How big is your home?

[MrsMommy]

I think our house is around 2500 square feet. Ideally, I wish we had one more room (an office for DH, who works from home), and another bathroom in our house, so I wish it was between 2900 and 3000, I guess. What we have mostly works for us, though, so it's not like we're looking to move or anything.

[justamouse]

We had 1000, then we moved to 5000, which is awesome, but we're eventually going to renovate the attic (which is finished, but still needs work) so we can have enough bedrooms. That should bump us up to about 5700.

 

Obviously with a family the size of ours, we're the exception. If I had 2 kids, a much smaller house would suffice.

[Ellie]

I voted for the size house we lived in when the dc were still home: just under 1000 sq. ft. Our empty-nester home is just over 3000. I wish I'd had *this* one when the dc were home!

 

But you know, size is relative. The house we were living in when we started hsing was about 900 sq. ft., one bathroom. Four of us lived in it. There were people in the neighborhood with four or more children living in the same floor plan, and they all seemed to survive just fine, lol.

[mommymilkies]

1,800 sq. ft. Our last place was 800 sq. ft but felt bigger in some ways. The layout in this house is terrible. We have radiators (baseboard) on nearly every wall, so we are severely limited as to usage and furniture placement. We don't have a garage, carport, etc. we have an attic that is not very useful or finished and a wet basement. Plus two closets for a family of 7, and no pantry, makes things very difficult. I would prefer a better layout and a finished basement so we can get away from each other in the winter sometimes. The biggest negative of the bigger house, though, is cleaning. It takes me like 4 times as long to sweep this house even though it's only a bit over twice as big as our last place. The layout makes all the difference.

[DianeW88]

We have about 2800 sq ft finished, and another 800 sq ft in the basement that is unfinished, but that I use for crafts and the Ping-Pong table is there. We're probably going to finish it off into another bedroom with a full bath and a rec-room area in the next couple of years. Our house is a multi-level, which can be a pain at times, but I do love that the master suite has its own level, apart from the rest of the house. The other three bedrooms, plus a full bath and laundry room are on their own level (I love my upstairs laundry room!), then the living room, dining room and kitchen are on their own level, with our large family room (I love this, too) and powder room. We also have a front porch (which is my summer office) and a back patio. I think this amount of square footage is perfect for us, especially with only four people living here (dd is away at school/work) at the moment. When she's home, it's a little more crowded, but they're growing up, so when my son graduates from college, we'll only have three people here, and that should be fine.

[fairfarmhand]

6 people...2 parents, 3 girls 1 boy. We have plenty of space and the home is well designed. We have roughly 2200 squ ft. But part of it is garage. Ideally, we'd love to finish the garage and add a spare bedroom there for my oldest, but it's going to be awhile. My dd15 shares with dd7. Dd 10 shares with Ds 5. Not ideal, but it is what we have.

[beaners]

 

Everywhere I've lived in the US it was standard to list square footage without including basement or garage.

 

 

I'm accustomed to only listing finished spaces. The basement at our last house could never be finished, but the basement in some of the houses I grew up in had a wet bar, bathroom, kitchen, etc.

 

I think this house is 1300. It feels smaller because I can see almost every bit of the house from one spot in the living room. It also feels smaller because the windows, doors, and closets are poorly spaced. Most of the footage is the open living room/dining room/kitchen.

 

We're talking about building something else here on the property at some point. I'm certain that would end up smaller than we hope if we were to get actual plans drawn up and looked at the costs. That would probably be about 2500 sq ft, but it would have the advantage of being designed specifically to be able to fit beds and bookshelves along walls, have actual closet space (we have no linen closet here!), have a pantry, include a reading room, and if my husband has his way it will have a slide alternative to going down stairs and a bookcase door. It's nice to dream LOL.

[elegantlion]

About 1100 sf, not including a basement and detached 2 car garage. Our previous home was larger but poorly laid out. This house is more functional. Ds has the attic dormer as his room and it's a great teen retreat. It's about right for us.

[Georgiana Daniels]

Hmmm.....well.....our home and the others like it are listed at 1554 sq ft. But the appraiser measure it at 1634, so I'm really not sure. Either way, WE LOVE IT! Don't want anything bigger or smaller. The high ceilings make it feel bigger than it is, and it's just the right size for cleaning and not crawling on top of one another when we're all home together.

