It's all my mother's fault

Really. It is. Not that she meant to screw with my head. She didn't plan it at all. But the fact remains that I grew up in a Victorian, 10-foot ceilings, molding, sun porch, lots of space (once all them older siblings moved out).
It had a living room that looked like this:





Now I look for houses and the living room looks like this:

I had my back against a wall when I took this picture. They couldn't stage the room with a whole couch because it would have taken up too much room.

I'm spoiled, that's my problem. This house had an incredibly beautiful garden, but the house itself had such small rooms that though it was a three-bedroom house, I don't see how anyone could live in it.

I mean, I know what it's like to live crowded. I grew up in a three-bedroom house that held ten humans, a couple of dogs, assorted cats, and a series of non-wanted tenants such as mice, rats, raccoons, and honey bees. About the only varmint that didn't try to take up space in the house were skunks, and even then it was probably because they couldn't find any space.

I'm not planning on having any of the above living in my new house, except for the dog. But three bedrooms in a 900 square foot house is maybe squeezing things a bit. If you have really tiny bedrooms, you need a larger living room to balance things out. If this house had had only two bedrooms, and a larger living room, I think it would have been a lot more livable.

I know, I'm being fussy. People with small budgets can't afford big houses. But does small mean it can't feel spacious?