30 square meters? THe size of a parking spot? Um, that would be a mighty big parking spot. Perhaps you're thinking of 30 square feet.

30 square meters is almost 35 square yards. Among other configurations, that would be an area 18 feet by 18 feet.

Of course, that's still a small footprint for a house by most standards.

mdorothy: It's definitely not 30 square feet. I watched this video repeatedly the other day and the plot of land was the size of a large single car garage, not an American parking lot space. There's space to move inside, not a lot, but 30 sq feet is barely enough for me to roll around in bed. :)

Actually this type of space is very common in Japan. I lived for 3 years in a space with a 30 square meter footprint...and yes, it's larger than a parking space. It included a living room, bed room, dining kitchen, toilet room, bathroom & dressing area and entry hall. If you check out interior goods from large retailers such as Tokyu (not Tokyo) Hands and Franc Franc, you'll find that the options for small space living are endless.

I can't even imagine. Though I think that AMERICA'S enormous plastic mcmansions are horiffic....the thought of cramming myself into such a flat scares me even more. maybe because I am tall? I don't think that my hands would even fit into that sink for washing!

I'd love to live in a very small place (less to clean). However, my size says I'd need a little more room. Spiral staircases do not work for my body.

30sq meters is about 320sqft. Small, but we've seen smaller. And I have seen listings for smaller (200 sqft studio, eh? And philly's not even NYC....) Not that these space-saving strategies probably aren't a good idea, but hard to implement if you don't own.

I think you're all missing the important thing, here, which is that he's 39 and sleeps with his mother.

... soooooo, what's the big deal? a 3 story house on a 30 m2 plot? and that's called ultra-small?????? My house is 80m2 and it's freaking enormous! And where I'm from, there are a lot of (studio)apartments ranging from 15m2 to 30m2... so could somebody tell me what the big deal about this CNN story is?

oh, and 30 m2 is NOT the size of a parking space!

He is 39 and shares a room with his mother, not sleeps with her, there is a difference.

Well, this would be considered an acceptable size for an apartment for a couple in Finland...on the smaller side, surely. Would be too snug for me if I had to share with my mum! But teeny tiny studios can be as small as 15 sq meters. So this isn't crazy small... small, yes.

AT writers should use a converter before making claims like "the size of a parking space"... Made me laugh. Parking for a small airplane, maybe?

I think the 30 square meters is a calculation of the living space, which is expanded on because they built up. The footprint of the house looks to be about the size they describe.

And why wouldn't any of you consider HE's helping take care of his mother and not simply living off of her?

I live in a 200square foot cabin, but it's on ten acres of land so there's a lot of room to stretch when you're not inside the house. I find that bookshelves and multi-level storage is the best for small spaces.

I think the little sink is adorable.

I love the half size sink in the bathroom.

HEY Y'ALL! A meter is approximately 3 1/4 feet, much closer to a yard than a foot. there's a HUGE difference between square feet & square yards. geesh.

That would be slightly over 300 sq. ft.

30 m² = 322.917 ft²

Living with one's parents is perfectly common in Japan, but sleeping in the same room is NOT. Creepy! My Japanese husband literally shuddered when we watched that.

rhiana - Yeah that was the part that creeped me out as well. I guess it wasn't worth the extra money to try to make the place one extra story to incorporate one more bedroom so they could have a little more privacy.