 

So, SOOOOO thankful!

[Jan in SC]

Our house is about 2600 square feet. I would like 3000-3500, though. I would like a 5th bedroom with a full bath, another living room/ dining room (we use ours for a school room and play room) and an office for my dh. He has an office are in the laundry room and we have a half bath in the laundry room, but the dog kennels and laundry are in there, so I don't love the idea of company using it. We have the Holliday gatherings, so the extra rooms would be nice, but I'm happy with what we have!

[melmichigan]

We started with 1200 square feet. With the two additions we added we now have about 2200. My only problem is that we now have enough bedrooms, but the original kitchen and living room are tiny for a family of seven. I wish I could add a little more space there. I'd like to open the floor plan a by knocking out two walls to make a large L shaped space, we'll see if I'm able to get it done or not in the next few years.

[Wildiris]

Our home is big 3,000 sq ft and then some, but we only live in 750 sq ft. The rest has been under construction for 20 years. Maybe, before I'm too old to enjoy it, I'll have a "real" bedroom. Right now the master bedroom is just large enough to fit a king size bed without enough room to squeeze by the sides to make the bed. Curtains are at the foot of the bed for privacy. By the time we finish building the house the youngest will be grown and gone and it will be just the two of us rattling around in our finally finished big house.

 

Starting with nothing means waiting for everything.

[Spryte]

Ours is around 1400. The layout is more important to me than the footage, and it could use some tweaking - that is why we're considering moving. We will probably downsize when we move, but for the right layout, I think it will be a step up in comfort and convenience.

 

We have a yard the size of a postage stamp, but we love it - patio, a fountain, and room for a step pyramid square foot garden, plus lots of container gardening. We are walking distance to playgrounds and libraries. We're not looking for more space, so much as *better* use of space. :)

[shinyhappypeople]

1,300 square foot. I would be *delighted* with another 300 square feet and absolutely over the moon in a 2,000 sf house. Our house works, but is almost too small. If we didn't home school it would be fine. The biggest issue for me is that we don't have separate living room and family room and the kitchen is tiny. I have 5 feet of counter space and very limited cabinets. It's completely frustrating to try to keep my house clean and put away when there is *no where* to put things. :(

[Joker]

Ours is 1000 sq ft. It works for us and I don't really feel like we need anything bigger. The girls will be off to college and on their own before I know it and then this place will probably seem too big.

[Χά�ων]

1,200 square feet. It is perfect for us.

[shinyhappypeople]

I voted for the size house we lived in when the dc were still home: just under 1000 sq. ft. Our empty-nester home is just over 3000. I wish I'd had *this* one when the dc were home!

 

But you know, size is relative. The house we were living in when we started hsing was about 900 sq. ft., one bathroom. Four of us lived in it. There were people in the neighborhood with four or more children living in the same floor plan, and they all seemed to survive just fine, lol.

 

 

DH grew up in 1,000 sf 2 bedroom 1 bath home.... with 2 adults and 5 children. His parents used the back den as their bedroom. It's an adorable cottage (his mom still had it when we met), but tiny-tiny-tiny. He said that he didn't really notice how small it was, because he was almost never inside. Back then (late 60s/70s), kids played OUTSIDE unless the weather was truly awful.

[4kidlets4me]

We have 1600 sq ft. 3 bedrooms/1bath it's plenty for us. The only things I would change are a second bathroom and a pantry.

[dbmamaz]

i grew up in a pretty big house and like space. our house is 2400 and we moved here soon after we had the third kid (before that i was a single mom w 2 kids, in a 1600 townhouse, which was perfect then). the amount of space felt slightly tight when my daughter was here - but i think that was more her personality than anything. we hope to redo everything to give dh an office. the house is very comfortable for the 4 of us, but i look forward to downsizing once the kids are gone.

[Seasider]

We have about 4K and use all of it. Lots of outdoor living space, too. Love the space for hosting large groups.

 

BUT, it *is* a challenge to keep clean, and I feel like the postman - you know, the mail never stops coming - the house is never perfectly clean.

