Unutterably Silly Room to swing a cat? Hardly

[GeoffC]

Definitely seriously silly ....

From the BBC web site


The sofa won't fit into the living room. There's not enough room for children to play in the kitchen as you cook. And where's the recycling bin meant to go?

The floor area and room sizes are the smallest in Europe - the average room in a newly built dwelling in France is 26.9 square metres, compared with 15.8 square metres in the UK - and, the graph below shows how British new-builds are less than half the size of those in the United States and Australia.

Don't y'all feel for us ?

[HarryT]

That's one reason that eBooks should be a success in the UK - we have a lot less space to store physical books than do many people in other countries!

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by HarryT

That's one reason that eBooks should be a success in the UK - we have a lot less space to store physical books than do many people in other countries!

now there's a thought i hadn't had - thanks Harry for the crumb of comfort ......

[zelda_pinwheel]

wow, that is tiny. i complain about not having enough space and i've got 27 square metres here. although the real problem for me isn't so much the space, it's that it's very poorly designed (and has not the tiniest cupboard anywhere) so it's difficult to make efficient use of it, particularly in the minuscule kitchen and bathroom. and the bedroom, come to that. i don't think i could manage in 15m2. although i have given away quite a lot of books recently.

[Sweetpea]

*whistles innocently*

Hmm, I wonder what the average space is here...

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

*whistles innocently*

Hmm, I wonder what the average space is here...

i don't want to know. i'm still cringing from the diagram showing the comparative sizes, and seeing the average australian / american house.

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

i don't want to know. i'm still cringing from the diagram showing the comparative sizes, and seeing the average australian / american house.

What's wrong, are you jealous?

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

What's wrong, are you jealous?

very.

[Greg Anos]

Space....the final frontier.....(from the land of above average houses...)

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

Space....the final frontier.....(from the land of above average houses...)

well, to be fair, this is mostly an issue when living in a city, where there are a lot of people and space is at a premium. in france, people living in other cities can have much larger flats (for the same or lower rent) and obviously houses are even larger in the country where there construction isn't very dense. it's a tradeoff. i don't technically need very much space ; i just wish my flat was better designed. although i do also wish (if i'm dreaming) that i could have a third room to turn into an office. it would be nice to keep that totally separate from my living space.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

i don't want to know. i'm still cringing from the diagram showing the comparative sizes, and seeing the average australian / american house.

I think ours would be somewhere between the UK and Ireland... Depending on the price of the house, naturally. (a house of €500.000 would be larger than one of €100.000). And the location (up north, the houses are generally larger than around Amsterdam/The Hague/Rotterdam/Utrecht).

Now, I don't live in an average house...

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

very.

Don't be. Most new construction is very poorly built and still has the same number of rooms as a house 30% smaller.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

Don't be. Most new construction is very poorly built and still has the same number of rooms as a house 30% smaller.

Yes, that's what I noticed as well. The amount of rooms went up, the amount of space went down. I'd rather have 2 large sized rooms than 4 that are just too small to really make use of (that's why we went from 8 rooms to 4 when we started demolishing walls...)

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

I think ours would be somewhere between the UK and Ireland... Depending on the price of the house, naturally. (a house of €500.000 would be larger than one of €100.000). And the location (up north, the houses are generally larger than around Amsterdam/The Hague/Rotterdam/Utrecht).

Now, I don't live in an average house...

ha, that's not what i would have expected. i would have thought larger. here, obviously if i wanted to spend more on rent i could have a larger (and much better in every way) flat. but i would have to spend a LOT more on rent, and i don't have that kind of money.

Originally Posted by Nate the great

Don't be. Most new construction is very poorly built and still has the same number of rooms as a house 30% smaller.

well, i suppose that is something of a comfort. (although my building isn't going to win any awards for "best construction practices" and i think the architect who drew the plans was probably high at the time).

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Yes, that's what I noticed as well. The amount of rooms went up, the amount of space went down. I'd rather have 2 large sized rooms than 4 that are just too small to really make use of (that's why we went from 8 rooms to 4 when we started demolishing walls...)

Actually, we are saying the opposite. The number of rooms in the average hew built US house has not gone up (well, not as fast as the m^2). The rooms have gotten bigger faster than the number of rooms have increased.