My family recently closed on an 800 sq ft house from the 1840s. It seems to be in good condition, but I’d like to do things to it to increase the value for when my family outgrows it. I was thinking like extra storage spaces, solar panels, or something to just make it feel roomy for my two girls. Any advice on how to to maximize space or renovations that a DIYer could do would be appreciated.

Hello! My name is Juliana Kaplan and I'm a reporter at BI, where I cover how the economy impacts workers and vice versa. I've reported a lot on the economic and social conundrums facing millennials, including parents, and now I'm hoping to write about how millennials are navigating a tricky housing situation. If you're living alone, I'd love to talk to you about how you accomplished that, what it's been like, and what you wish people understood about what millennials are dealing with. You can feel free to contact me here, or shoot me an email at jkaplan@businessinsider.com!

I am looking for a tiny house to use in Raleigh NC. I volunteer with a dog rescue and am going to use it as a home to have more foster dogs. It needs to have electrical and heat/air. My budget is about $20k and I am looking for 300-400 square feet.

My coworker is leaving the country and currently living with me till she leaves. I offered to do a small get together with coworkers on the weekend for dinner as a nice farewell. I originally invited about 8 people and now it’s turned into more like 15 in a matter of a day after talking to some of my coworkers and more people being added all of a sudden. I am nervous and feel anxious that my space is too small for people to enjoy themselves. I’ve made a menu and I got extra seats. My kitchen already has about 10 seats, my living room on the lower level has a sectional, and u have a large beanbag. My house is just very segmented and small and I’m already dreading it even though I just want it to be a fun time. Does anyone have any general advice for hosting in a small home?

I live in a relatively small apartment with my partner and their teenage child. It's not terribly small, it's a two bedroom, one of the rooms is the kid's and one is ours. But my partner is finding their need for personal space and alone time hard to satisfy here because they feel like they need to be "always on" because they feel like we're always together. We're discussing non-room-design related options as well, but I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how I could make a little sequestered space for myself where I can kinda just disappear and give my partner the sense of being on their own sometimes.

Currently my work/leisure space is a small desk in the corner of the living room. We also have a bed instead of a couch in the living room and I sleep there sometimes so my partner can have the bedroom. Currently I have a cheap folding privacy partition that I can put up around part of my desk, but it doesn't fully enclose me. They said that helps. I was thinking about getting a bigger partition, maybe even cubicle-style. But I'm also wondering if there are options I haven't even considered, and though maybe y'all might have some insight?

We might just need a three-bedroom place, or to live separately, but we really like this spot for the most part so hopefully we can make it work!

What are your solutions/how do you make it work?

We have a 2bd/1bath 832 sq ft home with one large dog but would like to expand the family with kids and another dog. We have both a single car garage and unfinished basement that allow us to more storage than others might.

I know there’s gotta be a better way to make this place work. The bed next to the kitchen is wild tbh. Anyways, any suggestions? For context, I would need a space for a medium size dog (60lb pit), desk/study space, queen size bed, at least a two person couch with/coffee table, TV stand (can be used for storage), dinner table. 405 sqft

I was recently made moderator of this sub following the previous mods' restriction of this subreddit. My hope is to really help facilitate and grow a space where you all as small home lovers can come to add and appreciate small homes and their unique character which allows us to reflect on aspects of our own selves and relationship to the world. Not to mention oftentimes being a tad bit more attainable for many of us!

Please post as you please, I only ask that you keep discussions and posts related to small homes and do not self-promote or spam.

Hello! My kitchen is technically 9 feet square, but there's countertops on all three sides except for the spot where the fridge goes, so the actual floor space where I can stand is only 5 feet square once you subtract the counters and fridge. My current fridge is 17.7 cu. ft. and is dying. I'm looking at new fridges and am really tempted to get a mini fridge to create more space in my kitchen. The particular model I'm leaning toward is a total of 5.5 cubic feet; 3.3 is fridge and 2.2 is freezer. It's an 'under-counter' type side-by-side but I would just use the top of it as a surface and not actually put it beneath anything. This wouldn't gain any floorspace as it's actually a couple inches wider than my current fridge. But I would gain new "counter" space by utilizing the top of it, plus precious wall space above it where I could hang a pot rack or any number of things. Due to a cutout in the wall plus a window & upper cabinets, there's currently NO wall space to hang things on, so to me this would be great and is currently being wasted behind my big fridge.

But I'm wondering if 3.3 cu. ft. of fridge space and 2.2 of freezer is too much of a decrease. Some factors: I live alone. I never eat out, ever. So I cook everything. I tend to make large batches of soup or stew and store leftovers to eat for a few days. I also tend to freeze a lot of food, as I'm very rural and only go into town to food shop monthly or less. On the other hand, I'm resourceful and I adapt to limitations well. I decided if the freezer space turned out to be a big deal then I can always buy a small freezer and put it on my porch if I really need to, so I'm mostly concerned about the fridge space.

My current 17.7 cu. ft. fridge is never full, in fact I often put jugs of water in it so it doesn't constantly run, so I know smaller would be good, I'm just wondering if I'm going too small. I currently have about a dozen condiments, only half of which are 'must haves'. A jar of pickles, a large jar of garlic, some produce, a few packages of cheese and then I might randomly have yogurt and/or sour cream and a container of leftovers. This 5.5 cu. ft. size fridge is the largest small size I can find before it jumps up to a taller height fridge, which won't give me any new (worthwhile) wall space. I love what I'm visualizing for a counter height fridge, I'm just super nervous I'll regret it. Or I might love it and wish I did it sooner, who knows! Thoughts? Advice? Have any of you downsized like this and how did it work out? Thanks!

Hello fellow small-home dwellers!

Innovative Compost Bin Survey

I'm personally passionate about the different plants scattered throughout my tiny dorm and with that, am working to design a new composting system that has been tough to find in the current market; and certainly beats my 5-gallon Lowes' bucket that barely fits in my room!

Before going through product design, I'm trying to learn more about if this is a viable investment... I'm reaching out to you all to ask if you would please consider sharing your thoughts about my idea? The survey is included within this post!