 

I heartily agree with those who have pointed out that layout is everything. Our second house was 1500 square feet but the layout was wonderful and it felt spacious for our family and groups of guests. Even though I would like to continue owning a sizeable home, the one we are currently in also has a great layout which could easily be compartmentalized with parts closed up when it's down to me and dh. We will then have space for visiting kids/grandkids, and could even turn the lowest level into a 2-3 bedroom apartment.

 

FWIW, we did buy an older home in an older area in order to get this much space.

[acurtis75]

We have 3300 sq ft. It is plenty of room for us. We could get by with less is we didn't have my father-in-law living with us. We looked at lots of houses before we bought and many of them were between 1800 and 2500 that would have been very comfortable for dh, dd & I. Having father-in-law here means we needed an extra bathroom for him and we found that wasn't available in our area without going over 3000 sq ft.

 

Our home was built in the 70's and we got a good deal and bought way below what we could afford. In Texas where we live there's a lot of new construction so older homes aren't as marketable.

 

We are expecting dd #2 in 3 weeks so now what seemed like a little extra space is just enough room.

 

If we're going dream and we could build a house it would be on larger property (we're in a neighborhood with homes close together and we have a large pool that takes up our whole backyard). Ideally I would build somethinging for us between 2000 & 3000 do ft with a classroom and lots of open space and a nice freestanding separate apartment for my father-in-law with his own kitchen.

[Mergath]

Ours is somewhere around 1,000 sq ft. Not sure of the exact number. Really, I should just measure it, because these posts come up a lot. :p

 

ETA: So I measured with my handy dandy tape measure, and it's right around 800 sq ft. Which is the perfect size for the three of us. Plenty of space, but not too much to clean.

[freeindeed]

Our home is about 2000 sq ft. We added on a bedroom and a mudroom prior to adopting dd4, so that added a great deal of space. Ideally, I would like to have more space. I'd love to have a schoolroom, plus I'd like a larger living room and dining room. My kitchen is a nice size, but I'd like it to be a little larger so I could have an island.

[acsnmama]

1244 sqft I think. We live in a 2 bedroom apartment, my 3 children share a room.

 

I want around 1400-1600 sqft. More than that would likely be too big. I would just like a homeschool room though, so we may desire to have a 2000 sqft house someday. More than that would be too big for us for sure! It's not the size, but more or less the layout.

[J-rap]

Ours is just under 1500, and I love it. It is a 100-year old home, so rooms are small and cozy. :) When all 7 of us were here all the time, it felt "busy" :) but I still lived it. The only thing I'd change is that I wish it had a family room or finished basement, which the kids could use as a hang out.

 

We do have three porches that open up in the spring/summer, and that makes the house feel much bigger!

[Susan in TN]

Ours is about 2500sqft, family of 8. I love this house. It has a great design and a finished walk-out basement, which is very uncommon in this area. When we bought the house, we had the open basement area finished into 2 rooms - a bedroom and an office/music/guest room. Main floor has 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, kitchen, living/dining room. Basement has a bedroom, an office, a full bath, a walk-in pantry/storage room (about 5'x12'), laundry (closet), and a full wall of storage closets. We also have an attic bonus room with skylights - this is the playroom/TV/library.

 

I must say that I'd like to meet and hug the person who thought to build in the basement bathroom, storage room, and wall of storage closets. :wub:

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

We have close to 3000 sq/ft. I wish it was smaller. More space just accumulates more junk, and is more to clean. Blech. We bought the house because it came with a large yard.

[Orthodox6]

Currently in 3654 sq. ft. Purchased only because (1) the price per sq. ft. was way low for the area, at the time and (2) special needs individuals required, at that time, ample space in which to spread out.

 

Now, this is just plain too much. We are stuck here, however, because the house requires overflowing pots of money to repair.

[dirty ethel rackham]

We live in a home that is officially listed as 1450 sq ft., but I don't think it takes into account our lower level of a split level house. I would be thrilled with about 300 more square feet in terms of a bath on our main floor and a first-floor office.

 

ETA: If I wanted to be really greedy, I would love a full sub-basement rather than just a crawl. It would be so much easier to declutter:).

