Living in 600 sq ft

"Since 1950, the average new house has increased by 1,247 sq. ft. Meanwhile, the average household has shrunk by 1 person."

(For more fun facts, click HERE. It's actually a little outdated, since it's from a 2005 article, but just google the topic to find lots of information. Oh! And click HERE to check out where we got our cute painting.)

We currently live in a detached apartment converted from a 2-car garage. Part of the space was left unfinished to serve as storage and a workspace for our landlord (my brother-in-law). The actual living space amounts to 600 sq ft. This includes a living room, a narrow bathroom with a shower/tub combo, a life-saving linen closet/pantry/catch-all, a cute kitchen, a bedroom "area", and a walk-in closet/laundry room.

Since there's just two of us (and the dog, of course), it works. Sometimes we do feel cramped, of course. I really just think that's because we have too much STUFF, not that we don't have enough space. Although, it would be fantastic to have room to actually sit down at the table for a meal.

When we look at houses, with the idea of buying one someday (maybe this year??), I wonder about the size. We've kind of settled on 1500 sq ft as a minimum. We'd like 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. Is that crazy? One bedroom would be for us (and the dog, of course), one would be reserved for guests, and the other would probably serve as an office. Not that either one of us really "work" at home. I guess it would just be a place to stash the laptop and my craft stuff. Maybe that's where we could fit a piece of exercise equipment, too. (Anyone wanna buy me an elliptical machine??) The 2 bathrooms would be ideal for when we have guests stay over. But how often would that happen? Once or twice a month, tops?

I probably scare my husband when I think about living in a small-ish space when we move. I just worry about the costs of heating/cooling, plus the upkeep, plus the money it will take to fill these rooms with furniture! Plus, I dunno. Small = cozy. And it's hard not to spend time together when you don't really have anywhere to escape! :)