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I live in Florida, and most homes here are ranches.
Our home was 1380 sf when we bought it. Three bedrooms (two kid rooms are each about 12 x 12, and the master bedroom is 14 x 16, plus a walk-in closet), two bathrooms (one in the master suite, the other in the hallway between the two kids' rooms), large eat-in kitchen and large living room, plus a smallish entry. We also have a 10 x 12 foot screened lanai, which is not counted in the square footage of the house. Our children are 14 and 12 now, and we host an exchange student most years. (We bought the house a year and a half ago; prior to that, we were renting a four-bedroom home, so the student would have her own room.)
We weren't using the garage space for anything other than minor storage, so we decided to convert most of the garage into a 14 x 20 family room. One small section was walled off to be a small laundry room, and another section is walled off to be a storage area. Now the living room is used as more of a sitting room and an office; all television-viewing and video game-playing happens in the new family room. The home is about 1600 sf and just perfect for the five of us. (We have a student this year and she shares my daughter's bedroom.) We also have guests fairly frequently, so the new room is outfitted with a daybed and a pull-out sofa.
This size will also be easy to maintain as the kids grow up and move out, which I like. At that point, I can move the office into one of the kid bedrooms and leave the other as a guest room. Yes, I have this all planned out!
Moving from 1000 sq ft to 2600 sq ft, 5 years ago, I have learned I would much rather live in a smaller house. Of course, it is just my husband and I now, but with 3 kids in our earlier years, the largest home we lived in was 1500 sq ft and it seemed to be plenty big enough. This purchase was because of a dear sweet friend who had lost her husband and could not bear to sell the house to strangers. She sold it to us at a great price and she knew she could always come here whenever she wanted. I had grown up in huge houses, so I was all for it! Learned quickly, it was way to much for us. Sadly, our friend passed away last year, so there is no reason for us to keep it now. Also, in all fairness, I do have an illness which prevents me from doing a lot of things around the house, but I know I would still rather live in a smaller home.
I have learned we have a lot of wasted space. The more room you have, the more stuff you accumulate. We have our house for sale now and my husband will probably have a heart attack having to let some of his things go. He is a pack rat, and a collector of "stuff".
I think it's much better to spend your time living and enjoying family and friends than to spend all your free time taking care of your yard and home. It's a lot of work and expense. Never ends. Give me smaller any day!
I'm in Florida and there are no basements so storage is left to a garage. If you want to actually use your garage for cars, there is no storage. That makes everything much more cramped. I am currently in a 1900 sq ft 3BR ranch for myself and my daughter and 3 dogs and that is just perfect other than no storage. This is downsized from a 5 BR 4000 sq ft house when there were 5 of us and 5 dogs, which with the dogs and 2 of the 3 kids being large and loud teen boys (and friends), still felt small at times. I also have several hobbies, all of which take up space (such as sewing/crafts, amateur radio, computers, etc) so you have to figure that into it as well, unless you don't mind your sewing machine and fabrics in your kitchen and your radios and wires in your living room.
Yes! That's true. My house is right around 1000 sq ft. IIRC, give or take. We are very comfortable here, and have plenty of room, but we had to make some sacrifices. We don't have as much closet space as we had when we lived in our trailer, Kids beds aren't queen sized but fit them, ours is a king and it takes a little more room but we can move around in the room. We store a lot in the attic and the outbuilding, but we are comfortable and cozy. This house is the house I grew up in, and has now raised 2 families of 4.
Our family of four fit nicely into our 1475 sq. ft. house. Layout is, indeed, critical. That house (which we still own but don't live in) had three good-sized bedrooms down a hallway, a big country kitchen, a large living/dining combo, and a flex room off the kitchen that could be opened up to the kitchen as extra entertaining space, or could be used (and has been used) as a fourth bedroom because it had a closet, as an office as the current tenants are using it, a game room - very useful space. Our kids being almost 12 years apart, I had a teenager and a young one and all of their assorted friends and never felt cramped. Only problem, and it wasn't a problem for us because we'd all grown up with it but apparently is a problem for folks today, was that it has only one bathroom. We just learned to accommodate each other (not a bad thing for kids to learn).
I agree. Thinking about putting a high chair in that space makes me start to twitch.
The layout is prime for conflict if two people try to get in there. Kids opening that fridge door to get a juice box while mom or dad are cooking will hit them in the butt every time.
I also would want a common space, like a rec room, that is AWAY from the main common area. Kid toys will soon overtake that downstairs space. Plus there's no yard.
I am constantly surprised by how small of a bedroom people are willing to live in, especially in big cities. We are three and have never lived less than 2k square feet. I won't live anywhere that my king size bed doesn't fit.
Who lives in a bedroom? I go in there to sleep or clothe and that's it. I keep my meds in there. I have two others that serve other purposes.
Bedrooms are like hotel rooms. Does the hotel make the vacation or the locale? A hotel is for sleeping, bathing and changing clothes. I would stay home if the hotel was of such import.
Does the bedroom make the house or the bedrooms? I have no TV or computer in my bedroom, just a radio with a timer. A bed and large dresser make up the furniture. It's 20x12 and large enough.
If people can afford the size, it is really nice for each child to have his own bedroom. That's not to say you can't fit into smaller if you have to.
But for a family of four, I'd say 1600 to 2,000 for a normal income family. If you are in an area whee real estate is cheap, with a family of four, you could use more room if you had it.
One 2,000 sq ft house might be enormous and roomy and a different one might be cramped with too much space taken up by hallways or just wasted.
Ideally I would like to have about 900sft on the main floor and a finished basement that provides another 900sft. All the bedrooms and kitchen would be on the main floor while the laudry, one additional bedrooom for guests and the TV room would be in the basement.
Another poster mentioned that people who live in CA are used to smaller houses. If you live in the midwest or the northeast a person is probably going to spend a lot more time inside their home due to the sucky weather so in that instance it would be nice to have a larger home. People who live on the pacific coast tend to spend more time outside enjoying nature and the nice weather so having a large house is not as important.
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