For as long as Sibylle and I have been talking about houses we like, we have had a mantra:
As big as necessary, as small as possible.
In a nutshell this means we think smaller is better, more efficient, and more suited to our personalities. However, you can make things too small. Our current house fits this mantra very well. Through the misfortune of a fire it was reconstructed and in that process given a generously large main room. We immediately felt settled here, like we had just enough room but not too much – like your favorite sweatshirt that’s a half size too big. Roomy without being sloppy.
One aspect of our lives is the piano studio. From mid afternoon until early evening Sibylle teaches students young and old, experienced and novice from our two grand pianos in the piano room. The master bedroom is on one side of this space, and the kitchen, office, and den are on the other side. When I arrive home from work I enter into the lesson in progress, and as I get a glass of water, or visit our quarters to change my clothes and then move to the office, I traverse the piano room. This has never been an issue nor does it cause problems. On occasion when I come home with my cello following a lesson the sight of me and my rather large case causes a momentary lapse of attention from the student, but nothing too onerous.
Over the summer Sibylle had several groups and used the floor space for various purposes. Having a bit more room to spread out would be lovely. And at times she would host a studio recital, which would also benefit from a bit more elbow room. For these reasons, and the fact that we would like to be able to plant a garden or paint a wall or add some shelves here and there we decided to look for a different house.
The new house is much bigger in terms of square feet, but it still feels only as big as necessary and as small as possible. The studio space will be generous, and we have the option of expanding it in the future. The private and public spaces upstairs aren’t much larger than our house now. We’ll still have an office and a den or media room, and our bed room. What we gain is a gentle separation between the studio and our home while still keeping the two under one roof.
We also gain ready views of the vastness of the prairie. At night we’ll be able to see the lights of Manhattan spread below us to the east. And by day we’ll be able to see the far horizon and the endless blue bowl of the Kansas sky.
