Square feet versus number of children

[WeeBeaks]

I'm in awe of those with you with so many sf. We have 1800, 4 kids, tucked into a very very urban area.

[Donna]

1500 sq. ft for 3 kids...not sure if the sq. footage includes the finished basement or not though. I just remember that number from when we purchased the house.

[jenangelcat]

2000 sq ft, 3 kids. If I could, I'd go down to 1500 square feet.

[Dandelion]

3000 sq. feet - 2 kids

[krisperry]

5200 square feet, 6 children

 

ETA: They all have bedrooms and choose to all sleep together :P

[Susan in TN]

6 kids, 2450 sq. ft, including finished walk-out basement and finished attic family room. We actually have about 450sq.ft. of additional attic space that we could finish if we had the money. We'd probably build a library on one side and a craft/storage/extra guest room on the other.

 

We've only lived here for 2 years, but I love, love, love the person who built/designed this house.

[jbemom]

I have to giggle a bit when some of referring to 2000+ sq ft. as "small."

 

We live in around 900 sq ft., 2 bedrooms, 1 bathroom, no basement. 3 kids.

 

:iagree: We have a 850 sq. ft. house (no basement) with 2 adults, 1 child and 1 Labrador. We homeschool in the dining room/storage room. I'd be happy with another 250-300 sq. ft.

[littleWMN]

2400 sf with 4 kids (4 bedrooms). I really wouldn't want any more space, unless you wanted to add space to my laundry room. It's tiny. :)

[Excelsior! Academy]

We just moved from 1600 sq ft to almost 3000 sq ft. It was listed as 2800, but the laundry room and garage have heat and air and we use them as space throughout the day. Those were not included in the sq footage. We are also on a double lot and use our backyard as an extra living area.

 

I agree with the pp about the layout. It took months for us to find a house because all of the 2500-5000 sq ft houses we looked at seemed like less useable space than our 1500-1600 sq ft house we were in at the time.

 

Btw, we have 9 dc.

[DawnM]

Well, our house was 1,400 sq. ft. when we lived in SoCal. We thought it was fine. We had 2 kids then.

 

We moved to NC almost 6 years ago and have an almost 4,000 sq. ft. and have 3 kids. We also have 2.5 acres so we have a lot of room.

 

Dawn

 

 

 

I'm in awe of those with you with so many sf. We have 1800, 4 kids, tucked into a very very urban area.

[Veritaserum]

5 kids (and planning on one more), ~5,000 sq. feet with 7 beds and 5 baths. Small city.

 

I grew up in a big city. We had six kids in 2,000 sq. feet with 4 (tiny) beds and 2.5 baths.

 

Dh grew up in the country. His family had four kids in ~3,000 sq. feet with 5 beds and 2 baths.

[ereks mom]

2500 sq.ft. / 2 kids (1 in college & not here most of the time)

[Sukale]

1700 sq ft and 2 kids.

[Mom22ns]

3500 sq ft. 2 kids.

[DarlaS]

2020 ish sf, (5 bed 3 bath) 4 kids.

[mycalling]

Eight kids plus three adults in 4,300sf.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

2000 sq. ft. 2 kids.

[MamaAkins]

1450 sq. feet, 3 adults (my dad lives with us) and 4 kids (the girls-ages 13, 7, and 4-share one room while my son has his own small room).

[Ginevra]

My house is embarrassingly big. I'd rather have a bigger family and a smaller house, but I think God mixed up my order. :tongue_smilie:

[eternalknot]

We live in two places.

 

Our private residence (we call it the Cottage) is 1000 square feet with 2 larger bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms. Great layout for our needs, which includes homeschooling. My two kids and I are there 1-2 nights per week, plus most days for school. We're also there once a month or so for a week's time when their dad is in town visiting. It's technically his home, but he's currently living out of state. I'd like another 200 sq.ft. or so for a third bedroom/flex room or larger eat-in kitchen - just because we homeschool and have so much spillage related to that.

 

Our other home is my parent's house, which is spitting distance from the Cottage. That home is ~4500 sq. ft. and is what we consider to be "home" - we're there most of the week. We have our own rooms at that house, and we share the home with my parents, grandparents, brother and his kids. We also have a rotation of extended family that come for extended stays. On average there will be about 5-7 kids and 5-7 adults sleeping there (and more during daytime hours, as my parents' home is The Gathering Place for our close-knit family.) The home is perfect - not too crowded and not too spacious as to encourage islands unto themselves IYKWIM.

 

For the poll, I went with the Cottage only since it's where we'd live if I ever cut the cord from my mama :)

[Rosy]

~2300 sq. ft., 2 adults and 4 kids. So that's 400 sq ft/person or 600 sq ft/child.

[jewellsmommy]

I didn't vote because I think it would throw off your poll. We only have one child, but we live in a 2400 sq/ft farmhouse. We have closed off a portion of the house because it is just a stupid amount of space for 3 people. When we have company, we open up those rooms and dust like maniacs. I am the kind of person who likes a cozy home. Some people might think my 2400 sq/ft is shamefully tiny, but for me it is a shameful waste of space. I don't like huge expanses of house. I think that drives people apart (just my opinion).

 

FWIW, this farmhouse was built for a couple, their 14 children and their 3 parents/in-laws, and it was plenty of house for them. :D

 

 

When we started renting this house, we did not use the upstairs. The house is a little over 1700 sq ft. It was dd, dh, and I. Dd had downstairs bedroom and we used the den as our bedroom. Plus there is a living room, dining room, kitchen and partly converted garage. After a year we changed things around and started using the upstairs; but, I felt as you did. Now with ds the house is a good fit, but we could still do without the den entirely and be just fine.

[Retired]

I used to have a good amount of space. My house is 1890 sq ft, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 3 people were living here.

