How big of a house do you need?

[cercis]

What size do you consider on the small side? 900sqft? 1200sqft? 1800sqft? 2500sqft?

Is there any size you won't consider at all because it's just too small? How about too large?

Ideally, I would live in a 1400sqft, open plan house (open kitchen, dining and living room). I couldn't find that here, so I ended up with 1800sqft, which is HUGE and, so far, underutilized. I've lived in 840sqft and while small, it was doable.

I'm on another site where one woman complains about her "tiny 2200sqft house" and another woman just referred to a 2700sqft home as "on the small side". I can't even imagine.

[PrincessPerky]

Heh, I think smaller than 1,000 is small, and I prefer open to seperate rooms, I would rather have less rooms but bigger ones.

I have found less stuff = bigger house. The ILs have a 'huge' house, but with all the stuff it seems rather cramped.

[sweeps]

The layout of the house makes a big difference. Our house is on the smaller side, but it is very limited in closet space which really makes it feel cramped.

[Ima saver]

My husband built about a 5000 sq. ft. house for a couple. they hired an interior decorator (who made more than my husband for building the house) and she had it so crammed full of furniture it looked crowded.(She owned the furniture store) They paid a quarter million dollars for the furniture alone.

My house is close to perfect for us, cause my husband drew the plans. We have a big master bedroom with a sitting area, a fireplace and hidden tv/vcr cabinets. My bathroom is huge with 22 foot double treyed ceilings and a jetted tub for 2.

[MrsChambers]

Funny that you ask this question... I was just wondering the same thing last night!!

[akaivyleaf]

I'm not good at calculating square footage so I don't know. But I prefer open to small rooms, and as long as I have storage space I'm pretty comfortable. I'm also a minimalist, I don't like seeing lots of stuff, lots of big overimposing furnishing etc. That bothers me. Probably my house would seem bare and spacious to people becuase I refuse to fill it up with big furniture and I hide everything.

Sharon

[Fern]

I agree that 1400 square feet would be just about perfect for me as a single person. My house now is 1650 s.f., and it's really bigger than i need. I rarely use the dining room, i just walk through it to get elsewhere, and don't use the family room much either. Also don't use my 3rd bedroom. So all i really need are:

kitchen
bedroom
office
living room

[DivaJen]

Our living space is 1500+ sq. ft. and is sufficient. I'd love to build a master suite, move DD into our old room and move the TV into her old room to make a den/game room type space. A dream.

[Ima saver]

I only need one bedroom, but I would never reccommend building a house with one bedroom only. You have to think about resale when you buy or build a house. I like big open rooms too and modern looking furniture. My house is all white, carpet, walls, furniture.

[tomkat]

I cannot imagine living in a 850 sqft home!!! That's way tiny for me!

I like space. I built my house as a single person, and I felt my 1640 sqft 3br/2ba home suited me perfectly. I looked at smaller homes--garden homes, townhomes and such--but they just seemed, well, small. If I want small, I would just stay in an apartment! Now I'm married, and the 1640 sqft still suits us since it's just the two of us. And, if we have one child, it'll still suit us, we'd just lose the guest bedroom or formal living room. More than one child, then we'd want to move up to a 4 bedroom home.

I guess I'm old fashioned. I like having a formal dining room and formal living room (although I never use them...I know, I know, wasted space, but I grew up with formal rooms, and I feel funny not having them), plus an extra bedroom for guests and the other bedroom converted to a study. On the plus side of having formal rooms, though, one of those rooms can always be converted for other purposes if push comes to shove.

Our dream house would be about 2300 - 2400 sqft with 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, formal dining room, and a bonus room upstairs, and possibly a small room to use as a study--this would suit me and my husband perfectly. The bonus room would be like a media room/den, and if we didn't get a separate study, one of the bedrooms would be converted to a study. If we have just one child, the other bedroom could be a guest room; if we have two, then we could get a sleeper sofa to put in the bonus room for guests. I don't think we could or would want to handle anything larger (think cleaning the house, plus heating and electric bills). Unfortunately, houses that size in this area cost upwards $300,000 and above brand new. That means a big mortgage note, and we are quite adverse to having a huge mortgage note hanging over our heads each month. We don't want to pay more than $1000 to $1100 per month for a mortgage. So, we are saving our money so that one day we can put a big downpayment on our dream house.

[Ima saver]

I don't blame you tomkat. I don't know how people can afford these big payments on houses these days. My highest house payment was $500 a month and it killed me. I hurried to pay off that mortgage within 3 years. (It was a partial mortgage)

[pyotr]

it totally depends on how many people live in that house.
If you have 8 people in your family, a 4000 sq foot house is probably crowded.

[cercis]

Do you really think so Pyotr?

How much space do you think each person needs? I have a hard time believing people would be crowded in 4000sqft UNLESS 1) they have too much stuff and/or 2) they are pretty selfish with their space.

For my family of 4, 1800sqft provides more than ample space for us to get away from each other and to have guests (and give them their space).

[zakity]

I would like a little more room. We have a 1024 sqft house. It would be nice to have another bedroom or a family room.

[cercis]

Zakity - can you do an outdoor room? That's what made our small house so bearable. We poured a huge patio and then covered it with one of those 2 car carports. We put a hammock and some chairs out there and that's where the kids rode their bikes, etc (little kids).

Then, we bought an unheated greenhouse and spent quite a bit of time in there. On sunny winter days it could be 40 degrees warmer inside than outside (I even got hot on many occasions).

[debtfreeme]

iwould be happy with a house that is mine. i don't care how small it is.

[zakity]

"Zakity - can you do an outdoor room? That's what made our small house so bearable. We poured a huge patio and then covered it with one of those 2 car carports. We put a hammock and some chairs out there and that's where the kids rode their bikes, etc (little kids).

Then, we bought an unheated greenhouse and spent quite a bit of time in there. On sunny winter days it could be 40 degrees warmer inside than outside (I even got hot on many occasions)."

We use the unheated garage as a tv/play room for the boys when it isn't way too cold. We also have a little over an acre with trees to climb and room to run when it isn't raining or sometimes when it is.

[Ima saver]

Debtfreeme, I agree with you. It is better to start with a small house and then move up when you get some equity built up. The smallest house I have lived in was 1900 square feet. That is not so bad when the rooms are open. I think high ceilings help too. I don't think I would want a house smaller than 2500 sq. ft. now.

[Snoopy2645]

well my house is 864 sq feet I looked it up from my thing when I bought the house but I dont think that includes the basement. Geez my house seems small compared to everyone on here I have been telling my husband we need a bigger house we have 3 growing girls the house keeps getting smalller maybe I can get him to look at this thread
he seems like he will be perfectly happy here forever me on the other hand I am not so sure I moved in it was just me & my daughter now its 5 of us & 2 dogs!!!

[cercis]

Snoopy, most likely that does not include the basement, because 864 is a fairly small footprint.

I think I'm somewhat like your dh. I did think 840 (no basement) was too small, but 1400 was perfect. 1800 is HUGE. My MIL visited over the weekend at and one point we all needed space, we were all able to go to a separate room and be alone for a while. The day we feel crowded in this house will be the day I sit them all down and have a loooong talk about the environment and our impact.