Ideal home size

[AnniePoo]

What's your ideal home size in square feet?  Why?  How many kids do you have?

[Ottakee]

We have a house that is really too big for what we NEED, but we do enjoy it.  We have about 1200 sq ft on the main floor, another 600 on the upper level and then about 900 finished on the lower level.....so 2700 sq feet.  We have 2 bedrooms, a loft room and full bath on the upper level.  The master suite, a small living room, kitchen, dining, family room, 1/2 bath, and laundry on the main floor.  The lower daylight level is 2 bedrooms an office/family room, and a full bath and then some storage areas.  That means we have 5 bedrooms, 3 full and 1 1/2 bath.

 

We don't NEED that much room but for our lifestyle it works well.  We have 3 young adult children with special needs who likely will be with us very long term so they each get their own bedroom.  The girls get the upstairs so they each have a bedroom and share the loft room and bathroom.  Our son has the basement bedroom and shares that bath with our foster son.  Foster ds gets the other basement bedroom as legally foster kids can't share a bedroom with anyone over 18 unless it is a bio sibling or an infant with a teen parent.  That gives dh and I our bedroom and bath on the main floor.  It works for us to keep the girls upstairs and the boys downstairs with us in the middle.

 

We never expected to have a house this large but 4 years ago the state came and used eminent domain to take our previous home of 19 years with 5 1 2/ acres, barn, etc.  We had a difficult time finding another home with acreage in our area and the Lord blessed us with this place.  The house is larger and nicer than our other home but the we have less land and had to build barns, etc. here.

[CAMom]

We lived for over 20 years in a 1482 Sq ft house with 3 bedrooms and two bathrooms.

 

We moved out of state 2 years ago and our new house is 3975 Sq ft with 6 bedrooms and 3 full baths and a powder room.

 

One of our bedrooms is my dh's office and he works from home. One of the bedrooms is part of a guest suite with its own living room, bedroom, and bathroom. We wanted the possibility of having a parent move in with us at some point while giving them their own space.

 

Upstairs are 4 bedrooms-the master, one for each of our sons, and one is our home school room. Our daughter occupies the guest suite when she is home from college.

 

We don't *need* this big of a house but we are all here all of the time and 4 out of 5 of us are major introverts. The ability to retreat to a quiet spot in the house saves all of our sanity. :)

[Pamela H in Texas]

I really don't know.  I waffle between wanting a "tiny home" (adjusted for family size) and wanting a big house.  I would LOVE at LEAST another living area and one more bedroom.  That would put us at about 2500 sq ft, I think. We've looked at several 4000 sq ft homes.  But then I think, "but we so don't need that!"  When we went on vacation in September, we had a cabin that was about 350 sq ft and it was awesome.  Hubby is less sure about tiny living and doesn't want to pay for a big house.  And our house works.

 

We normally have 10 people.  We often have an "extra."  But my two oldest are looking at moving out soon (Sept).

 

 

[Um_2_4]

I have 2400 sq feet (not including garage and no basements in CA) and 4 kids. I would like to have 3000+ just for different uses. I would like 2 extra bedrooms (so 6 total, 1 for each kid to last through college (they plan to go local) plus 1 guest bedroom), plus an upstairs family room (for entertaining, kid's zone), plus a large den/office to turn into a proper library/classroom.

[fraidycat]

I have no idea. It really depends more on layout and design more than size. I've seen some really big square footage rendered essentially useless by poor design and vice versa.

[kroe1]

As long as one has a maid, there is no home too large, in my opinion.

 

We have had all sizes over the years from 1500 sq.ft. In a beach house to 7000 sq. ft. Out in the boonies. Personally, I can only care for 4000 by myself so that is what we have now. We normally have 3 to 5 people living in the home. I could easily live in a Class B RV if I ever live in a house without in laws. Until then, bring on the space!

[craftyerin]

My current house feels really comfortable. We have about 2700sf. It's plenty roomy, but we also don't have any rooms that sit unused. I really wanted a house that we would use ALL of. This works. On the main level I have the master + bath, living room, school room, kitchen + breakfast area, a half bath, and the laundry room. Upstairs I have a large playroom, three kids' bedrooms, and a full bath. No basements in Texas. ;)

[elegantlion]

We have 1000 sf for two people. Ds occupies a dormer room. The basement is just a basement, so not really usable space. Ds's room is the largest in the house. We could do with less, but what we have is perfect and the layout is just right. Our largest home was about 1900 sf and it was laid out too strangely to be ideal. It was too big for us. 

