How big of a house do you need?

[cercis]

I think we've lost sight of the original question which is "how much do you need?". Not, "How much would you like?".

Yes, I'll admit I think it's selfish to have a lot of extra space, but it isn't one of my hot button issues. Just kind of one of those things that pops up every so often.

But, how much do you need? At what point do you feel soooo cramped that you want to go homicidal (or whatever). I'll admit, this is larger than I wanted. It's more to clean, more to furnish, more to heat and cool, more to echo, echo, echo (I have 2 extremely loud boys). But, our yard is as small as I want to go. I cannot imagine having less yard (well, maybe if I lived somewhere where we had access to a large amount of green space). So, I have my issues too.

[joesbaby]

we live in a 3 bedroom 2 bath trailer that is aprox 1120 sq feet. however, that isnt the only room we have, we also have 8 acers of land for my 3 horses, a huge barn, an out building, and we have my parents house too. my folks have a 2000 sq foot 3bedroom house. thats where my office and computer is. we live 100 feet or so apart. we share the same well and do alot of things togther. so i guess we have enough space for how we live, if we didnt live this close to my folks, id want more room. but right now its enough.

ericka

[pyotr]

Ok, I'm done trying to get cercis to go postal on me (I was hoping for more violence). My wife and I and my two kids basically spend our entire time in each other's presence. We currently sleep in the same bed and we literally don't leave each other's sight except to go to the bathroom. We were always so, starting with when my wife and I lived in a 500sq ft apartment. So I'd say my family could get by in a 500 sq ft room and be happy. If you ever get a chance to stop by the library, I recommend taking a look at this book look here

When we go camping, we enjoy ourselves immensely in an approximately 40square foot tent reading, telling stories, singing, etc. If you want to go to "how big of a house do you WANT" - I'd say about 30,000 square feet, but mainly so I could sell it for cash or so I could show off to people like Donald Trump. There's a study I believe mentioned in one of those hippy books by Juliet Schor, or Elizabeth Warren or I forget who that showed that once you exceed about 3500 sq ft of house, you begin to need "help" to keep the house clean - gardeners, house cleaners, etc. But you could also keep much of the house and furniture covered up like Nicole Kidman did in the movie The Others - I think I could get used to living in a 30,000 sq ft house though. I'd pretend there were ghosts in the house and stay horrified all the time. My family would still probably live out of 1 room though. Born middle-class, you stays middle class.

[cercis]

Okay, I was wondering. The Raskiloff comment caught me completely off guard and made me much more defensive than I should have been.

Have you seen the dove calming night lotion commercial? It shows a family bed and looks pretty familiar to me. But my kids are finally in their own bed. Of course, they share the same bed, but it's all a transition, right?

[tgavin71]

We live in a 1090 sq foot home. It has 3 bedrooms, formal lounge which doubles as a guest bedroom. Family room. Bathroom. Laundry. Two toilets. And so much storage space that we have cupboards that are empty.

[Ima saver]

My husband is building an 1800 sq foot spec house and it seems small. If the basement was finished it would be 3600 sq. feet. I just like BIG rooms.

[Thrifty Ray]

Well...as anything...it depends...

My house is a tri-level 1900 sq ft home. When all four kids were living here....it was pretty crowded. Now that it is me, DH and 14yo DD3...it is pretty big...and when she moves out someday...it will seem huge.