I love your house young, and I think I remember pictures of it. Did you do the trim on the front porch?

We have 1500 square feet for 2 adults, 4 dogs and 3 cats. The dogs range from a 60 lb Shepherd to an 18 lb Bichon. The dogs and people usually hang out together in a 28x14 living/dining room. We have Costco pet beds along the wall wherever the furniture isn't. We are fortunate to have a covered front porch and a fenced front yard that is close to an acre....not that it matters, as the dogs just congregate on the porch.
Our bedroom is big enough to house 2 large dog crates and a King sized bed, so there is room for everyone to sleep somewhere in there.
Crate training a new dog would definitely maximize your space. We have done that for 2 of our larger dogs and I can't recommend it highly enough.
Our latest puzzle was how to keep the dogs out of the litter pan. We seem to have solved the snacking issue by using an 18 gallon Rubbermaid tote with a 10 inch hole cut into the lid.

Wow 7 pets! I love cats and dogs so sounds good to me, must be a crazy household!

Ha!
The real craziness begins when all 4 insist on sitting in my Subaru during my 9 hour workday. That makes the house seem palatial!

Young, I LOVE that shot of your house. The sort of "hat band" around your front stoop area is very lacy and very dressy, which gives your home a lot of character.

And with our sun porch, we have been rearranging a LOT of things moved from the house up north to the house here in Alabama. Of course, both houses have a sun porch, the one I left behind me is long and narrow, and the one in this house is small and square. We moved both our swivel rockers (upholstered and small scale so they fit) out there, and now I'm considering a couple of peace lilies and the bougainvillea (when I cure it of black aphids...grrr)to keep it green looking. I'm such a sucker for plants....as I can tell that you are too. What a beautiful garden you have!

About room for the kids.
The Swedes have a good take on it. Their homes seem to have kind of bed alcoves, and all have curtains which can close. Assuming you have a mix, boys AND girls, there might be two areas but a pair of pocket doors to separate the two or not as you choose. By building up the bed area and putting drawers beneath, there could be storage there. And inside each alcove, a light, a couple of shelves, a set of earbuds to connect to the sound system for music (but not a lot of volume, or they'd all go DEAF). Assuming that the bed area is only for sleeping and maybe reading, you could have homework/play area somewhere else. But if you have all girls, bless your poor husband's heart, he'd have to put up with ALL THOSE PRINCESSES!!!!

Ooouh, Young, I love hydrangeas and yours are absolutely beautiful!

And your entry is so doggone charming--love that, too!

We have 1600 sf, one level,DH and I and adult son (it's a 3/2/2) and until recently 2 dogs-one we lost due to cancer :-(
I think you could make it work-as long as you don't get a mastiff or a Newfie!

Wow schmaltzy. That's a lot of four legged friends in one house! Sounds like you have it pretty much under control though.
Young, I also love the hydrangeas & have 3 varieties I try to keep alive here!

Jane, I just really love big dogs. Dreaming of a great Dane just now. I am so sorry you lost your dog to cancer.

I don't know our square footage, the house is a cape and space is used very efficiently, but we have seven kids and use one bedroom as a playroom with two boys in one bedroom, two more boys in another bedroom, and three girls in another bedroom.

We have 2000 sq. feet and there are two adults, four kids (two are teens), three dogs (one large, one medium, one tiny) a cat, rabbits, parakeets, fish, and a box turtle.

Our last house was 1400 sq. ft and with four kids and all those pets, it's safe to say we learned how to maximize space.

Two comments I've often received about my home are that it seems larger on the inside than it looks from the outside, and "Where's all your stuff?" because we have less stuff sitting out than maybe the average home with four kids.

My DDs did sleep three to a bed until they were 12, 10, and 8. They had two beds but preferred to sleep in one and use one for stuffed animal/doll territory :)

I have approx 950 sq ft (soon to expand another 250 sq ft) and 1 dog who is mainly outside and 2 puppies who live inside. Even though they are Chihuahuas (2 & 3 lbs) their stuff has overtaken my bedroom.

Lucy and Belle

1200 sq ft, nothing special 1970s ranch-style. 4 people (myself, my husband, two small boys) and no pets. To be honest, I do not see myself ever being happy in this house -- we've lived here 10 years already -- but I am growing more content as we make remodeling changes.

Loretta, they are adorable!

melle sacto, that's the way I feel about my house too, and we've been here almost 16 years. Makes me wonder if I'll ever be happy in any house.

