Context: our family of four lives in a 1200 square foot townhome. My husband has a hobby where he paints miniatures. The lower floor of our townhouse is composed of two rooms: kitchen/dining room and "living room" (tv, lounge and also my husband's work space/hobby space). A few years back I suggested to my husband that he should have a dedicated space for his hobby in the living room so he could sit down and paint whenever he wanted. Over the past year or two, he's pretty much ceased painting regularly and has just accumulated stuff in this corner of our living room space. I brought up the idea of organizing this space. Possibly putting things up into the attic and he just gaslights me and tells me I'm being unreasonable. I'm a neat and tidy, Virgo and every little corner of this desk is covered with dust and grime and he doesn't want anyone to get near it or touch anything so I can't even help clean it. There are dust piles around on the things on the ground and I've seen silverfish darting in and out and it's just driving me crazy.... It's been literally years. Should I just ignore it?

First time posting, I'm a big fan and follower of this subreddit. And I was inspired to post my little home.
As title suggests, I have moved out of the big city FINALLY! And bought my first place. It's small and older than all the other houses/flats I looked at, but it was something about this place that felt right. The high ceilings, unconventional layout but had personality and character which I loved. The skylight adds so much natural light inside during the day, as you can see the plants have been thriving. I've started to appreciate a quieter life, doing more hobbies, planting my own veg and just slowly growing up I guess. Still plenty of work to do, I've mostly done the cosmetic stuff to make it look a little fresher. What do you guys think? Any suggestion in usage of space?

Living in a small space has definitely taught me that not every “good idea” actually works 😂

I’m curious — what’s one decision you made for your small home that ended up being 100% worth it?

It could be a storage solution, furniture choice, paint color, layout change, decluttering, anything.

And if you could go back, what’s one thing you’d do differently?

Moving our family into a 70 square meter apartment in Barcelona this week - two adults and kids who are 9 and 11 (with LEGO, Sylvanian, DnD and book collections).
The only space for a workspace and a guest space is in the kids room. When the kids are at school one of us will use the desk to work from home a few days a week and the kids do online Spanish lessons and virtual play dates and homework at it.
I also have a daughter at college in the US who visits for several weeks twice a year.
Do you have advice on how to fit her and a desk space in the room? The yellow/beige rug is an exactly the size of our self-inflating decathlon mattress she will use. It just seems like there is no way this can work.
I’ve told her the boyfriend can sleep in the hammock on the terrace if he comes 🤣

I have an open floor plan and my living and dining area is a rectangle with a kitchen at the end. The laundry, garage, bathrooms, and bedrooms are all on the front and other end which give the house more dimension. I struggle with finding a way to have a dining area that isn't just a table plopped in the middle of the rectangle. It just feels like I'm not using that space to the best of its ability. The sliding glass doors to the backyard are there as well.

I'd love to hear how you handle a dining area. Pictures appreciated!

… without going losing myself?

I live in a 75m2 (around 800ft2) 2BR apartment with another adult (husband) and two children (5 and baby)

I love this apartment for many reasons and had done what I thought was a good job finding spaces for all the things and decorating.

I would definitely characterize myself as a maximalist (I am an artist and like stuff) and was always very proud of how to creatively make use of the space and have room for lots of art and books and hobbies - - cut to arrival of kid #2… and an older sibling who’s (mostly awesome) imagination and energy knows no bounds. I am starting to feel increasingly claustrophobic. I think my space was perfect for two people, or two adults and one baby… but it doesn’t feel like it’s working now.

I know I ought to pare down the stuff, make the space less about me and more about us as a family,

But how??

I like so much of my stuff and can imagine one day wanting it back when kids are gone (yes in many many years i know) so how do I make amends?

Maybe it’s a specific question, but can any of you relate?
How did you make space for your identity and for your family in your small family home?

Tl;dr: a maximalist with two children seeks advice on decluttering a small 2BR apartment

Been working on this prefab for a while and finally got one put together.

It’s about 28 sqm, basically a small house for two people. We managed to fit the kitchen, living space and bathroom in without making it feel too cramped.

The bathroom setup is probably the part I'm most curious about, we went with a wet/dry arrangement to save space.

It weighs around 6.5 tonnes and the electrical load is around 8 kW.

I build these for a living, so I'm probably too close to it at this point. Would be interested to hear what people here think.

If this was your house, what would you change?

I feel like small spaces are a lot of trial and error. 😅

Sometimes an idea looks perfect in your head—or even in photos—but once you actually live with it, you realize it takes up too much space, makes the room feel cluttered, or just isn't practical.

What’s something you tried in your home that you ended up regretting?

