How much house do you need?
For more than a decade, Jay Shafer of Tumbleweed Tiny House Company has lived in an 89-square-foot home.
His decision to live in a tiny house came from concerns about the effects a larger house would have on the environment, and his desire to not maintain a lot of unused or unusable space.
Obviously, Jay’s home is at the extreme low end of how small one can go with living space, but it meets his needs and allows him to live the simple lifestyle he was seeking. While it may seem impossibly small to the majority of people, 89 square feet is Jay’s right-sized home.
Contrast this with the average American home, which in 2004, was 2349 square feet, up from 1695 square feet in 1974. In 30 years, the size of kitchens doubled, ground-floor ceilings grew by more than a foot, and bedrooms increased by 54 square feet. In 2004, the average family size was 2.6 people. Thirty years ago, it was 3.1 people. Our homes have been getting larger while our families are getting smaller.
But earlier this year USA TODAY reported a change in that trend:
New homes, after doubling in size since 1960, are shrinking. Last year, for the first time in at least 10 years, the average square footage of single-family homes under construction fell dramatically, from 2,629 in the second quarter to 2,343 in the fourth quarter, Census data show.
The average size of a new home is approximately 15 percent smaller than it was just a year ago. Architects and designers believe this trend toward smaller homes was caused by the economic meltdown — but they expect it to be a lasting change.
Too Big, Too Small
I’ve mentioned that my husband and I will be building a home soon, and we’ve gone back and forth with our architect on several sketches, trying to find our right-sized home. Most of the designs have been appealing, but some have been bigger than we need, and others smaller.
Buying or building too much home has a lot of drawbacks, including:
- Environmental effects
- Higher mortgage payment means more energy goes into paying for housing
- Higher taxes and insurance
- Requires more time and money to maintain and clean
- Higher utility bills
- More rooms to furnish
Buying or building too small is economical, but can cost in other ways. If your house is too small, you might face some of the following challenges:
- No room to expand if you have kids.
- Lack of storage space, even for basic household items.
- Not enough room to entertain friends and family. (If you enjoy entertaining, that is!)
- Lack of space for an office (if you work from home) or hobbies.
- Feeling like you’re living on top of your family members, with no personal space.
Finding a Size that is Just Right
Too big is a waste, and too small is a headache. How does one find a Goldilocks house — sized just right? There are many considerations, such as the following:
- Lifestyle. Do you work from home and need office space? Do you travel a lot? How often do you entertain?
- Family. Do you have children? If not, do you plan to have kids (and plan to stay in the same home)? Are there elderly relatives who live with you or might need to in the future?
- Hobbies. Some hobbies require a bit of room, even if it’s just a sewing cabinet or a dedicated space for a piano.
- Future goals. Do you plan to live in the house for a long time? Do you want to travel? What are your savings goals?
Calculating the Size of your Goldilocks Home
Once you have an idea of what you need your house to do, you can calculate your magic number. In the article “Square Feat: Foot Steps”, architect Dan Maginn recommends starting with your current home and following these five steps:
- Measure and record each of the rooms in your current home, thinking in terms of the functions of each room. Include cooking, dining, bedrooms, closets, bathrooms, living, storage, circulation, and mechanical/utility space.
- Note whether each space feels too big or too small.
- Write down how your needs for each function might change in the future. For example, if you plan to stay in the house and have kids, bedroom space is a consideration.
- Given how the spaces currently feel and your future needs, adjust the sizes until the spaces feel right.
- Add up the adjusted numbers.
Right now our number is around 1800 square feet, with a loft that can be built out later if and when our needs change. That number sounds big to me, but looking at the plans, spaces, and considering our future needs (we don’t plan to move from this house), it might just be our right-sized house.
What is the square footage of your right-sized living space? Do you currently live in more space than you need, or could you use some more room?
J.D.’s note: I love the Tumbleweed Homes. I want one.
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There are 166 comments to "How much house do you need?".
My wife, 2 year old daughter, and I live in an 1800 sq foot townhouse. We love it. The house was well designed and although there is not much space (at least be modern North American standards) none of it is wasted.
I am a big believer that people (us, anyway) will expand to fill whatever space they have. While an 1800 square foot house is by no means tiny it is not giant, either. Our home gives us the space we need and helps us make sure that we don’t overdo the “stuff.”
I live in a 5900 square foot house with my husband and 5 kids. Even though it sounds huge, we really have the perfect amount of space. We have a kitchen, dining room, pantry, living room, den, office, mudroom, and half bath on the main floor. The basement has a gym and family room. Our second floor is our master suite with bedroom, bathroom, and closet. All our kids have their own bedroom and closet, and we have three bathrooms for the kids. Our third floor is just a large playroom. Our outdoor space is not included in the square footage. We have a large patio with a green backyard, fire pit, and pool. It seems like we have too much space when I write this down, but in reality we use all of it very well.
This article came at a perfect time for me. I currently live in SoFL with my family and have lived in my home for 20 years. My neighborhood has changed dramatically to where we don’t really feel safe and our quality of life has changed. It wasn’t like that when we moved here. But my DH got just got a job in a new area. We are looking at 2 things-a bigger new home (no fixer-upper this time) and more land. Our current home is just right, but no yard really. Part of me is really debating about the larger aspects, but for my children to have a yard and a safe place to live is my number one priority. So I think sometimes you have to look at the whole picture.
My family of four lives in a 1,040 square foot house. It has a full basement and we use that for a play area and a craft area (as well as storage and laundry). While it’s much smaller than most of the homes of other people we know, the only thing I’d change is to add another bathroom. Other than that, it’s great! We can afford it, it’s easy to clean, it’s in a good neighborhood with a good school district, we have a large yard and each child has her own room.
I grew up on the West Coast of Scotland, in a tiny wee house probably not even 1000 sq. ft, 5 of us lived there. It was not unusual at all, many families grew up like this, eventually we moved into a fancy 1800 sq. ft or so house when I was around 14. Now I live in Texas and have a 2400 sq. ft house for my wife, 2 daughters and myself. My in-laws are telling me we need something larger to give the kids some more room! What luxury we have and we don’t even realise it.
We are a family of three expecting baby brother to arrive any day soon. We live in a 600 sc feet appartment – no kidding. If you asked us years ago, we would have said we’d buy a house way sooner, say when we had our first child. But now we are just having other priorities: Finishing our education, starting a family, paying of debt, starting a business, adopting a baby. With larger living expences much of that wouldn’t be possible for us.
So no, I don’t think it is the ideal size for our family. But I find it absolutely ideal that we are able to persue our dreams from where we are. I love our home because I love our life.
We (my wife and I) currently live in an two-bedroom apartment that ‘seems too small’. However, I would love it if we could cut down on some of the items that we have in order to free up some space. Heck, we might even be able to get back into a one bedroom if we cut back on some of the things we have. My problem seems to be electronic items while my wifes is clothes. Isn’t that about the norm? 😉
I have this battle in my head quite a bit. We live in a house that is 1850 sq. ft. It is me, my husband and our 2 young girls. There are times that it feels cramped and I would love a second garage and a second full bath. But our mortgage is very low and will be paid off within 8 years, our utility bills are also low and we don’t have a lot of lawn work, since acreage is less that a quarter. A bigger house would also mean more housework for me and I hate to clean. We just need to re-purpose and de-clutter some of our space and I don’t think it will feel so cramped.
So, is a house that is 4834 sq ft with an attached four car garage and detached 1600 sq ft garage/workshop too big…nope its just a comfortable size for my wife and our three boys
I have 957 square feet, which is OK for me and two cats but does feel cramped at times because it’s hard to find furniture that’s not too big for it. I can’t imagine how the previous owners raised four kids in this house.
Here, the older, smaller homes, which are centrally located and hence desirable, are being added onto or simply torn down and replaced by newer houses built as large as the zoning allows. I’m glad I got mine when I did. The local condo market is mostly for people who make a lot more money than I do, and I really wanted a yard anyway. Today’s “starter home” is 3000 square feet, 30 miles from town, shoddily constructed with little rooms to get the largest number of bedrooms and bathrooms to put in the ad, and walking distance from nothing but the mailbox.