[Donna]

Our house is about 1500-1800 sq. ft. depending on if you count the partially finished basement. It would be perfect for us if every room was about 2 ft. bigger in each direction. We moved from a rancher with a big, open floor plan but pretty close to the same sq. footage. This house is 2-story with a couple extra rooms but all the rooms are just a wee bit too small for our furniture from the last house. I like a smaller house....less to clean and keeps me from saving everything.

[Cindy in FL.]

Ours is about 3,700 sq ft. All the boys share a very large master bedroom upstairs. We have a master downstairs, a school/exercise/office, playroom, living room/dining area (which is where all the musical instruments are), play room, spare room, kitchen, and family room. There are 3 full baths and 2 half baths. There is also a two car garage and a screened in porch/pool. When we bought it almost 14 years ago, we really thought we would have more children and wanted to have plenty of room.

 

I love this house. It is almost perfect; I wouldn't change much at all.

[Mélie]

We just moved in December, and our new house is about 3800 sq ft. It's a little big right now (we lived in 1800 sq ft, 2500 sq ft and apartments previously), but we hope to have two more children, so it should be a good fit eventually.

[Hwin]

Right around 2000 and it's a good size, but it doesn't have a dining room or any good storage space (no basement, and the attic is the fall-through-the-ceiling kind, so I don't go up there). We'll probably move in the next 10 yrs and I want either a bigger house or a better design.

[tearose]

Ours is a little over 3,000 square feet. It was about 2,000 when we bought it, and we finished the basement (plumbing for a bathroom was already roughed in), and DH built a mudroom by going into the garage space (it had been so deep that you could park two cars in a row, and we find having the mudroom so much more useful than all that wasted garage space). We have a bedroom and a bathroom on each floor (total of 3 each)--a bit of a pain for us to run down to the main floor when there are middle-of-the-night nightmares, but at least those are few and far between. Our boys share the biggest bedroom, which is on the main floor. The kitchen is a bit smaller than I would like, but we loved the house and the acreage that it was a trade-off I was okay with. We're in the process of turning our old laundry room into a pantry/extra kitchen storage, so that should help (washer/dryer were moved to mudroom). Our basement has a music/family room, a guest bedroom/bathroom, and a library. We absolutely love this house--all the windows have beautiful views, and there is no other house in sight. This house was custom-built (it was 12-years-old when we bought it), and the quality is miles beyond our last house, which was ~7 years old and in a mass-built subdivision.

[AnIslandGirl]

Our main house is 9,400 sq. ft. My great grandfather passed it down to me, and I do love living in the "family home". Because it's an old home and we live in New England, during the winter we tend to close off rooms unless we are entertaining. I love that my dd is able to make memories in the same rooms I played in as a child.

It's perfectly sized for a wonderful game of hide and seek. We even have a conch shell horn we blow when someone wants to give up looking.

[delaney]

Mine is 10,000 sq feet and we are quite cramped. Can barely fit a troll in here-geesh

[delaney]

Mine is 10,000 sq feet and we are quite cramped. Can barely fit a troll in here-geesh

 

No really it is 4,000 but not the best usage of the space. Ultimately I would love the whole bottom floor to be just family room, kitchen, classroom, and office. Could do without a living room and dining room.

[Seasider]

Mine is 10,000 sq feet and we are quite cramped. Can barely fit a troll in here-geesh

 

 

 

:smilielol5: :smilielol5:

:smilielol5:

:smilielol5:

:smilielol5:

 

I remember.....

[Mergath]

Our main house is 9,400 sq. ft. My great grandfather passed it down to me, and I do love living in the "family home". Because it's an old home and we live in New England, during the winter we tend to close off rooms unless we are entertaining. I love that my dd is able to make memories in the same rooms I played in as a child.

It's perfectly sized for a wonderful game of hide and seek. We even have a conch shell horn we blow when someone wants to give up looking.

 

:blink:

 

And how is Downton Abbey doing these days? Do give the servants my best wishes.

[AnIslandGirl]

:blink:

 

And how is Downton Abbey doing these days? Do give the servants my best wishes.

 

 

Our house is pretty average for larger homes in our area... http://www.realtor.c...a_MA?source=web

http://www.atlanticeastinfo.com/NantucketSearchProperty/ResultsSummary2.aspx?page=1&Ord=ME

As you can see from another post last week, our neighbors just sold for 5.2M

Yes, we do have a housekeeper and hire catering staff for parties, but in reality, it's no different than anyone else's home.

