I choose small over large because of my budget and the location. But also because right now it's just me and I don't think I need a great deal of space. What would I do with lots of extra rooms? Probably feel compelled to fill them with stuff...which isn't good for my budget or the environment.

Budget. Even if not for that, I'd probably choose something small-ish, but sometimes I think another 100 sq ft be so, so, so nice to have... Next time we buy a house, my goal is get something with another 100 sq ft, and closets. A small place is tough without closets.

Right now I live small because I'm a grad student and can't afford anything else, but at the same time I think I would also remain in a space like this (~600 sq ft) even if I could afford more. For one thing, I live with my boyfriend, and we always talk about how this apartment reflects our intimacy. We're always together, so having more rooms would just be wasted on us since we only ever occupy one at a time. He always comments that large homes only allow people to get away from each other into their own spaces, while a small home facilitates sharing and interaction. One of the many reasons why I see myself living in small apartments forever.

I think it's funny what people consider a small space - in NYC I think of 600 as pretty good, my 700sf as downright huge - with a bunch of kids it would be different but 800sf with kids - know tons of people doing that.

we chose to build small. we were gifted land from my fi's father- who was also our contractor.

we chose to build to suit our needs. nothing more, nothing less. although this house is not "small" in the AT sense- it's about a 1000sqft upstairs and 800 downstairs...it's considered small for a house in the burbs- that is meant to be our permanent house- even after kids. we figure we can have 2-3 comfortably.

we would rather put our money into investments and a cottage.

why take more space than you need?

$$$. My last lease expired 3 months after furlough based pay cuts started and it didn't make sense to pay $1100-$1300 for the 500-600sqft foot apts I bascially just slept in.

I've been very lucky to cut my rent in half without having to rent an illegal inlaw. The rent savings will allow my to pay off some bills faster and I've freed myself of much stuff I dutifully carted around from place to place for over a decade.

However, competition for cheaper and smaller apts will likely increase in SF and big, expensive apts in large complexes will continue to be easier to find and rent here.

I hope I'll be able to find smaller options when I'm ready to upgrade to a place with a stove and a bit more space.

I hate tiled floors. Most large houses are tiled, as money-saving as it may be it makes a place cold and unhospitable to me. So I'll stick to floorboard places, small places.

Definitely budget when we bought our home. My husband and I both grew up in large homes and now our home is about 800 ft. Which is vastly smaller than the 16 rooms that I grew up with. Now, I don't think that I would want anything much bigger than our house since I don't like to clean :-p Plus, I feel good knowing that living smaller is better for the environment :-D

Cozy factor. We aren't small, and in fact just expanded our single family home. Our home is older, and in a great neighborhood with large oak trees. But many friends have, and we could afford, a larger, vaulted ceiling, biggger kitchen newer home. But we are comfortable, have enough space and wouldn't dream of having more. Just more to clean and fill with stuff! Besides, I love changing things around to make the space the best it can be. Even if I had tons of money, I can't ever imagine ever living in anything bigger. 2000 sq ft is HUGE to me.

I don´t wanna
clean a big house

budget, and what in the world would I do with a big space? I live alone and I would feel silly buying big furniture - eg. Large dining room table or large desk. I currently live in an 800 sq. feet apartment, and I haven't even ouched the guest bedroom(100 sq feet) or the furnace room(200 sq feet) and I still feel like I have too much space with the rest of the home, even after adding a pool table and an office.

I'm with Gise. I can clean my one bedroom top to bottom in a Saturday. No way you can do that with a 4 bedroom in the burbs.

Because with the real estate market the way it is in my city, prices are crazy high and I can't afford what I really want, which is a house -- even a tiny house -- in a safe neighborhood. So I'll live as small as I can for now to save up for the big dream.

Lots of reasons, mostly I want something very low maintenance. I also live in one of the most expensive parts of the country (real estate in my neighborhood is in the $2,000 per square foot range), and the taxes cost of living are horrendous. Less space to furnish, heat, cool, clean, and worry about. I love my place; I wouldn't want anything bigger.

Location, lifestyle, simplicity.

Location, availability based on what I make+word to Gise. Though my new place is bigger than any place I've rented at about 1,000 sq.ft. There's a small office+I hardly know what to do with myself (I'm moving in this weekend)! *sings Moving On Uuuuup*

Location, cozyness, and functionality. I can probably increase by another 100sq totaling to 350sq, but the space functions so perfectly and keeps me meticulous with my belongings.
To restate laetitiaes point, more space breeds more things to fill that space, that we may or may not need.

We bought our condo because it was the nicest thing we could afford at the time. Now we really see the benefit of living small. There are just some days when we long for a yard.

I find something inherently satisfying about having everything within easy reach, keeping only what I need and love, and always being within talking distance of my husband. We can be focused on separate activities, but never isolated. I also like being forced to re-think the things I used to assume I needed.

