House sizes (first world)

[ktgrok]

4 minutes ago, Faith-manor said:

I agree with this. We have to keep a dedicated work space away from the main part of the house for Mark since he works remote full time. Even when we had smaller houses, I had to have a dedicated music room because I had a full music studio, and so the kids play area had to be away from the studio, and it had to be a large enough space to accommodate my baby grand, other instruments, library shelves of music, etc. Definitely, there are good reasons for extra rooms.

I also think that if someone travels every weekend, works all day, kids at school all day, is always eating out and goin gto the movies or whatever, they probably need way less space to be happy than a family of introverts that prefer to stay home versus going out. 

[Halftime Hope]

My parents had a small mid-60s home in FL, 1385 s.f..  It was the best designed small home, very practical, with cross-ventilation everywhere, since there was no central A/C in the property. As you came in the front door, there was an open space to the right, large enough for two small, discrete areas--a seating group, and an office space. If you went further into the house from the front door, it opened into a second area, with room for a second seating grouping and a dining table. Adjacent to the dining table was a small u-shaped kitchen, big enough for two to work in, and the kitchen had a doorless opening back to the office area. Walking to the left of the front door (the opposite direction from the common areas), there was a single hallway with a small common bathroom to the right, easily accessible to guests, and then small bedrooms each on a corner of the bedroom wing, so that each room had two large breeze-catching windows. The medium master bedroom had its own small bathroom. Each child bedroom had about a 6 foot closet, and Dad built shallow storage in between the studs all along the hallway, flanking a large hall closet.

There were two large sliding glass doors and a wall of jalousie windows leading from the dining area and informal sitting area onto a large screened-in and roofed back porch, and if my parents had kept that area nice, instead of letting it become a workshop and storage area (that's a kind and overly generous description) it would have been very enjoyable for them because it overlooked the lakefront they lived on, and it allowed beautiful lake breezes to scoop pleasantly through the house in the afternoons.

The only downside was that the laundry area was tucked into the rear of the garage, but in south FL, freezing weather wasn't an issue.

The point of this is to describe a small house, with great storage, and a perfect house for living without a terrible energy cost. I loathe FL humidity, but if I could replicate that house here, and situate it under strategically-placed shade, I think it could be comfortable and quite functional at a low energy cost during most of the year, even if a number of people needed to share it.

 

 

[ktgrok]

42 minutes ago, Halftime Hope said:

My parents had a small mid-60s home in FL, 1385 s.f..  It was the best designed small home, very practical, with cross-ventilation everywhere, since there was no central A/C in the property. As you came in the front door, there was an open space to the right, large enough for two small, discrete areas--a seating group, and an office space. If you went further into the house from the front door, it opened into a second area, with room for a second seating grouping and a dining table. Adjacent to the dining table was a small u-shaped kitchen, big enough for two to work in, and the kitchen had a doorless opening back to the office area. Walking to the left of the front door (the opposite direction from the common areas), there was a single hallway with a small common bathroom to the right, easily accessible to guests, and then small bedrooms each on a corner of the bedroom wing, so that each room had two large breeze-catching windows. The medium master bedroom had its own small bathroom. Each child bedroom had about a 6 foot closet, and Dad built shallow storage in between the studs all along the hallway, flanking a large hall closet.

There were two large sliding glass doors and a wall of jalousie windows leading from the dining area and informal sitting area onto a large screened-in and roofed back porch, and if my parents had kept that area nice, instead of letting it become a workshop and storage area (that's a kind and overly generous description) it would have been very enjoyable for them because it overlooked the lakefront they lived on, and it allowed beautiful lake breezes to scoop pleasantly through the house in the afternoons.

The only downside was that the laundry area was tucked into the rear of the garage, but in south FL, freezing weather wasn't an issue.

The point of this is to describe a small house, with great storage, and a perfect house for living without a terrible energy cost. I loathe FL humidity, but if I could replicate that house here, and situate it under strategically-placed shade, I think it could be comfortable and quite functional at a low energy cost during most of the year, even if a number of people needed to share it.

 

 

I complain about every other month about how we no longer build houses to fit the climate! This house is better than the last one, the last one didn't have any place in the house with two windows/doors opposite each other, - zero cross ventilation. Almost no natural light, etc etc. 

I miss those houses built to maximize the breeze that also had those big old fashioned clamshell hurricane shutters. Easy to pull down in a storm, but most of the year they were up and provided tons of shade for the windows/house. REALLY helped with the heat - without those if you don't have trees or a porch the sun just BAKES the house. WE now have a front porch with roof and that helps tremendously downstairs with the afternoon sun/heat. But having them on all the windows would be a big energy savings for people, and easier to deal with hurricanes. But I'm betting most HOAs (and almost everywhere has an HOA) outlaw them as they are not pretty. 

