How Big Is Your Home?

[rescueme]

The only problem with a small house is it sometimes is too small for 2 people. DW and I get along much better when we have our space...

Yes, sometimes bigger is better ...

It comes down (IMHO) to what lifestyle you desire and what you can afford.

If either (lifestyle/affordability) requires you to downsize based upon desires and/or finances? Fine.

If you desire to have a bigger home than others (due to your lifestyle) and can afford it, so what?

Different folks - different strokes...

 

[haha]

Studio apartment in a co-op complex. One large L-shaped room, small kitchen, bathroom, a few closets, ~625 square feet. Moved here 22 years ago. Single, no kids, no pets.

so your bed sits out in the social space, or do you use a Murphy bed or some kind of convertible bed?

Ha

 

[Sue J]

1650 sf, 4 BR, 2 baths, 2 car attached garage, full basement on a big enough suburban lot. Built in 1955. It was comfy for 4 of us when both kids lived here. When the younger son moves out we can downsize by just using the first floor with 2 BRs and a full bath.

My favorite part of the house is the breakfast room. The kitchen needs a complete update but it's been good enough for us and having the breakfast room really made it the heart of the home. The living room is for TV watching and the dining room is never used except for the carpeted cat thing in front of the window.

Closet space is minimal but there is a huge storage space above the attached garage and we have easy access to it from the 2nd floor hallway.

We've been here since 1983 and we're staying as long as we can.

 

[Finance Dave]

2,700 sq. ft on main floor, basement is 1,600 sq ft (half of it I finished myself as a TV room, the other half is my woodshop). What's more important to me is the garage size. I'm a car enthusiast, so we have 4 cars between the two of us. Two are show cars. As a result, we have a 1,200 sq. ft garage...enough for all 4 cars plus a small work area.

There are only two of us, but we each have a study, then a spare bedroom for guests, then our own bedroom, along with great room, dining room, kitchen, and 2 full baths.

 

[73ss454]

2600 sq. ft. with 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2 1/2 car garage, no basement as we are in Fla..
Only thing I'd change is I wish I had a 3 car garage. One car sits outside and I cover it each night.

 

[HFWR]

Or finding a nice garage with a house attached.

+1

Home is 1650sf "ranch", with 3/2/2 arrangement. Plenty of room for me; one bedroom for "guests", used maybe once per year, and one BR is my music room. Should convert the dining room to a home gym, since I rarely use it for eating.

 

[Queenie]

I put 750 - 999 in the poll, but actually have not idea...

Have 4 distinct rooms and a bathroom on 2 floors. It may not be much but the back wall is a Roman wall, exposed beams and a rather nice view of a castle from upstairs sitting room. Water, electric and city gas are not expensive and impost importantly it is paid for. Am in the city (small) center and am sure it has a very high walkability score. This is paradise and I am happy whenever I can be here.

This is the city, house is just up there on the right hand side...
Queenie

 

[youbet]

1300 sq ft all brick ranch. 3 bd rms, 1.5 bath, kitch, DR, LR. Attached 2 car garage not counted in sq ft. Been here 33 yrs. Always has been extremely low maintenance and low utility bills.

The basement is also 1300 sq ft. I'm never sure whether to count that as living space or not. There is a 700 sq ft finished room which, because it's in the basement, isn't used all that much except in the winter when the Vermont Castings wood stove attracts us down there. And if I want to watch a sports event while DW has something else on, it's handy then too. And my shop and hobbies are in the basement too filling up a chunk of the unfinished 600 sq ft.

We thought things were a little tight when raising the family. Now that we're empty nesters, it seems just about right.

 

[scrabbler1]

so your bed sits out in the social space, or do you use a Murphy bed or some kind of convertible bed?

Ha

The bed is in the corner of the large room, visible from anywhere in the large room. A second bed, a high-riser, fits below the main bed and can roll out and rise to a level equal to the main bed.

 

[MBAustin]

Downsized last year from 3400 two-story to 2450 one-story. It's just right - not too big for the two of us and big enough that kids can be comfortable when they come to visit (but not comfortable enough for them to stay!).

 

[Texas Proud]

2,500 SF now, but will downsize to between 1,500 and 1,900 when DW retires. We have been lookng at new homes and it is really annoying that the smaller the home, the crummier they build them. I wish builders would wake up and build a luxorious smaller single family home (not just condo's or townhome's). With all of the empty nesters and retiring boomers, it shouildn't be too hard to figure that out.

Actually I did see a neighborhood where the builder did that.... but the cost of the home was just way to expensive.. people could buy almost the same quality but a lot larger house nearby for the same price...

IMO, without being a 'retirement community' it is not a good business decision to build small expensive houses...

 

[youbet]

Actually I did see a neighborhood where the builder did that.... but the cost of the home was just way to expensive.. people could buy almost the same quality but a lot larger house nearby for the same price...

IMO, without being a 'retirement community' it is not a good business decision to build small expensive houses...

The issue then was not that the homes were smaller, but rather that the icremental quality was not there. "Almost the same quality" won't cut it. You need to have features, amenities and quality that stands out to justify the higher price.