Our 1913 bungalow is right around 1750 square feet (~1200 downstairs and ~550 in the half story). DH, our 2 rescue cats and I call it home. For about the last 8 years we've lived mainly in the downstairs and that 1200 square feet was plenty for us. The upstairs remodel adding back that 550 square feet feels like luxury! :-)

We have 5 dogs, small to very large, 2 cats, a bird, aquariums, no kids (grown) in 2000 sq. ft. This is our 'final' home, I hope. We downsized 12 yrs. ago from 2700 sq. ft. We have plenty of room. I'd say 90% of my housework is pet related. I don't mind, the dogs and cats are great company and very entertaining. We also have 2 senior horses in the back yard.

I'm new, so reading old posts to catch up. (I'm not really new, as I was on G-web years back, but now I'm retired.) I love the pictures people sent in. I love bungalows.
My not-a-Craftsman bungalow is about 1250 sq ft and I say it's just right, now that I'm divorced and my kids have moved out! But I'm a hoarder of quilt fabric.
I had to give up my cat because of allergy. But now I have a sweetie with two bouncy and boisterous Bichon Frises. For some reason, they always beat me to the top of the stairs; then, when I come down, they stay on the step behind me and push! I wonder if they're homicidal.
I have never owned dogs. I'm not sure how I'd like it if they were here all the time. Fortunately, I have a laundry room just off the kitchen. We put up a baby gate and corral them when they are a bother.

LOL kalmiopsis at your homicidal dogs. Sounds like they want to encourage you to hurry so they can get down the stairs, but they are too polite to charge in front of you.

We had dogs for almost 30 years and now have had a cat for the last year and a half. I've noticed with the cat, it's all about him. He has no qualms about rushing ahead of us so he is first in the door, first out the door, first to the food bowl, and so on.

We have just under 900SF with an additional 100SF sunroom and a full unfinished basement. 2 adults, a toddler and 2 large dogs (60lbs and 85lbs). That being said the kid takes up way more room than the pets. They are lazy and are always curled up out of the way sleeping.

We have just under 1600 sq. ft. and 3 dogs/1 cat. We don't have any children yet (were just married in November), but DH says he's at his limit for dogs. I see his point, we've been dogsitting his dad's great dane/lab mix for a few weeks and the 4th dog thing (esp. such a BIG one) is a lot of maneuvering around!

We have ~1400 sq. ft. with 2 bipeds and 2 feline quadrupeds. No problems with space to date. I'm in the process of convincing Mrs. J_D that we have room for a canine quadruped. :-)

Poking my head in to see if it's ok....

I have a just 2,000 sqft house, but there are 8 of us living here. I have six kids....five are teens. My house was not built for a family of 8, but it's where we're at.

Our last house was 1100 sq ft with 7 people and 1 bathroom so when we moved here is was mansion-like.

I want to go minimalist (or at least unburden myself from some stuff) so I thought here would be a good place for ideas.

We have 1140 sqft log cabin home for a family of 4, kids are 7 and 4yrs old, plus a 75lb husky/lab mix. kids are growing, too much stuff but we had a 178lb-er who passed away, and a 90lb-er too (over the years here) I miss them both more than any possessions I have ever owned. It's tight in here when we have a visitor or 4. We do have lots of yard space (1.5acres) but our pets are always inside animals. There was a small period of time when we had just humans and I remember thinking "so this is what it's like to not have to vaccuum daily and step over dishes, store vet meds,...but alas, something was missing. Jump forward one month, and yes, I had to vaccuum daily, step over and find space for all the doggy toiletries. I felt such a void in my life. I do often feel deprived of things in a small space, a dog was not going to be one of them. I did wait until the clan was in agreement though on the adoption.

We are in a 1800 sq ft rental with no pets, me, my husband, my 11 month old and my 2.5 year old. The house we just moved from was 1350 and all the same people lived there PLUS a 70lb rottie (who has passed since). This rental feels too big to me! We are building and I hope to keep it around 1600 or so (but it will have a small bonus room so we are not fighting with the girls for the tv when they are older) lol. I HATE unused space. This rental as a huge section of the living room (supposed to be the formal dining) that we never really go in. Such a waste.

This was my little 1350 house that we bought as newlyweds. The only remodeling we did was to add on that dining nook. It used to be all front porch.

