You might think that living in 572-square-feet would be
difficult. In reality, it’s refreshing.
For the past 25+ years, we lived in 2,200-square-feet, which
when the girls were at home, was ideal. But we’ve been paddling around in half
that space for the last eight years, and at the time, you don’t even think how inefficient
that is. The thing, though, is that you still have to clean that space, heat
that space, and – in Florida – cool that space.
A recent article from Bloomberg news reports that the next wave
of urban apartment dwellers will be Baby Boomers -- those born from 1946 to
1964 – and that they’ll/we’ll be competing with Millennials for the space,
pushing up rents and spurring construction of more multifamily housing. We can
attest to that fact – the bulk of the people in our apartment building are
Millennials, some with small children, others young professionals, most have
dogs. To add to the fun, they are also really friendly.
I sometimes stop and think when did it happen that we began
thinking more is good? As a child in Kentucky, our five-member family lived in less
than 1,500-square-feet, but I never really thought of our home as small. We all
had our own rooms; we had a good-sized kitchen with a nice dining room table,
and we had a family room with a fireplace (where everyone stayed), and a living
room (that no one used except to go from the aforementioned family room to the
bathroom and bedrooms). Our earlier house on Frederica Street was even smaller.
As a boy, Larry’s two-bedroom apartment in the Bronx also housed
five people – one bedroom for the three boys, the other for his Mom and sister.
Like my family, they didn’t know any other way, and felt they had plenty of
room to live their lives.
After this short time in New York, I’ve decided less is
definitely more. We hope to sometime get
to the point where we might have a second bedroom – and I’d certainly like a
little larger kitchen with more storage, but honestly, I’ve adjusted to the
small-“ish” kitchen – and the ease of keeping a 572-square-feet apartment clean
and tidy.
You learn how to make do. The bed becomes a place to dry
clothes that need to be laid flat. The shower curtain rod holds clothes that
need to hang dry. You take breaks to dry dishes so you can wash more. The desk and hutch hold the silverware, dish towels, wine
glasses, in addition to Larry’s computer and office supplies. In the kitchen, you do “a little dance” to maneuver around each
other: washing and drying dishes (while also pouring white wine from the
fridge), putting away ingredients from earlier cooking, and preparing coffee
for the morning.
I never – ever – thought about actually living in such a
small space, but honestly, after the past six weeks, I can’t imagine what I’d
do now with 2,000+-square-feet. Our 572-square-feet apartment is sweet, cozy, warm
and welcoming – and for now, I can’t imagine it any other way.
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