House & Home

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46 H&H SEPTEMBER 2016 SEE SHOPPING LIST

Photography by Janet Kimber (top right)/

I Love Lucy

image courtesy of CBS Broadcasting Inc./Room design by Deb

Nelson (top right)

Every year when our “Small Spaces” issue

is coming together I ask the same question:

“Exactly how small are they?” I want to

marvel at the tiniest homes which are

often the most creative — and every year

I do. I often wonder if the shots we show

hide the real size of those rooms because

they look great despite their square-footage

sounding miniscule.

But “small” really is relative. A little

research has taught me that my own

sense of space and of what is “normal” is

distorted by memory by changing cultural

norms and even by the hit TV sitcoms that

we watched as kids — that shaped our

perception of how life should be.

My memories of growing up in the 1960s

are of running down long hallways in a

sprawling bungalow with spacious rooms

and a modern shiny kitchen. I never

thought we were short of bathrooms.

My parents had their own private one off

their bedroom while my two brothers and

I shared the one “guest bathroom” with

whichever relative happened to be visiting.

Eventually we had a finished basement

with a third bathroom a rec room and space

for the essential chest freezer the cedar

closets and laundry and storage rooms.

I know now as you probably do too that

if I were to revisit the house that my very

young parents built for their very young

family it would seem like a dollhouse.

Of course a child’s perception is different

but even still....

Those were postwar boom years when

over 6 million houses were built per year

across North America and the average

single-family home was 1300 square feet.

That’s less than 400 square feet of floor

space per person. Lucy and Ricky Ricardo’s

650-square-foot apartment seemed perfect

LY N DA R E E V E S ON

THOSE TIMES

WHEN “SMALL”

FEELS SPACIOUS.

A

Matter

of Size

The ’50s

The Ricardos’ New York

apartment: probably the

best-known set in TV history.

The ’70s

Mary Richards’ attic

apartment defined

single-girl style.

The ’70s

My all-time favourite

flat belonged to Brenda

Morgenstern on Rhoda.

2016

Deb Nelson’s above-the-store

pied-à-terre in Halifax uses black

and white for high impact.

web For a chance to win a prize from La-Z-Boy go to^

houseandhome.com/tvquiz and take our TV set quiz!

1. 
   

   Lucy and Ricky’s apartment I Love Lucy 650 sq.ft.

   
   


2. 
   

   Mary’s flat The Mary Tyler Moore Show 450 sq.ft.

   
   


3. 
   

   Brenda’s flat Rhoda 400 sq.ft.

   
   


4. 
   

   Deb Nelson’s Halifax apartment 360 sq.ft.

   
   


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