Im not sure if I have done something wrong here, but using google to convert square meters to square feet, it seems you guys are used to much smaller houses?
I mean, 1200 square feet comes up as just over 110 square metres, thats a pretty bloody small house. Average house size here in Australia is well over 200 from what I understand.
There are some housing developments near where I live (expensive ones mind you) that demand a minimum size of 300 or even 350 square metres, thats over 3500 square feet.
I personally would like to live in a tiny house, not too small, but just a couple of rooms, a kitchen that opens into a living room, a bedroom and a bathroom. Here is an amazing diagram I made using keyboard characters:
_____________________________________________
|.....................|..........................|......................|
|........K...........|..........................|.......Ba............|
|.....................|..........................|......................|
|.....................|..........................|......................|
----------------............................ ---------------
|................................................|......................|
|....................Living ....................|.....Be..............|
|................................................|......................|
|______________________________|______________|
I could quite easily deal with that on my own, or with a partner (Providing she could deal with it


).