[ondreeuh]

We use every inch of our 1900 sq ft house, and have our oldest sleeping in a travel trailer on the driveway while she's home for the summer since there's no room for her here. The boys share a bedroom, and we have an office/Lego room, a school room, and master bedroom. We have one bathroom on each floor (no separate master bath). The long-term plan is to build an addition over the garage and make that into a master suite and laundry room. Currently the W/D are stacked in the utility room and we have to step around the water system. Then we will turn the current master bd into the school room and let the boys each have their own bedroom. Maybe at some point we won't need a room for Legos but I am not even kidding when I say they currently take up 95% of the office. Dh is building a guest house in the backyard so we can host guests comfortably and rent it out. :)

 

We still own a tiny house in another state. Originally we held on to it in case we wanted to move back, but I can't see going back to that small unless I lived alone.

[MrsWeasley]

We have 1400 sq ft, but the design is awful. The largest room after the eat-in kitchen is the master bedroom, leaving a tiny living room and no dining room. We have three bedrooms. The ceilings are also really low, like too low for bunk beds. If we had an open floor plan with a smaller master bedroom, and higher ceilings, if the basement ceilings were high enough that we could finish the basement, I could see this being a good size for our family, but with all this wasted space, it feels tiny, especially if we were to add to our family.

[Amira]

I hate to have a large home.  I can't begin to tell you how much I dislike our current abode simply because it's twice as big as the largest house I would ever care to have.  I prefer 200 sq ft per person and can stand 300 per person.  After that I begin to go crazy.  Also, I never ever want more than two bathrooms again.

 

So for our family of 5, 1000 sq ft and 1.5 or 2 bathrooms is perfect. And I am moving to that in 2 months. :)

[AimeeM]

Our current home is 1500 square feet. We feel it is much too small. We currently have it on the market, and the homes we're looking at are 4000+ square feet.

We have three children (13, 6, and 3), 2 adult (DH, myself), and 2 dogs (one GSD and one Italian Greyhound).

We are simply interested in more space. We would like the ability to move around without tripping over ourselves and *things*, DH wants a music room (right now his drum set is in the unfinished basement, random accordion cases laying around the house, and guitars hanging up in the office), I want a school room, and we want the boys to have a larger room. 

We also want the ability to house one or two of our parents eventually, if needed.

[AnnE-girl]

I'm not sure about square footage, but I would love four-five bedrooms, large kitchen, family room, formal dining room to seat at least ten, and some sort of kid space either in a dry basement or bonus room. At least a two car garage would be nice too. Currently we have 950-140 square feet if we count the basement. I'm really just dreaming at this point.

[Tess in the Burbs]

We are currently in 1200 upstairs and supposedly 600 downstairs. 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths. It is fine.

 

We looked at a 3bd/1ba this weekend with 988 and it would be perfect for dh and me.

 

Layout matters!!!! We have had 2300 before, but it was hard to keep clean. Dh and I want small when we retire. Layout will determine our size, not a number.

[DawnM]

Technically we have 4,200 sq. ft. but the layout isn't that great.  

 

I would like something equivalent in sq. ft. but a better layout for our needs.

[snickerplum]

We currently have 4 children (and a dog) in a 3,052 sqft house. We could use a finished basement imo. The house we came from was 3,550 sqft, so I may be missing some of the space. But the temp apartment we were in had about 1,600 and I liked how quickly I could clean it all. :-) We're still unpacking and putting things away - I could use a good quick for a good quick clean.

[waa510]

My place is 1424 sq ft with about 1,100 in living space. It's 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths..pretty standard.  I'd like something smaller like about 700-800 right now. Dh wants something around 1,000 like we have now, until the kids are gone. Once the kids leave, I wanna go into even smaller housing like 500-600 sq ft max. I get anxious in larger spaces crammed with stuff. When we lived in larger homes, we tended to fill those homes with useless clutter. Living in this house, the smallest we've ever lived in, has really helped curb that as our storage is limited. I like to live minimally and hope to have extra $$ to travel and enjoy life as Dh and I never had that time as a couple before having kids. I love the freedom of my life with less stuff and home to clean. I'm an awful housewife. With less house to clean, I'm able to keep on top of laundry, dishes, and making a decent dinner on more days than not. 