 

[bbbamI]

1820 square feet plus two car garage for two people and one cat. I would like to take three rooms we don't use and place them elsewhere. Two rooms could make the garage a four car garage/workshop and the third room could be a huge closet.

 

[GregLee]

... but the back wall is a Roman wall, exposed beams and a rather nice view of a castle from upstairs sitting room.

Color me green with envy.

 

[haha]

... and the third room could be a huge closet.

It could anyway. Just buy some racks like clothings stores use, or the ones that get pushed down the street on rollers. You can have as many as you want, and it would be quite handy.

Ha

 

[Fishingmn]

About 3,800 finished - but we won't retire for another 5 years and have 2 kids (and 3 animals) at home.

We are actually debating moving sooner than later to a smaller lake home that would be our retirement place and then getting a small townhouse in the Twin Cities that my wife would live out of during the week close to her work. We could probably sell this place and buy both of those 2 with the proceeds since townhouses are so cheap right now. Then we rent that place out when she's ready to retire since we already have 4 other townhouse rentals.

 

[Coolius]

2,720 sq ft home with 5 bdrms, 3.5 baths, and 3 car garage. OK when the kids were growing up, but now they've gone, just too big for the two of us.

Looking forward to downsizing, probably early to middle next year, to a 3 bed/2 ba/2 car garage home, of not more than 1,800 sq ft.

And I will certainly not miss the high property taxes, high insurance, and high heat/electric bills.

 

[Animorph]

Looks like we match the chart pretty nicely.

 

[IBWino]

It could anyway. Just buy some racks like clothings stores use, or the ones that get pushed down the street on rollers. You can have as many as you want, and it would be quite handy.

Ha

Hmmm...I could pretty much fit all of the clothes I wear regularly in a medium sized cardboard box. My wife on the other hand....

 

[rkser]

We have a 3600 sqft, 2 storey, 4Bd, 3 Ba, a large bonus room, front & back porches, a balcony, 3 car Garage, large pool with a oversized deck & lots of landscaping on 3/4th acre for two of us. It was fine when daughter & son were still here, but now it is a ..........

Now that our son (just) left for college, we do want to downsize to a 3/2/2 car garage, around 2000 sqft 1 level house. The depressed RE conditions in Central Florida - are coming in the way of our downsizing plans, homes in our neighborhood are selling for 50 to 60 cents on a dollar. We are thinking of putting our house for sale after 2 yrs from now, hoping things may improve some by then.

Realtors suggest, not to sell if we do not have to. Well it is a paid for house, so we do not have to sell but the upkeep (in both the cost & effort) of this elephant of an house for just two of us is a unnecessary waste of resources.

So, that is our story, sorry for a long post.

With best regards

 

[JOHNNIE36]

Mine is 1800 sq. feet; I designed it myself and had it built in 2004, on 10 acres. Very open floorplan. I had it built with lots of windows so there isnt anywhere on my property that I cant see from one of my windows. Ill never have larger, but I could have smaller if a very open floorplan. Just me and 3 puppies. I dont know how long Ill stay here, but for now no plans on leaving. If I ever decide to downsize on acreage, I could see me moving to western NC to a nice log cabin, 1200 square feet or so. Plenty of room for me and pups.

Sounds great and I envy the 10 acres. Golf buddy just built a nice place in Cashiers, NC on a golf course. Beautiful country up there. Time has passed me by for any kind of move like that. We've got to stick around family.

 

[Katsmeow]

Interesting thread. Earlier in the year we sold our 4500 SF house (which also had an about 700 SF guest house and two double garages). When we bought it we had 6 people living in the house. Now we are down to 4.

We are building a new house on an acre and worked a lot on size. We kept wanting to build something about 2200 SF but it kept working out to more as we did each room. We are close to finalizing the plans and it will be 2600 SF. There are 3 bedrooms plus a study that DH and I will now share. Later, when kids are gone one of the bedrooms will be his study (we each use our computers a lot of the time each day) and the other will be a guest room. Having spent a lot of time on the plans, I know that there is no wasted space in it at all.

 

[harley]

+1

Home is 1650sf "ranch", with 3/2/2 arrangement. Plenty of room for me; one bedroom for "guests", used maybe once per year, and one BR is my music room. Should convert the dining room to a home gym, since I rarely use it for eating.

What's wrong with you? You can't use a dining room for a home gym. Everyone knows that's where you put the pool table.

 

[W2R]

What's wrong with you? You can't use a dining room for a home gym. Everyone knows that's where you put the pool table.

Silly! Everybody knows that the pool table goes right in the middle of the great room. At least that's where F. had his. Now that he no longer has it, his great room is a giant ham shack. We really DO enjoy having our own separate places....

 

[SVHoper]

1800 sq ft w pool table in "formal" lounge. We were kinda short a bedroom for a couple of years but just sent the second of three off to college so we now have a spare room dumping ground.

Looking to sideways size into cheaper location with more land for RV as soon as youngest leaves the nest.