[TravelingChris]

1 hour ago, Janeway said:

One thing I have found interesting is that different parts of the US count square footage differently. I grew up in houses that list as 1200 square feet or such, but they were close in size to my house that lists as closer to 4000 square feet where I live now.

Yes, My City doesn't count the bottom floor, which is a walkout.  We have my dh's office there, our family room, a second kitchen with area to eat in, a laundry area, and a huge bathroom/ safe room area.   

[mom2scouts]

We had seven people in a house that's 1900 SF and we thought it was adequate. We came from a house that was half the size when I was expecting our 4th child, so this house seemed huge in comparison. We homeschooled our two youngest AND dh has worked at home for years. We don't have any space in our house that doesn't get regular use. Most of the people I know have half as many people and twice as much space.

[sassenach]

The smallest home we lived in was 900sf with 6 of us. It was a short term situation- about 3 months. We had 5 kids in 1600sf for several years, and then 3 in 1350sf for the last 6 years. Ideally I wish we had another shower (we have 1 1/2 baths) and a slightly larger living space, though we’re comfortable. 

[Halftime Hope]

46 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

I complain about every other month about how we no longer build houses to fit the climate! This house is better than the last one, the last one didn't have any place in the house with two windows/doors opposite each other, - zero cross ventilation. Almost no natural light, etc etc. 

I miss those houses built to maximize the breeze that also had those big old fashioned clamshell hurricane shutters. Easy to pull down in a storm, but most of the year they were up and provided tons of shade for the windows/house. REALLY helped with the heat - without those if you don't have trees or a porch the sun just BAKES the house. WE now have a front porch with roof and that helps tremendously downstairs with the afternoon sun/heat. But having them on all the windows would be a big energy savings for people, and easier to deal with hurricanes. But I'm betting most HOAs (and almost everywhere has an HOA) outlaw them as they are not pretty. 

Yep, this house had the clamshell shades on all the bedroom windows, it faced north and south so the entire western wall was cinderblock (except for a small door out of the garage to the side yard) and shielding the garage from the worst afternoon heat. And the front door and livingroom double window were under a small porch that shaded the entry, too. I looked up the house and mine on Zillow, and the current owners have taken the trees out of the front yards. What a shame. That was some good shade, now lost.

[mom2scouts]

When I was growing up, I knew a family of TEN who lived in a 1200 SF house with one bathroom. They seemed like a very happy family which is good since I'm not sure where they put all those kids!

[ktgrok]

24 minutes ago, TravelingChris said:

Yes, My City doesn't count the bottom floor, which is a walkout.  We have my dh's office there, our family room, a second kitchen with area to eat in, a laundry area, and a huge bathroom/ safe room area.   

yeah, I guess we should specify? We don't have basements or attics or whatever here, so there is no extra living space not counted in the sq footage. So a 1450 sq foot house had no other living space. It did have a garage, but not under air so definitely not a living space. It's an oven, lol. 

And even that house would have worked if instead of the family room it had another bedroom. Other than me having to keep kids quiet all day while DH worked...that wasn't fun at all. The acoustics in that house were such that you could hear the TV that was in the living room better in the master bedroom than when you were sitting in the living room watching it. 

[Jaybee]

5 hours ago, wintermom said:

Personally, I find a separate "dining room" and formal "living room" are a complete waste of space. They duplicate the function of the eat-in kitchen and family room. They are often over-sized as well. Great rooms to cut completely if you're downsizing, IMO. I see many newer, mid-sized houses dropping this duplication. 

Growing up, we used our living room and dining room all the time. They were definitely not a waste of space. The piano was in the living room, and with four of us taking lessons and my mom diligent about having us practice, somebody was in there several hours every day, at least. It would have been very annoying to have that in the main room. It was also the room to have a private conversation with a sibling, friend, or date, or to hang out with a group of friends without taking over the whole family's life. Or to read quietly on a comfy sofa.

I really like our present house, but often wish for a separate room so that when our older kids have friends over, dh and I could carry on without either intruding on their time together (and of course, we aren't always an intrusion) or having to hide out in our bedroom without access to the kitchen or TV.

