We designed and built our place from blueprints to trim (said trim still largely undone) and built for efficiency.
I'd have said I wanted a small house if asked several years ago. But I would have been wrong. I wanted a well-designed house with the spaces set up the way we use space, and earth sheltered, set up for solar heat gain in winter, with sun angles factored in so we don't get that heat gain in summer.
I wanted floors all on one level, whole house, so I can set up my sweeper robot and forget about it. I wanted high ceilings because Deep South, and reversible ceiling fans to keep the heat from pooling up there in winter.
I wanted one bedroom only as far as the tax office is concerned, but two offices, a library, and a dog room. I wanted an enclosed atrium to bring the outdoors and the natural light in, and I wanted a near 600 square foot front porch because what's the point of living in a mountain paradise if you don't go outside and enjoy it?
I wanted a walk-in shower with a seat, wide doorways for wheelchairs, and no steps inside or at entries for aging in place.
I already knew I wanted lots of land. We have 25 acres that requires no maintenance at all except for the driveway, which takes considerable shoveling and scraping and will have to be paved as we get older. But the rest is old growth (not virgin, nothing is), and the best thing we can do for it is leave it alone other than rare controlled burns.
The house is 2,050 square feet not counting the atrium (still an open courtyard at this point, and will not be conditioned space) or the porch, which is now about half covered. It all works for us and isn't hard to clean, but it did require starting absolutely from scratch to get here.
If We hadn't built, I think a small house would be the next best thing because they're usually designed better. It's all about design, and that design needs to be based on utility, not fashion.