Thanks for the super smart replies, folks! Really appreciating this! Clarifications in red:
The dream: Continue connecting with my communit(ies), yet eliminate the cost of child care or otherwise expensive outings.
The method: I envision in my home super comfy seating for five, a projector, a blank wall (got this!), and 2-3 sessions per week of hosting various circles in my home.
The already awesomely helpful:
-Our place is very, very cheap -a miracle of a rental rate in Vancouver, BC.
-Our beds take up no space because we roll out bedrolls on the floor; sleep space is totally moveable even day by day.
-The suite needs to house only my kid and I, though my partner sleeps over a few nights each week at which points my bedroll merely needs a slightly wider space than otherwise.
The catch: Current place is 400 sq feet, 2 bedroom plus kitchen and bathroom, awkwardly laid out (large bedroom, equal size kitchen). With a kid, a work "warehouse", our bikes, etc, I can't quite figure out how to create my dream hosting space. Outside for the next six months or so is generally very, very rainy and/or cold. We did manage to push the outdoor entertaining to a couple of weeks ago, but we seem to have hit the limit.
Limiting factors:
-I need to keep the warehouse contents away from the moisture/heat/smells of the kitchen,
-we function best if my kid has a room to retreat to (he only gained his own room recently, at age 8.5),
-I can't bear a cluttered/squishy space, and
-my dream guest list includes folks that can't get their bodies to a floor/pillows
I'm considering things like any or all of: hanging the bikes off the ceiling to free up floor space, hanging the projector from the ceiling, sleeping in my kitchen and turning my bedroom/warehouse/office into a "living room", couch on wheels, hideabed so that the remaining bedroom is both sleep-space and hosting space (though hideabeds are *really* hard to move from home to home).
Those of you with very small homes, how are you creating comfy hosting space? Any ideas for comfy furniture that's lightweight or collapsible, etc? Are there some crazy comfortable folding chairs out there? Other?
What I'm realizing in exploring this topic is that I really crave a couch. For me, for me and my kid together, and for guests. I can continue to live without a bed (though sometimes I daydream about having one of those, too, to lounge about in on rainy days)t, but definitely my next priority is a couch. Through this conversation, though, some ideas are really starting to percolate for me!