 

 

[matrips]

Layout is more important to me. We have a lot of wasted space in our current house. Our last house was over 1000 ft smaller, but the space was utilized well. I still love my old home.

[Peaceful Isle]

Our house is almost 1100 sq ft. It has 3 bedrooms, and 1 full and 1 half bathroom. That's it. We live in an area that is really wanted for location, so the price of my old home is almost half a million. We are just renting. 

 

We have two adults and 4 kids in our family living there. I love it. Yes, it is very small, but I really don't mind. That being said, we are moving in August to a newer home that will be ours, and not be renting anymore,  and it is almost 2000 sq ft. It has three bath, three bed, a den, and a nice yard. I'm not sure what I will do with all the extra space!

[abacus2]

Layout matters a lot. We once viewed a larger 2000 sq. foot home in our neighborhood. We came away not interested at all in buying it because the layout meant less useful space when compared to our 1400 sq ft home.

[Ali in OR]

It's nice to dream about extra space, but the reality is that space costs money. And time. When we were looking for our first home, we figured out that the extra bedroom consistently added $30k to the price of the house. And you have to keep all that space clean. I never want more than two bathrooms because I don't want to clean any more than that! So we're doing just fine with 5 people in a well-planned 1800 sq ft home. If I had one more bedroom I could have an area to do some crafts, but then we would still be paying a mortgage. Having a paid-off house is great, even if it's smallish.

[rebbyribs]

We are a family of 7 who just moved from 1284 sq ft (2+ BR, 2 BA) to 2200 sq ft (4 BR, 2.5 BA, + basement).  The previous house felt too small, mostly because there was no good place for a dining table that could fit all of us.  We ended up with the table in a corner of the living room and the bigger kids sat on a bench against the wall.  Now we have a good-sized dining room and everyone gets a chair!  :-)  

[foxbridgeacademy]

I think ideal for us is 1600- 1800 although it's more about space arrangement.  I want a separate kitchen with breakfast area.  I need a space for DH and his xbox and another space for me.  I would like 4 bedrooms, we have a boy and girl but it would be nice to have a guest/craft room.  I need a separated Laundry room.  Dining room not necessary as long as kitchen/breakfast area is over-sized, the rest of the rooms can be smaller.  One of the bedrooms must be away from the others so that DD and Miss Mabel (cat) can be kept away from the allergic boys and Minty (bird).  

[Guest]

My home is too tiny. We make it work, but only because I cull ruthlessly and the kids are still small. We have about 1300 sq feet of living space and seven people here, plus four aquariums, a spinning wheel, several sewing machines, who knows how many computers, and two home businesses.

 

We are probably not done with babies, though I waffle back and forth on this thanks to my health. But we would fit so much better in 3000-4500 sq feet. Maybe more, for guest house, outbuildings, shops for both of us, and each kid to have decent personal space. The plans for the home we want to build are closer to 6000 sq feet of living space all told - that's ideal, we could do with less.

[scoutingmom]

No idea, but 850sqft for 6 people is way too small. Some year....

 

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[LisaKinVA]

2800 square feet is about right...depending upon the layout. Most house plans with my preferred designs wind up right about there. That usually gives me enough rooms and bathrooms of necessary sizes for now, and for guests in the future. I still have 5 children at home, and will not have an empty nest for 10+ years. I do not plan on downsizing until I move into an assisted living arrangement.

[shawthorne44]

About 3000 sq. ft.  seems about right.  

[Julie Smith]

I'm good with 200 square feet, Then an additional 200 square feet per person.

 

I find for us that gives enough space for everyone, and extra for overnight guests.

[goldberry]

We have 2000ft right now and it is close to perfect.  Family of 3, DH who wanted his own tiny room for his music/cd/stereo stuff, one extra room for guests or parents-in-law.  

 

The only part not quite perfect is that the guest room has all my books/homeschool supplies in there, and if parent ends up having to stay, they will have to be moved somewhere.  But that would only be temporary.

