apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

DC 1 bedrm condo. Supposedly 700 SF, but I measured it once and it was less. Not sure if I measured correctly. When I thought it was 700, I thought it was quite spacious. When it measured less, I was really irritated for a while. Now I think it's quite spacious again. (But not enough storage.)

this should be good! i am curious not only how big someone's place is, but also how many people live there...

i've got 720 SF inside (another 50 SF of balcony) and it feels perfect for one person. i can't imagine having a roomie (though i know that sounds a bit obnoxious -- many people do much more with much less space).

Yes, I am annoyed by the NYT article today stating "tiny houses in Long Island". My 570 sqft place is spacious to me and my sig other and two cats, thank you very much!

Sorry I left out how most of the "tiny" places were larger than mine!

651 to 1000 is quite a wide range for us NYers used to squeezing into a sardine can.

I've got 743 sq ft but my dreams are filled with 1000 sq ft, getting wilder at 1,100 sq ft.

615 sq ft for a family of three. It is cozy, yes, but perfectly do-able since our daughter is not quite three.

Biggest challenge: Creating play spaces for her and keeping the toys in check. (We've given up on having any privacy as we all share the bedroom.)

I have 1300 sq ft, 2 levels. The upstairs-downstairs thing makes it feel big. What was key to me was having a dedicated space for a home office.

My apt. is assessed at 1,050 square ft. w/an 86 sq. ft. terrace. It's just my husband and I and while spacious feeling in layout, minimal in decor, and comfortable, we still dream of another 500 sq. ft. Though in the summer, the terrace is a dream.

This site has definately made me appreciate my 590 square foot studio. Although, it is an odd triangle-shape which poses a whole different set of problems. What I wouldn't give for some rectangular rooms and right angles.

I live in a 602 square foot apartment, only 310 square feet of which I can stand up in. (I'm 5'8") I live there with my boyfriend and my 50 pound dog and the size feels just right.

my first apartment in new york was a studio in the EV. the main living space was 9 ft x 20 ft with a kitchen on the wall, a small closet and a narrow hallway that led to the bathroom and entrance. i can't believe i lived there for 5 years. it must have been under 200 sq ft. i had great light until the hideous yuppie building went up behind us. then i had a view that rivalled a suburban office park with inhabitants to match. everyday i am grateful for my current apartment.

my husband and i have 1200 sq ft. It's a huge luxury. I would easily give up the 9x10 second bedroom for a closet half the size.

I share an 885 sqft apartment with a 26 sqft front balcony and a 56 sqft back balcony with my bf. I actually found this really surprising as I thought our apartment was closer to 950sqft (it's hard to tell in Montreal since everything is advertised by number of rooms, not by size). It feels like more than enough space, so it's nice to know that I need even less than I think to feel that I have more than enough.

Two of us in a 1 bedroom in the East Village - 480 sq ft. One of the largest one bedrooms in my building....sigh.

I've got 218 sq. ft. for myself and the cat, and I've just bought a Calif. King-sized bed!

It's a great motivation to stay thin. ; )

roomie and i share roughly 750 SF, which is perfect. i'd be lying if i didn't wish for a bigger bedroom sometimes, but all in all, it's perfect.

too big for smallest, coolest, though.

My studio apartment is around 500 sqft. with kitchen, closet and combined bathroom. Even though I've been living here over a year I'm eager to get an apartment a little bigger. Well, at least a one bedroom apt.

Since I don't live in NYC, loft apartments here are very scarce so I found a complex that has them (cheaper that a 1 bdrm.). I plan to go by and see about looking at one.

485 sq ft studio, housing me, the occasional (almost) overnight "guest" and all the voices in my head.

when my 5 year old niece stepped into my house (they stay in suburbian PA) she said " such a small house", where will i sleep ?

ours is a 800 sq. ft place. 1 BR.

I'm very soon moving from a 1000 sq foot apartment into a 523 sq foot apartment, paying about $800/mo. Gotta love teeny places.

850sq ft + 250sq ft patio here. When I was looking, I had to choose between big space with no character, or small space with $ to build out however I wanted. I feel I made the right choice (though I am selling and trading up to 1100sq ft soon).

350 sq ft counting the bathroom tub & closets, etc.

Joey, you're selling that sweet space? Will it come with the light show? Too bad my job isn't in your town.

1760 luscious sq feet on 3 levels - no roommates, no pets. Heaven.

question: are we limiting this to new york city dwellers, meaning the 5 boroughs, in the sq. ft. numbers above? or is it meant to go beyond? i think it will be very interesting to compare square footage to the other AT locations if it's only nyc.

Oh, FYI, so as not to mess up the survey - I have a condo in downtown Washington, DC. The 1300-sq-ft response may screw up the analysis if this was supposed to be NYC only! Sorry! :)

Hey Jimkk,

Yep it's FSBO as they say here, and the lights are all included. I'm (hopefully) trading up to a bigger place on the waterfront assuming I can sell my place and the mortgage company doesn't call back laughing at me. The new place will be a bit of a stylistic deviation for me, but hey thats why we have power tools, right?