My husband and 2 boys and I (and dog) live in an 1850 square foot ranch in a close-in suburb to a medium-large size city. We love it. We used to live in a significantly larger, 2 story house on the east coast and I could NEVER get to all 3 bathrooms. We always felt overwhelmed. We wanted a ranch in case we stay in one place, they are great houses to age in, and we felt like we would be closer – which we are, and can be an advantage or disadvantage (must be very quiet in the kitchen if folks are sleeping). A small portion of our basement is finished, where I suspect the boys will escape to once they are teenagers. I think this is the perfect size for us, and there is room for entertaining a medium-size crowd if necessary. We feel very lucky.
When we originally bought our house 18 years ago it was 950 square feet. Five years ago we added on a family room 20 x 20, increasing the total size of the house to 1350 square feet and taking the old family/living room and making it into a bedroom. It’s the right size for us (me, husband & two teen daughters, plus one dog) now, but I can see us downsizing in the future after the kids have gone out on their own. I think it would be to big for us at that point. I am glad that we did add on (after much going back and forth); we use the room all the time and it makes getting together with family & friends a bit more comfortable.
Now Mr. Shafer’s house was amazing, but I think too small for me! 🙂 Talk about being VERY ORGANIZED.
I now have 3 kids and we live in a ~1700 sgft house. I think the yard size and ‘extras’ make all the difference. Meaning, if I had a garage, we would have more living space and less storage space. We will be moving and like the older houses, due to the larger size rooms not more unused rooms. I am considering a different floor plan, more of one that is open. This would allow for the usable space vs. just rooms.
I grew up in a small 1930s bungalow with my mom and brother, and could not have been happier. We had a living room and dining room. People often opt to leave out these formal rooms today because they “don’t use them”, but I can say if you decide to utilize them, there is nothing like having dinner around a formal dining table with your family every night. Its space utilization, not size, that really matters.
YES! Space utilization, rather than the amount of square footage, is the key!
Keep in mind that there’s more to house “size” than just size. For example, when we were house-shopping, we quickly decided that we wanted (relatively) small bedrooms, but more family room/living room space. To us, a large bedroom would be a lot of wasted space, but we love having that extra space elsewhere; if we had the same square footage with larger bedrooms, the house would certainly feel too small!
“Architects and designers believe this trend toward smaller homes was caused by the economic meltdown – but they expect it to be a lasting change.”
Based on what?
I think alot of people hope that it will be a lasting change, but I’m not so sure. We’re not a sort of people that tends to, in the long run, reject consumption when we can afford it.
And don’t confuse your statistics, April. All these numbers are averages of NEW HOUSES BUILT during that time period, not what the average person is now living in. It only makes sense that in the largest recession in a generation, the average structure built in a given time period will drop 15%. Truth is, I would have expected it to drop a little more. In no way would any person who understands statistics and economic trends point to this as some sort of paradigm shift.
Another point I’d like to make is that these comments tend to assume that everyone who’s living in a huge house is struggling with too big a mortgage. Many are, of course, but many are not.
For the record, we have two kids and about 3,000 sf on a couple acres. We’re in one of the smallest houses in the neighborhood, but it’s perfect for us. In a couple years, we’d like to finish the basement.
My husband and I live in a 950sq ft condo and it is the Goldilock’s House for us. When we were looking for a condo 8 years ago, we were conscious of wanting to live in a smaller space than our 1500sq ft apartment, and smaller spaces are much more affordable in the city. We were also looking to buy a condo that we could easily afford on one income if we needed to, which has come in handy a couple of times already.
We’re just two people (and our greyhound), and we didn’t want to heat/cool more space than we needed, and we know that the bigger space you have the more “stuff” you get to fill it. Living in a smaller space means choosing your possessions carefully, and culling the closets regularly, and that’s fine for us. I do wish I could have a garden, but other than that, we’re very content in our space, and not having to do all the upkeep that having a home with a yard would require.
Trying to buy a home for future needs is very difficult when you’re single 🙂 I’ve been putting of the decision to buy until I meet someone, but as I’ve been saying that for the last couple of years I’m starting to lose patience.
Most of the homes in my area — including the new upscale condo developments — aren’t affordable on one income, so I guess that makes the decision for me.
I’m hoping to end up in a condo-sized place, probably anywhere from 600 to 900 square feet. I think we’ve got around 1,000 or 1,100 in our current rental, and it’s just way more space than we need! All I really want is a kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and living room. (Right now, we have what’s supposed to be a dining room and a second bedroom.) Definitely more than necessary! However, the rental agreement I can’t argue with, so as long as it isn’t permanent I’m not so picky.
While I’m not a huge fan of Texas, Texas Motorsport Ranch is looking like the kind of place my husband and I would love to end up in…. Yeah, the smallest house is almost 1,600 square feet, but I’ve never found another house that small with a four car garage either. 🙂 (Each of the three sizes they have comes with a garage that is nearly as big as the living space above it…. Perfect!)
One last note — There’s a tour of Jay’s tiny house on youtube, I’m surprised I didn’t see the link anywhere…. Definitely interesting to see, I really like it myself! So here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbRvsWuWNUM
My husband, daughter, her fiance and myself live in an approximately 900 sq ft 2 bedroom home that feels too small – but that we knew would feel just right when the kids move out after getting married next year.
We love it!
It’s interesting to see what people “need” – when I grew up, children did not have walk-in closets, double bed, or sitting area in their bedrooms. And my brothers grew up 3 in a bedroom (I was a late addition). When we look at houses in DC – overpriced – the easiest way to get into the affordable range in a good neighborhood is to seek smaller bedrooms; it gives you more yard, too.
Wow! 2349 square feet = 218 square meters. Huge. My house in Italy is 80 sm (861 sft) and it is just fine (on 2 floors, big living room, ok kitchen, cabinet, 2 bedrooms and roomy bathroom with tub+shower.) Two people, no children yet… but a cat. Enough storage room and enough privacy.
Here 100 sm (1076) is already the size of a quite spacious flat. 130 sm (1400) is a big house. Don’t you Americans hate having to *clean* that much? 🙂
@cmadler Exactly! Our 2 bedrooms aren’t huge but comfy. There’s room for 2 wardrobes and in one of the them there’s my bf’s workspace + a sofa-bed. It’s nice solution.
cmadler makes a good point. We downsized from a 2200 square foot single family home to a 1700 square foot rowhouse and actually gained more usable, livable space for our family of four. Our open plan living/dining/kitchen is just far more functional than separate rooms.
There is one hidden cost of small spaces, however – a few other comments mention that it can be tough to find furniture and that is absolutely true. No more hitting the resale shop or picking up garage sale/Ikea As-Is finds and making them work. Now that every square foot counts, we’ve realized that having custom-built shelving is a better choice.
Of course, some of that is because smaller homes remain relatively uncommon. Should the average home size drop, perhaps finding skinny shelves and streamlined sofas will be easier.
Presently… relatively cosy 1350 sq. ft. 4-bedroom/1 bathroom home. We’re two, with 1 full-time home office. But we live far from family and friends, so have frequent stay-over guests for days at a time.
Right-sizing? Smaller. I think that 3 bedrooms (Master, office and flex-space), 1.5 or 2 bathrooms and even less square footage, would be ideal and even gracious. Perhaps 1200 sq. ft. or something around there.
As someone else above mentioned, this seems to be just the right amount of space, as long as no space is deemed “for formal use only”. What a waste a formal living room and dining room would be to us; we use both to the max and enjoy them thoroughly!
We’ve a tight kitchen too (double galley, 13′ x 7′ with 4 doorways coming into it!) but I’ll let Mark Bittman speak for me: “A small kitchen is no excuse”.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/15/a-small-kitchen-is-no-excuse/
My husband and I lived with our cat in a 300 sq foot studio for three years. We now upgraded to a 800 sq foot two bedroom apartment and it is incredibly luxurious! Our bedroom is the smaller of the two, and the larger bedroom (adjacent to the living room) is a study. I would not want our space to get any bigger though, because I already spend too much time cleaning it! While we could certainly be happy in a much smaller space, it is very nice to have room to spread out.
I live with my husband and two children in a home that is 1100 sq. ft. Space is limited but it has pushed us to make some choices about how to use that space. Last year we got rid of the TV-It dominated the living room. We replaced it with a large art/ project table. The kids don’t miss the TV!
With the exception of a cold winters day we spend time outside; we have a small house but lots of land around us.
It’s tough to “calculate” the right size of house. Every house is a compromise and you never really know what you want until you have lived there for a while.