 

Now....same house, but two more adults (ex-husband and fiancee.....don't ask).

 

I spend a lot of time in my bedroom, which also serves as my office (I work from home). Feeling a bit cramped....

 

 

that sounds like a "reality show" :D

 

 

Oh and to answer the thread We have 2300 2 main floors not counting finished basement 2 adults/2 kids

Edited July 21, 2011 by Cafelattee

[CAMom]

I voted but thought I'd specify. ;)

 

1482 sq feet and 3 kids.

[FO4UR]

850 sq ft and 3 kids/2 adults.

[Krista in LA]

Nearly 2000 sqft and 2 kids

[Carpe]

I think 300 well laid out sqft per person is lots. We have less than that right now though, and it's very poorly laid out, but it's all we can afford in this city and DH is unwilling to move because both of our families are here. When/if we have more kids we'll have no choice but to move to a more affordable city.

[Joker]

We have 1000 sq.ft. and two kids. I thought it was small at first but now I think it's perfect. I wouldn't want to clean anything larger.:D

[Jeannie in NJ]

we have 2200 sq ft 2 adults, 2 kids and 8 cats (we have both a downstairs and an upstairs sun rooms for the cats

[joannqn]

1300 square feet, 4 kids

[twoforjoy]

I think we've got around 900 sq. ft. We have two adults and two kids with one more coming soon.

[qfbrenda]

5 kids, 1700 sq ft

[DaffodilDreams]

2600 sq ft, 1 kid

 

We were perfectly comfy in 1800 sq ft, but then dh's parents started living with us part of each year - up to 4-6 months out of the year. That was a bit tight for our preference, so we moved up the sq footage. As soon as we did that, they quit staying with us so much. (?????) Now we regret having the extra space and hope to downsize if the market ever recovers. Right now we're stuck.

[Sasharowan]

We have just under 1400 sqft. and 4 kids.

[Upward Journey]

When we first moved into our house we had 1100sq.ft & 3 kids. Over the years we added to both ;) and by the time we moved two years ago we had 1600sq.ft. & 5 kids + no garage for storage. It was tight.

 

Now we have approx. 1850 sq.ft. w/ 4 children + a garage. I feel like I have all kinds of space. :)

[Aubrey]

About 1200--4 dc.

[sarah1615]

Our house is 1900 sq feet and we have 3 children. The amount of living area is perfect, but we could use more closet and storage space

[Lady Florida.]

We have 1798 sq. ft. under air for 2 adults, one kid, 2 cats and a dog. That's literally more than half the size of our previous house which had 3700. We downsized years ago so I could continue to stay home, but I was glad. I hated that large house for our little family. I also hated cleaning it. I do miss the 4 acres though. We're sitting on 3/4 of an acre now. :(

[Laura Corin]

Houses aren't quoted that way in the UK, so I'm not completely sure. Two children.

 

ETA: that should have been 2,000, I think.

 

Laura

Edited July 21, 2011 by Laura Corin

[HFClassicalAcademy]

6 kids and 6800 square feet.

[Robyn]

1100 sq. ft. 3 kids

We just moved from 800 sq ft. That was cramped.

[edelweiss]

My house is embarrassingly big. I'd rather have a bigger family and a smaller house, but I think God mixed up my order. :tongue_smilie:

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one! I'm too embarrassed to say how big my house is. There are only four of us (2 parents, 2 kids) and we have A LOT of square footage per person. The houses are large in our community, so it feels "normal" most of the time, but I realize that it really isn't.

[Lady Florida.]

I thought our 1800 sq. ft. house was average size, especially since our previous house was so big, but I've had people tell me my house is big. I think the layout has a lot to do with the perception of size.

[Scarlett]

1350 sf. One child full time which is fine. When the other two are here (3 boys total) 1350 is too small.

[Wheres Toto]

750 square feet with 2 adults, 2 littles and a teenager. Very cramped. We should be rebuilding soon to 1800 square feet with a walk-out basement. I expect that to be plenty of space.

[Mrs.MacGyver]

We have 4 kids and one on the way with about a 1200 sq.ft. house, and we don't feel cramped at all.

 

I think the layout has a lot to do with the perception of size.

 

I think layout has a great deal to do with it too. Our house is about 1200 sq.ft., but when we opened up our kitchen to become a great room our house just seems so much bigger. We also converted the large attic into bedrooms for the kids and the spaces are used efficiently so that there are large feeling areas all over the house. Some houses with the same square footage just seem cramped mainly because the space is all broken up or used unwisely.

[Pretty in Pink]

We have ~1800 SF and 4 (soon to be 5) children. I think it is plenty of space, though we only have 3 bedrooms which is unfortunate. We have a big laundry room, a very wide hallway, and three full bathrooms (two of them are spacious). There is certainly room for a fourth bedroom.

 

ETA: I agree that layout is key. This home, and our previous one, have open floor plans, light walls, vaulted ceilings, hardwood floors, and lots of windows. Everything feels so much bigger and open than my in-laws house, for example, though they have considerably more square footage. They have wall to wall carpet, dark walls, low ceilings, and boxy rooms.

Edited July 21, 2011 by Pretty in Pink

[VeteranMom]

1800 sq feet with 3 kids. It's tight for us.

[BakersDozen]

1800 sqft, soon to be 11 kids, don't feel cramped at all. We are lucky to have 4 bedrooms and 2 good-sized bathrooms. We also turned the master closet into a tiny nursery which is fabulous!

 

We've had people telling us since #6 that we "need" a bigger house...nope! Just great organization, not a lot of stuff and appreciation for the fact that we could be in something much smaller. ;)

[azmomx3]

2000 sq ft, 3 kids (planning on 4)