Size House You Grew Up In

[street]

The thread On House Size got me remembering the old two-story house I grew up in. We had 3 small rooms on main floor, 3 small rooms with 15 steps up to that level. The bathroom upstairs was small and a bathtub no shower. My parents lived in that home till their passing away with not much of a change after I left at 18 years of age. One change was a window air conditioner. WOW!
When I got married, one year later, my wife and I built our dream home together with help from friends and family. It was like I was living like a king in such a huge home (1900sf).
Interesting how generations and money has changed from those Greatest Generation/Depression Era parents most of us had.

 

[Dtail]

I would guess that our house was around 1600 sq ft for the 6 of us. My brother and I shared one bedroom. My sister had her own room and the other brother had the basement.
Everything was fine. Never had a sibling physical fight.

 

[Midpack]

We moved around a lot, mostly military homes very comfortable probably about 2000-2500 sqft. But…

…DW grew up with Mom, Dad, DW, 2 brother and 2 sisters in a 1 bathroom 960 sqft ranch home. No big deal to her. Incomprehensible to me!

 

[braumeister]

The thread On House Size got me remembering the old two-story house I grew up in. We had 3 small rooms on main floor, 3 small rooms with 15 steps up to that level. The bathroom upstairs was small and a bathtub no shower. My parents lived in that home till their passing away with not much of a change after I left at 18 years of age. One change was a window air conditioner. WOW!

Almost the same thing here, except the bathroom was on the ground floor. Total around 800 sq. ft.
We didn't get sewers until I was in high school (just a cesspool), and this was in NYC!

 

[audreyh1]

No idea. They weren’t that small - 4 kids, generally 3 or 4 bedroom homes. But they weren’t that big either and certainly not as huge as many houses built today.

 

[Qs Laptop]

The house I grew up in was a 3 BR rambler, about 1,600 square feet. One bathroom on main floor and a semi-finished 3/4 bathroom in the basement. The basement was semi-finished. Detached, oversized double garage. Lot was 65X120.

Dad, Mom, my sister and me lived there. It was two years old when my parents bought it for $15,600 in 1956. I sold it in 2019 for $273,000.

 

[Kings over Queens]

Mine was a 2,473 4 br 4 ba "Williamsburg" center hall colonial. We moved there when the development was being built in the early 70's.

it was great place to grow up.

 

[stepford]

Mine was a 1900 ft split level 3+2 that my parents decided to expand out to a 2800 4+ 3 when they had a third kid. My current 1200 is but an outbuilding by comparison.

 

[aja8888]

I grew up in a low income housing project. Dad never owned a house. What I recall is that there were 300 (?) families living in pretty small apartments but you had to have 3 kids to qualify for the project. There were two bedrooms, a living/kitchen area, and a small utility type room which I had for a bedroom because my two sisters had the second bedroom. It was tight, maybe 900 square feet in size (guess), maybe less.

With the 1,000 or so kids living in the projects, I always had friends and something to do. Crime was not bad back then (1950's) and the place was Ok to live in. My understanding is now that the City has taken over the property (all apartments), that crime is off the charts (domestic violence, murders, theft, etc) as it is "subsidized" living.

As soon as I graduated high school at 17 years old, I left home to live with friends. A short while later, hello draft notice!

 

[rk911]

No idea on the sq footage of my childhood home..2 stories. 2BR and a full bath upstairs (1 BR was very large), 2 BR and another full bath downstairs (1BR very small...likely meant to be a nursery), nice sized living room, dining room and kitchen. Big yard and attached 1-car garage.

 

[c998877]

3 bed 2 bath single story rental house 1,170 sq ft in East Bay, California 1970s.

From my memories:
The living room was long and felt spacious. The kitchen connected to a laundry area which had the garage door. The primary bedroom had a small bathroom including a shower. The other bedrooms were small, but we didn't know that as kids. the second bathroom was in the hallway. We frequently showered in my mom's bedroom so it may have had tub only.

As renters, we lived in other houses that were similar size or smaller in the neighborhood when the owners wanted to sell.

 

[athena53]

Ah, yes, back to Real Life. Dad helped his uncle (a general contractor) build my childhood home. Realtor.com shows it as 2,200 square feet but subsequent owners put on an addition at some point so definitely under 2,000 when we lived there- parents plus 5 kids. One story although Dad finished the basement so it was a playroom, 3 bedrooms, one bathroom. That last feature was a real thorn in Dad's side and I see that the addition included another bathroom. Lot size was .25 acres but it backed up onto woods.