I’ll add that one negative for a house that is “too small” or even “too big” is resale value – that 89 sq foot house likely would sell for land value plus the value of firewood. 🙂
We have 4 people in about 1200/1300 sq feet. It’s not huge but we like the location (close to work) so it’s a worthy tradeoff.
We struggled with this quite a bit when we moved in July. We were coming from a 750 sq ft home – 2br/1bath and definitely wanted to go bigger with 1 kid here and another coming soon, plus 2 large dogs. We were shooting for around 15-1700 but well designed. It was hard to find anything like that in our area though since most supply was the “cookie-cutter” subdivision style homes of the 1970s-current.
We eventually settled on a really unique older looking home built 15 yrs ago that is around 2100 sq ft. The style really sold us. It’s definitely bigger than we wanted (or need right now) but erred on that side rather than going too small and moving again in 10-15 years.
3000 sq feet. 1 husband, 1 child, 2 cats, hopefully someday a second child.
What were we thinking?
1. We had been living in tiny apartments for 6 years (first apartment: 100 sq feet, second 300 sq feet, third was less than that with a shared kitchen). We went a little crazy, especially since our mortgage is considerably under the rent we paid for the first two places.
2. We thought we each needed our own office, based on our parents’ experiences. Turns out we miss each other when we’re in separate rooms (and our rooms are, of course, bigger).
3. We didn’t want to have to move after having children.
4. We would have had to look harder for a smaller home away from undergraduate housing that didn’t also have snakes and other wildlife in the backyard (though they definitely exist).
5. We LOVED the screened in patio and didn’t see smaller houses with that feature (though yes, we could have built one ourselves and saved money).
Yes, it is too big. No, we don’t really need the entire guest bedroom suite (though visiting relatives enjoy it, they don’t visit often enough to make it worthwhile). No, we don’t need 4 bedrooms and a study. We don’t need a separate dining room except on rare occasions when we entertain. We don’t need two living rooms (the family room and the Great room). Yes, the Great room went unfurnished for years because at first we couldn’t afford to furnish it (then we turned the dining room into a second playroom, then we moved the dining room furniture back and split up our living room furniture across the two rooms). We don’t need the huge lawn either, at least not the front and side lawns that the HOA keeps tabs on. Yes, it’s easier to buy stuff when you have a place to put it– back in the city we almost never had to ask, “Could we afford it?” because it was trumped by “Where would we put it?”
In our defense, most of the people we know got ~2000sq foot starter homes and upgraded to monstrous 4000+ sq foot homes farther away from the city once their salaries and job security increased. We definitely don’t want to have to move as our family grows, but we didn’t realize that a 2200 sq foot home is also palatial compared to a 300 sq foot apartment. It is a beautiful, lovely, well-built home in walking distance to a playground and pool and we love living there, and we can comfortably afford it (and its a/c bills) but it is definitely too big.
If we were allowed to have unrelated people staying with us without getting sued by the HOA (or wanted a full-time nanny), we might consider renting out or just letting someone stay in that unused guest suite. If only our dead-beat relatives lived in our state. 😉
100k House blog had a good post yesterday about people buying houses with extra rooms because their parents visit twice a year and couples with no children wanting space for kids that don’t even exist yet. I don’t know what it is about people that we need that contingency.
I did a little informal poll in my office a while back to find out if any of my colleagues’ kids share a room with siblings. None of them do! I wonder when that became the norm.
Personally, I share about a 1000 sq ft house with my husband and that feels too big at times. People say it’s small but I always try to remember that it was built for a working man with wife and kids 100 years ago. All the character filled older homes (not a description that would apply to my place though!) I’ve been in are quite small.
For us, we’re busy people and can go a month or more without either of us using the spare bedroom, the basement or the little office. We have a big city to play in! Even the thought of having to clean, heat and furnish a three bedroom house with a garage and a den and all the other bells and whistles stresses me out no end!
We have a 1920s bungalow that is 1,200 sq ft. With one toddler and a second child on the way, I know that at some point in the next few years, we will probably want to move. The main problem with our house is that it is two bedroom, one bathroom. If we could just add another half bath and about 200 more sq ft., I think we could stay for quite a while. But one bathroom is really the problem. I don’t ever see us moving into a house larger than 2,000 sq ft. Frankly I don’t want to heat, cool, and clean anything bigger than that.
I think the most inane trend in home building these days are the bathrooms and closets large enough to do cartwheels in. To me that is wasted space. I hardly fill the small closet I have in our house, and why do you need a huge bathroom? I would rather have that space in the living room. I also don’t like new housing, because the yards tend to be so small. We are in a metropolis, but our yard is still pretty large for the area. If you go further in the suburbs, it’s harder to find a large yard in our price range. For the developers, it’s all about maximizing profits, so they fit as many houses as they can in a certain space.
Guinness – my two kids share a room. And they will continue to do so for a few years!
My first house was about 750 sq feet – I lived there alone and it seemed quite luxurious (because it was). I actually felt a bit guilty sometimes.
I think it’s harder to live in a small house in my area, where it’s bitter winter 9 months out of the year. Whereas living in a small house in San Diego on the beach? No problem!
Me and my 2 kids live in a 2400 sq ft 4 BR 3 Bath split level ranch. It seems big to me–I’d be happy with 1/2 the size. However, small houses in my town are designed horribly–tiny cramped kitchens and only a 1 car garage (we only have 1 car, but we need a big garage to store not only the car but our bicycles, skiis, lawnmower, and 1 cord of firewood for the winter to heat the house.
Perhaps this is a chicken or the egg proposition but I think that people would have smaller houses if there were less stuff in them.
The size of houses themselves has increased dramatically but I wonder how much the amount of available space has increased or not.
Giant and numerous pieces of furniture fill peoples’ homes, so much so that there isn’t room for the people who live in it resulting in bigger homes… that they end up just filling with more stuff.
I love the idea of the Tumbleweed homes. Last Christmas, I bought my father-in-law Jay Shafer’s Tiny House Plan book for some ideas he was bouncing around in his head.
1700sq ft sounds like a modest, yet good sized home. I currently live in a 1,100 sq ft home and it seems large enough for the time being. My husband and I have talked about building our own home, but it is a bit daunting. I’d be curious to see the floor plan you picked out. (I love architecture!)
We’re currently in an 864 sqft condo and planning on upgrading in about 2 years. The condo is 2Br/1Ba plus a living/dining room and a galley kitchen. Two people and two cats makes it too small for me (and we are planning on having kids in a few more years). I don’t know what the exact number is but probably something in the 1800-2200 sqft range? I’m less concerned with the actual square footage as I am with my “requirements” list, which is 3Br/2Ba minimum, a walk-in closet in the master bedroom, some sort of porch/patio/deck, and a kitchen that two people can walk around in without hitting each other.
@guinness416, re “couples with no children wanting space for kids that don’t even exist yet” – that’s us. And a lot of other people. Because statistically, most couples will have kids. And I’m not exactly thrilled about the thought of moving while pregnant.
For the record, I shared a 9×14 room with my younger sister, who was 7 years younger than me, from 3rd grade on. That was miserable – there was absolutely no place in the entire house for me to go to be alone.
I live in a 2 bedroom, 2 (tiny) bathroom apartment that is about 800 sq ft and I love it. I only have my cat and a few plants but I love the extra room for guests to stay over. I grew up in a family of four with only one bathroom so I just wanted my own bathroom out of vanity!!!!
I think when I am ready to get a house I can live happily with about 1000 sq ft. I love the size of my current bedrooms even though they are not large…I just wish the bathrooms and living room were a little bigger.
My husband and I lived in a 1400 sq ft townhouse for 9 years. It suited us well, but if we’d have had a child it would have been cramped, very cramped. But what made this small home work was the storage spaces. We had a decent attic where we could store really long term items. We had a good number of well-organized closets. And we had a one car garage for outdoor tools, lawnmowers, etc. We insisted on being able to park a car in that garage, too, so we kept it tidy.
So if you are designing or buying a small home look for good storage opportunities. If you are building the home make sure you have closets that you can adjust (with shelving, etc) to maximize storage space. Make sure you utilize dormers, attics, and basements as possible storage outlets, too). If you maximize your storage space, are careful about new items brought into the house, and regularly (annually) clean out those items you don’t use then you’ll be much happier in your smaller space.
