How much space do we really need?

I pose that question because lot sizes are decreasing due to the fact that land and development prices are increasing, meaning that either you build small or what you build will overwhelm the place on which you are building.

Most buyers don't seem to want small, unless they are downsizing, but even active adult housing often tends to be larger than what the buyer has been used to.

Overwhelming smaller lots with larger houses accomplishes one thing, however; it reduces the amount of lawn you have to mow and greenery you have to care for.

Greenery shifts to public spaces from private ones, so that the responsibility for caring for it is transferred to a homeowners' or condo association or the municipal government, if the developer has deeded the space to the city or township.

According to the National Association of Home Builders, the size of a typical new house is 2,300 square feet, although fewer houses below that size are being built and more homes are appearing at the other end -- 3,000 to 5,000 square feet and more.

Having spent 14 years in a 3,500-square-foot, early 20th-century house, I can tell you that the heady feeling one gets moving from a smaller space is short-lived, primarily because it takes time and energy to care for that much area.

Dust management alone accounted for much of my spare time, that and rebuilding just about every piece of the house.

I am an advocate of "small is better." As I said, the heady feeling of moving from a three-story house 11.5 feet wide and 53 feet deep to a 3,500 square-foot, six-bedroom one grows old quickly.

I now own a 2,000-square-foot bungalow on a 6,000-square-foot lot, which is roomy enough for three full-time inhabitants plus a small dog, in addition to ever-infrequent visits from my son in college. I think it would be fine even for four full-timers, although the addition of a tree at Christmas does reduce the available space for a few weeks.

I am not saying that moving from a larger space to a smaller one is easy. You obviously have to get rid of a lot, not just a son who spends most of his year in college and graduate school.

As you all know, there has been a tendency among those in my son's generation to move back home after graduating from college, owing to the tightness of the job market over the last few years. There also has been a tendency over the last few years for baby boomers to assume responsibility for housing one or more parents no longer able to live by themselves but not yet ready for an assisted living facility.

Those I understand.

There is also the "stuff" factor. We just have too much of it.

From what I hear from recent buyers of new houses, one of their major disappointments is that bigger and bigger houses don't have enough of what they really need: storage. They have great rooms, breakfast nooks, media rooms and computer rooms but not enough closet space and no places for shelving or bookcases or toys.

Instead, everything extra is relegated to boxes piled one on top of the other in that unfinished bonus room or the basement, with no way to keep track of what is there, never mind easy access to it.

And how many garages actually have a car stored in them? When all else fails, everything for which there is no room in the living space finds its way to the wall or floor of the garage.

If the garage is unheated in the winter or humid in the summer, what's stored there can succumb to the elements. So, in effect, what you are storing can end up being so much garbage.

You might imagine that a 3,500-square-foot house must have had a lot more storage than a smaller house, but you would be wrong. Remember, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the majority of middle-class Americans didn't have the variety of consumer goods we have, especially clothing, so the closets that these houses came with were tiny.

And those closets merely held the overflow from armoires, which the original occupants rarely left behind.

So storage can be an issue no matter when your house was built.

What's the answer? Building to address the realities of modern living instead of coming up with another room devoted to some passing trend, since most houses outlive trends by many years.

Which do you really need, a place to put your clothing or an entire room devoted to your piano?

Our piano shares the living room with the couch. So far, neither has uttered a single complaint.

Published: January 20, 2005

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Al Heavens writes about real estate and home repair and improvement. He is the author of What No One Ever Tells You About Renovating Your Home: Real-Life Advice For Hassle-free, Cost-Effective Remodeling.