We have a small house – not technically a tiny house, but cozy enough that I’m confident it’s in #smallspacesquad territory – and there’s a lot I want to change and fix and upgrade and improve and change and fix. BUT, every once in a while, I’ll have a moment when I realize that our home, while imperfect and “not there yet,” is small but mighty and that I’m happy we have it. A moment like that happened recently.

We’ve had a number of sleepover guests over the past two years here and this month we hosted Daniel’s father, brother and sister-in-law for a long weekend. Even though the house was full, it didn’t feel too full since everyone could have their own space. One reason that is is because we have a three-bedroom house and we only regularly occupy one of them. That frees up one room to act as a guest room when we need it to be without interrupting our everyday use of the house. The only other reasons we use that room are for me to sew, which I don’t do every day anyway, and for Molly to look at potential prey out of the back window.

That leaves a third bedroom that we use as an office. This is the last option for where a guest would stay. There is a really comfortable couch, perfect for napping, and we have an air mattress that we can blow up in there. But really, this room is for when someone plans on being on a computer for a long time (Daniel’s brother has worked out of that room before on previous visits – again, giving everyone their own space) or when our living room is taken up and we want a place to read or to stream TV or movies from our desktop computer. On his last visit, Daniel’s father played video games up there while other guests were still sleeping downstairs. (Secret: this serves as a great hideout for when you want a break from guests. Sshhhhhhh.)

The living room serves as our second guest room since it has a pullout couch and it’s kind of secluded. Because of where it is – right to the left of the front door, right across from the stairs, but not joined to the rest of the rooms downstairs – the living room is it’s own space, which weirdly gives guests some privacy. Normally, I hate that about the living room, but its detachment from the rest of the downstairs is a benefit when there are guests staying there.

Really, what I love about the house is how much space we’ve managed to create in a small house with just a few rooms. Multifunctional/flex rooms are the key to making small space living a success. Oh, and one more thing: having a great outdoor space. Our backyard continues to be a work in progress (I mean, the entire house is), but when the weather is nice, it serves as an extra living and dining room. And we recently got an outdoor couch, which has enhanced the use of our backyard greatly. Once we get it together on the gardening front, I’ll share the minor updates we’ve made to the backyard.

This was just a little love note to our small but mighty house. And also a glimpse at how much napping goes on here.