But the most important factor is to buy a home you can afford regardless of its size. If you can afford a 5000 sq ft house and you want one…go for it. My home now is larger than the 1400 sq ft I used to have – interestingly enough the utility bills are cheaper (more energy efficient materials) and the insurance and taxes are less (different state). So consider all the factors when buying/building a new home – keep the costs very manageable within your budget and you’ll be happy regardless of the size of your home.
I’d really go for a small house with amenities like wood floors, a fireplace, granite counters in kitchen and baths, a big lot in a nice neighborhood, and decent quality kitchen appliances.
Instead builders of small houses seem to always put them in sketchy neighborhoods, on small lots, and they skimp on finishes and appliances.
I guess if you want a nice small house you have to build it yourself! But then, good luck selling it at a decent price!
Ryan — I’m someone who understands statistics quite well and believe that you need to re-read April’s post. She clearly stated the change was a change in trend and related only to new houses (with no implication that people are living in them) No I didn’t see conclusive evidence that this is going to be a lasting trend in the post, but neither did I see April suggest a “paradigm shift”
Before we were married my husband and I lived in a 900 sq feet “shotgun” house (2 bedroom, 1 bath). We called it our spacepod, because no matter where we were in the house we could sense all the other areas of the house.
We bought a 1500 sq feet house (3 bedroom, 2 bath). When it is clean we still marvel walking through it at how spacious and nice it feels (2 adults, 2 children, cat and dog). Since it is an old house it does have a lack of closets/storage space so we do have to be conscious of how much stuff we have and find creative but attractive methods of stowing stuff.
I understand why people want more room. There may come a time where my mother or my sister may need to move in with us; I wish more houses (or at least mine) had a MIL suite for that circumstance.
We’ve lived in our 4 br 2500 sq ft home on 1 acre for 20 years while raising our 3 sons. Quite frankly, now that we’re empty nesters I’d like some time off from cleaning, maintainence, and lawn care to have some fun but there’s not much time left when all that is done. I’m all for downsizing, preferably in town closer to places we could walk to instead of getting in the car to do all errands but my husband works from home and needs the room in the basement for his machine shop equipment. Just this weekend I told my 25 year old son to not be in a big hurry to buy a home and committing to all the extra work and expense involved.
Interesting topic! We currently own a home with 1267 sq feet of space. This is my husband, myself, four children and a fifth on the way. We would love an extra 40 sq ft or so on our living room, but it’s not a possibility the way this house is situated on the lot. And really, we do just fine in our amount of space. Most importantly, we can afford it comfortably on a single income, since dh is enlisted military and I stay home and homeschool the kiddos.
It always amazes me to watch HGTV shows and see families with two children looking at 4,000 sq foot homes. To each his own, I guess, but I wouldn’t want that mortgage payment!
This is an interesting question. I realized just this week that our 2 bedroom apartment must be just right for us (two adults, one cat) because we use every room every day. We have just had to rearrange things for a long-term guest who is now in our second bedroom, which has required shifting my office space to our bedroom. While this will work for the short term, I definitely will miss that space. I didn’t realize how much I used it until it was no longer available to me!
I think many of the commenters here would love The Not So Big House by Sarah Susanka – it’s a great commentary on why we don’t need such big homes, we need homes that are designed for how we really use them. She’s spun it into a whole series but the first book really says it all. I think my “not so big” apartment is just right for us, and if I could buy it, I would!
We are a family of 4 living in a 1400 sq.ft house and it’s just fine for us, EXCEPT for that fact that it is too many tiny rooms… we’d rather just have fewer, larger rooms. We’re looking into working with a designer to help us figure out a cost-effective way to change that.
Someone else posted that furniture has gotten too big, and I agree. Couches and chairs in particular seem to have these monstrously large arms and backs, causing them to take up a lot more space without actually providing extra seating. I hope that if there is a trend to smaller homes, then furniture will go the same way!
@ Dasha (23), I’m glad to hear that you’re still married after living for years with your husband in 300 sq ft!
I have 700 square feet for myself in my condo and it feels just right. There’s 2 bedrooms, one of which is an office/guest room for my many visitors. If I had my druthers I’d have a 2nd bath for those visitors, but otherwise it’s perfect.
It seems to me that it’s more a question of cost than space. Even though my space is small but fine, and my location is spectacular (Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago), the cost is pretty high for me. I’ve grown into my mortgage over the last 6 years and thankfully I never had a financial emergency or I would have been in trouble. I guess that cost is implied in the space, but in most big cities there are lots of locations at different price levels, so space is misleading in my opinion.
I want a house. *sigh* I’m addicted to HGTV, so I have a feeling I’m going to be thoroughly disappointed when I can actually go house hunting for myself.
I live in a shoebox-size apt with my boyfriend and our cat. It works for us most of the time, but when we have family visit, it is a mess. We don’t even have space for a kitchen table. Whatever the square footage is, just go with tiny.
Although, my sister taught me a smaller house isn’t necessarily cheaper. For a US Dept. of Energy challenge, she built a $650K solar powered house. It’s about the size of a doublewide trailer.
@ Lesley (43) that’s so true. My sister and my best friend have huge homes with huge furniture. My sister’s bedroom set would barely fit in my condo if it was the only thing in there! (That’s not an exaggeration).
Also, attitudes have gotten out of control. My best friend believes that she would be almost abusing her child if the two of them lived in less than 2,000 sq ft. And she doesn’t understand why she can’t get ahead.
It might help to remember that a house is a permanent expense. If you buy more house then you can afford there’s no turning back. The only way out will be to sell it, and that can be painful if other negatives are driving your decision, typically a job loss.
So after many years in the mortgage industry, here’s my recommendation: figure out the most house you can comfortably afford on your current income, then reduce it by 30%.
The reason for 30% is that if you lost your job, you probably could find another that pays 30% less than your current salary pretty quickly.
The prevailing mindset of buying a little more house than you can afford has pushed too many homeowners into either being house poor or into foreclosure.
A little more conservatism at purchase time could save many a household budget.
I see that while you’re planning your “right-sized home,” you’ve included a loft that could be build out. That’s good planning.
You might consider taking an extra step, and plan for a possible addition. Depending upon the building lot, a good architect can design at least one side of the house in such a way that it wouldn’t be too disruptive to build it out (say, for an additional bedroom or two) later.
Alternatively, he can design the interior so that you can more easily build UP. A strategically-placed (and -sized) closet could thus be transformed into a staircase, for example, so you don’t sacrifice a first-floor bedroom. Support walls could be designed to support another floor, thus avoiding structural modifications (and big expense) later. And so on.
Keep in mind that this could enhance the value of your home when you sell it, too. It’s one of the things my wife and I looked at when we bought our modest-sized home.
Suzanne Says: “My best friend believes that she would be almost abusing her child if the two of them lived in less than 2,00 sq ft. And she doesn’t understand why she can’t get ahead.”
I Says: “Whoa! I’ve heard that argument before, from my American SIL. It’d be funny if it weren’t so tragic.”
@DeborahM and Suzanne–We’ve heard those same kinds of comments as we’ve shared our house plans with some friends and family members, which is what inspired me to write this post!
This post is hitting me on a bad day. We’re trying to make a decision regarding an opportunity to get the “perfect-sized” house and it’s just about killing me. Part of the problem is the uncertainty about selling our existing house. If we knew we could get X amount for our house, than it would make it easier to quantify the new house or not.
My house in Japan is small by western standards, but still a little too big for my wife and I. It is nice to have the extra space particularly when guests come, but we definitely regret buying it now.
We could probably get by with two bedrooms and a medium sized living room/kitchen. The bigger house forced us to buy a lot of extra furniture and it is more work to clean and maintain.
Our next place will be half the size. I am not sure on how Japanese sizes compare to the US, but I would guess that our house is somewhere around 800 square feet now.
I am renting so I don’t have to worry about this. I will never have to reside in a place that is too large just because I might need the space someday.
Suzanne (46)–“Also, attitudes have gotten out of control. My best friend believes that she would be almost abusing her child if the two of them lived in less than 2,000 sq ft. And she doesn’t understand why she can’t get ahead.”
That’s child abuse? I think our culture has OD’d on “The Brady Bunch”…
She might also be using her child as a justification to buy a house she really can’t afford.
Hey April,
Buying a big house because you desire tons of space is like buying a Hummer because you desire a big car.