Granted, space is not a necessity, and we will probably downsize in the future, but not because we particularly want to. When we retire, our plan is to move back to an area where the housing is more expensive, and we will probably have to downsize in order to afford the housing. Over the years, we have mostly lived in houses with one eating area and one common area. Seven of us lived in an apartment of approx. 1500 sq ft, which felt plenty spacious. However, we had no need to store winter clothing, coats, etc., or any outdoor equipment like a mower or yard care tools. We had no need for a freezer or extra refrigerator. No clothes dryer. Few holiday decorations. We didn't "collect" things--they moved along when they were not needed any longer. I didn't have items that were keepsakes or family heirlooms. We did have lots of books, because, well, books. And homeschooling.

[Tap]

6 hours ago, Farrar said:

Yes, we like our small rooms most of the time for those exact reasons. I think small rooms that can be divided or opened up are a big bonus to a home, but rare in American open concept, broad spaces living.

American laws don't typically preclude literally gutting the place to update it. If we wanted to gut our house and start over with the interior with just the shell, we could. The neighbors did that. But we don't have the desire or cash for that.

I have a friend who bought a 1000ish sqft house. Then built a 10,000 sqft house over it. They did it in stages, and in the end, only a small pad of concrete was left from the original house in the basement. In the end, they coated over it, so not even that was visible.  This way it counted as a 'remodel' for codes and building licenses. 

[BakersDozen]

5 hours ago, Condessa said:

I remember my great grandmother telling me all about her home and family when she was young.  They lived in a three-bedroom home on a farm with eight kids.  She and her sister shared a bed and two of their brothers shared a bed in the room, and the other four boys shared the other room.  They did not consider themselves poor.  This was normal.

There are folks who think we are poor because we have (or have had) anywhere from 10-14 people in about 1700 sqft. I consider it perfect and I definitely don't consider us to be poor at all. As for normal...that's up for debate. 🙂

One thing we've heard since having #4 over 20 years ago is the word "need" - as in "You need more space." This always surprised us because we never felt that way, even when bringing home #12. In fact, when we downsized from 1850 to 1700 sqft. it felt like we fit even better because we moved from an open floor plan to an older home with separate areas, and we love it.

But the concept Americans have of the word "need" is really skewed, imo. Ginormous master bathrooms for 2 people (who are often not even home most of the day) - need or want? Bedroom for every child - need or want (situation dependent, of course).


I love smaller homes. I love the closeness and usability.

Sorry if choppy - my 5yo is bugging me to no end today for attention. 🙂

[Wheres Toto]

9 minutes ago, Tap said:

I have a friend who bought a 1000ish sqft house. Then built a 10,000 sqft house over it. They did it in stages, and in the end, only a small pad of concrete was left from the original house in the basement. In the end, they coated over it, so not even that was visible.  This way it counted as a 'remodel' for codes and building licenses. 

We almost did something similar.  We were planning to do a complete tear-down/rebuild but if we left even a 6x6 foot section of the concrete slab, which could be covered up or be an outside patio or pretty much anything, it would count as an addition instead of a tear-down.  We were going for a HUD loan and it made a HUGE difference if we kept that slab.   We ended up having to nix the whole plan when dh got laid off.

We always have the smallest house when these discussions come up.  🙂    We have 4 people (2 adults/2 older teens) in 750 square feet.   It works mainly because everybody has their own rooms.   We are all extreme introverts and besides the boy/girl part of it, my kids really really need their own space.  I'm probably the one that "suffers" the most because I don't have a quiet area to get away when dh is home watching tv.    

We have no attic or basement and our detached garage is not included in that square footage but it's more like a dilapidated shed than an actual garage.  

[Jaybee]

It is so true that layout makes such a huge difference. The first four years of our marriage, we lived in furnished student housing while we went to grad school, in a 1 bedroom, 1 bath apartment. I'm not sure of the square footage, but they made the most of it. The tiny kitchen was a nook off the square living/dining space, but there were cabinets on all three sides of the little nook. It had more storage space than many larger kitchens. You could reach everything from one spot, lol. The bedroom had one wall that was a large, deep closet. There was a large window in the bedroom in the back, and a large window across the front living room, so there were great cross-breezes when weather permitted windows open. I don't know when the building was built, but it was a very practical. The eight apartments had a shared laundry area in the middle of the downstairs with two washers and two dryers, and the parking area in back had a small storage closet for each apartment right beside the covered parking spot. I was pretty tired of the furnishings by the time we moved, but it certainly served us well for those four years.

[wintermom]

1 hour ago, Jaybee said:

Growing up, we used our living room and dining room all the time. They were definitely not a waste of space.

Ya, we had a formal living room and dining room with bright green shag carpet that my mom raked everyday. If we so much as stepped on the carpet, she'd know and yell at us. So these rooms were "wasted space" for our family, and only used for very special guests or special holidays (Easter and Christmas). My mom grew up with this practice, as well. 