"A house is made with walls and beams, a house is made with love and dreams". To each their own.

[Mergath]

 

 

Our house is pretty average for larger homes in our area... http://www.realtor.c...a_MA?source=web

As you can see from another post last week, our neighbors just sold for 5.2M

Yes, we do have a housekeeper and hire catering staff for parties, but in reality, it's no different than anyone else's home.

"A house is made with walls and beams, a house is made with love and dreams". To each their own.

 

Um... good for you? :huh:

[Maela]

Our home is 1275 sq ft. We could use some more room for school stuff and hobbies. I'd prefer 1600-1800 sq ft. No bigger though because then it just takes too much time to clean. I like how easy it is to clean our house.

[caitlinsmom]

Being military, we've lived in quite a few houses, and I've decided that with kids about 2000-ish sq feet is great (active boys, bad weather). Without kid, I'd be fine with less than 1000.

More important than actual sq ft to me is having:

Two separate living areas (a living room and another room that the kids can romp around in).

A nice master suite

Good storage in the kitchen

No Carpet!!!!

 

1,800 sq. ft. Our last place was 800 sq. ft but felt bigger in some ways. The layout in this house is terrible. We have radiators (baseboard) on nearly every wall, so we are severely limited as to usage and furniture placement. We don't have a garage, carport, etc. we have an attic that is not very useful or finished and a wet basement. Plus two closets for a family of 7, and no pantry, makes things very difficult. I would prefer a better layout and a finished basement so we can get away from each other in the winter sometimes. The biggest negative of the bigger house, though, is cleaning. It takes me like 4 times as long to sweep this house even though it's only a bit over twice as big as our last place. The layout makes all the difference.

 

I'm accustomed to only listing finished spaces. The basement at our last house could never be finished, but the basement in some of the houses I grew up in had a wet bar, bathroom, kitchen, etc.

 

I think this house is 1300. It feels smaller because I can see almost every bit of the house from one spot in the living room. It also feels smaller because the windows, doors, and closets are poorly spaced. Most of the footage is the open living room/dining room/kitchen.

 

We're talking about building something else here on the property at some point. I'm certain that would end up smaller than we hope if we were to get actual plans drawn up and looked at the costs. That would probably be about 2500 sq ft, but it would have the advantage of being designed specifically to be able to fit beds and bookshelves along walls, have actual closet space (we have no linen closet here!), have a pantry, include a reading room, and if my husband has his way it will have a slide alternative to going down stairs and a bookcase door. It's nice to dream LOL.

 

1,300 square foot. I would be *delighted* with another 300 square feet and absolutely over the moon in a 2,000 sf house. Our house works, but is almost too small. If we didn't home school it would be fine. The biggest issue for me is that we don't have separate living room and family room and the kitchen is tiny. I have 5 feet of counter space and very limited cabinets. It's completely frustrating to try to keep my house clean and put away when there is *no where* to put things. :(

 

 

Layout is everything imho. We used to live in an 1100 sqft house that was built in the 50's. It had ample storage and a nice sized kitchen that was somewhat open to the family room. It felt so much bigger than this place. On the other hand we lived in a 3000sqft 1950's home that felt just as big. It also had lots of storage and nicely sized rooms. The cleaning becaome a bit time consuming because there were two levels (basement and main). If I focused on the upstairs the basement was trashed and vice versa. :) It was a bit too big for us but I did like how much breathing room there was.

 

the amount of space felt slightly tight when my daughter was here - but i think that was more her personality than anything.

 

 

THIS!! My dd has a very large personality. The room shrinks the second she walks into it. I would love a large family room/dining/kitchen space just so that we didn't all feel bombarded by her. :) Good kid but holy cow she is packing a personality!

[sbgrace]

Layout does matter. We're living in 900 SF now (from 1650 prior). I will echo what a previous small house poster said that the thing that gets to me is the noise here. You really can hear everything everywhere and I have a child who talks all the time. We bought white noise machines but they are only marginally helpful. There are tiny bedrooms and one main living space so no where to go to get away from anyone within the house either. The layout is about as good as it can get in the existing space and the kitchen has great storage but the house generally is just too small, at least for my introvert self. Our 1650 was laid out really well and felt like more than enough space to me. I think this one will be fine too when we get done expanding living space. As is it's liveable but it's been hard for me to feel we're constantly on top of each other.

