Tight Squeeze In the Living Room

It's not just that an iPod can replace the record and CD players or that flat-screen televisions don't need to be hidden behind entertainment-center doors. Living rooms are emerging from the housing bubble leaner.

The shrinkage has been caused, in part, by declining home values and plummeting sales, encouraging builders to scale back, as well as a revolt against the era of McMansions. Heating two-story entryways and the unused fifth bedroom has fallen out of favor as homeowners opt instead for cozy and functional, architects and builders said.

"As people get away from talking about square footage and look towards what fits their lifestyle, it brings their square footage down a bit," said Josh Rosenthal of Rosenthal Homes, a Rockville custom-home builder. "They need a house that meets the lifestyle of their family, and they find that can fit into a smaller envelope than they perceive."

The average new condominium in the Washington area is more than 100 square feet smaller than the average existing one, and builders said they are doing more with less. For people living in these spaces, or trying to sell them, the crunch can present a creative challenge.

The demise of the old-fashioned living room goes hand in hand with the disappearance of many of its luxuries, including bulky furniture and the entertainment center, that home of a hodgepodge of sometimes-working electronics. "Entertainment centers have gone the way of the dinosaur," said Trish Kim, a Virginia-based stager who helps prepare homes for sale. "I cringe when I come in and see" an entertainment center, she said.

Sometimes the new floor plans can be befuddling. "The new builders are trying to overcome the lack of space by building a high ceiling, as if that is going to kid somebody," said Will Nesbitt, a real estate agent with Condo 1 of Alexandria.

The average Washington area condo has about 1,150 square feet, but during the recent boom it slipped to 1,000 square feet for new units, according to the market research firm McWilliams Ballard. That has been accomplished, in part, by shaving a few feet from the bedroom or streamlining the kitchen, said Mark Franceski, director of market research.

But most of the space is taken from the public living area. "Large living rooms can have a lot of wasted space. We have flat-screen TVs now," Franceski said.

In some cases, overall space has remained the same but builders are squeezing in more rooms. Market research has shown that condo buyers place a premium on a second bedroom, said Todd Ray, a principal at the District architecture firm Studio 27. That can make the unit more affordable, he said, for a buyer willing to find a roommate, for example. "The second bedroom is becoming more and more popular, but the overall unit size is staying the same size."

One way the new configurations can be achieved is by squeezing the public living space to create a second bedroom that could also be used as a den, Ray said. The smaller living room can be accommodated by replacing the bulky entertainment center with a flat-screen television and an iPod docking station, he said.

"Anytime you deal with urban living, you are maximizing square inches, not square feet," said Ray, a 15-year veteran of the industry.

That means finding better ways to use space, even second-guessing the depth of walls, he said. Smaller wall studs help, he said; so does using build-in cabinets to divide rooms. Traditional hinged doors can take up nine square feet. If, instead, sliding panels are used to close off the second bedroom for privacy, it expands the living space when they're open, he said.