And because looking at the pictures of that house made me miss it, here is the cute kitchen:

I recently moved into my new (to me) home. It is about 1400 sq ft and it is my son, small dog, cat and me. In a few weeks my son will be moving out to go to college so it will be just me rattling around in the house.

I feel like I have enough space to be quite comfortable, but not too much to keep clean. There is room for guests and a lovely garden that I am really enjoying. In the past I have had the too big house and I never want to do that again.

We just downsized from 3000 SqFt (because it was too big) to 1700 SqFt. We have 2 adults, 3 kids (10,8&6), 1 dog and 2 new kittens. I actually think we still have too much room. I don't miss our huge house and am loving our new smaller space.

OH it is so nice to see more people posting to this thread. Welcome. Please start posts about your small houses and how you make them work for you. We all love to gab it up and pictures are such a bonus.

sweet.reverie your sweet little house is just darling. I bet it was hard to leave behind.

Hi our house is 561 square feet. 2 adult, 3 kids ages 12, 10 and 6. 1 chihuaha, 2 parakeets and a 30 gal fish tank. We have 1 and 1/2 bathrooms the 1/2 bath shares the washer and dryer and is in ex basement LOL. The ex basement is where our kids share a 10 x 15 room with a very low ceiling and we have a 9x10 room, also with a very low ceiling. No height for bunk beds unfortunatly. The main floor is an open floor plan with a kitchen living room, dining are and full bath. Tiny but it is liveable.

I can join, finally! We are about to move into our new home, it is right at 2000 sf, so I'm right on the cusp of eligibility. :)
We have 2 adults, 2 small kids and 1 large dog. We are moving from a 3200 sf + 1000 sf basement house, and I'm excited about a smaller space. Much easier to keep clean, but it will require us to divest of may of our belongings. This is A-ok with me; I'm attached to only a very few things.

My house is a ranch style and is 1300 sf. There is just me and my 9 lb dog (sometimes I think about adding another small dog).

I replied to this in January - but finally had the house painted a couple of months ago, it was a wreck when we took it over from the prior owner. So here's a couple of shots of our small home. It looks larger than it is from the exterior. Again, it's only about 1500-1600+/- even with the basement and attic combined.

Welcome to the newcomers. Hope you join on the other posts to let us know what you are up to in your smaller homes.

sivyaleah your house is as cute as can be. Love the shady cool front porch and your pretty back patio.

Good to see this thread is still alive. I've been away from GW, but I'm happy to be back. So nice to see your homes and pets.

We have not adopted another dog, and most likely won't for some time. A recent dog beach incident, where our dog aspirated salt water into his lungs, turned out to be a very expensive day at the beach. I was shocked into the reality of the expenses of pet ownership.

For now, we will enjoy our beastie boy and our cat. Here is a picture of our Davis. Usually he sprawled out in the kitchen or blocking an entryway. Here he resting peacefully in front of the TV. Take note of how he blends perfectly with our flooring. Good for hiding hair, bad when you don't see him in the dark and trip!!

Aw Davis is a handsome guy. I know all about animal expense. We have the wild bunch of porch kitties. I saw one was drooling. Made arrangements with our vet to bring her in whenever I could get her caught. She is seriously a wild cat. So finally I got her caged and took her down and the vet had to pull all her back teeth, keep her over night and all the special handling. All that money for a wild cat named Psycho. But I would not be responsible pet owner to let her suffer. She is doing well and on canned food.

I like it Davis blends in. We have mostly black inside animals and light carpets. I have to vacuum daily.

Glad you are back and so glad Davis is doing well again.

Sivaleyah-your home is gorgeous! Do you mind sharing the color? Ours needs a paint job and that is exactly what I had in mind.

Caligal-Davis is adorable. Scary about the salt water-glad he's ok.

Thanks shades & drybean, he is an awesome companion.

I, too, would like to know the paint colors of your house sivaleyah. Looks wonderful!

MOmmysean, you sound a little squished together. Don't over feed those kids! 561 sq ft is tiny even with the basement.

1450 sq ft, 4 of us, including 2 young boys plus 1 70# dog. Plenty of room for her but she is always underfoot. Has to be by her people, room to room. :)

Planning on moving in the next 18 mos. We want to expand a little but I am finding for some crazy reason that wanting 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths with a good layout jumps you up to 2000 sq. feet. Where are the 1800 sq. foot homes?

I may need you all to keep me in line. I do not want to go big as I am the housekeeper here and we want it to also be our empty nest home when the time comes.

