Your digs: Lacking entertainment space?

[shootingstar]

This is not a burning issue, just occasionally annoying:

We live in small living space. In fact, we only have enough rm. to entertain 2 additional people other than just the 2 of us. We've had 3 additional people and that truly is the limit.

There have been times I've suggested my partner throws his little cycling group party in our home, but it's just not feasible without bumping into bookcases or objects. So he has hosted a few and meetings in our building's meeting rm. which can be reserved at no cost. A little more sterile, impersonal room, but nevertheless, more convenient since means no clean-up for us.

For anyone staying with us overnight, only 1 person can sleep..on an air mattress. We are truly tight for space. We just hope our family members and individual friends, continue to be reasonably fit enough..to sleep on the floor like that.

[tulip]

Before I bought my little house, I looked at a tiny condo that was 400 SF (40 M2). I thought I could live there, since I used to live in Paris, and 40 SM was acutally pretty good for Paris. I ended up getting a little house (900SF/90SM) because I work from home, needed an office, and wanted a garden.

There's no way I could have had more than a couple of people over at that condo. It was efficiently laid out with lots of storage, and even with the best space saving everything that Ikea has to offer, it still would have been a 3- or 4-butt space.

Luckily, I guess, I don't have many friends here since I'm still relatively new here and work from home. I just haven't met many people. But once the kitchen is done, I'm going to have the few friends I have over.

It sounds fine to meet people elsewhere and keep your space as private living space.

[ny biker]

1BR condo here, 711 square feet. Last year I got rid of my old couch (a futon) and replaced it with a loveseat and chair. The smaller furniture fits the room better. However I have less seating as a result.

Potential overnight visitors know that I only have room for 1-2 people. Any more than that I and will refer them to a nearby hotel.

Since getting rid of the futon couch I got an aerobed for guests who do stay over. But the people who are most likely to stay over are my parents, and I give them my bed and I sleep on the aerobed in the living room.

As for parties and such, at most I would only invite a few people over at a time. Which is okay, since I've never been much of a hostess.

I think it makes sense to take advantage of the community meeting room when you have groups of people over. It's more comfortable when there's adequate seating and room to move around. I'm sure people understand that some of us just don't have large homes for entertaining.

By the way, I also try to get furniture that doubles as storage when possible. Last weekend I bought a storage ottoman at Target. It looks nice, gives me extra space to hide stuff away, and could also serve as seating if necessary.

[shootingstar]

1BR condo here, 711 square feet. Last year I got rid of my old couch (a futon) and replaced it with a loveseat and chair. The smaller furniture fits the room better. However I have less seating as a result.

Potential overnight visitors know that I only have room for 1-2 people. Any more than that I and will refer them to a nearby hotel.

Since getting rid of the futon couch I got an aerobed for guests who do stay over. But the people who are most likely to stay over are my parents, and I give them my bed and I sleep on the aerobed in the living room.


What's an aerobed?

When I moved to Vancouver, I actually had 2 couches because I had my own condo before I joined up with my partner under 1 roof. So we kept my loveseat and I sold the other. We have a chair and it's not even an armchair.

My place was 770 sq ft. but it was just myself living there. So when I entertained my family which was over 12 people at that time, half of the guests had to sit on the floor and eat their dinner. This is what I meant..reasonably fit loved ones. :o I also lived in a building with a meeting rm. but I just didn't want to use it since condo rules required I put down a deposit of several hundred dollars in case of damage. Frankly, it was just more warmer in terms of family feeling to throw an informal party in my own home space. Sure it was alot of clean-up for me, but it was only a few times a yr. Shrug.

Now it's same amount of space, different home but it's 2 of us. So just tighter.

[Grog]

Thanks for reminding me of the importance of space.

The conditions for your communal room don't seem too bad, I wouldn't hesitate to use it more!

As my dear partner and I are thinking about our future living space, and continuously shell-shocked at the price of real-estate in this cruel but beautiful city, the thought of buying a small condo has crossed my mind. But one of my five core values is "conviviality" and I love to have people over. Lots of people. Many times a year. So the condo doesn't fit the the values list.

We have almost 1,000 sf of space right now and although our official eating space is very small (only 4 people can sit there, and one can't go anywhere unless the table is moved!!) we actually cramped eight grown-ups and a baby around a folding table by moving the furniture in the living room. Nobody was quite comfortable in their seat, but the company was wonderful and the food was great! At a stand-up & sit-around wine and cheese party this winter we had as many as 18 people over at one time, and could have had more. So we'll just keep renting (this place is also quite cheap for what we get so we can save lots) until we have the money to buy a place with as much room to entertain, or more!!

[Crankin]

You know, I think no matter how much space we have, we aren't happy with it. I love to entertain, but have never felt that the space I had, whether it was size or configuration, was comfortable for entertaining.
The house I live in now is big, the biggest one I have owned. But it's a very untraditional floor plan. A couple of years ago, I had a party for my husband's birthday. It was the first time I ever had something catered, with servers there. I was totally worried about how they would set up, serve, etc. It felt cramped to me. We used both our dining room and kitchen for the dinner, for about 25 people. I am pretty sure no one except me noticed. And my theory is, if your relatives complain about sleeping on a futon, etc, then show them a hotel. My in laws refused to stay at our last house because of the size of our guest room! They wouldn't pay for a hotel and we were done enabling them by paying for them. Thus, they missed our youngest son's graduation from HS.
I used to entertain in my studio apt. when I was single. We sat on the floor and ate lasagna one time. After a few bottles of wine, no one cared!

[ny biker]

An aerobed is an inflatable mattress. I have a pretty basic model, which I got free from the grocery store through a customer loyalty program.

http://www.thinkaero.com/category/1/store_productcategory.html

I've been to plenty of events at other people's houses where we had to squeeze to fit folks around the table. And of course growing up we always sat at the "kid's table" in the kitchen for holiday meals. I think it's true that the company is more important than having tons of space. I wish I could afford a 2BR, so I could use the second room as a bike room/office (notice "bike room" comes before "office" ;)), but otherwise I'm happy where I am. I made the decision to have a small home in an area that I like rather than a larger home in a place that didn't make me so happy.

[shootingstar]

thx for the link ny biker. Some of those models look very similar to our air mattress.

And for the times we don't entertain, there's still a stack of art canvasses to cope with in living rm. --- every day it's been there.

But could I live in a home 1,000 sqft.? No, need. I'm not a very good housecleaner (compared to my partner). Just give me a bigger storage closet.

So we could never think of finding space without discarding a large piece of furniture, to set up training rollers for indoor cycling..which would mean removing the couch or eating table. Basic pieces of furniture.

It's kinda of useless exercise for family members who live in same city with one another (I'm the only one out in Western Canada.), the family gatherings have become big enough that whoever is hosting has given up trying to get everyone sitting down at a table of sorts all at the same time. So things evolve into buffet style ...very quickly. I remember the last time I did the count it was 20 family members and this is strictly my parents, siblings, their spouses and children. But it is a family that walks around in slippers, socks or barefeet..so not much use about dressing up beautifully when you party at any of our homes. We've grown up like this and in much more crowded conditions in the past.

[indysteel]

I also live in a fairly small house that limits my entertaining. It never bothered me until recently. I've started cooking a lot more, with some success (yay!). I'd like my next house to have a dedicated dining room in the very least and hopefully useable outside space. I'm otherwise content with living in a small home. I like that it feels cozy. My BF and I are talking about the future though so I may be in the market to buy something new soon.

[sundial]

I keep reading "Your dogs: licking entertainment space?" :o