I did practice some ninja moves as a kid, and walked around the living room only stepping on furniture, so there is that. I'd never have been this stealth without the formal living room. 🤣

Edited June 24, 2023 by wintermom

[Jaybee]

2 minutes ago, wintermom said:

Ya, we had a formal living room and dining room with bright green shag carpent that my mom raked everyday. If we so much as stepped on the carpet, she'd know and yell at us. So these rooms were "wasted space" for our family, and only used for very special guests or special holidays (Easter and Christmas). My mom grew up with this practice, as well. 

I did practice some ninja moves as a kid, and walked around the living room only stepping on furniture, so there is that. I'd never have been this stealth without the formal living room. 🤣

Well, our first years in that home, we only had the piano and a music console in the living room. So we happily used the space to twirl around, jump over increasingly high piles of cushions, build tents with card tables, etc. While our mom was quite thrilled when they were able to afford to furnish the living room the way she desired, we kids were a bit disappointed to lose our gym. However, my oldest sister made sure that they knew any furniture put in there had to be comfortable, not just pretty, because we planned to use that room! And it was and we did.

[Clarita]

23 minutes ago, wintermom said:

Ya, we had a formal living room and dining room with bright green shag carpet that my mom raked everyday. If we so much as stepped on the carpet, she'd know and yell at us. So these rooms were "wasted space" for our family, and only used for very special guests or special holidays (Easter and Christmas). My mom grew up with this practice, as well. 

My current house has a formal living room. We made it into the playroom. We even put Ikea shelves in front of the stone fireplace.

[Kidlit]

3 minutes ago, Clarita said:

My current house has a formal living room. We made it into the playroom. We even put Ikea shelves in front of the stone fireplace.

I think it's interesting all the ways there are to repurpose rooms!  We had an awkward walk-through/den type area in our first house that I struggled to give a name to the whole 16 years we lived there.  I tried all kinds of things--mostly living room and dining room--and neither worked well.  We had a similar space in my home growing up, and it wasn't defined there, either.  

[Shoeless]

The layout matters so much for the feel of whether a house is "too small" or "just right".

Our house is 2300 SQ ft, but the layout is wonky. There is probably 500 SQ ft of wasted space. I find myself wishing we had "more room", but really, we need a better layout. 

We also have NO natural light or cross ventilation and the house faces west so it gets blasted by the Texas sun every afternoon. We at least have a porch to help, but still.  If I knew them what I know now, I might have bought a different house, but it is what it is. 

Edited June 24, 2023 by Shoeless

[wintermom]

I understand the luxury of having extra space and using it, That's simple, and requires no real thought. It's easy to expand to fill space. It's a different thing altogether to cut out space and decide the most effective way to use it.

I thought the discussion presented by the OP was to look at ways people could live comfortably with smaller spaces. I'm presenting things that I've been noticing in Canada, where heating is costly, and new homes are being built that are smaller, as in Europe. What are we actually "giving up" by removing duplicated spaces in a home? We "give up" not cleaning up after children, so they can have a room that is filled with toys. We "give up" eating areas that are only used when we have guests over. We limit the amount to "stuff" we can store in a home and either pay for extra storage or actually learn to live with less stuff.

Edited June 24, 2023 by wintermom

[Brittany1116]

The house built near us has a narrow porch front and back. It has a 2 car garage. It was advertised as something like "2200 sf under roof". It is actually like 1420 sf of living space with AC plus porch and garage. A lot of people came and went before it sold. 

[DawnM]

8 hours ago, wintermom said:

Personally, I find a separate "dining room" and formal "living room" are a complete waste of space. They duplicate the function of the eat-in kitchen and family room. They are often over-sized as well. Great rooms to cut completely if you're downsizing, IMO. I see many newer, mid-sized houses dropping this duplication. 

Interesting that they are dropping.

One thing that has really struck me is the houses reflect the decade they were built and it is interesting to step back a bit and see the 80s house and the 90s house.....we aren't really seeing anything older than that though.   

But the masters are smaller, the en suite is smaller, the bedrooms overall are smaller and closets at def. smaller.

I do want a 2nd hang out room though, so we are talking about how to make that happen in a house we saw today.   We are strongly considering making an offer on it.

I was actually thinking one of those rooms that can be added on the back that isn't a full sun room but isn't really completely part of the house either, I think some people call them a 3 season room or a Carolina room.   That might work well.