Buying a big house because you think you’ll need the extra rooms later is like buying an SUV because you think you’ll need to go off-road sometime in the future – but you only drive to the stores.
Best,
Oleg
I grew up in a 1200sq ft, three bedroom house with Mom, Dad, two brothers and a sister. Sis was the only child that got her own room.
I currently live in a 1k sq ft house and could easily down size if I got rid of some of the clutter.
it’s interesting to me how different American and Canadian standards are, given that we are such close neighbours and subject to much of the same media and cultural influences. We built a 1670 square foot home 12 years ago when our 2 kids were young and it was a considerable size by Canadian standards. With one out of the nest and our second in high school, we are definitely considering downsizing.
I googled the stat to see if my personal observations were correct and found the average Canadian home(in 2005) was 1353 square feet.
@Kevin, my friend isn’t using her son as an excuse, she just really doesn’t get it. She’s a single mom with a very high salary – her son must have room to play inside & outside! I try to teach her, but it’s hard because she has so many emotions and so much guilt wrapped around the issue. It’s sad. She probably makes 4-5 times as much as I do, but I’m more financially stable. (Now that’s saying something since I’m still paying off debt!).
My wife and I live in this little one-bedroom house:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tylerkaraszewski/4081058356/
Last year our joint gross income was about $170k, but we still find this house plenty adequate, and it means our housing costs are proportionally *half* of the 30-35% of income that people generally recommend.
The house is fantastic in other ways, too. For instance, there beach is about 50 yards behind where that photo was taken, separating us by just one other house.
I think it’s important to keep in mind that the tiny houses mentioned don’t include the loft area, which is an additional floor with a bed (and usually nothing else). That does make a difference, obviously.
When I moved to Canada, I was surprised that everything was so big. The stores, the streets, the people… the houses.
I’m renting an appartment right now, it’s too big for me. We know what the ideal size for us is : 500 square feet. Bigger is too big for me, and I start to depress. Smaller isn’t practical for two humans and two cats (We’d prefer something smaller if it wasn’t for the cats).
When I go back to France to visit, I’ll share one of my best friends apartment studio : 10 square meters, about 11O square feet. Regular size for a student apartment in Paris. (And if that doesn’t scare you yet, let me add that it costs 500 euros monthly. Or 750 dollars if you prefer. That’s what I spend right now for 5 times the size).
We’ve done it before, 2 people in 110 square meters. It’s livable, if you’re clever with space, and you don’t spend all your time at home. Oh, and of course you need to share a bed, because there won’t be room for a second one.
I grew up in a city where there just aren’t houses. There are apartments, and when there needs more housing, you build higher because there just isn’t room left. So I’m used to it, and that might explain my preferences.
Although my environmental impact matters to me, I just feel more at home in a smaller place. Like it’s “hugging” me. Something too big feels empty, and empty isn’t like home. It’s not cosy.
And I’m not about to buy Stuff to fill the space.
My ideal bedroom has room for the bed, an end table on each side, and a closet for clothes (not a walk-in closet, just a regular one). Anything more is too big for me.
But different people have different needs. As long as you realise bigger isn’t always better like we’re being told so often, you can start looking for the perfect size for you. no matter if it’s a house or an appartment, if you’re buying or renting.
(About places being higher than they used to be… My husband is 6’6″ and one of the places we visited, he couldn’t even stand up in it. That was kinda funny)
We are still in the first house we bought, but we have done a lot of remodeling over time. For the first 10 years, we had an unofficial apartment in the downstairs, with its own kitchen and bathroom a smallish entry room where a dining room table could sit and a greatroom. When we paid off the mortgage and ran out of friends who needed short-term living arrangements, we converted the downstairs kitchen to a laundry room and redid the bathroom. And put in wall to wall bookshelves in the greatroom for all of our book collection.
Upstairs, we have three bedrooms for two people, but since the DH and I both feel we “need” a study of our own, it seems just right. It’s an old house, though, and when we bought a queen size bed for our bedroom we then realized we can’t have much else in the room… Ditto the living room, which doesn’t have a couch, just four comfortable chairs around the coffee table…
sometimes we do go out and look at open houses — I really dislike the trends toward enormous bathrooms, with soaking tubs or jacuzzies that I bet aren’t used more than a few times a year (?) and especially the double sink idea. I love the DH, but I don’t want to brush my teeth with him!
My question to Jay is this: Is there indoor plumbing & a functioning bath & kitchen area in the tiny home?
My current home is the largest I’ve lived in as an independent adult & is a bit over 1100 square feet. One person, two dogs, occassional visitors, & three art mediums that don’t play well together fit into it just fine. Then my parents moved from a stuffed-to-the-brim, over-sized 6-bedroom home into a compact 2-bedroom retirement apartment. I bought some of their furniture, tools & equipment for my home & the next thing I knew it became the drop-zone for a lot of “stuff” no one else wanted that didn’t sell in any of the garage sales. Yes, I still have trouble saying “no” to my Mom. Four years later, I’m slowly & quietly rearranging & disposing of the excess that crowds my home.
Our apartment is about 1400 square feet and it’s too big! I’m glad we have a spare bedroom, but it’s about twice as big as it needs to be. So is the bathroom. And the living/dining room is a square, which leaves a big corner of empty space – our neighbors have used his space as an office, but my husband said he doesn’t want an office in the living room. However, we don’t have kids yet, so I think the extra space in the guest bedroom will come in handy then. I would love to live in a tumbleweed home!! I keep telling hubby I would like to live in a studio apartment once in my life.
If I’m not making use of every room, I feel that I am wasting money (and that means that I am missing out on life opportunities that would follow from making better use of my money). There’s a lot of stuff that people trying to sell us houses do to make it appear that the cost of owning unused space is not that great. I try to tune that stuff out.
If I am using all the space I own, I don’t object to paying the price for it. If I am not using it, there’s something wrong. That’s a simple but I think a good general rule.
Rob
My husband and I live in an 1800sq foot home which I like, but it is really too big for us. It would be perfect if we could just chop off the third bedroom. Unfortunately, it’s really hard to find a 2 bedroom house in our area. There are smaller homes, but almost all are 3 bedrooms, which means the room size just gets smaller and that’s not what we need. But, we’ve been rethinking a lot lately and maybe after 10 years here, it’s time to rethink where we live too.
We have a 1920s Spanish Eclectic bungalow which is about 915 sq feet (for me, husband, 1 dog, 3 cats). 2 BR, 1 Bath. All the rooms are small but the layout is intelligent and flows well.
We love our house; it has details that you just don’t see in many houses any longer (unless they are custom built to exacting details), such as lovely coved ceilings.
However, it’d be nice if it were a bit bigger. The one bathroom is very small, and it’d be very handy to have a half bath/toilet. I would love a room to use as a studio (I knit & spin & would love to start weaving but there’s no place for a loom), and I know my husband would like a pool table (figure that room could be a library/pool table room) (he earned $ for college expenses playing pool).
Our bedroom doesn’t really have room for our dressers (they’re in the 2nd bedroom, which doesn’t have a bed) (that room is actually where are cats stay during the day, they’re indoors only but the dog has a dog door which we close at night — at least one cat would use the dog door if he had access).
A room for guests would be good, but I could combine that with my studio (have a murphy bed perhaps).
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephcat/sets/72157594387433377/
I would love to have one of those houses—in my backyard!
@Tyler (#59)
I love your little house. What’s that wooden structure in the right of that photo?
I’ve written before that I feel like Kris and I have bitten off more than we can chew. We can afford our mortgage just fine, but we have 3/5ths of an acre and 1800 square feet. That’s more than two people (and four cats) need. It’s too much. We have rooms that get little or no use. We can’t keep up with the yard — especially when one of us is writing a book.
When I think about it, even the 965-square-foot apartment we lived in when we were first married was more than enough. We had an extra room! This leads me to believe that maybe 800 square feet would be perfect. (Of course, now we have tons of extra Stuff that we’ve bought to fill the big empty spaces in this house…)
Our house is about 1250 sqft. I could go smaller except my husband is a pack rat. We are also not very organized, so our stuff could potentially take up less space than it does.