[AmandaVT]

Our current home is 1000 sq ft that's not well laid out and 1 full bathroom. Not enough. I think 1000 sq ft could be great with a good layout, but we really really need an extra 1/2 bath. We're looking for houses right now and ours is on the market and we're looking at 1500+ sq ft houses with 1 1/2 bathrooms or more. I don't want too much house though- VT has high property taxes and the bigger your house, the more you pay. The fairly modest houses I'm looking at are between $4000-$5500/yr. I have friends who pay close to $10K a year in property taxes.

[MEmama]

We have around 1800, which feels overly luxurious. It is really well laid out and efficient, and there are opportunities to expand (full walk up attic, full basement) but we don't need the space. I honestly love everything about this house, but I can easily see being ready to downsize when DS moves out. I think a very small home will be perfect for us, as long as it is designed thoughtfully and has decent storage. For our next home I'd like a single level and small enough to heat easily with a woodstove. I do not want extra spaces "just in case". However, 2 full baths is a must.

[MeghansMom]

The last house we lived in for eleven years was much bigger with formal and informal living areas, four bedrooms and three baths, etc. However it was laid out inefficiently, although we loved the neighborhood.

The house we are in now is 1600 square feet and laid out well. In the front we have the dining room and living room with a fireplace between the two. In the back of the living room is a bedroom that we use for Meg's classroom/playroom. Behind the dining room is Meghan's room. Next to her room is a hallway with a full bath, our linen closet and the back door. The hallway is t-shaped and has a closet at the other end for our towels, medicine, etc. Our room is at the end with double closets and another full bath. In front of our room and the hallway is the kitchen. It has lots of storage and counter space. The oven is in the wall with cabinets for pots, pans, cooking sheets, muffin pans, etc. Large pantry and the washer and dryer is in there along with a breakfast nook. Lots of light! I love that! The hallway is also big enough to put Meghan's large keyboard with stand and chair. I have a couple of bookshelves in the hallway too. Also lots of greenery, which I love. We are surrounded by trees on three sides. I wake up and see greenery instead of other people's houses and lately there is a cardinal that greets me outside my window each morning. :) It is my husband, myself and my daughter and with the great storage and layout it is a great space for us.

[Mandylubug]

1500 sq ft for our family of six works okay for us. We declutter frequently. I'd adore a larger kitchen and a separate family room but we've made do with tvs in bedrooms, homeschooling in dining. Occasionally we may have a bathroom emergency situation but we are good 99% of the time.

 

We've considered moving and some days I daydream of a farm house but it isn't needed space. Just a want.

[AnniePoo]

I'm the OP and I was curious b/c we're buying our first home.  We've always rented apartments (and once a home).  They are always cheap and small.  Right now we have 6 in a 1,100 sq ft place and I found something online that was 2,200 that DH really liked.  It seemed small, but I hear of people saying that they have a hard time keeping the larger places clean.

 

Today we're going to look at two different 4 BR houses.  One is 2,200sf and the other is 3,600.  It'll be fun to see the difference.  

Describe "wasted space."  Is this like having a formal dining room that never gets used?

[Jackie]

1000-1200 sq ft is ideal for me. The current house is about 1200 sq ft and it's at the big end of what I want. Unfortunately for me, the next house is about 1600 sq ft.

 

The smallest we've lived in was 900 sq ft, which worked just fine when my husband worked out of the home instead of from a home office. And the largest was 2700 sq ft, which made me miserable.

[elegantlion]

Wasted space can be different things. In our previous home the living room was a square huge room with 4 doorways. Because of the doorways, fireplace,  and flow, furniture layout was hard to be efficient. the kitchen was a galley kitchen that was not wide enough for the size of the house. The pantry opened into the fridge and you couldn't have both open at the same time. It felt very unbalanced. 

 

I also prefer all the bedrooms to be close in size. In the same house the master bedroom was large, like 12 x 18, while the secondary bedrooms were 10 x11 or 10 x 12. 

