice and light and airy feeling in this teensy place, but also hate it.  I think it's mostly due to the fact that the stupid washing machine is so loud and there's no door to shut to muffle it.  One instance where I wish there was a door!    But I think that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make just to make it feel roomier in here.

The only other problem I have is that the house came furnished and the landlord chose this long rectangular 6 person table (only 4 chairs) to go in the dining space.  It takes up the whole fracking space when there aren't even enough seats to justify it, and you have to squeeze into the ones on the ends.  If the landlord just got a 4 person table (round or square) to go with the 4 chairs, we could easily fit a desk and filing cabinet in there, maybe even a bookcase too, and a lot of my storage woes would be solved. 

Fortunately we'll be moving in a few months, so I can put up with it.

I like the look of open-plan houses but, honestly, I'd hate to live in one. I like my privacy and quiet time and am not sure how that would be possible without clearly defined rooms with doors. But maybe it's just me. 

I like the look of open-plan houses but, honestly, I'd hate to live in one. I like my privacy and quiet time and am not sure how that would be possible without clearly defined rooms with doors. But maybe it's just me. 

Ha, growing up, I lived in *many* houses (over a dozen). One of them was EXTREMELY open plan. The only doors were on the bedrooms and the bathroom. It was amazingly echoey (all wood floors, really, really high ceilings). We used to call it "the barn". I used to hide in cupboards to read because I shared a bedroom with my sister, and it was the only place I could read all by myself.

That said, as long as we have enough bookcases, I'm happy.

Hi all,

I'll throw a more unusual element into the small vs large thing!

We're an Indian family, and jokingly even though it's based on the truth! is that we are serious 'hoarders' !

As a result, we absolutley NEED massive houses/living space, crammed with storage, place to keep things, storage, areas to put more stuff, storage and yep, more storage!

Now we live in a 1930's semi, 4 of us now since 2008(4th is my Sis in Law) and it's 'original' walls and upstairs room sizes were small. We extended this place the after moving in, in 1985. Suited us fine really and I'd say approx 1200 sq ft (ground floor rear extension only)  Over the years, we added a covered garage, an extra utility room, a conservatory - total of about 1600 sq ft. We've been good in that we changed the hoarding to be much less! got rid of stuff we just didn't need and the house felt better for it as well.

Then - my sis in law arrived in 2008...

We've recently added another 975 sq ft to the house..  and yes it's STILL not enough! The sheer AMOUNT of stuff a girl can have is astonishing! I've never seen so many clothes, shoes, coats, make up stuff, this that and everything else and more ! I had a 'clue' with friends who are married, but their houses are .. err, in places like Gerrards Cross and Farnham Royal and Penn ... 

To put it into perspective, after everything was completed, her dad popped around to have a look and mentioned about how his 3 bed terraced house in NW London could now be renovated!   My sis in law retorted that she has left about 50% of her stuff STILL at her dads place !  My brother said very quickly after she said that 'you mean you have more $hit still'?!!  even my jaw dropped! and my mum said 'its ok, this is what girls nowadays need' !

when i get hitched, I guess I've got to stump up the cash for another 1000 sq foot extension - to go somewhere!

So, Large.. large .. and larger still is what I need!!

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

The size doesn't really bug me, but thats because our flat is huge! Its really nice to have all the space we have, plus high ceilings with awesome trim. The bathroom in our flat is soo tiny though, we were told is used to be a closet and trust me its smaller than some closets I've seen.

I with the not liking the door thing, both having a million of them and them all opening the wrong way.

The other thing is the huge hallway space, does anyone else not like this? I keep thinking of all the things I could do with it if it was actual usable space.

I never noticed any difference with doors. Do the door in the US open into the hallway? I don't remember.

To me, it makes more sense to have the door open into the room (like the doors in my house do here) because people are more likely to be walking through a hallway than to be walking in a room past the door. When you are in a room you are usually in one spot doing something. You're not usually standing right in front of the door. So there is more of a chance of accidently hitting someone with the door if the door opens into the hallway.

The other thing is the huge hallway space, does anyone else not like this? I keep thinking of all the things I could do with it if it was actual usable space.

Love. It.

Our entrance hall is roughly the size of our bedroom - and we have a big bedroom. I really love walking into houses with beautiful generous halls. It gives it all such a feeling of spaciousness!

My old cottage had a tiny pokey little entry hall. You were in it then you took one step and you were in the sitting room. This is much better! 

The size doesn't really bug me, but thats because our flat is huge! Its really nice to have all the space we have, plus high ceilings with awesome trim. The bathroom in our flat is soo tiny though, we were told is used to be a closet and trust me its smaller than some closets I've seen.

I with the not liking the door thing, both having a million of them and them all opening the wrong way.

The other thing is the huge hallway space, does anyone else not like this? I keep thinking of all the things I could do with it if it was actual usable space.

Do you live in one of the tenement flats? My friend's hallway is so big she has it set up as a sitting room with bookshelves lining the walls. 

And if you look up, all the washing is drying on this airer that's hoisted up to the ceiling by a pulley system.  So jealous.

I never noticed any difference with doors. Do the door in the US open into the hallway? I don't remember.

No, it's not a hallway vs room issue. (Hard to explain without a diagram  ) The problem is the door opening into the room -- opening towards the center of the room. Whereas in the US the door opens into the room towards a wall. This is assuming the doorway is towards the corner of the room.