I came in here to mention Apartment Therepy, but someone beat me to it. Here’s an example of one person living in 210sqft. He makes it look possible.
I had a 270 sq foot “apartment” for a year, and it would have been quite acceptable if it could have been arranged differently - there were two two-seat couches, a coffee table, and a queen-size bed, all of which I did NOT need, but no proper kitchen. There was more than adequate clear space in the centre of the room, but nothing to do with that space. The layout in the link provided by Evil Economist looks fantastic in comparison.
I also stayed in an approximately 180sqft room in Paris for a while, and that was surprisingly okay as well, though I would not have wanted to live there for long. The wardrobe was crammed into a corner (beside the shower stall - yes, there was a shower in the bedroom; I joked that I could literally roll out of bed and into the shower) and I could hardly get through the door with my backpack on because of the position of the wardrobe.
I think that North Americans have a pretty distorted idea of the space necessary to live in. I remember reading a thread at another board where Americans were bemoaning their lack of space, and English members were gushing about the roominess of their homes, when the English houses were in fact smaller. I took a special interest in apartment ads posted outside realtor’s shops in Paris, and noticed that not even in the “family friendly” parts of the city do you expect to have anything more than a kitchen, living room, and bedrooms - the required laundry room, rec room, office, etc. seemed not to be a given there. (Not surprisingly, considering the little room I stayed in would probably sell for 200,000 euros.)
I have a 380 sq foot studio all by myself (well, and a guinea pig in a nice 28"x42" cage, which takes up a good chunk of the space :)) and I don’t mind it at all. It’s small but it’s teaching me that I don’t need to collect a lot of stuff. Plus, cleaning this thing up takes like, 2 seconds.
Now, when I get married in Oct and we get an apartment together, we’re looking for a two bedroom so we have at least two rooms where we can escape to if we get sick of each other. That’s more because we can afford that, though. I think we’d be perfectly fine with a 1 bedroom.
People in the US are used to larger spaces and yeah, they’re nice. But they’re not 100% necessary. My grandma and grandpa raised 4 kids (with about 8 years between oldest and youngest) in an 800 sq ft bungalow and they did just fine. Then again, I shared a room with my brother until he got old enough (we were 5 years apart) where we really needed to have separate rooms (I’m a girl) and I never understand the idea that children must have their own rooms. It’s nice, but it’s not a tragedy if you don’t.
1500 Square feet for two people? That’s quite a lot, I live in 110 sq m (about 1300 square feet) - That’s me, wife, 4 year old and mother in law.
We are comfortable
I never thought that I could live in less than 1200 sq feet. But I saw a display at IKEA that changed my mind. they had some very comfortable little apartments set up, about the size of the average college dorm room.
Still, I’m a “stuff” person (Why yes, I DO need all those books thank you!) and with Celtling I think I’d be unhappy in less than 1600. She need s atleast one long hallway to run/trike in.
My house is about 1350 sq ft and we raised three kids there and didn’t feel cramped. It did have four BRs, one added by a previous owner. The people in the attached house with only about 1100 sq ft had four boys and used bunk beds until they moved to a larger place.
When my daughter moved to NY, her first apartment was 150 sq ft and she had it looking good. both the bath (shower, actually) and kitchen were tiny. She had a small under the counter fridge. The only thing was she slept on a futon that was used as a couch in the daytime. My wife and I stayed in a roach-infested hotel the one time we visited. A year later she moved into a 300 square foot place, got her own bed and we could visit and use the futon. Then she moved into a 650 sq ft apartment that was sheer luxury by comparison. Later she acquired a live-in boyfriend (to become husband) and they moved to a 900 sq ft apartment. Now they have a baby and once more there is no room for us to stay.
I would say that 150 sq ft place was close to the minimum for comfortable living.
Interesting responses. And when I say tenement, I’m thinking of Jacob Riis and 6 adults (or more!) sharing 450 sq ft.