Lilybeth,

My apartment is just outside DC :) I think that the NYCers are okay with sharing with us for the time being.

About 1200 sqft for me, my lady, and the ninja-dog.

me & my man share a one bedroom that we figure is somewhere btwn 250 & 350 sf
we have no idea how to actually measure it, we just know its teeeeeny tiny and that one extra person is okay, but two extra people is unbearable!

Studio: roughly 635 sq ft.
Living area = 17.5 x 22
Kitchen = 12 x 5
Bathroom = 8.5 x 5.5
2 closets 2 many = approximately 5 x 3.5 each
11 foot high ceilings = priceless

1 bedroom, 1300 sq ft shared with my wife and two corpulent cats. Bedroom alone is about 350 sq ft.

Moving from 1,500 s.f. to 735 s.f. very soon. Only problem, so far, is finding a stackable washer and dryer that will fit into a closet just over 30x30; other than that, I'm looking forward to building a little nest for me and my pup :)

Louise, with a 600+ sq ft closet, that washer and dryer better come with its own maid. :)

Small is beautiful, but moving from a studio on the third floor to a one bedroom on the eighth floor two years ago was a move-on-up.

will be moving from my 2000 sq ft rental to a 1152 fee coop soon..will miss the backyard andt the laundry.

I can't imagine living in anything under 600sq..ironically though I only use the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom..will go for months w/o entering the formal living room

i'm glad you asked, because i never measured the square footage in 11 years in this apartment. 340 sq ft, i always thought it was less, which is 3 small rooms on the roof of the building.

my studio is about 225 sq. feet. it has a good layout though which makes a world of difference. maxwell, it always gladens my heart when you cite the square footage of your place. i've always felt kind of self-conscious that i feel fine living in what some would consider a closet or shoebox. but i'm sure your place is/will be beautiful. (an i'm working on mine, as well.)

one good thing about a small space is that it's fun to decorate since things don't cost so much. i think one gallon of paint could cover my whole apartment.

I feel sorry for my cat though. i wish he had more space to roam.

3 BR in Inwood, Manhattan: 1092 sq. ft., shared with boyfriend and corgi.

Anyone else calculate your $/mo/sq ft? Ours is $1.19/mo.

i have approximately 400 sq feet to myself in park slope. for about 15 months i shared a 400-sq-foot 2-bedroom (one of which was only 7 ft. wide) with a roommate! it was tight, but we made it work. and probably what made it possible was the fact that we had basement storage. a godsend!

613 sq ft in a san francisco one bedroom, living alone. It feels huge.

My family of 4 (two adults, two kids under 6) live in a 770 SF, 2 bedroom/1 bath house in Seattle. (Hey, we lost out on having our own AT locale--pardon me for barging in on the New Yorkers!)

Until this spring we lived in a 2 br/1 ba house that was just shy of 700 sf. The increase in SF was pretty small, but the change in layout has made a world of difference. Closets in both bedrooms! What a luxury!

At

192 sq ft studio in Brooklyn for me and my 18lb dog - it's teeny, with a "kitchen" on one wall, but it's got great closet space (amazingly), a full tub in the bathroom, really cute panel mouldings and a big window. What's hilarious to me is that it's smaller than my childhood bedroom. :)

1250 sq ft duplex with patio and deck, 3 black cats and a 6'4" husband in Brooklyn. It's the perfect size for us. Though I wouldn't turn down a larger dining area. Maybe I need a smaller table...

Mine is a 555 sq ft 1 BR in East Harlem. No shares, but will have a new kitten move in this weekend.

BR 11x15
LR 11x21
small kitchen
full bath
10' ceilings

My $/month/sq.ft is $1.27/sq.ft.

My apartment is 7965 cubic feet (885 sqft x 9 ft ceilings). I think ceiling height is actually vital. A really tiny space can still feel very spacious if it has generous ceilings and a large space can feel cramped if it only has 8ft ceilings.

550 square feet, but 13 foot ceilings, which tend to make the place feel a tunnelly. The layout is really bad, though not inconvenient since I live by myself. another benefit is that it's in the east village just south of union square.

I have approximately 465 square feet to live in - I have one long closet that is nine feet long and three feet deep and another one that is two feet wide by four feet deep - the kitchen, which is separate, has amazing cabinet space.

I live alone with my cat, and never feel closed in. The living room is 17 feet wide, instead of the usual 12 feet in my building, and 22 feet long, so I am quite comfortable in it. I reside in Westchester County, NY., and pay $1025 per month.

750 sq ft; 1 bedroom; 1 bathroom; 2 adults; 1 toddler; 1 large dog; it is a square, post-modern white box, it is not enough space and the rent is too high.

We are moving in 2 weeks to a 2 bedroom 1100 sq ft 1 bathroom apartment with a gracious, pre-war layout and large terrace, and we bought it. The mortgage and maint. will be less than rent on a similiar set up.