Bonus extras:
cleaning 500 sq. ft. is so easy
modular furniture is cool and fun
changing a few things makes the whole place look fresh

we're in the process of purchasing a 1000 sqft bungalow w/ 2 br. we'll be moving from a 2000 sqft ranch with 3 br. we chose a smaller house because we found we never used several spaces and if a 1000 sqft is designed well, it's all you need. we plan to stay in this new home with children.
it's also a location factor - trading 2000 sqft in the suburbs for 1000 sqft that is easily walkable to everything we enjoy.

Location, location, location.

Well, and budget obviously factors in too, since with a little more money I could afford something bigger in a similar location. I wouldn't want to go too big, though -- right now I'm in 290 sq ft and I would LOVE an extra 100 sq ft or so. But any more than that would start to feel excessive, since it's just me.

It's all about the budget, if I could get bigger then I wouldn't move into a small place, ..money talks no money walks!!

the word trig

I choose small because a large space is too much of a pain in the ass to furnish and keep clean. I hate having a lot of stuff, large places foster the accumulation of junk.

I guess in the end it comes down to location for us. We live in Manhattan and I suppose we could live in Queens or Jersey in a bigger space for less $$. But even with more money, we wouldn't use it for a mortgage towards a house. We love city living, so we would just move to a bigger apartment :o)

My boyfriend and I used to live in a larger apt, but when we moved to a new city we decided to live in a studio. We chose it because we don't like to have a lot of things and it has an amazing view of the Baltimore harbor. Also because I'm 24 and he's 25 we know that saving money for our future is very important to us. We are saving so much money and get to go out to eat at nicer places without feeling guilty.

I had a large one bedroom apartment in St. Louis - it echoed when I walked around or talked. It freaked me out to have so much space and I had no interest in filling it with STUFF. The rent was cheap, so that wasn't an issue. I live in LA now and am looking for a place that is affordable, in a good location and is small. Not big on filling a place with things that don't mean anything to me.
For me it's about location and comfort and if a smaller place is less expensive, then that's just a bonus!

I'm in the market to purchase a home and one house I was looking at had a small kitchen. The possibility of remodeling with some quality material because I wouldn't need much, was very appealing. The location of that house was not ideal so...still looking.

We moved here from NYC so we were used to living in smaller spaces. Our 900sq ft condo was what we could afford at the time and now I really like living small. Especially with a toddler - I know where she's at at all times and it's easy to get to her quickly when necessary. If we do move to a larger space, I don't think I'd want it to have more than another bedroom (or an office).

We bought a small house because it was what we could afford where we wanted to live. We love living in a small house because it is easy to maintain, easy to do projects and easy to clean. We also don't spend time buying stuff to fill it up, which gives us much more time to spend with each other, our friends and family, and doing other things that bring meaning to our lives.

To avoid being on 'Hoarders'.

I choose my apartment on budget and the minimal commute to and from work. I downsized about 60 SF and upped my rent by $250 by moving from Brooklyn to Manhattan. The convenience and amenities make up for the difference.

As many have mentioned, "small" is relative. We could definitely have purchased a much larger house (we live in a midwestern college town). Instead, we have a wonderful 1920's craftsman bungalow, and it is exactly the type of house I always wanted, in a city neighborhood with sidewalks and within walking distance of work and school.

So, location and style, I suppose!

Our family of 4 went from 4000sqft to 1100 sqft after a move and we loved being 'together' again. We eventually bought, but smaller (1900sqft) and in a great location.

I always prefered small apartments (and even disliked living in a huge apartment my work paid for) until I got married. Now that I share space, I prefer having an extra room or 2 in which I can be alone/make phone calls without bothering him.

But if I was still single, I'd happily live in a teeny tiny apt in the middle of Manhattan... I even thought this 90-sq ft arrangement would be fine just b/c of the location:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZSdrtEqcHU&feature=player_embedded

Budget and availability.

My S.O and I live in London zone 2 and we've had a real shock with the lack of rental stock and prices. We live in 450sqft apartment that overlooks a park. We compromised space for a view that calms you down after dashing about all over the city. But I would love another 150sqft for storage, if we could afford it.

I live small because I don't want to be house poor. My hubby & I bought a townhouse with a mortgage we could cover on one income, just in case. Sometimes I gripe over the size, but my dream home wouldn't be a LOT bigger because that is just more to clean :) Although a little bigger wouldn't hurt - we don't even have room for a dining hutch!

