Size Perspective

A while back, I purchased a subscription to The Journal of Light Construction for my husband. When the monthly volume arrives, I rarely even page through it, with the exception of yesterday, of course, when I found this little tidbit of information:

Over the three-plus decades that the U.S. Census Bureau has been collecting data on the size of new houses, median square footage has increased fairly steadily, from 1525 square-feet in 1973 to 2248 square feet in 2006.

But the bureau’s most recent numbers show that between the first and second quarters of 2007, the median size of a single-family home unexpectedly declined --- by 73 square feet, or the equivalent of a big walk-in closet.

The last sentence is the part that amazed me: the average house shrank by 73 square feet, a size equivalent to a large walk-in closet…OR a size equivalent to the work area of my kitchen! I knew my house was small, but I didn’t think it was that small. After arriving at this realization, I looked at my kitchen and tried to imagine it as a closet filled with clothes, shoes, and the like. I don’t think my daughter and I together own enough clothes to fill such a space. How many clothes do people own anyway?

Books. I could definitely fill 70 square feet with books.