800 sq ft in Boston. It felt spacious until we checked out some of the open houses in the city - some condos are HUGE!

450 sq. ft. studio with a husband, a cat and a dog. We dream of doors and porches.

Whoops, one person. Sometimes an animal or two.

One thing my place lacks is an outside area, which I would love. Even a roof deck on the building.

1,250 sq ft: an adult & 2 kitties.
I'm in awe of all of you who create the lovely homes in small spaces I see on AT, but it's tough as a non-New Yorker to downsize that much.
A priority when shopping for an affordable co-op 3 years ago was to never again share bathroom with cats/litter tray. Now kitties happily share 2nd bath with houseguests, who also get their own bedroom, which doubles as home office. So I use all the space.
I never imagined I'd end up in Riverdale (which Riverdalians like to pretend isn't really the Bronx)rather than Manhattan, but when we watch the sun set over the Hudson River from a big, plant-filled terrace, it seems more tradeoff than sacrifice.

Over the past twelve years I've moved from a 350 s.f. studio to an 850 s.f. 1BR to a 1370 s.f. 2BR/2BTH with a 70 s.f. terrace, originally with one cat and now with two (but still one person). If I was a much cleaner person than I am and didn't entertain often, 600-700 s.f. would have been more than sufficient.

As it is, I only use the spare bedroom for guests and as a repository for crap I am tired of looking at. But due to an open floor plan I use all of the rest of the space quite frequently. I've hosted up to 50 people in the main living/dining area, and having a second bathroom as a repository for litter boxes is a lifesaver. When I read postings on this site from families who live in spaces the size of my studio, I do feel guilty though ;-).

400 square foot one-bedroom in New Orleans. Now, it costs 750/month, and the place I rented pre-hurricane was roughly the same square footage for 500 and had a driveway and a yard and laundry room.

We used to have affordable decent housing here. It used to be nice.

I'm here for the style, not the size. ;-) I have a house. Am downsizing from a 3,500sqft+ property in New Mexico to a 2,600 (above grade) sqft house outside DC with a 600 sqft walk-out basement. Good bit was that I'm upsizing in terms of the lot, from .5 acres to 2 acres, while staying very, very close to everything. (The acreage can't be built on because it's wetlands, but I don't want to build on it, so that's fine by me.) Bad part was fewer rooms, MUCH smaller bathrooms (there goes my 7'x14' master bath! new one barely holds a shower and pedestal sink!) and a kitchen that hasn't been updated since 1965.

I work from home, have a kid and frequent houseguests, and I homeschool--space was VERY important.

I just moved from a 135 square foot studio on the UWS that I hated with a passion -- was just way too small for me (no roomate, no pets), and I could not deal with cooking two feet from my bed. I have a huge amount of respect for people who live in so little space and make it work.

But I happily dealt with it because it saved me money to put down on my new apartment in Park Slope, which I bought last month. It's 750 square feet, and my old apartment would fit into it 5 times over! The only problem: I have NO furniture!

"my 7'x14' master bath"

wow. that's bigger than my bedroom.

to counter the non-New Yorkers' consternation about how we live in such small spaces, i have to say that after 6 years here, i can't imagine having a thousand sqare feet to myself. i understand why it's necessary in some places (a lack of non-slum apartments and the preponderance of large scale new construction), but damn. seriously, i would go crazy. i would have to take in boarders.

I love the space. Love it. I prefer many rooms to few big rooms, though. If I had to choose between 2000sqft with separate kitchen, family, and living room spaces and 4000sqft totally open, I'd take the 2000sqft ANY day.

If it makes you feel any better, the master bedroom closet before the remodel had a door in the corner and a weird built-in so there was only 8' linear feet of wall space for hanging clothes for two people! There were also no closets for storing off-season clothes, so everything had to fit.

Have 60 sq metres, 54 without the balcony. Thought it was far too small but this site is teaching me to value and use the space effectively...

thanks

"there was only 8' linear feet of wall space for hanging clothes for two people! There were also no closets for storing off-season clothes, so everything had to fit."

welcome to my life.

i've taken to storing off-season clothes in plastic bins that are miraculously stacked in the floor-space of my closet. it's actually better for sweaters and such to be folded, and no harm in it for anything else i can think of.

my mother has a fantastic amount of closet space (prob 20 linear feet of hanging space, not to mention shelves, built-ins, shoe racks, etc just in the master suite), and i'm SHOCKED by the amount of clothing she and my stepfather have. much of which is out of style or otherwise not actually worn. but they CAN store it, so they do.

in Kansas City MO - moving from a 1000 sqft, where I've lived for 2 years, to a 510 sq ft (like someone who already posted) for one cat and her human ...

I've been worried about how i'm going to feel (I've been selling a lot of furniture!) - all of the NY posts remind me of how reasonable rents are here (and I used to live in Chi, too) - rent works out to 90 cents/sqft and I actually have a separate bedroom, a balcony, a W/D, and a 'kitchen on the wall' separated with a counter.