how big of a house do you need?

[pinkfox]

well, my house is just under 700sqft. (that includes the laundry room) in that space i have a usable kitchen (it needs some reworking to make the most of the space as its 11x8 and would be perfectly suited to a nice galley style kitchen but right now i only have 1 wall of cabinates/counter space and 8 ft of couterspace isnt enough when you remove the workspace take up by the sink.
2 bedrooms that have enough room for a bed, dresser and the dogs crates (the other has a futon and some cabinates and is eentually going to be my craft room/guest room)
1 bathroom and a cozy livingroom, plus a "laundry room"
in that space lives, myself, 1 large dog, 2 small dogs, 2 cats, a VERY large macaw cage (no realy its 3ft deep by ft wide by 6ft tall lol) for my mini macaw), a 55gallon fish tank, 2 parkets in an 18x30 cage, and some betta fish in various tanks about the place...
PLENTY of room foreveryone.

the laundryroom will be getting lots of shelves to turn it into a more functinal storage/panty space as well (right now its a chest freezer washer dryer and stuff piled ontop of stuff)
and eventually id like to screen in the carport, which would put an additional 100sqft of usable livingspace when the weathers nice.

things id chage and add...
right now id like to rearrange the kitchen and wish the laundry room was just a bit bigger.

if i were starting a family id probaby build onto the back about another 200-250 sqft mabe?! that extra ftage would end up being a 3rd bedroom, 1/2 bath and expand the kitchen so i could have a larger eat in area.
but for just me...heck a couple or a family with a kid, i dont reay see why id need more space than i currently have. just a case of using it wisely and using plenty of space saving options.
i will admit to bit of a clutter bug, so i try and keep onto of the nicknaks, only keeping things that mean something to me or are useful...
i make sure use of "under space" under bed boxes under the futon for the guest bedding, under bed boxes under my bed for extra linnens for my bed and for the bathroom, winter clothes and all my renfaire garb also get packd into underbed boxes. i have under bed boxes under my couch and chair (theres a skirt so its easily hidden away) for more guest linnens and general extra storage.

I dont have a dine in kitchen or a dining room..so i made one with a table that folds flat againts the wall...a wall mounted tv takes up alot less space too ect.

i think once i finally get the place properly organized, youd think it were much bigger than 680sqft.
my biggest complaint is the kitchen, its just a funky floor plan and the lower cabinats are just 1 big empty box (no shelves) and once i can afford to fix it itll be very functional.

but...then again i grew up in a tiny house...my parents frst house when me and my brother were small was around 600sqft, then we moved to something closer to 800 and then after my sister was born and past the toddler stage we moved to something just under 1000sqft...and for the UK 1000sqft is a BIG house!
when we moved to the US the house my parents bought was 1800 sqft (theyve since converted the old gaage and added anew one adding even more room) and unless my 20 yr old sister is around, the lower level of the house (raised ranch) isnt used at all, wasting about 800 sqft.
but my mums become accustomed to her house, and now she kind of raises her eye brows at the thought of living in anything smaller than 1500sqft. not because they NEED the space, but because thats what theyve become accustomed to.

my mum grew up in an 800 sqft house with as many as 13 kids at a time living there...my nan and grandad fostered, and the rules were a little different back then, i have over 21 aunts and uncles on my mums side alone and only 4 of those are actrully related by blood, the rest were nans "forever fosters". and they had no problems in less tha 1000sqft...but mum would frown at that now lol

personally i PREFER a small house...
i dont like to clean...less space means less vacuming/mopping/dusting lol.

 

[odd_duck99]

I don't think the square footage matters as much as the storage, the layout of the house, what you are into, etc. Our house is 1200-1500 (I can't remember now) but is a lot bigger than we need. There is a lot of wasted space. We do use more now that we have a baby, but I would like to go a bit smaller. Like Wannabefree said... I have to keep this place clean, and most of the time I can't keep up!

We don't have the storage we need. We need a garage. A real garage! Right now we are using an unfinished room - which works for now, but we live in WA where it is cold, windy, and raining for seemingly 9 months of the year. There is no heat and no electricity/light out there. Doing anything out there in the winter is difficult, as it gets dark so early. We have one of those shop lights that is just a bulb, in a cage, on a cord, hanging up, but the light is only so-so.

A pantry is another need in our next house. We had a few awkward cupboards that we turned into a spread out pantry. The kitchen layout is awkward. We make it work, but are limited in our canning to our space.

We also get a wild hair a few times a year, go through everything, and donate to Goodwill. We could likely make some money on a grage sale, but when the point is to declutter NOW it's difficult to hang on to all the crap. My spouse is sometimes a bit of a packrat, so when the urge to purge comes I don't argue!

I'd also like less grass to mow! Starting about now, I spend at least 1.5 hours a week mowing the damn grass. We are doing some landscaping to cut down on the mowable area, but it's slow going. Some day I want property that I don't have to mow unless I am making hay! I'd probably have a little lawn just so I can feel cool, soft grass in the summer (before it dies lol!), but other than that I think it's a waste of time.

 

[moolie]

We lived in a 1023 sq ft 1950s rancher for over 10 years, family of four, and loved it.