I’d love to hear the honest “I thought this was a good idea…” stories. 😂

My husband and I live in a 1 bed/1 bath with one tiny den that was converted into a music room. We bought it pre-covid so our interest rate is fantastic. We are one of many who thought it would be a starter home and that in 5 years we'd move somewhere bigger. It's now been 7 years and with the price of everything, we can't see moving out. We also just had to put several MAJOR repairs into it that cost us much monthly, taking much of our savings.

We are both reaching 35. While I know it's not impossible to have a kid later, I feel like I'm reaching a point where I either need to get pregnant or give up.

Before you say it, my husband is uncomfortable with the idea of fostering (cant because of space anyway) and financially we can't afford to adopt.

Any ideas on having a kid in a small space? Is it possible? I don't want to give up on my dream, but it feels like I have to.

I feel like small homes are usually discussed in terms of what we don’t have enough of—space, storage, counter space, etc. 😅

But what’s something you genuinely love about living small? Maybe it’s easier to keep clean, feels cozier, or you’ve become more intentional about what you keep.

I’d love to hear the positives too. ❤️

ETA: I’m realizing what I feel is missing from my home is like a living room type room off the main floor, not a basement per se. Basements around me tend to be finished and have living/rec room type stuff or extra bedrooms, but elsewhere not so much. If my particular house had a basement it would most likely be a flooded disaster.

So people that don’t have an extra room other than the main living areas, and maybe can’t find a quiet spot when needed, how do you deal?

Original post:

How do you feel about it? I often really wish we had one so I had a quiet place to go to. If there’s music playing, etc. I can’t really find a quiet place unless I’m in my bed, and I don’t always want to do that. That’s assuming as least a partially finished basement though.

Otherwise, love my small home. Hoping to get a screened in porch one day and so long as the weather allows it, I’d be out there all the time! That might scratch my itch for a quiet place while feeding my love of the outside.

1300 sq ft 2 story home in a slab, btw.

I’m in a small 2 bed one bath, and a couple rooms have vaulted ceilings. I don’t want to create more visual clutter, but I’m wondering if anyone has successfully actually done anything with that vertical space that helps you in a small house? Bookshelves or storage above windows or higher on the walls for example? Sometimes I wonder if a long single shelf high up on one wall would make sense for books that we want to keep but don’t need to access often. Of course dust etc then becomes a problem too. Just really curious if people do anything with that vertical space that actually works.

For me it was building floating shelves all the way up to the ceiling in the hallway. I used to keep everything on the floor or on low dressers, which ate up so much walkable space. Going high instead of wide instantly cleared up the floors and made the place look twice as big.

I’m curious about the little things that actually worked—not major renovations or expensive furniture. Maybe rearranging furniture, using mirrors, getting rid of something, better storage, etc.

What made the biggest difference in your space?

We’re moving into our new place and I'm setting up one of the bedroom. My parents are convinced that the window is gonna ruin my sleep with all the light, and honestly I get where they're coming from.

But I kinda love how it looks right now. The bed sits right between two windows, and it gives the room this nice balanced feel. The room isn't particularly huge, so with the bed facing the wall with the wardrobe like now, everything just flows better to me.

I’ve been thinking about rotating the bed so it’s against the other wall—that should solve the light issue. But every time I picture that layout, it just doesn’t work on me.

Should I actually move the bed?

Living in a smaller place makes me question every piece of equipment that takes up permanent floor space.

I’d like to have somewhere to strength train at home, but I don’t want one hobby to take over an entire room.

That has me looking more at compact or multi-function setups — something that could handle several movements in one footprint rather than having a separate machine for everything.

For people living in smaller homes, would you give up a corner or part of a room for a permanent workout setup if you used it several times a week?

And what would that setup need to do for the space sacrifice to feel worth it?

I'm renovating my condo kitchen, and my old fridge has always been sitting outside because it didn't fit. Since I'm redoing the kitchen, I'm looking for a store that takes old appliances and also has new, compact options that would actually work for a condo in Canada.

Any recommendations

We live in 1000sqft, 3 bed, 1.5 bath. The 3rd smallest bedroom is my husband's office. Our galley kitchen extends into a dining space where we have a pantry cabinet, 4 chair round table, small bookcase with a fish bowl, fog kennel, dog food container, dog food bowls. Is there some magical solution you guys have found for dog food storage and kennel placement when your floor space is ultra limited? The living room is already full, the bathroom is far too small for anything, the bedrooms are not an option, and our laundry room is outside/not climate controlled.

Hi, we are moving and that's our new kitchen. We are 9 people, 3 smaller kids, 6 teenagers/adults. We would like to have a small sofa and table/chairs for at least 6 persons. Do you have any ideas? Maybe we could use the dining table as extra counter space? Or the sofa as a replacement for a kitchen bench (instead of 6 chairs)?

It doesn’t have to be perfectly decorated or Pinterest-worthy. I’d love to see the little corner you actually enjoy spending time in.

Bonus: Tell us what you love about it and one thing you’d change if you had more space!