housing choices, HELP!

[badgercat]

I'd go with the closer+smaller place, for what it's worth. My boyfriend and I rent a 2-bedroom house with similar square footage, and inside the house we have a total of 6 bikes, his huge computer setup (he's a comp sci graduate student) and a desk for me too, 3 bookcases for all of our textbooks and papers, my sewing desk and collection of craft supplies and costumes, and a piano, 3 wind instruments, and a formidable collection of sheet music between us (we have a lot of hobbies, none of which are very compact ). We don't have pets like you do, but I have to believe you can make that amount of space work for a year.

Sure, a little more space would be nice, but to me it wouldn't be worth a 3x longer commute (we live ~3 miles from campus [where we're both full-time students and part-time employees] and bike-commute). I had also been one of those people who always liked to spread out, but I've adapted relatively well. If I get stir-crazy, I go for a bike ride.

ETA: I can also appreciate that everyone is used to different things (I'm very much still a student and used to living in cramped quarters, I haven't had an opportunity to live anywhere roomier since I moved out of my parents' house), and there's the issue of what to do with your spare furniture, but maybe there's a reasonable storage locker you could rent somewhere? Anyway, good luck with your decision, I'm sure other folks will have good perspectives and advice here.