I want some separate area for teens to hang out, but the house we are considering (as of today) also has a FROG (Finished Room Over the Garage).  It is detached but could be a good hang out for teens area.

Our current house has like 4 large hang out rooms including a den, formal LR, Game room (used to have a pool table now a MIL suite we built for my dad), and a bonus room upstairs.   It is ridiculous really.   We can't use all those spaces.

[DawnM]

2 hours ago, Tap said:

I have a friend who bought a 1000ish sqft house. Then built a 10,000 sqft house over it. They did it in stages, and in the end, only a small pad of concrete was left from the original house in the basement. In the end, they coated over it, so not even that was visible.  This way it counted as a 'remodel' for codes and building licenses. 

that is what everyone did when I lived in SoCal.   My friend's house in Burbank was funny.   The main house was older and had 8' ceilings and then their addition had huge ceilings and a 2nd floor.   It was like a little house with this mis-matched monstrosity added on.   But again, for remodel purposes, tax purposes, etc....it worked.   In CA, with Prop 13 you pay the taxes based on the purchase price.   I was shocked when we moved to NC and the taxes went up with new appraisals every few years!

[DawnM]

1 hour ago, Clarita said:

My current house has a formal living room. We made it into the playroom. We even put Ikea shelves in front of the stone fireplace.

Our current house has a formal living room and when my dad took over our family room, I turned it into a 2nd casual hang out room with a TV so we could have some space away from Grandpa who watched shows we had no interest in.   Bless him, he didn't quite get why we had no interest in watching Daystar's 1977 repeat show of Jimmy Swaggart and his singers singing "Because I'll Rise Again."

Sigh.

[DawnM]

You all are giving me ideas.   The house we found today has a dining room but no office.   But it has an eat in kitchen.   We did look at two homes with no dining room at all and now I am thinking it might be best if we buy that house to use the dining room as an office for a while.

[Wheres Toto]

26 minutes ago, DawnM said:

I was actually thinking one of those rooms that can be added on the back that isn't a full sun room but isn't really completely part of the house either, I think some people call them a 3 season room or a Carolina room.   That might work well.

 

This is one of the things we may do to our house in the near future.  Around here they are called three season rooms.   Fully enclosed with lots of windows, but not hooked in to the heat/ac.

The other is a larger laundry room since right now there is no way to get behind the washer/dryer without unstacking them and moving them, and dh and I are no longer strong enough to do it ourselves.  

Our house was built in the 1940's as a summer bungalow.  It does have a lot of windows as well as a skylight in the living room with a cathedral ceiling.  A fan in the living room does a lot to keep things comfortable.  If you open bedroom doors, we can get a decent cross breeze going.   Although we also have mini-splits for air conditioning in all the main rooms.  

[Faith-manor]

2 hours ago, wintermom said:

Ya, we had a formal living room and dining room with bright green shag carpet that my mom raked everyday. If we so much as stepped on the carpet, she'd know and yell at us. So these rooms were "wasted space" for our family, and only used for very special guests or special holidays (Easter and Christmas). My mom grew up with this practice, as well. 

I did practice some ninja moves as a kid, and walked around the living room only stepping on furniture, so there is that. I'd never have been this stealth without the formal living room. 🤣

I so relate to raking carpet! My grandmother had a royal blue shag in her living room, and often before Thanksgiving or Christmas it was my job to rake that thing. Then it got all trampled down a few hours later. I swore I would never have shag carpet, and have lived that promise. 😂

[Shoeless]

Houses with multiple dining areas within steps of each other make me crazy. Here's your kitchen island with bar seating...and 4 feet away is a kitchen table with chairs...and 6 more feet away is the formal dining room.   

Why is that necessary? I guess the answer is sometimes you feel like sitting here vs there, but you really don't need it.  Is your home dining experience going to diminish because you don't have bar seating sometimes? 

One of my siblings has a house with something like 4 different dining areas: formal dining room off the kitchen, eat in kitchen, 3 season porch off the family room, then another screened in porch off that. The whole house is just...bloated. Formal living room, den, office, even more family room space in the finished basement, various porches, patios, separate laundry room, 3 car garage (but the bays are teeny tiny?), etc.  Enough square footage for each family member to have 1400 sq feet to themselves at all times. 

My other sibling's house is much smaller, but the layout is weird: multiple living spaces, but no real dining area in either the kitchen or the rest of the house. 

[ktgrok]

29 minutes ago, DawnM said:

You all are giving me ideas.   The house we found today has a dining room but no office.   But it has an eat in kitchen.   We did look at two homes with no dining room at all and now I am thinking it might be best if we buy that house to use the dining room as an office for a while.

