Portland’s Small-House Movement Is Catching On

Re:Portland’s Small-House Movement Is Catching On by jimmydddd on Sunday October 02, 2016 @12:43PM (#12623147)

Serious Question. Do people not entertain at their homes anymore? If I want to have three couples over for dinner, I don't see I could cook for and accommodate them comfortably in these tiny homes. My in laws from Europe typically come to stay with us for three months every year. I often have out of town friends drop in for a few nights. What about having the family over for Thanksgiving? Also, if the answer is just to go to restaurants/bars for all social events, that would seem to be more expensive in the long run. Just curious.

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Re:Portland’s Small-House Movement Is Catching On by sampl on Sunday October 02, 2016 @01:05PM (#12623254)

I'm not an architect or tiny house owner, but I have friends and family stay in my large studio apartment fairly often.

A modern, open floor plan is a big help. If you stop building walled-off kitchen/dining/family/living spaces, you have a lot more efficient use of the space you actually use.

Reuse of space is also huge. You can temporarily rearrange furniture for a big dinner and put it back before it's time to sleep.

Another angle... if you stand to save $100k building your house, you can save a lot of money by putting up your family in a nearby hotel overnight.

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Re:Portland’s Small-House Movement Is Catching On by wott on Sunday October 02, 2016 @04:14PM (#12624009)

> If you stop building walled-off kitchen/dining/family/living spaces, you have a lot more efficient use of the space you actually use.

I though that fad was gone. That's a nightmare in real use. I don't want the meat grease smell in my bed. I don't want the kitchen noise while watching TV in the sofa or chatting in the living room. I don't want the music or the children noise in the kitchen. And I especially don't want all visitors packed together in the same space 24/24, without any half-privacy time to spend in smaller groups.

Oh, and since I am the kind of person who spends most of parties inside the kitchen rather than in the living or dining room, how do I manage? :-)

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Re:Portland’s Small-House Movement Is Catching On by ghaff on Sunday October 02, 2016 @05:17PM (#12624297)

It's not necessarily either-or. I grew up in a very old house that a totally separate dining room and kitchen. When I bought a house it was the same. After a major remodel for structural reasons, the kitchen and dining room were opened up--which turned out to be a big improvement--but the living room spaces were still largely separate. This actually works pretty well for me.

In practice, when I have people over, we still spend a lot of time in the kitchen/dining area--which is also sort of the "mud room" etc.--but the entertaining/hangout area is still somewhat separated.

I think more open floor plans than was historically the norm make sense--especially in smaller areas. But, if you have the space, walls can still be useful.

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Re:Portland’s Small-House Movement Is Catching On by jimmydddd on Sunday October 02, 2016 @09:20PM (#12625114)

I guess it also depends what stage of life you're in. If you coach your kid's soccer team and want to invite the team and parents over for an end of season party, you've got about 50 people coming over after the game. That would be tough with 800 square feet.

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Re:Portland’s Small-House Movement Is Catching On by munificent on Sunday October 02, 2016 @01:20PM (#12623301)

> Do people not entertain at their homes anymore?

I think about this a lot too. I have a real minimalist streak and occasionally entertain fantasies of radically downsizing my life. 95% of the time, I could be quite happy in a few hundred feet.

But that other 5% of the time, I'm having friends over and cooking or entertaining. At that time, I really appreciate having more space.

> Also, if the answer is just to go to restaurants/bars for all social events, that would seem to be more expensive in the long run.

Unless you entertain a lot, I think owning your own home large enough to entertain is the more expensive option in the long run.

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Re:Portland’s Small-House Movement Is Catching On by icebraining on Sunday October 02, 2016 @01:25PM (#12623327)

Where I'm from, most people I know live in smaller apartments than these houses, often with two kids. The trick is to have the minimum number of rooms (only bedrooms + bathroom + kitchen + living room - or fewer), and to allocate a good portion to the living room, which can be adjusted according to the needs of the moment. Many households have extendable dining tables, foldable chairs (either hollywood-style or fully wooden), etc.

Having a couple stay for three months would be troublesome, but dinner for eight or ten is perfectly doable.

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