This is by far my smallest apartment. My first 2 (in the same building, the second was slightly larger and had a huuuuuge private balcony) were about 600 and 800 sq ft respectively. Then I bounced around between a few apartments varying in size from about 400 to about 650 sq ft. I’m downsizing now, because the college I just transferred to is extremely expensive and I need to save money.
Needless to say, with many much larger apartments under my belt I collected a lot of stuff. I just got rid of a loveseat that I don’t use anymore and still own a loveseat and a sectional. Luckily, my parents’ business includes a large warehouse so I have access to free storage, so a lot of my excess furniture is there right now, although if I didn’t have that option getting rid of it wouldn’t be too big of a deal.
I don’t think I could personally get any smaller than 300 sq ft, because I need to be able to cook, which requires a full size fridge, stove, adequate counter and cabinet space, etc. But I do know how to make use of the available sq footage I have- under the bed boxes, kitchen cart with extra shelves underneath, a cedar chest which doubles as storage for infrequently used items as well as being my “entertainment center.”
I also need at a bare minimum 6x6 of unobstructed floor space for yoga and pilates. But I do have the luxury of living in a warm climate and having a shared front porch, so if I get sick of my place I can go somewhere else. I hadn’t thought about being stuck inside for months because of cold weather.
How big is the average prison cell?
My boyfriend and I share an apartment that is approx. 1000 square feet…2 bedrooms, one bath, living and dining room, etc…
We share it with two cats and we are quite fond of it.
(There’s also a healthy-sized balcony but we never use it so I don’t think it “counts.”)
My family lives in Houston and last year, right after Hurricane Ike, they invaded for three days because their power was out. Both my parents, my brother, and 3 small dogs.
Our apartment might as well have been the size of a jail cell. Five grown adults, three dogs, and two cats? I felt like I couldn’t even breathe. I hated it. I love my family and I was glad to help them out but I hated every second they were here, and every square inch they consumed…all their crap, their pets, their AIR. I would hide in bed just to get away from all the chaos.
I know other people get by with a third of that much square footage. I know that generations of families live in apartments half the size of mine.
But no thanks. For ME, it wasn’t comfortable.
I’m of the opinion that you have to either be in love with, or give birth to, anyone with whom you can share less than 1000 square feet.
Ikea stores in the US have walk-through examples of fully functional apartments in 600, 300 and 150 square feet. 150 is pushing it, though.
Katrina cottages (http://www.katrinacottagehousing.org, http://www.katrinacottages.com) come in sizes as small as 225 square feet (20m2).
On House Hunters International on HGTV, I’ve seen episodes where couples are shown apartments that are about 300 square feet (28m2).
My 380 sq ft studio (which is probably smaller than 380sq ft seems, because the bathroom is HUGE for a studio; they made the ground floor apartments wheelchair accessible, which is awesome, but it means that some of the space is swallowed up to have a bigger bathroom) has a “patio” but as I live in Michigan, it goes unused from about October - early May. It’s not so bad. If I need to get outta the space, I can go to my fiance’s apartment or out and about.
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I’m growing pepper plants this summer on the patio! They’ll be in a hanging basket that has holes in the sides. You basically plant them “upside down” and the plants grow out and down with the peppers easily pluckable! I’m so excited. Hopefully no one will take it (I’m on the ground floor). 
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My fiancee and I bought a 1,200 sq. ft. 3-bedroom house, and it feels huge. We were living in a 680 sq. ft. one-bedroom apartment before which would have been perfect for just me but was slightly cramped for the both of us.
I don’t really collect stuff- generally, the only furniture I’ve owned at any one time has been a bed, a desk, and one to five bookcases. Books are really my only bulky possession. I’ve got a few hundred.
Now that I think about it, the garage really makes the house seem bigger. It would probably be a bit more cramped without somewhere to put all the junk she owns (like an entire closetful of christmas ornaments!)