You can always put up a pretty room divider screen or something, if need be. 

[ktgrok]

13 minutes ago, Shoeless said:

Houses with multiple dining areas within steps of each other make me crazy. Here's your kitchen island with bar seating...and 4 feet away is a kitchen table with chairs...and 6 more feet away is the formal dining room.   

 

for us it is helpful because there are six of us but our kitchen table only seats 4 people.And if some of those folks have say, a magazine or book out or are using the table to do some schoolwork or whatever, not even 4. it's a small table for 4. So often I and DD6 will sit at the table, and DH and a kid or two will sit at the bar. We also use that extra space for putting out food/appetizers when folks come over for meals. That way the actual tables can be used for eating at. But we could get away with out the bar seats. i don't ever sit there, as it is high and I hate high seating. 

We sit at the dining table for meals where we all want to be at the same table or when we have extra people. We can easily have some people at the dining table and some at the kitchen table. 

[lewelma]

I love small. I have lived in 200 sq ft hut with a baby, 300sq ft apartment with a baby and a dh working from home, and 650sq ft apartment with 2 teens and me having a home office. The key is to have rooms with multiple purposes and to be willing to move furniture around when needed. You need to learn to close doors if you want privacy, and everyone is trained to knock. You also must be willing to compromise, so when someone needs the main room, you might be using your room as a lounge that day. Lastly, when there is one bathroom, it does help if some people shower at night or if sleep schedules are slightly shifted. 

[Shoeless]

4 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

for us it is helpful because there are six of us but our kitchen table only seats 4 people.And if some of those folks have say, a magazine or book out or are using the table to do some schoolwork or whatever, not even 4. it's a small table for 4. So often I and DD6 will sit at the table, and DH and a kid or two will sit at the bar. We also use that extra space for putting out food/appetizers when folks come over for meals. That way the actual tables can be used for eating at. But we could get away with out the bar seats. i don't ever sit there, as it is high and I hate high seating. 

We sit at the dining table for meals where we all want to be at the same table or when we have extra people. We can easily have some people at the dining table and some at the kitchen table. 

It makes more sense if you have a big family. I was assuming that people have a kitchen table and dining table big enough to seat everyone in the family.  There's 3 in my family, so a giant house with duplicates of everything is a waste.   

I see a lot of real estate ads that talk about how houses are "perfect for entertaining", and I guess this sort of set up is for that reason. I just don't do that kind of entertaining. 

[wintermom]

11 minutes ago, lewelma said:

I love small. I have lived in 200 sq ft hut with a baby, 300sq ft apartment with a baby and a dh working from home, and 650sq ft apartment with 2 teens and me having a home office. The key is to have rooms with multiple purposes and to be willing to move furniture around when needed. You need to learn to close doors if you want privacy, and everyone is trained to knock. You also must be willing to compromise, so when someone needs the main room, you might be using your room as a lounge that day. Lastly, when there is one bathroom, it does help if some people shower at night or if sleep schedules are slightly shifted. 

Definitely YES! to multipurpose rooms. Sadly "No" to only 1 bathroom. It's not my fault, but my dh spends what seems like hours in the bathroom on his "thrown." Before kids we needed two bathrooms in our apartment. Just crazy, but who can argue with bowels? They move when and how they want. 😅

Edited June 25, 2023 by wintermom

[wintermom]

12 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

for us it is helpful because there are six of us but our kitchen table only seats 4 people.And if some of those folks have say, a magazine or book out or are using the table to do some schoolwork or whatever, not even 4. it's a small table for 4. So often I and DD6 will sit at the table, and DH and a kid or two will sit at the bar. We also use that extra space for putting out food/appetizers when folks come over for meals. That way the actual tables can be used for eating at. But we could get away with out the bar seats. i don't ever sit there, as it is high and I hate high seating. 

We sit at the dining table for meals where we all want to be at the same table or when we have extra people. We can easily have some people at the dining table and some at the kitchen table. 

People had super large families in tiny house "back in the day." The tables and chairs were smaller. Mom maybe didn't sit down with the family. They made do.

The price is the compounded pressures on electrical grids as everyone with these large homes also want a/c and heat all year round. They want double and triple garages to store multiple vehicles. Then they pretend to want to "save the environment" by recycling their single use cans and bottles. Just cutting square footage of the homes will reduce a ton of power needs. There's a lot of air that is being maintained at comfortable levels in these huge homes. Air takes a lot of energy to maintain a constant temperature. 

[ktgrok]

5 minutes ago, Shoeless said:

It makes more sense if you have a big family. I was assuming that people have a kitchen table and dining table big enough to seat everyone in the family.  There's 3 in my family, so a giant house with duplicates of everything is a waste.   