 

 

[JFSinIL]

Right now we are in a 1906 American four-square, with three bedrooms and a bathroom and a smaller laundry room upstairs, living/dining, kitchen, downstairs with a half bath and two bedrooms in the "new" 1926 addition.  With four kids (one moved out) and hubby and I in separate rooms (snoring and restless leg issues) we do use all five bedrooms. Could use a better layout and a "mother-in-law" wing to separate our adult son with autism more from the rest of the house so he'd feel more like he has his own place.  Our basement if full of stuff, it is too shallow to make actual liveable space without digging out the floor, which we can not afford to do.  Not sure of our footage, think it is around 1600???  The rooms are not huge.

 

My kid brother in S. California married into money - they live in a huge new house on a hill, each of the three kids has their own bedroom and bath, there is another suite for the house-sitter for when they go on vacation.  They have a enormous kitchen, huge dining/living room off it, and another large living room. Plus a large media room.  And the master suite is as large as my entire upstairs. 

 

Jealous, who, me?  :D

[Truscifi]

We have 1600 sq ft now, and it is well laid out and fairly comfortable, but ideally I would like to have a large pantry/storage closet and one more bedroom to use as a library/guest room. So around 1800 I guess?

[Laura Corin]

Our house is strung out in a long line - an extended cottage.  There's a lot of corridor, so it's much bigger than it needs to be.  I don't know the square footage - UK houses are not sold like that.

[GrammarGirl]

One week from today we close on a 2300 sq. ft., 4 bed, 2 1/2 bath home. We started out looking for 1500-1600 sq. ft., but with Baby#5 coming soon, we realized we'd be cramped. I'm sure we'd be fine in 1800-1900, but this house was the best deal. DH is a pastor, and it makes me uncomfortable to have such a big place because I don't want anyone to think I'm extravagant, but based on a lot of the responses here, it seems the house is about right for our big family.

[Peaceful Isle]

One week from today we close on a 2300 sq. ft., 4 bed, 2 1/2 bath home. We started out looking for 1500-1600 sq. ft., but with Baby#5 coming soon, we realized we'd be cramped. I'm sure we'd be fine in 1800-1900, but this house was the best deal. DH is a pastor, and it makes me uncomfortable to have such a big place because I don't want anyone to think I'm extravagant, but based on a lot of the responses here, it seems the house is about right for our big family.

 

Don't worry about what people think. I am sure you deserve it! :) 

[Mommy to monkeys]

I hate to have a large home.  I can't begin to tell you how much I dislike our current abode simply because it's twice as big as the largest house I would ever care to have.  I prefer 200 sq ft per person and can stand 300 per person.  After that I begin to go crazy.  Also, I never ever want more than two bathrooms again.

 

So for our family of 5, 1000 sq ft and 1.5 or 2 bathrooms is perfect. And I am moving to that in 2 months. :)

 

200 sp ft per person sounds plenty to me. 1200 sq ft is the figure I would throw out there. 3 bedrooms and 1 1/2 baths (so a bathroom can still be used while the shower is in use) would be my ideal.  My house now is almost 2000 ft and it's overwhelming to me. I LIKE small spaces. I LIKE less stuff. I prefer small kitchens to bigger ones and I'd love purging things until we comfortably fit in a smaller house. That would be my dream.

 

My dream house also would be nowhere near the boonies like my current house is. I miss suburbia desperately. 

[KungFuPanda]

300-400 sq ft per person is my best guess. We have more and it's just not necessary to our health and happiness.

[LisaKinVA]

I'm the OP and I was curious b/c we're buying our first home. We've always rented apartments (and once a home). They are always cheap and small. Right now we have 6 in a 1,100 sq ft place and I found something online that was 2,200 that DH really liked. It seemed small, but I hear of people saying that they have a hard time keeping the larger places clean.

 

Today we're going to look at two different 4 BR houses. One is 2,200sf and the other is 3,600. It'll be fun to see the difference.

 

Describe "wasted space." Is this like having a formal dining room that never gets used?

I've lived in all manner of houses...under 4,500 square feet. Some cluttered, some not -- and the square footage mattered not to the amount of clutter. Some were easy to clean, some weren't -- and the square footage mattered not.

 

3600 square feet with a bad floor plan can feel and live smaller than a 2600 square foot home with a wonderful layout. A 3600 square foot house can be very easy to keep clean and tidy, and an 1100 square foot home can be a nightmare. So much just really depends.

