Space

We have an apartment. It’s cosy. Read small. Everything about it other than the flat-screen television is small. I know this and I expect this, but cannot get used to living it.


In Australia, large open spaces are something we have and somehow feel entitled to. Our kitchen benches are long and wide. Our living rooms are bigger than many Swedish apartments. We live expansively on our verandahs and decks and in our back-yards we can kick a footy, hang a hammock, keep chooks, plant a vegie garden and install an impromptu cricket pitch using the rubbish bins for wickets!


Ok, ok…some Australians live in apartments but new data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics indicates that we’re building bigger homes than ever before, with an average floor space of 214.6 square metres. Free-standing homes are even bigger on average, at 245 square metres! So are we Aussies being poor custodians of our planet’s limited resources? Are we recklessly heating, cooling and vacuuming our homes using up precious electricity, gas and water when we should be learning a lesson from our down-sized Swedish friends?


I’d like to think there is some middle ground. A bathroom with a window would be nice. I would like to have a cupboard in the bedroom. I would like to be able to make a coffee in my Swedish kitchen without having my husband have to squeeze past me to put the orange juice back in the fridge. I really don’t mind the proximity that early in the morning, it’s just that we’re under each other’s feet!


So as I learn to navigate in a more contained and circumspect way around my 35 square meters, I will contemplate what I want, what I need and what I’m simply used to. I will be glad that it only takes five minutes to tidy up and I will dream of a table that seats ten. I will renew my respect for Ikea storage solutions and I will put things away when I have finished with them.


And when I want big, I’ll turn on the telly.