We moved to another state when Dad changed jobs when I was 11. Job didn't work out, Dad went back to his old company and we rented as they had a new house built. This had stories, 4 bedrooms, one full bath, 2 half-baths. Yes, one was off the master BR-actually it was a toilet, sink and shower. The builder tried to talk Dad out of that one. Dad held firm. It became his castle.

It almost seems now like it's child abuse to have two same-sex kids share a bedroom. In the first house we had 3 boys sharing one.

 

[freedomatlast]

2 BR 1 bath ranch. 980 square feet with full unfinished basement.

 

[Sarah S]

2 bedroom 1 bath ranch living room dining room small kitchen. There was a basement that my father eventually partially finished and that served as a family room, doubling as a bedroom for guests or when one of us children was sick. There was also a screened porch that was turned onto a sunroom as the last big renovation

 

[MichaelB]

We also lived in many different homes during my childhood. Most notable was a quonset hut when I was a wee lad. It was probably around 400-500 sf or so for a family of 5. The last family home I lived in as a surly teen was 4 bedroom 2 bath +/- 1100 sf for a family of 7, with 1 bedroom for the boys and 2 for the girls.

 

[karen1972]

1680 sq ft, with an unfinished basement. 3 bed, 2 bath. We were a family of 7. 2 boys shared, 3 girls shared.

 

[Gallaher]

Always on the verge of homeless from age 10 to adulthood (divorce). The situation improved as older sibs moved out. Lived in lots of houses. Never more than 1,000 sq/ft for five of us and moms sleep over. It really sucked.

 

[Walt34]

We had a maybe 900 sf (if that) two bedroom/one bath Cape Cod. Dad sort of semi-finished off the attic into a third bedroom for my two sisters. He was an excellent electrician (we had all sorts of fancy indirect lighting in the house) a so-so carpenter and terrible at drywall.

 

[savory]

I am guessing our house was about 1100 sq ft on a street with nearly identical houses. 3 bed w/one full bathroom. 4 family members to start and grandmother moved in when I was 7. A toilet room was added in the basement about then. The kitchen was so small that if 3 of us were eating, the refrigerator or oven door could not be opened unless a person stood up and pushed in their chair.

The neighborhood was amazing. Lots of friends playing sports and creating games with the resources we had. Never a lonely minute. A number of the kids from the neighborhood have careers where you may have learned about them in news reports from time to time, for good things . Not me however.

 

[Chris7]

Family - Me, 2 brothers, 2 parents.
First house in Las Vegas, I would guess around 1600 sq ft.
Second house in Potomac, MD, I would guess around 2200 sq ft, + Basement
Third house in Danville, CA, about 3000 sq ft after my parents added on 800 - 1200 sq ft.

cd : O)

 

[AudiDudi]

1200 sqft 3 bd/2ba (which cost $13k in 1956 in the Bay Area of CA. Currently have ~1800 sqft in rural MT on 25 acres and spend 1/2 the year in a 350sqft 5th wheel in AZ on a 40 x 50ft RV space. DW says 1800 sqft feels like a mansion compared to the 5th wheel.

I don't want to heat/cool and clean a larger house.

 

[mountainsoft]

Every house I lived in growing up was well under 800 sq/ft. I even lived in a 240 sq/ft travel trailer for a few years with my mom and step dad. My first apartment was 768 sq/ft, and our first starter home was 768 sq/ft also (single wide mobile home). So our little 1456 sq/ft house today feels like a mansion to us.

We have stayed in several "tiny homes" over the years that were under 400 sq/ft. If it wasn't for our "stuff" we both agree we could easily live comfortably in a Tiny Home.

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

Nuclear family of 5; 2000 ft^2; after us kids were gone, they added on to the house... maybe 800 ft^2?

 

[Gumby]

We lived in trailers and cheap apartments while I was growing up, so not much room at all. The first time I lived in a single family home was when I was 18, right before leaving home for good. It was 1000 sqft, and I thought it was huge.

 

[Pointby2]

Grew up in an 1,120 square foot house on a 9,636 square foot lot with 3 bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms. Three girls shared one bedroom and my brother and I shared the other. My dad put in the half bath in the basement. Sharing a single bathroom was, uh, inconvenient at best. Thankfully, two of my sisters moved out after a few years.