Mostly the house is a good size though. We have a guest room which gets a fair amount of use, and a good-size living area for parties. We each have our own office space and the kitchen is big and open, with an eating area (the dining area is taken up by a piano, which we both play). There is a second 1/2 bath which is a treat; I never want to live in a one-bathroom house again! 😀
The yard is what’s really too much. We got it for our dogs, and they of course love it, but I find it overwhelming. In the summer the grass is out of control, and don’t even talk to me about dandelions. I don’t have the time or desire to maintain it. I think we’d be happier with maybe 1/2 or 1/3 the yard we have, and the dogs would not mind much.
we live in 1800 sq feet, mom dad and 4 kiddos. Our basement is a walkout but unfinished and is a planned space to finish for teens. Also have 1/2 acre. It’s just right for our family size.
Tyler (59)–I looked at the house on Flickr. You and your wife earn $170k? You have my utmost respect for being successful and rejecting the need to let anyone know about it.
A good friend of mine, earning six figures, owned a 1990s vintage Saturn for many years, with nearly 300,000 miles on it. It looked like an updated version of a Columbo car, if anyone can remember that TV show. He could easily afford to drive something better, but he wasn’t motivated in that direction. This was something I found completely admirable about him.
When you can live beneath your means like that, you’ll never be owned by anyone. Not creditors or even employers. THAT is the definition of success and it means more then the biggest, in-your-face house or car you can buy.
Success shouldn’t need to be proven to others.
This was a great post, with some very helpful tips and guidelines. I wish it had been around when my wife and I bought our house.
We bought a house that’s way bigger than we need. We bought a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath home (with rough-in for a fourth bath in the basement), and 2600 sq. ft., for just the two of us. We’ve never planned to have kids, and we still don’t. It feels so luxurious to have all this space for just the two of us. It’s very convenient when friends or family come to visit and need a place to sleep over. There are 3 spare bedrooms (all with queen-size beds) to choose from.
We didn’t skimp on the finishes, either. The entire main floor (including the kitchen) is solid American Cherry hardwood (not laminate). The kitchen has granite countertops and birch cabinets, with stainless steel appliances. The main floor and basement (yes, basement!) have 9-foot ceilings. Our ensuite bath has dual sinks, and a two-person roman tub with Jacuzzi jets. We’re on a corner lot (3-times as much lawn as our neighbors), we have a 2-car garage, a study, a huge dining room, natural gas fireplace, 20-foot ceilings in the foyer and family rooms, … I could go on. It’s comfortable, luxurious, convenient, and just a really nice place to spend our free time. You’re going to spend a lot of time in your home. If you’re not positive about how much space you think you need, I would recommend erring on the side of “too much” rather than “not enough.” Moving sucks.
The only downside I’ve found after living here for 9 years is the cleaning. It can be annoying to clean 3 bathrooms and 4 bedrooms. However, given that it’s just the two of us, the spare rooms don’t really need much cleaning very often.
It’s the one area in our life where we splurged, and we don’t regret it. We have no other debt besides the mortgage, we drive a 5-year old Mazda 3, we don’t eat out very often, we’ve never been to Europe, neither of us has a cell phone, we strictly stick to our budget and save over $3,000/month for various goals (travel, retirement, vehicle replacement, etc.). All this on a pre-tax household income of around $140,000.
That said, when we eventually retire and move back to the coast to be nearer our families, we will not likely get as big a house. We’ll almost certainly get something smaller, and put the extra equity towards a cottage, or a condo somewhere down south for the winters.
Happy in my cozy 770 sq foot home! Bought it in remodeled condition, sits on a double lot, near large cities and suburbs, and on an income that has increased by 35% since! This allows for lots of savings of course! Every day I am reminded how lucky I am, and how I could never rent on what i pay on my mortgage. I showed the house to a realtor recently just to get a feel of his opinion, which was very positive.
We live in 980 sq ft. My husband was worried that it wouldn’t be big enough when we first got married. We made a deal that, we would get rid of enough stuff to fit comfortably in this space and if it still wasn’t big enough we’d move. Amazingly after paring down our stuff, we decided to stay. Every once in a while I wish we had a guest room for visitors, but really difference in mortgage payments isn’t worth a room we’d only use four or five times a year.
The biggest issue we faced was finding furniture that was the right size. So much furniture today is designed for much larger rooms than we have.
Wow Tyler #59, what a balling house! 🙂
You must be saving a lot of money every month then, which is great!
I think having 700sqft per person is a good amount i.e. 2800 sqft for a family of 4. 500/sqft is at the lower end of my comfort range.
We’ve been all over the map, both geographically and in home size. Our homes have ranged from 900 sq ft to 2950 sq ft. We found that 2400 sq ft was comfortable for our family of 6 with too many toys. We also found that 1800 sq ft with 4 bedrooms was quite comfortable before the last child was born. We’re currently moving back down from 2500 to 1750. That should be quite comfortable for us with the two remaining kids, not overly huge for us when the kids are all gone (just close the doors on a couple of bedrooms), and comfortable when it comes time to take in an elderly relative or two.
Our ideal home (which we have never found and can’t afford to build) would be a 4/2 around 1800 sq ft with lots of storage, a large living/family room, one eating area and a smallish room for the piano and some seating, isolated from the living/family room. Bedrooms from 10×11 to 14×16 (master) work well, more is unnecessary. Oh, and give us lots of closets or other storage. We would be comfortable with less finished square footage if we could have a basement, but that’s not really an option in most of coastal Florida.
My husband and I just bought a house, and it’s much larger than we currently need. (It’s a 2800 sq ft house, and there’s just the two of us living there.) However, we got a great price on the house (within the recommended debt limit, based on the lower of our two salaries) and a really great mortgage rate, and we’re planning on living in the house for twenty or thirty years. (We’re in our mid twenties.) We plan to have kids, and we each have two parents, one or more of whom might conceivably end up living with us eventually. We also love to entertain. So, although the house is laughably large (and has very little furniture) now, I think that it’s the right size for us in the long run.
J.D.:
That’s an old wooden play structure that’s a bit dilapidated that I’ve been intending on tearing down, but haven’t yet gotten around to doing.
Kevin:
Well, I did post my salary publicly on the internet — I don’t mind if people know how much I earn. But, my goals in life aren’t focused around showing that off. I’m successful if I’m healthy and happy, if I get to work with smart people on interesting projects, if I get to set my own schedule and feel appreciated. If my wife is able to stay home if she wants to. If I can go out for a bike ride in the afternoon on nice days. A big house? It’s not on *my* list of criteria for success, and wouldn’t sacrifice any of those other things for it.
Well my husband, myself, 6 dogs, and a cat live in a 738 sq. ft. house in Florida. We have a 2 bedrooms, large front porch, large one car garage, small back porch of the garage and little less than one acre. We are about to update with a new front porch, french door off the kitchen so we can connect the house to the back porch. We plan on having one child in this house in the next 2-3 years. If we have 2 children we thought about moving to a three bedroom, but many just rearange the space we have…
Lat year we almost bought a 3500 sq. ft house -4 bedroom, dinning room, office, den, 3 car garage, jr. olympic pool, and an extra 800 sq. ft. “out building” with AC. We really stopped and assessed our goals. I loved the bigger house, it was my “dream home.” The mortgage was 3 times our now and it would take 4x as long to clean, plus all the extra of having a large home.
Nope! We will stay in out “small home.”
Thanks for the post. This was on our minds for the last couple of months, weighing what to buy for a house.
We’re buying a townhouse this month for my husband and I and it’s 1680 sqft. We plan on staying here for a while and we think this will be enough room for living and the home office.
We bought our 1200 square foot house 20 years ago. It was built in the 20s and it was love at first sight.
It’s amazing to see the closets though, about the size of a broom closet! I have a rule, nothing comes in the house without something going out, it keeps clutter to a minimum.
The house next door just sold (the couple had a child and expect another) and they really needed more room. But the good news is the value has held up, they sold their 1100 square foot house for 5 times what we paid.
I will never sell this house, if we ever move I’ll keep it as a rental but our plan is to find a cottage at the beach, also small, to spend weekends. I’d take a shack for the right price!
On the other hand my husband grew up in an enormous house (4 kids, 6 bedrooms, 2 acres) in a wealthy area. EVERYTHING about that house costs a fortune (at least they can afford it). For example, I can go to the nursery and get a flat or two of flowers for my garden and you’ll actually notice them. Those are the small kinds of things people need to consider when buying a large house.
The median home size in the USA is about 1758 sq ft as of 2005.