 

edited to add: I went back to read the rest of the thread. Mergath, that was rude. I don't get your response at all. It sounds like a lovely and well appreciated home. I'm glad for her and could truly care less if it's 10'xs the size of mine.

[Lisbeth]

WE have about 3500. I would have liked a little bigger. But this size is fine. I don't like small houses. We are a family of ADHDers and we need the space. Now that there are only three of us here full time, it is fine and I think it will be fine when it will be just the two of us two. But with the way the economy has been, I want to make sure I have enough room for all the family.

 

 

Same feeling here - I **need** my INTJ space. Ok, not need. Almost need, but desperately want and call it "must have". We started out in 1800 sq feet when we had two small kids and moved fast. We felt like we were on top of each other. We are all introverts and love being able to get away from each other. I am only saying this as a personality thing. It must be nice to be able to peacefully live in smaller than we do - saves money. :) We've nearly doubled twice since then and feel we are at a good size for us now.

[Lisbeth]

 

That was uncharitable.

 

Homeschoolers do not come from only the poverty line, or only the middle class. The OP put no restrictions on who can/should answer and the poster should be able to join in without worrying about how she will be treated because of her house, of all things.

 

I, for one, would love to live in family heirloom house, regardless of how big.

 

 

If it was an authentic real post, I agree. :) I have a good friend with a house over 10,000 sq. feet. It is too much for me to clean, but, she doesn't clean hers either. She hires that out. She also shares it a lot with friends and family. It is set up to entertain with many things kids-to-old-age groups would love. It's her dream house because she is one of my few extroverted friends, and she shares it. :)

[Renthead Mommy]

It really depends on the house layout and the stuff you have.

 

In Texas, with no basement we had 2300 square feet. It was fine, and while two of the rooms were a little small, the master, loft and master closet (which was bigger than than the office bedroom) had a ton of dead space in them in the middle of the rooms.

 

After that we lived onbase overseas in about 1200 square feet. We left a lot of stuff in storage and used a lot of base provided furniture (meaning using only what we needed without the extras). It was the tinest house we have ever had, only bit bigger than our first apartment. But the way it was layed out, along without the extra furniture it was more than enough and in some areas felt much bigger.

 

After that we went into a 1930's with basement 1700 square feet with all of our own furniture out of storage. But again because of the layout it felt very big, and that was with low ceilings slanted roofs in the upstairs bedrooms.

 

This house is 2400 square feet PLUS the finished basement and basement guest room. While it is much bigger than all the other houses, and I do love the basement, and I KNOW it is much bigger, it doesn't feel bigger. We even got rid of couch/loveseat, a sleeper sofa, a desk and some smaller bits. It just does not feel as comfortable as the smaller ones because of the layout.

[mamatohaleybug]

My current home is too big for us. We bought it planning to have a bigger family but we ended up only having one child. It has 5 bedrooms which is pretty excessive for three people. LOL

 

I voted that we have 2000-3000 but that we would like something smaller (1500-1800 would probably be plenty).

[Mergath]

 

That was uncharitable.

 

Homeschoolers do not come from only the poverty line, or only the middle class. The OP put no restrictions on who can/should answer and the poster should be able to join in without worrying about how she will be treated because of her house, of all things.

 

I, for one, would love to live in family heirloom house, regardless of how big.

 

 

Sorry, I thought we were assuming the person was a troll. I didn't even realize there were actually 10,000 sq ft houses outside of LA. Didn't one of the previous posters make a troll comment before I did?

 

They were sure quick enough with a link that showed just how expensive all the other houses in that neighborhood are. I still say troll.

[Mergath]

edited to add: I went back to read the rest of the thread. Mergath, that was rude. I don't get your response at all. It sounds like a lovely and well appreciated home. I'm glad for her and could truly care less if it's 10'xs the size of mine.

 

 

Sorry. Someone else made a troll comment, and I figured they were referring to that post. And like I said in my other post, they were sure quick enough with a link proving just how wealthy they are. :glare: In my experience here, low post count + 10,000 sq ft house + bragging about having a house worth millions = troll.