I fall into the "each to his/her own" crowd, although I do agree w/Mimi's point about social responsibility.

Always find it amusing when people have to compare their homes/possessions w/mine ("my house is bigger than yours is, nah nah nah!"). As if I'm a loser for choosing that simple is better for me. I just ignore it, change the subject. Actually, it's kind of sad when someone puts so much value on material possessions because those can disappear in the blink of an eye.

I thought smaller homes were becoming chic for those to whom things like that matter?

Our house is very small -- 2 br, one bath but a toilet in the basement, next to the dryer -- built in 1940. We consider ourselves fortunate to have purchased it before the big real estate boom. There is a lot of infill in our neighborhood, which is distressing. They tear down these solid, brick on brick constructed homes to put up big plasterboard mcmansions that don't fit in w/the surrounding homes. I love the older pre-war/ww2 era homes, imagine the folks who lived in them, kids raised in them, etc.