See 948 – Housing Units-Size of Units and Lot: 2005 :
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/construction_housing/housing_units_and_characteristics.html
The number they give above is the MEAN figure for NEW homes. New homes are larger than old homes. And the average mean is going to be skewed high by the mansions. But most Americans don’t live in new homes and the median size is a more accurate reflection of a typical American.
We(husband, wife and 2 kids)moved from a 1100 sq.ft. 2 bed/2 bath rental apartment this year and purchased a 2400+ sq.ft. 4 bed/3 bath,2 floor (thankfully with 2 zone heating/cooling)cape home on a 1/4 acre with a huge masonry patio out back facing a lake. The extra space feels like a luxury to us. Kids have their own rooms(one is a whopping 15’x 15′),us parents have a large master(23’x14′)suite with a vaulted ceiling and spa-like bath, 4th(small) bedroom on first floor will serve as a home office/guest room with full bath next door, first floor is an open floor plan living space (divided into a living/tv room and a dining area with another sitting area facing lake)with a large 10’x20′ kitchen and a laundry/utility room. But with all that space, we STILL could really use one extra multi-use space since we do not have a basement(trade off for lake view…we do have a large storage closet under the stairs and a large unfinished attic the size of 2/3 of the upstairs for additional storage). So we plan on adding an all year round sunroom so that our kids can use it as a playroom or that we can escape to when their friends visit. Problem is we have to save for college first so we dont know when we will ever get to actually do it!
We are two adults and 2 DKs ages 8 and 5. We live in a 4-season part of the country, where summer temps get into the 80s F and winter temps can get to -10F.
In our current flat in a duplex we own, we’re upstairs — which means we share the downstairs tenant’s heat! We have about 1200ft^2 with 2br/1ba + an office/walk-in closet with a window and a LR/DR. Our tenant’s rent covers 90% of the mortgage. So, our fixed monthly housing costs are now about $700.
To compare, we still own but rented out the nearby 1800 ft^2 house we regret* purchasing in 2005. Even with a $750/mo mortgage, it was costing us $1500/mo most months (including utilities, insurance, mortgage, and property taxes). We’re happy to have a tenant covering those expenses until we hopefully pass it on next year. We’ll get at most 90% of what we paid for it, but we could have made a costlier mistake.*
The 1200 ft^2 really doesn’t seem too small most of the time. It does when the kids are antsy and we’re all home together, which is really only parts of the weekend and most evenings. We also feel pinched when we accumulate too much junk that isn’t organized, which isn’t a problem I’m willing to pay extra for!
We made the switch two years ago because we were pretty sure our sole breadwinner was going to be laid off. Still waiting for that, but we’re ready.
We’ll definitely end up in a bigger home someday (at least a 3br/1.5ba duplex), but we figure we have another 2-3 years before we need to make that move.
*I use the words “regret” and “mistake”, because our guts told us to rent for a few years after selling house #1 and moving across the country, and we listened to a financial adviser instead. Doh. Right-sized and priced house, but wrong time and not quite the right house. At least, we didn’t splurge on a lake house we “could afford”.
My house is about 1500 sq. feet. We have a finished basement with a tenant in it, and the rest of the house is for my family (3 people and a cat). Aside from the basement suite, it has three bedrooms, 1.5 bathrooms, a home office, dining room, living room and kitchen.
For a house built in 1880 it is pretty well designed for our purposes, although changes have been made to utilize the space to it’s fullest.
There is an add-on in the back to house the home office, and the walls were torn down downstairs to create one huge room for the living/dining area with a half-wall into the kitchen. We saved space by stacking our washer/dryer and building a laundry cupboard in the kitchen.
The bedrooms upstairs are pretty small – the smallest one is our storage room since our basement is being utilized by our tenant.
Although our house is large by downtown Toronto standards, it is quite small compared to the homes in the suburbs. It is a compromise I am very willing to make since I can walk to work in 12 minutes flat.
My husband and I rent a little cottage by the sea on Cape Cod. We have a bit less than 400 square feet (including the loft), but it’s the absolute perfect size for the two of us (and our dog and cat too). If we buy our own home in a few years, we’d like something roughly this size.
Even though our cottage is only 400 square feet, we both work from home successfully and we couldn’t imagine living in a bigger place. For us, having a smaller place means there’s less room to fill with stuff. As a result, all of the “stuff” we do have was chosen deliberately. And it’s a great motivator for being (and staying) organized too!
Of course an added bonus to our little cottage is that the ocean is only 500 feet away! 🙂
We live in a 4 bedroom, 2400 sqft two-story farm house that was built in 1966 (the same year I was born!) — me, husband, & 2 kids. I wouldn’t mind going smaller, but I’d have to have less stuff, & I think I’m probably the only one in the family who would even consider a smaller house. Our bedrooms are small, but our house is about the right size for the 4 of us. I really do love my house and (especially) my property.
We sit on a full wooded acre & have a little barn for our two pygmy goats, as well as the coolest multi-level treehouse ever (built by my incredibly talented & handy husband). One side of our property is a road, and the other is a horse field. Jake the horse makes a great neighbor & never plays his music too loud. We have dogs, cats, and rabbits as well as the goats, and two kids who are very involved in the local 4H program. I always think of our place as a wonderland for kids. I’ve never loved a house as much as I love this one.
We also have too much stuff. I’m in the process of doing a major pre-holiday declutter — 30 things per day for 30 days (I’m on day 3). By the end of it, things should look a lot better around the old farmhouse.
I have a question I wonder if folks could give me advice on: DH and I bought a 3/1 1100sf house a year ago. We had four roommates at the time, but now it is just the two of us and it feels MUCH too big. We are thinking about downsizing to a house half the size, and half the price. The problem is, we want kids. This house will be perfect in 5-8 years when we have three little ones, and it is walking distance to the elementary, jr high, and high schools.
Should we downsize for now, and upsize again as needed? Or, should we stay put and just wait it out?
Des, can you get some more roommates? The money you’ll save by moving into something smaller may very well be eaten up by the cost of moving twice.
I think houses got so big because people kept buying more than they could afford. “Oh you’ll give me $300,000? Sure, I’ll buy a 3,000 square foot house”. Now that (hopefully) people are thinking a little more, maybe house sizes will come down even more than they have recently.
I think a good rule of thumb is to buy a house as big as you can AFFORD. Not many people can say “I want the best of everything” and be able to afford it, so pick and choose what features are most important. I’m in my early 20s and not exactly in the buying stage yet, but I know that I want a large kitchen since I like to cook, and my current kitchen in my 1-bedroom apartment doesn’t cut it. And yes, if you have a lot of empty rooms, it is tempting to fill them with furniture you may not be able to afford.
I think it really just comes down to planning. Not just planning for the house costs itself, but figuring out what you’ll need to buy for the layout you’re planning on buying/building, and whether it’ll meet your future needs (kids, etc.). Plan on working from home? Then the extra bedroom might be necessary. Want a big backyard for the dog? Well you might have to pay to landscape it, etc.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with buying the biggest house you can afford, but most of the time people don’t consider what it actually costs to run a household, let alone one that IS bigger than they can afford. Being housepoor sucks!
Though we still rent, I think our current house is the perfect size for us. I don’t know the exact square feet, but its about 1600. We both work from home and have home based hobbies so a smaller home would not work for us. I think if we both worked outside of the house 40+ hours a week, less space would probably be ideal. Since we are home almost all the time, we’d probably kill each other! Larger would be overkill. We are not planning on having children.
I think we have enough self control not to fill the house with things we don’t need even if we have open space. I like not feeling like things are crowding me.
This article is something I will keep in mind when we start to look to buy in the near future.
We live in a 1060 square foot home. It is small but we can afford it. When we bought it we only had 1 child and now #2 has come along so yes it’s a little tight but love grows best in small houses. I also feel a house or anyplace you dwell can seem small if you have too much stuff. The smaller your house the less stuff you can keep. I have pared down the excess and freed up space for the important stuff and am trying to instill this into my son who thinks you must keep everything anyone has ever given you.
We just moved twice in the last few months, so I’ve had an opportunity to try out three differently sized places for our 2-adult, 2-kid family.
House 1: (lived for 5 years): 1400 sq. ft. bungalow. At first was too small, but when we finished the basement, I think it was perfect!
We had a windfall (wahoo!) and decided to move to a better neighborhood for the schools, and while we were at it, upgrade our house.
