Early Morning Thoughts on Mini-mansions n'Stuff

I am always considering how America could be more economical when it comes to housing. Of course, I have to think about how any measures taken would affect me personally, because my family lives in a 3200 square foot house. So let's take a trip into Marisa's past and see if it has any baring on the condition of American real estate in general.

Until I was twelve I lived in a 1500 square foot house. This was perfectly fine with me, and I fought tooth and nail to stay there. Sadly, by the end of my time there I was only a few inches shorter than my permanent height.

The first time I stepped into the model of our new house it seemed enormous. We bought the house before it was built, so I got to witness the laying of the wood, drywall, painting, etc.

After living there for a few years I visited my first house again, which seemed to have shrunk into a miniaturized version of what I remembered. Keep in mind that I had not gotten much bigger after moving, so the theory of this house being much bigger to a child does not apply.

What does this tell us? People are getting used to a standard of living. I'm going to pretend that a recession isn't happening right now for the purposes of this entry. This may not be a brilliant conclusion, but it is one that holds a lot of weight.

And there is definitely wasted space in our house. The front room has been turned into a decorative entryway, which is nice, but we don't entertain the pope very often. Granted, in another family this room may have been put to use differently. There is also a lot of unused floorspace. Looking at this differently, this helps to give the house a very open, friendly feeling which is conducive to mental health. Speaking of mental health, there is the "teen room", my savior during my, well, teen years. Basically, it is a loft with a spiffy name, but I took it over as soon as we moved in because of its name in the floor plan and it was given to me because of my sadness at moving. I am unsure what I would have done without it. At my old house I used to wander the backyard incessantly, but the backyard doesn't have electricity,wireless, or bookshelves. In fact, my parents often called that particular part of upstairs "my little apartment", and I spend a significant amount of time there when I go home.

So what is my conclusion from this diatribe? With some architectural finagling, mini-mansions could be re-designed much more efficiently with the added mental health benefits of extra space. Now I have to call and find out when my physical therapy appointment is, because I forgot.

Later Edit: Also, when the temperature in the house is 93 degrees or above and the outside temperature is even hotter, running a fan or opening the windows is not an option. The only solution during these times is to run an air conditioner. I don't really see a low-energy solution to that problems, as we already have tinted windows and special drapes. Cooling ourselves with tears is not an option.