The first apartment my husband and I (and 2 cats) shared in Seattle on Capitol Hill was 500sqft. Now that we've had our son, we have moved into 810sqft. It seems like a mansion in comparison! Location, price (we manage our building) are huge factors but we also like our cozy home. :)

We live small for tons of reasons. The original being budget, now it also is for low maintenance. We can be in separate rooms but not feel so apart, we can be in the living area and still talk to the person cooking in the kitchen. Low cost to furnish, maintain and clean does not hurt either. We love it! (geographic location is definitely not ideal, but we love the inside!)

I chose to live small because of price, location, and character. I could have chosen to have more square footage (526 sq ft), but then I wouldn't be within walking distance of downtown shops, would have to drive farther to work, and would pay more in utilities. Besides that, I couldn't afford a place with thick crown moulding, original wood floors, and the character of a 1910 property. An unforseen benefit is that small living forces me to be neater.

My husband and I live in 1500sqft and it feels HUGE. We don't use all the rooms and it seems impossible to keep clean. I want to downsize to around 800sqft because I like the simplicity. Not nearlly the chore to keep clean and we can actually utilize our space. Right now I feel like the hallway is a bowling alley and I have to try to find my husband to let him know dinner is ready.

We bought our smallish condo at the height of the market, and it's what we could afford at the time (now we could buy a much bigger house for what we paid!). I actually love the size (1200 square feet). It's cozy and never feels like too much to clean. I wish we had a yard, but otherwise the spaces feels like the right size for us.

I live in less than 300 sf. Obviously started out because it was cheap, but now I really just enjoy being in a "nest"-type space and don't bother looking for larger places. It's now evolved to wanting to live a more minimalist life, saving money so I can help others who have less than me.

Location, definitely. Also, love of this particular house. I live < 10 min from work in an adorable neighborhood w/ lots of old trees (a big deal in Dallas) and older houses. Older houses mean smaller houses, though not super small. When I was looking, the smallest house on the market that was not in a really nasty area of town was 900 sq. ft. I ended up w/ 1500 sq ft of space and the space is actually where I want it - living, kitchen, & closets. Lots of closets and a big kitchen in a 1941 tudor - a unique find, believe you me.

I love my small condo and with only one person in it (me), sometimes even feels HUGE. I wryly say that living in such a small space is like practicing to take the next step in life --into the coffin. :) Will feel quite at home there and not at all confined!

Although I know our house is small by average US house standards, I don't think of it as small. If anything at 1500 sq. ft. with a basement, it is too big, but we do use all the space. We didn't want anything bigger because of the cost and the upkeep issues. We are in the house we are in because even though it may be a bit big, it is pretty much perfect in every other way, and we have wonderful neighbors in a walkable, accessible neighborhood.

We live teeny tiny for budget reasons, but even if we had the $$ we'd only go slightly larger. Reason - we don't need all that space. We leave a much smaller footprint with a small house...and if anything needs to be large, it would be the yard for a garden :)

What a great question. I chose my space in part because of the style - I wanted contemporary and ready to live in without refurbishing. Second reason was location - I love my neighborhood. Public transportation access, reasonable commute from work, and ability to have an easy cab ride home after a night out were all factors. And I really, really don't want to spend precious spare time cleaning extraneous space or accumulating clutter just because I have room to store it.

Better for cleaning and maintenance projects like painting are easier to tackle. If you want to go high end with some finishes its cheaper if you don't need as much. Plus easier to heat and cool

I guess we are small dwellers... when we were newly weds we lived in a huge house!!! And clean about once a week after work... we rattled around and spent all our time in the kitchen. Now we have eight kids in a two bedroom house and the thought of having to clean anything bigger kills me!!! Folks keep saying when are you moving - we just don't want to - everyone fits and in a couple of years time our kids will head for college... all we don't need is a huge empty house. In a nutshell: Don't want to clean a huge house ever!!!

Because I'm lazy.

For a family of 2, we once had a three bedroom, three bathroom condo with two outdoor spaces and a car. There was so much to clean, maintain, keep pretty and we were both in rat-race jobs to maintain it all...

Now we're in a 1 bed, 1 bath apartment, sans car. We're spending more time together because we've both switched jobs, into slower paced environments, and because there isn't so much "stuff" to worry about. Less furniture for the cat to ruin. Fewer planters full of plants that I'll eventually kill. Fewer toilets and bathtubs to scrub.

We're also closer to our primary shops, so errands are more quickly completed (on foot!).

Downsizing on space means more time for ourselves, for travel, for dining out, for hobbies, for theater...

Location (I live in the center of a big city), budget and common sense (I have all the space I need).

I find all the posts really interesting, especially from those outside of NYC and London. Makes me realise just how darn expensive it is here!
We pay the equivalent of $570 per week, for 450 sq ft..!

I once lived in a 4 bedroom & bonus room over garage kind of house (2600 sq.ft. We had formal dining room and formal living room which we never used. Now we live in a 3 bedroom (1600 sq ft.) and we use all the rooms. Our one room living room/kitchen/eating area is the space we spend the most time in. I take care of my grandchildren and having one main living area like that makes it easy for me to see where the kids are at all times. Small house, but have big yard. Love it.