I see a lot of real estate ads that talk about how houses are "perfect for entertaining", and I guess this sort of set up is for that reason. I just don't do that kind of entertaining. 

Yeah, size and how you use the space do make a difference. I am sitting at the kitchen table right now designing name badges for VBS next week while eating a sandwich with half an eye on the tv in the adjoining family room, where the rest of the family is watching a movie. Love having my kitchen table. I sit here a lot even just when waiting on stuff to finish in the oven. But we can't all fit, hence the dining table. If anything I'd say we don't NEED a kitchen table, but I LIKE a kitchen table. My mom says I should ditch it, but I love having one. 

[Clarita]

38 minutes ago, Shoeless said:

Houses with multiple dining areas within steps of each other make me crazy. Here's your kitchen island with bar seating...and 4 feet away is a kitchen table with chairs...and 6 more feet away is the formal dining room.   

We actually have this. Except I never intended the bar seating area for eating. It's just a bigger counter for cooking; I never bothered putting in seating. 

10 minutes ago, Shoeless said:

I see a lot of real estate ads that talk about how houses are "perfect for entertaining", and I guess this sort of set up is for that reason. I just don't do that kind of entertaining. 

Yes we entertain. The giant counter for making/serving/plating the food, the breakfast table (in the kitchen) for the "kids table" and/or more meal prep/service area, and the dining room for people to actually eat in. We have also in addition converted the TV room into another eating space on occasion. Of course we do not hesitate to host 20+ people for dinner.

We bought this house because it was "perfect for entertaining".   

[Eos]

We were a family of 6 in a 800 sqf, one bathroom house for 30+ years. It was built in 1775 so low ceilings.  It has no closets or built in shelves which has always been super challenging, but would have been easily fixed if we'd had any money.  Dh and I fear we will be rattling around in it come fall with no kids here, we'll see.

Edited June 25, 2023 by Eos

[KungFuPanda]

5 hours ago, QueenCat said:

BUT our dining area off of the kitchen is huge and comfortably fits the table that seats 110. 

That’s a VERY large table. 

[Shoeless]

15 minutes ago, wintermom said:

People had super large families in tiny house "back in the day." The tables and chairs were smaller. Mom maybe didn't sit down with the family. They made do.

The price is the compounded pressures on electrical grids as everyone with these large homes also want a/c and heat all year round. They want double and triple garages to store multiple vehicles. Then they pretend to want to "save the environment" by recycling their single use cans and bottles. Just cutting square footage of the homes will reduce a ton of power needs. There's a lot of air that is being maintained at comfortable levels in these huge homes. Air takes a lot of energy to maintain a constant temperature. 

My grandparents had 5 kids in a 1500 sq ft house. At one point, they also had my great grandfather living there. I have no idea where they put everyone, but they made it work somehow. And then later on, they hosted the whole family for holidays. 

I think we've gotten kind of picky about housing. Everyone wants a dedicated space for this and that: "I need a workout room, I need a home office, each kid needs their own bedroom, everyone needs their own bathroom and then a powder room for guests" or whatever. But most of that isn't a need . It's a want, and as you've pointed out, there's an environmental cost to those wants. There's a financial cost to it all: buying furniture to fill the house, paying to heat and cool it, it takes longer to clean, the maintenance costs more, etc. 

[Shoeless]

I looked up my mom's old house, and it was 1200 square feet, plus an unfinished basement that added another 600 feet. It was just 3 of us, but it felt very  spacious because the layout was good. 

[Faith-manor]

32 minutes ago, wintermom said:

Definitely YES! to multipurpose rooms. Sadly "No" to only 1 bathroom. It's not my fault, but my dh spends what seems like hours in the bathroom on his "thrown." Before kids we needed two bathrooms in our apartment. Just crazy, but who can argue with bowels? They move when and how they want. 😅

I totally get this. In my ideal world, I have my own bathroom, and Mark had his man cave bathroom, and my bathroom is off limits! But ya. Not happening.

[Brittany1116]

41 minutes ago, wintermom said:

Definitely YES! to multipurpose rooms. Sadly "No" to only 1 bathroom. It's not my fault, but my dh spends what seems like hours in the bathroom on his "thrown." Before kids we needed two bathrooms in our apartment. Just crazy, but who can argue with bowels? They move when and how they want. 😅

There are only 4 of us but we also kinda need 2 toilets. Every single time we leave the house together, we return to 2-3 of us needing one immediately. 