Good to 'meet' you all.

Welcome Autumn. We had an 1140 SQ FT house with one bath. The next owner added a second bath. Bumping up the SQ FT a bit. We have a three and two in 1375 SQ FT now but it is a manufactured home. One bedroom is kind of small at 13 by 9. The other two bedrooms are good sized.

Chris

Well, I don't belong here, unfortunately. I wish there was a modest home forum where people who have vinyl windows, pressure treated decks and "those ugly metal threshholds" on their doors could hang out and not be too intimidated to share.
Anyways, we are building a 2415 sq ft home with 5 bedrooms. There's six of us most of the time, occassionally nine. This will be the first time my youngest won't be sleeping in my bedroom, I can't wait (he just turned 4). We also have 4 fat cats, 1-75 lb dog, and a bunch of chickens, ducks, and turkeys - but the birds stay outside, most of the time :-).
LOL caligal - I should have picked a floor to match my dog.

momo7 we would NEVER tell you you can not come play with us. With as many children and kitties your 2415 build could be considered small. You easily could run into the needs of conserving space we all face at times.

Do not worry about the vinyl windows and metal thresholds and pressure treated decks. I did not know there was anything else???? There is Really??? Not in my vocabulary. We have them all and it is fine with us.

Awww Shades, thank you. I must admit I was hoping someone woud officially invite me.

You really do not need an official invite. Come on in and share and we love pictures.

So the way I look at it. We have 1375 for two people. That is almost 700 SQ FT each and DH has a 30 by 30 shop with loft for storage. I think the loft is 30 by 8. I use most of it. It is not packed full. It is just nice to have a place for the extra stuff. I am known to change our house around often. I recycle things in and out.

As I see it you are actually going to live smaller than we are. 6 into 2400 is 600 Each person and some times you even have more. So come on in and don't stumble over that metal threshold. Snicker. Are they really ugly?? Do I need to change ours?

" a modest home forum where people who have vinyl windows, pressure treated decks and "those ugly metal threshholds" on their doors could hang out and not be too intimidated to share. "

hey, you been reading my threads? well, actually I guess that means you HAVEN'T. I just put in a metal threshold! I looked at a wooden one but then during a recent rain the water came in under my door so I figured metal would be safer - and last longer!

my new windows are vinyl. the old ones are metal but I didn't want metal for the new ones.

I don't have a deck tho. Not sure I ever will. I'd just be grateful to have a decent set of steps! that'll be a project coming up...

glad to have ya aboard!

Thanks shades...the kids bedrooms are 11x11 I think and they seem to be plenty big. We aren't planning on making them larger when we build.

Momo7- Well we have a deck - that was probably put on to say 'it has a deck' since it's so small it is pretty much useless to actually use with any kind of table and seating or anything, let alone a bbq grill. Right now it has a couple of chairs on it and that's it - it's more of an entrance to the back yard and my dogs perch for viewing birds. She uses it most for sure. It's in rough shape from the weather and I refuse to stain it 'one more time'. Will have to replace the lumber before we sell. Warping boards and nails sticking up-shoes are a must. As for all of your pets - hubby is telling me when we move to the woods - we may try a small chicken coop. It will definitely have to be outside of the dogs boundry - not sure how that would work!

Count us in for the vinyl windows as well.

Caligal-love your 'puppy'. Ours is a golden mix - such a wonderful personality.

sivyaleah - I love your house! The exterior is fantastic as is the patio.

caligal - Davis is handsome fellow. :-)

Ok, I want to play!

Our house is a smidge over 2000 square feet, and there are me and my DH, our 26 yo son, DH's 83 yo DM, 3 cats, a 110 lb Great Pyranees, a Blue Heeler, and a Border Collie. The horses live outside.

Sometimes I feel a bit crowded, but this house is quite open. Our previous house gave me claustrophobia and depression, even though I think it had more sq. footage!

Nancy

1407 sqft - 2 adults and 4 indoor cats. We also have family that stays with us off an on when they are in town. One of the guest rooms is closed off completely so the cats don't get their hair everywhere :)

My ca. 1892 house is approx. 1000 sq ft and I have a husband, a beagle, and 3 cats and I feel like there's sufficient room for everyone. My biggest complaint is lack of storage because no attic or garage and only 2 closets in the entire house therefore I don't hold onto a lot of things. I would suggest a chihuahua for Caligal - my neighbors have two and they're so tiny and cute.