Wonderful!

I love living in our 8th story 1100sf beach high-rise because .... the beach. The beach air. The Gulf-of-Mexico sunsets - every night. Palm trees. Dolphins jumping. Manatees floating. Stingrays 'flying' in the water. White, sugar sand. Boats, sailboarders, wind surfers, parasaling. Deep sea fishing. Less to clean and more time for play.

I don't want to clean a big house and I don't want to wind up on hoarders. (These two comments made me chuckle btw.)

I live small because it's all I need, it's comfortable and cozy, and it keeps the cost of utilities low. But budget isn't the main reason. If I had a decent salary I'd still live small. My dream home is a Tumbleweed Home!

The only thing I would change about my 325 sq foot studio are the closets. When my mother said, "It'd be much nicer if it was a one bedroom apartment," I said I'd rather take real, deep closets over a one bedroom any day. And that's the gospel truth.

Because about 95% of housing stock in Hong Kong is less than 700 sq ft - and even 700ft sq will cost you upwards of US$1 million. There are no suburbs here so my 400 sq ft choice of apartment was based on 1) it has a 500 ft sq terrace 2) it is less than 20 mins to work and 3) the bank won't give you a mortgage that costs more than 40% of your salary.

My 350 sq ft. studio apt. seemed large enough for a single guy in his late 20's when I moved in over 30 years ago. It was also rent stabilized and frankly my income has not kept pace with the market rents in NYC. I still find it adequate, but it would be better if the layout didn't mean the bed was right in front of the entry door and I'd prefer a building with on premise laundry and basement storage lockers (for things like suitcases and off-season clothes or Xmas decorations).

cost, location, ease of transportation

But if I could afford it, I would definitely go big in the right location. You would never see me living in 600 sq ft if I could afford a huge loft in Tribeca.

Location (next to central park in nyc, dog owner), laziness (next to subway, hate to clean), frugality (less space = buy less stuff), financial (going bigger would be doable, but love the lack of financial stress and ability to save more).

Less to keep clean, right?

When we were looking at houses to buy, I figured I'd want something about 2000 sq. ft., but when we walked in this house (1400 sq. ft.), we knew it was the house for us. It just feels right.

We could actually go smaller, but I prefer that he has his own space for his photography and I have my own space for crafts. :)

Location, location, location.

Also, I like having my kids underfoot. :-)

I have lived in small apartments(1000sf or under) all of my adult life. I have managed to live close to my jobs most of my life and have not owned a car since 1982. I love being within walking distance of a farmers market, restaurants, two parks and all of the shops in downtown. My employer pays my trolley pass so my transportation is free. I can find anything I need within ten blocks of my building. I don't feel that I have given up anything by living in smaller spaces.

So many reasons!
1) Location-budget interface.
2) Decorating budget - with a small place I can spend more per square foot decorating, so I can get fewer pieces but ones I really love.
3) This specific house. It is everything I want and it is small, and that's fine.
4) Eco-footprint. Why should me and my husband get a huge place that is far more than we need, uses more power, more heating, more cooling...? Smaller is kinder. Plus being so close to the centre means I can ride my bike to work, so we only have one car now. (In Australia, 1 car per adult is pretty much the norm.)
5) Emotional footprint. A small house means we see each other all the time when we're home together. We lived in a big place once, which was weird because we could go hours not seeing each other.

Those are the main points. There are other reasons, but truly, once you go small you don't go back.

As an aside, I'm surprised at how big some of the "small" spaces being referred to here are. For the record, my place is a 1 bedroom apartment, 40sqm (430sqft). It's not quite ready for Small Cool, but maybe next year.

I can vacuum my entire tiny condo by plugging my vacuum into one outlet. It feels good to live without a lot of stuff. Having limited storage means you purposely choose what stays and what goes. It feels good to live light.

less is more. end of story.

My two story UK home is about 600 sq. ft. I ended up here by chance but stay because it's big enough and having tiny utility bills to match my tiny house is pretty sweet! We could go somewhere bigger, but we want to live within our means. When you only have room to serve four for dinner, you can buy the nicest dishes there are, too, haha.

It's like what they say about money: the more you make, the more you spend.

I choose small because I know that if I had large, I would just buy more junk to fill it up. Keeping it small forces me to be lean and smart about what I do keep around/buy.

I live small because I can't afford anything else.

I live in a 1450sq ft townhouse with husband and 2 kids. I would love to live smaller just because I hate cleaning.

I did it because of budget- but now I love it! Ive learned to live minimally ( I used to be quite the pack-rat) and my small cost of living allows me to save, travel, and not worry about paying my bills