[Brittany1116]

12 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

That’s a VERY large table. 

I was wondering if someone else was going to point that out. 😆

[DawnM]

58 minutes ago, ktgrok said:

You can always put up a pretty room divider screen or something, if need be. 

There are two door frames off the DR.   I think we can just add doors back in if we want to.   But his office is open now so it won't bother me to have it open.

He told me this evening that he doesn't mind using the dining room table for now either so we dont' have to get rid of that set.  

[QueenCat]

21 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

That’s a VERY large table. 

🤣Oops...  I missed my typo. It seats 10 comfortably. 

[Jaybee]

2 hours ago, Kidlit said:

I think it's interesting all the ways there are to repurpose rooms!  

Yep. Our dining area has a wall of books.

[teachermom2834]

I am embarrassed to say that at this point in our lives we hardly sit down together at a table to eat. It is just dh and 15 yo dd and me and we usually eat while watching jeopardy in the living room. Or a movie or ballgame or whatever. We used to do family dinner when all the kids were home and before the dinner hour became disrupted by activities. Somehow it morphed into this. 
 

We went to an open house at a very nice  house with an interesting layout and it took me awhile to realize there was no dining room. Huge island in the kitchen and huge outdoor pool/patio grill area. That would absolutely have worked for us. We would have eaten outside alot of the year or in the kitchen or in front of the TV. If we had a big holiday dinner we would set up tables through the living room which is really what we need to do with 20+ even with a dining room. 
 

Seeing that house made me realize our family doesn’t need the dining room space for the couple times a year we need it and we could better use the space. In our current house I wish we didn’t have our dining room table and just set up another living room area. The dining room gets great sun and would be a cozy room to hang out in. Now it is a big table that collects junk.

It took seeing that one awesome house that was lacking a dining room for me to see how we didn’t need it. 

[DawnM]

6 minutes ago, teachermom2834 said:

I am embarrassed to say that at this point in our lives we hardly sit down together at a table to eat. It is just dh and 15 yo dd and me and we usually eat while watching jeopardy in the living room. Or a movie or ballgame or whatever. We used to do family dinner when all the kids were home and before the dinner hour became disrupted by activities. Somehow it morphed into this. 
 

We went to an open house at a very nice  house with an interesting layout and it took me awhile to realize there was no dining room. Huge island in the kitchen and huge outdoor pool/patio grill area. That would absolutely have worked for us. We would have eaten outside alot of the year or in the kitchen or in front of the TV. If we had a big holiday dinner we would set up tables through the living room which is really what we need to do with 20+ even with a dining room. 
 

Seeing that house made me realize our family doesn’t need the dining room space for the couple times a year we need it and we could better use the space. In our current house I wish we didn’t have our dining room table and just set up another living room area. The dining room gets great sun and would be a cozy room to hang out in. Now it is a big table that collects junk.

It took seeing that one awesome house that was lacking a dining room for me to see how we didn’t need it. 

You are not wrong!

I hate getting rid of my dining room furniture but at the same time, DH's desks would fit better in there.   Maybe I could keep the china cabinet in there and his desks and just replace the table if we need to.

[DawnM]

40 minutes ago, QueenCat said:

🤣Oops...  I missed my typo. It seats 10 comfortably. 

I thought maybe you were part of a cult and had 110 members who needed to be fed.   But I also was afraid to ask.

[Shoeless]

14 minutes ago, teachermom2834 said:

I am embarrassed to say that at this point in our lives we hardly sit down together at a table to eat. It is just dh and 15 yo dd and me and we usually eat while watching jeopardy in the living room. Or a movie or ballgame or whatever. We used to do family dinner when all the kids were home and before the dinner hour became disrupted by activities. Somehow it morphed into this. 
 

We went to an open house at a very nice  house with an interesting layout and it took me awhile to realize there was no dining room. Huge island in the kitchen and huge outdoor pool/patio grill area. That would absolutely have worked for us. We would have eaten outside alot of the year or in the kitchen or in front of the TV. If we had a big holiday dinner we would set up tables through the living room which is really what we need to do with 20+ even with a dining room. 
 

Seeing that house made me realize our family doesn’t need the dining room space for the couple times a year we need it and we could better use the space. In our current house I wish we didn’t have our dining room table and just set up another living room area. The dining room gets great sun and would be a cozy room to hang out in. Now it is a big table that collects junk.

It took seeing that one awesome house that was lacking a dining room for me to see how we didn’t need it. 

We have a dining room, but no eat-in kitchen. And it's fine for us. We like putting a show on TV while we eat and offering our 2 cents on the plot. 😁