 

Wasted space would be space that doesn't generally get used. It could be anywhere in the home. Bathrooms, formal space, sunrooms, laundry rooms...and that varies, too.

 

My favorite laundry room is about half the space of my mother's. My MIL's master bath and formal rooms were huge, and to me a huge waste of space. Considering how they LIVED, their kitchen, family, laundry, and master bedroom were too small in my opinion. They had plenty of square feet, but it wasn't where they actually used it.

 

A soaker tub is wasted space to me...especially if I am then stuck with a 3.5 foot square shower. But to others, that tub is a necessity.

 

My current home is about 1000 square feet smaller than my house in VA. Because of how it is designed, the materials used, and a lack of built-in storage, it is much more difficult to keep both tidy and clean. The toilets have to be scrubbed after every #2 (design issue), and the general response to the difficulty in keeping the house clean is to hire a cleaning lady...which I can't afford.

 

I know how our family lives, what kinds of space works well, and what doesn't.

 

When we move back to VA, I'll be looking at homes between 2500 and 3500 square feet. All will be some sort of fixer upper, because the thought of buying move in ready in our budget, would leave me in 1700 square feet...and most likely in tears (I don't physically do well in cramped quarters. It would be different if my kids were gone most of the time, but being on top of each other all day, with the resulting mess from play and homeschooling, cooking, etc. Will drive me batty. Yes, I am speaking from experience).

[Wheres Toto]

We have 750 square feet for 4/sometimes 5 people.  It's not enough.   Our current house could work with maybe another 500 square feet of living space, either a basement or a attached garage that is water/bug/critter tight, a second bathroom or at least 1/2 bath, and at least one more bedroom for a guest room/oldest dd room.  She shares with her younger sister since she's at school most of the year and it's not a great situation.

[frogger]

I think you have to think of your own families lifestyle. For example, do you live in the city or country. Will your children be out at activities a lot or are they home all the time?

 

We live in a cold weather climate which means at times we are storing 6 pairs of big winter boots, snow pants, big heavy coats, face masks, gloves,mittens. You start adding six skies, six sleeping bags, six bikes. Multiple people with men's size 14 ski boots, winter boots, hiking boots, mud boots, sneakers, etc. This stuff takes huge amounts of space but isn't hoarding we use it.

 

I have 2400 square feet. I think 2000 would be doable if designed well. An example of wasted space would be that the bathroom is as big as my daughters cracker box of a room. A bathroom needs a comfortable walking space between sinks, toilet, and shower no more. I'm sure they built it that way to make the plumbing easier but my daughter could never fit both her harp and her bed in her room. So she sleeps on the floor. All my children sleep on the floor so they can have more space. Some use mats, some don't. They have the choice. They are doers, project people and that takes space. Reading, t.v. watching, and outside activities, take so much less space than sewing or building or other projects that require materials and tools.

 

I know people that have larger homes in our church and I don't think it's something that people ought to judge. My pastor and his wife for example are constantly hosting missionaries, students from other places, people who just need a place for awhile. I know others who do similar things and they host meetings and such too.

 

Another example of wasted space is the living room. Though it will seat our family and guests, I can't store anything in there because all wall space is covered with doorways, stairways, windows, or a fireplace.

 

Lifestyle plays a huge role in what you need.

[Ripley]

A few years ago we moved from 250 sq. ft. per person to 1,100 sq. ft. per person.  The former was pretty tight, the latter is too much.

 

My ideal is somewhere in between, maybe 400 sq. ft. per person. I think that gives everyone a decent bedroom/bathroom space (~ 200 sq. ft.) with some additional square footage in the common areas to spread out as needed or necessary - for hobbies, to entertain, or just to be able to hide out and recharge.  I grew up in a large family and we didn't have that kind of space so I really crave it now. 

[MomtoCandJ]

I would say a little over 1,000 sq ft for our family of 4, right now we at just under 900 so I would another bedroom, mud/laundry room and a slightly larger kitchen :)

[AnniePoo]

Well, we put an offer in on the place with 3,600 sf.  I honestly don't even know what we'd do with all of the rooms, but it is laid-out really nicely.  There is plenty of space to work on projects without the little ones ruining them.  I should hear back today if it was accepted.