Is 1500 square feet too small for family of four? (floors, basement)

[LovelySummer]

A baby takes up very little space. You're talking one child, and she is 1. Try numerous children, highly mobile, not baby mobile -real mobile - doing different activities in the home simultaneously. Plus two adults each doing their own things. Unless everyone tiptoes around the noise clutter alone in a small house with all that going on is likely to be undesirable. Then, this is probably crazy to mention but there is no filter or space likely between wall of parents room and kids room. What kid needs or wants to hear stuff at night? Sorry. The OP needs to get more space when the kids get a little older.

Originally Posted by cqholt

You mean like my 22 month old daughter?

[ElleKaye]

Originally Posted by LovelySummer

A baby takes up very little space. You're talking one child, and she is 1. Try numerous children, highly mobile, not baby mobile -real mobile - doing different activities in the home simultaneously. Plus two adults each doing their own things. Unless everyone tiptoes around the noise clutter alone in a small house with all that going on is likely to be undesirable. Then, this is probably crazy to mention but there is no filter or space likely between wall of parents room and kids room. What kid needs or wants to hear stuff at night? Sorry. The OP needs to get more space when the kids get a little older.

Again, that's a floor plan issue. My parent's room was across the hall from my bedroom and seperated by a bathroom. My brother's room was down the hall on the same side of the house as mine but separated by two walk in closets. For all intents and purposes, a psychopath could enter your bedroom and no one would hear a thing as long as your bedroom door was closed.

One way of making a smaller space feel larger is making sure supply meets demand. I grew up in the day of landline phones and between the four of us, sharing one phone line at the end of the day was not getting the job done so my parents got a children's line. (That was a real thing back in the day with a different phone number.) When my brother and I learned to drive, two cars weren't enough any more to accommodate our schedules so we got two more cars.

Overall, it's not bad to share things like meals around the table in the evening, but some things like a tv may be too much to ask. We all always had our own though my dad pretty laid claim to the one in the den.

My parents are both retired now, and my brother and I have moved away. You'd think the additional space to do with as they pleased would have been great for the two of them. Do you know the first thing they fell out over was? Computer time. I bought them another one just to stop hearing the gripes about who was not getting their fair share of time. No more problems.

[AfternoonCoffee]

Originally Posted by ElleKaye

Again, that's a floor plan issue. My parent's room was across the hall from my bedroom and seperated by a bathroom. My brother's room was down the hall on the same side of the house as mine but separated by two walk in closets. For all intents and purposes, a psychopath could enter your bedroom and no one would hear a thing as long as your bedroom door was closed.

Yeah, I agree with ElleKaye^

As this thread has gone on, I've thought more about the question...

When my DH and I had 2 kids in 1000-1200sf, we only had 1 bathroom--I don't recommend that. And we didn't have proper dining area--we had stools at a kitchen counter. I wouldn't recommend that for the long term.

BUT, the house my sister and I grew up in was only about 1200+sf, and we had a dining room we ate almost all our meals in, 3 bathrooms (never a problem!) The rooms were small, but my parents were strict about not having too much crap, and picking up after ourselves. We shared a room until late middle school, when I moved to the downstairs bedroom (had it's own bathroom--luxury for a teen girl!!) As a precaution, my parents screwed the doors to the patio shut

So, OP, it really depends on the layout and other factors, but, bottom line: 1500sf is NOT a shoebox! You'll be fine, assuming all other aspects of the house are favorable

[Flmike3]

We moved into a 3/2 1500 ft home last year in the Old Fourth Ward with 2 kids 9-11,boy-girl. And we are just fine. We moved from Gwinnett out of a 4500 ft house. Yes we had to get rid of lots of stuff. Most we didn't need or want. Now we are closer as a family. I generally know what my kids are doing all the time. We moved to be near the Beltline activities. We are about 100 yards from it and can't believe how much the quality of our family life has improved. So I agree that your location is very important. We did buy a house on a lot that could be expanded, just in case. Once you get rid of your junk it is very doable.. And yes we get teased by family and friends that we paid how much for that..... Are you crazy...We love our smaller house.

[JPD]

1500 sf used to be more than large enough, but that was back in the days before helicopter parenting, when kids could leave the house for a couple hours each day and do their own thing. Seems like nowadayas the only time kids leave the house is to go to piano lessons, soccer, and other structured, adult supervised activities.

[residinghere2007]

No.

I lived in a 1200 sf 4bd/3ba (full bath) home for 7 years with a family of 4 and we had plenty of room.

The only thing that would be an issue IMO is storage and for storage, I would get closet systems and purge unneeded items. Many people have way more junk than they need.

[residinghere2007]

Originally Posted by LovelySummer

A baby takes up very little space. You're talking one child, and she is 1. Try numerous children, highly mobile, not baby mobile -real mobile - doing different activities in the home simultaneously. Plus two adults each doing their own things. Unless everyone tiptoes around the noise clutter alone in a small house with all that going on is likely to be undesirable. Then, this is probably crazy to mention but there is no filter or space likely between wall of parents room and kids room. What kid needs or wants to hear stuff at night? Sorry. The OP needs to get more space when the kids get a little older.

In our house, our master bedroom was on the 1st floor and the kids' bedroom was the on the 2nd floor. We had an extra guest bedroom that doubled as an office and it had an on suite bath.

So it depends on the lay out of the house.

I also feel that babies should get used to noise. I grew up in a large family and I remember someone trying to "hush" my older brother and I at my youngest brother's baby shower (we are 11 and 12 years older than my youngest brother) and my mom responded that "don't hush them, the baby just has to get used to them" lol. I agree with this too. I never hushed my older child for the benefit of the younger and she slept through his noise and still does with no issues. He is 6 years older than my youngest so was in his "loud" phase.

[LovelySummer]

How do you get 4 bedrooms and 3 full baths in 1200 sq ft? That sounds next to impossible, unless there is no living room and each bedroom can fit only a twin bed and a nighstand?? 1200 actual sq feet - or there was more space but it just wasn't permitted?

Originally Posted by residinghere2007

No.

I lived in a 1200 sf 4bd/3ba (full bath) home for 7 years with a family of 4 and we had plenty of room.

The only thing that would be an issue IMO is storage and for storage, I would get closet systems and purge unneeded items. Many people have way more junk than they need.

[cqholt]

Another plus of having a small house, house cleaning is easier. It can be done within hours instead of days.

[Clayton white guy]

cqholt, My wife claims that our larger house is easier to clean than our old smaller one. She says it is because the larger home gets less cluttered and there are more places to put things away. Our old 1961 brick ranch was a very nice house, but had no storage and little closet space. Our out of season clothes had to stay in the corner of the dining room and other stuff (children's toys) that just drove me crazy. I loved my old house, but our family of five really enjoys our much larger home with its ample closets and storage spaces. Also having a designated bonus room space for the kid's toys is a much better situation than when they took up a great deal of space in our 200 square foot den at the old house. Strangely, compared to the sentiments of many, having a formal living room at the old house was the ONLY thing that made it a little bearable. With the chaos of a small house with three small children, it was nice to have a room by the front door that always could stay pretty, tranquil, and company ready.