Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to really use your space. People tend to
Speaker 1: be happiest when there is an everyday use for the
Speaker 1: spaces in their homes. So if you don't use a
Speaker 1: room for its traditional function, change it. After all, it
Speaker 1: is your house. So back in twenty eleven, while I
Speaker 1: was writing a book called All the Money in the World,
Speaker 1: I interviewed architect Sarah Susanka about the size and scale
Speaker 1: of American homes. Susanka, author of the Not So Big
Speaker 1: House series of books, noted that she encountered many homes
Speaker 1: with unusable rooms spaces that I didn't reflect how people actually lived.
Speaker 1: Such waste could be pricey for normal folks, but she
Speaker 1: reported that even her clients with unlimited budgets tended to
Speaker 1: be happiest with everyday uses for their spaces. The goal
Speaker 1: should be to use every square foot every day. After
Speaker 1: recently rereading All the Money in the World, I have
Speaker 1: been revisiting my old work. Like I recommended in a
Speaker 1: recent episode, I have been thinking of that goal. With
Speaker 1: my new old house. We spent a year renovating this
Speaker 1: historic home, partly to be sure we could use the
Speaker 1: somewhat eclectic spaces. Now, a year after moving in, I
Speaker 1: tracked where everyone was during a normal weekend day, and
Speaker 1: I am pretty sure we do indeed use the full house,
Speaker 1: or at least I turn off the lights in every
Speaker 1: room every night. This use has been achieved partly by
Speaker 1: shifting room functions. What is technically a dining room has
Speaker 1: become the space where the kids can play on the
Speaker 1: family computer and where I do my various one thousand
Speaker 1: piece puzzles, generally while supervising the computer using kids. We
Speaker 1: knocked down walls between a few tiny, ambiguous rooms to
Speaker 1: create a children's playroom whose current mess level suggests it
Speaker 1: has achieved new life. So the obvious caveat here. I
Speaker 1: know that even pondering these matters is already a function
Speaker 1: of having more space than is strictly necessary. Back when
Speaker 1: my family lived in a small New York City apartment,
Speaker 1: we definitely used every square foot every day. We didn't
Speaker 1: have a choice. But in any case, if you too
Speaker 1: are pondering your space and how it is used, it
Speaker 1: might help to remember that a home exists to serve you.
Speaker 1: If you don't need a space in its traditional function,
Speaker 1: you don't need to preserve it for that function. You
Speaker 1: might be able to use it in a different way. So,
Speaker 1: for instance, if you are not doing a lot of
Speaker 1: formal entertaining, maybe that formal living room could become a playroom.
Speaker 1: My guest is the toys already migrate there. Now you
Speaker 1: can just embrace it, keeping a sofa for a parent
Speaker 1: to sit on and relax. If you mostly eat at
Speaker 1: your kitchen table, then a dining room could become a
Speaker 1: crafting or game room, or a library for a booklover,
Speaker 1: or your real home office. If you've got a guest
Speaker 1: room but don't have many overnight guests, maybe it can
Speaker 1: be something else. A movie room for movie buffs, or
Speaker 1: a music room. If you've got lots of family members
Speaker 1: who play instruments, perhaps you enter through the garage and
Speaker 1: your front foyer sits empty. If you've got a green thumb,
Speaker 1: perhaps that becomes your plant room, so you can finally
Speaker 1: use that giant window over the door. Now, to be sure,
Speaker 1: habits don't always follow possessions. Plenty of people buy treadmills
Speaker 1: and never use them. But if a space is not
Speaker 1: being used at all, you may as well try shaping
Speaker 1: it to an activity you think you would do. Doing
Speaker 1: so increases the chances that you do use every square
Speaker 1: foot every day, and that will most likely make you
Speaker 1: happier in your home. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.
Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.
Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the number four then
Speaker 1: Breakfast pod. You can also shoot me an email at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast podcast at iHeartMedia dot com. That before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much.
Speaker 1: Should I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
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