One of the challenges of owning a small house is the limited space for entertaining more than a few people at a time. I actually see this as an advantage and an opportunity.
It’s an advantage because you won’t be the one who’s always obligated to host big family and social events. Not only is this a lot of work, but it is also expensive and puts a lot of wear and tear on your home.
To meet your social obligations or desire to entertain, you have the opportunity to express your creativity since you live in a small house. As I’ve mentioned in other articles, one way to do this is to hold your social gatherings at a park, community facility, or restaurant. If you want to do something closer to home, consider building a nice, permanent outdoor dining area in your garden.
Since space is limited inside a small house, your yard is the perfect place to add living spaces or garden rooms, as I like to call them. An outdoor dining room is one of the best uses of a garden room.
You may be concerned that an outdoor dining room would only be usable during certain times of the year. That is true, of course. Events during the cold winter and hot summer months won’t be at your house. 😀 But during the prime weather months, when your garden looks its best, you can host your social events. I envision a dinner party in early fall, when the leaves are changing color, and in late spring, when new plant and flower growth is abundant. The theme of your parties could be transitional or renewal. Your invitation might read, “Spring into Summer at my garden dinner party on…(date & time)”
Seize this opportunity and fuel it with your keen desire to entertain and maybe impress your guests a little by getting creative with your outdoor dining room design. Make it pop! Make it more exciting than what you might find in a traditional (boring) dining room.
One of the things that I like about small houses is that they force us to be creative outside of conventional design practices. This suggests that many of us are nonconformists, which I see as a virtue. 🙂