We were fortunate that we also had an oversized 24x22' detached garage (in which we could park our 4x8' utility trailer, 8.5x7' tent trailer, and our car along with all of hubs' tools) and a BIG yard that had room both for our kids to play and for a large garden. But our school closed due to lack of enrollment (older neighborhood) so we decided to move closer to the kids' new school.

Because our home had appreciated so much (more than doubled actually) over the just over 10 years we owned it, we could buy a larger home and did.

Now we have just under 1800 sq ft with an attached double garage that is a little smaller than our previous garage, and our backyard is almost as big as our previous one.

I sometimes feel like we are rattling around in this house and almost wish we hadn't bought something quite this big, but I also like how tidy it looks most of the time because we have enough space that we're not so "cluttered" as we used to be--because we have more storage space in our bigger home.

I don't have a "minimum" amount of space I need, but I do feel that a mix of "space" between our living (house) space, garage space, and yard space is very important to me.

 

[me&thegals]

Our kids' rooms are bigger than they need to be, but to have what we wanted on the main floor (living room, kitchen, eating room, mudroom, main bath/bedroom), it makes the upstairs bigger than it needs to be (kids' rooms and loft).

Our kitchen is only 9x9, but it keeps me from buying kitchen things that I won't actually use, and it's actually very efficient for getting a ton of canning and freezing done. Everything is within arm's reach.

I adore any and all storage space and we converted what was going to be a mudroom closet into long bench that has lids to lift, and under which we store hats, boots, mittens, etc. GREAT storage! We took out plans for a double-sink bathroom and converted that space into a hall closet for kitchen gear instead. Instead of having a regular front porch, they dropped the concrete footings, and that entire space between basement storage and an absolutely perfect tornado shelter/cellar.

I would agree that enough storage has been crucial for us to keep all our food processing "stuff" and to keep our house free of clutter, which drives me absolutely bonkers.

 

[raiquee]

We live in a 1500ish square foot home right now, and its lay out is terrible. I have no great place to put my canning stuff. Usually my pressure canner is on the stove, as none of the cabniets holds it. I don't want to tote it all the way down in the basement, as it weighs like a million pounds, so there it sits. Moved when we cook, then moved back. As far as my canning jars, same problem. Theres no good place to store them.

But we are moving to a bigger house now (i'm not saying sqft.) but it includes a sunroom which I will use as a makeshift green house, mudroom/laundry room which I don't have now (and need!!), there is a full basement which I will build shelving for to put all my canning stuff, and my pressure canner will fit in the cabniets there (as they have some big cabniets). I will also make a make-shift root cellar, to hold my root veggies and apples and the like. It's a big house yes, and we don't need to space to survive, but man it will be so nice.

 

[the funny farm6]

I love my small house.

Before we moved here we lived in town in a turn of the century victorian. That thing had more rooms than a hotel! Main floor had a large entry way with walk in coat closet, living room, dining room, kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, and den. The 2nd floor had 4 bedrooms, bathroom and storage room. And the attic was finished and had 1 large bed room, and 2 small rooms for storage or could have been walk-in closets. And a basement that was not finished. It was way too big even for our family of 6. The kids were lucky if they used 2 of the bedrooms though they each had their oun. And they refused to go in the attic- we were going to make it a play room. And we didn't use half of the main floor.

As for the house we have now- after the last 2 kids leave the nest, we are going to close off part of the house. We don't need all the space. I have a walk in pantry, and the root celler for storage. And the barns if I need them.

 

[TanksHill]

Great thread. Interesting responses. I built my home over 10 years ago. There are good and bad things about it. Definitely lessons learned.

Next time I would probably cut the space in half. Have the kids share bedrooms and omit any rarely used formal rooms. Dh would need a huge wood shop/ garage. I need extended pantry/ kitchen storage. A basement/ root cellar might work.

Mud room, laundry and linen storage is big.

I think the big thing is to build/ live in something you can afford and maintain. The bigger the house the more upkeep. Here in Ca you also get stuck with higher tax bills and sewer cost.

Lots of things to consider

Oh and bathrooms, we have 3. Everyone uses my master. So I would cut back on those as well.

G

 

[FarmerChick]

one thing to remember also is if you have the bucks, never cut short the sq ft. in a home. if you thinkyou can live on, say 1200, build 1600 , if you think 1500 is enough, build 2000 (ONLY if you can financially afford it)


of all the things I can say I scrimp and save and cut back on etc. for my family we need some space. so important to us. (of course your mileage may vary lol)

 

[raro]

I've got a rather unique problem...my home is over 3000 square feet, plus a walk-out basement. My husband and I bought it 11 years ago intending to fill it up with a lot of kids (besides the 3 we already had). Well, he died. I did foster care for awhile until I got cancer. My two oldest kids went off to college so it's just myself and my 10-year-old in this huge house! My sister lived with us for several years, but she has recently moved out.

The thing is, I would love to downsize, but I can't afford it. We bought this house just before the housing boom started going insane. I looked at local apartments and they're $1500 a month for a STUDIO...I pay less than that in mortgage payments for a 4-bedroom home!

If I had my way, I'd sell this house and buy a smaller rambler with about 3-5 acres of land, and then I'd have an orchard and a few goats and...yeah, dream on. My health is too fragile, unless I won the lottery and could afford a maid and a farm hand. But I can dream...

 

[k15n1]

It's off-topic, but you could look into renting out a room.