House 2: 2 bed, 2 bath apartment during the remodeling of House 3. At first, I thought this would be way too small. But there were advantages. So much less to clean. So much less stuff (we had a ton in storage and honestly, didn’t miss is!). I thought having two kids in the same room would be a nightmare, but the putting to bed process was so much shorter. We weren’t herding them upstairs to their bedrooms and chasing them around. Being in the same room was nice and they got used to it.
House 3: Maybe 2,000 sq. ft.? Definitely the biggest house we’ve had. It’s wonderful, we love the neighborhood, but there’s definitely more to clean, I do miss the kids sharing a room sometimes for the ease, and I’m always running around looking for stuff.
Is it upstairs, downstairs?
Conclusion — same as yours — best to be “right sized.” More space for the sake of more space isn’t better. Pare down all your “stuff.” I was surprised how the apartment didn’t drive us crazy! The layout was important though…probably more than anything.
We had to move due to my DH’s job and that meant renting about a 900 sq ft condo with 1 car garage after living in a 1600 sq ft house with a 2 1/2 car garage on 1/2 acre lot. He misses the house. I do except for now we have a better school for our daughter and it’s almost like we don’t pay utilities compared to the house. Our house needed new windows and new a/c unit so both summer and winter bills were extremely high. I don’t think we spend as much here in one year as we did there in 3 extreme weather months. The thing I miss the most though is the space to do my sewing/quilting and no room for exercise equip. Luckily when family visits they don’t care about air mattresses on the floor.
Neat post! I have no clue how large the place is that I rent – but I might get out the measuring tape when I get home.
Well, we decided against the “perfect size” house. We just aren’t where we want to be financially to take on the added costs. Also we would not be able time-wise, weather-wise, and money-wise to be able to properly prepare our current house to sell it when the better house will be coming on the market.
Right now, we are living in a 1290 sq ft ranch house from the 40s. When it’s just the three of us, the house is comfortable, but the living room and kitchen are so small that it quickly feels too small when anyone comes to visit. And whoever mentioned the problems with buying furniture for smaller houses–you are right on! We had a bear of a time finding a couch that wouldn’t take over our living room or a nice looking table for our kitchen. Almost everything we found was styled large to fill out the McMansion Great Rooms, and wouldn’t fit properly in our house. Makes me wish I was a furniture designer. I’d start a line of smaller scaled pieces for people in apartments and smaller homes.
I’m in a between stage. My daughters are in HS and a local college, not quite gone, but not quite home either and there is no real telling how much longer I will need to keep space for them. I’m currently in 1700 sq ft, but see that as way too much house for me with grown children who (presumably) will eventually live elsewhere.
Next question: how much space will I need, and how soon, when they start having children of their own? Yikes!
This is such a great article, and it is clearly hitting a nerve with a lot of people. It comes at a good time for my husband and me, since we’re starting to look for a new house (or for land where we can build).
We don’t necessarily want more square footage, but we need more than our house can offer: an open floor plan, more indoor and outdoor storage, a home office, and attached garage plus workshop.
We have three small children and live in a ~2100 square foot house (two stories, 4 br, 2 ba). It’s 100+ years old and at least 500 sq. ft. is unusable. There is almost no storage and the rooms are small. The basement is not finishable, which is a problem.
We have a huge yard, which we love, but there’s a one-car detached garage that doesn’t even fit our minivan, let alone my husband’s business stuff.
Both my husband and I work from home, so we need at least one home office that’s very separate from our living space and kids. My husband also needs significant storage/work space outside the house to accommodate his business. We love to cook and entertain, but our kitchen and dining areas can’t accommodate that, so we need a floor plan that works for two cooks.
We love this area, but we’ve outgrown our house. I can only hope we find (or build) our Goldilocks house soon!
#71 Kevin – everyone knows that Columbo didn’t drive a Saturn, he drove a volvo : )
My husband, daughter, and I live in a 1,053-square foot ranch home with a partially finished basement. It is just right for us. There are three bedrooms on the main floor and one in the basement, so we have room for more children. Whoever allocated the space in our basement did a great job, as it also has a family room/library area and a large play area as well as a big room for laundry and storage.
Our main floor living area is very open, although I do wish our living room was a little larger. Someone else mentioned their home is less than 1,000 square feet and it’s hard to find furniture that doesn’t look too big … that’s our problem in our living room, too.
We have several elderly neighbors who raised three or four children each in their homes back in the day, so we know it can be done.
Weird design. He lost about 6 square feet of space with that inward-swinging door. Which is about 6% of his house!
Our apartment is about 700 square feet, including storage space. There’s two of us, a cat and a baby on the way. We’re probably going to stay here when the child is very young, for as long as two more years, though we plan to at least look at slightly bigger apartments in our price range this spring.
We don’t have any clutter and don’t have lots of useless stuff, so it’s pretty manageable. My hubby does have a big fish tank though and lots of tools (which he does use). Add to that 3 bikes and it’s a bit cramped. But the bikes actually get used, so they’re not just “there.”
We’ll probably put the baby in our room for the first eight months or so and then set up a portable crib in the living room. I figure that will work until 2 or so. Then, we’ll need that second bedroom.
@Tyler K – just goes to show WHERE you live is almost as important as the home’s size. By your own admission, you’re spending around $25k on that house.
In comparison, here in MO pay under $20k for 3br/2.5ba/2100 sq ft on about 1/2 acre. Of course, I don’t have a beach 50 yds away 🙂
@JD – why don’t you sell your place and move somewhere smaller? You could buy some land and have a tiny house to live in and one to write in.
We bought our current house six years ago because we loved the neighbourhood and the property (on a ravine with mature trees, basically backing onto a park). The house itself was almost 100 years old with tons of charm and 10′ ceilings, but it was also “quirky” (eg it had no front door, the back yard was covered with asphalt). Since we have no plans to move, we bit the bullet and did a major renovation, adding a 3-story addition on the back (our property slopes, so the basement is a walk-out at the back). While we did end up with more space (3000 sf counting the basement and attic), the main benefit was the creation of a more normal layout on the main floor, with a front door and a great kitchen/living room/dining room space, as well as a master suite (bedroom, WIC, ensuite) on the second floor. It’s also much more energy efficient; our heating costs are about the same despite a 40% increase in square footage, as we put in new windows and improved the insulation in the “old” part of the house.
We certainly don’t need that much space (there are only two of us) but we like to entertain, and have hosted many parties and church events. We’ve also had friends stay with us while they renovated their house (twice!), hosted family for my parent’s 50th wedding anniversary, and had four missionary couples stay with us for a retreat. In short, we have been blessed with the resources to transform the house into a wonderful space that we can share and enjoy.
JS
I grew up in a ~1000sqft bungalow until I was 10 when my parents bought a 2400sqft house further in the suburbs. It was more than enough for my parents, sister, brother and me to live in through high school and university. Now that my sister and I have moved out, it’s just my brother and them living there.
It’s funny because I’m (+ my parrot) living in a 680 sqft 1bed+den condo that my parents call too small while they’re living in a 2400sqft house with 3 people that I’m telling them is too big. They have two bedrooms that have been sitting empty for the last year.
I’m looking towards an open concept hard loft as my next space though, something around 700-800 sqft and high ceilings (currently I have 10′ ceilings and they make the space look a lot bigger.) I think would be perfect. I just need a bit more storage space than what I have right now and a guest bathroom would be nice.
As for finding the right sized furniture for smaller houses, you really need to look into condo sized furniture. I remember when I moved from my parents house to my condo, they wanted me to take some of my old furniture, but it ended up taking up all the space in my condo! Here in Toronto, there are a lot of stores in the core that cater to apartment/condo dwellers. I find Ikea has some decent sized furniture, although sometimes it’s of questionable quality. It took me over a month of searching to find a couch that would fit in my space + 2 months for it to be made, but in the end it was worth waiting for something that fits properly.
I appreciate the idea that the right-size for everyone may be different. The 4 of us live in a house that has about 3,000 square feet that is finished, and another 1,000 square feet in the basement that is unfinished. It feels just the right size for us. 🙂 Every single room in this house is used daily, except possibly the sunroom when it’s too cold. Of course, the payment for our 15-year mortgage (our only debt) is less than 15% of our gross income, so we aren’t financially stressed by it. We are homebodies, so our home is very important to us. We also live in an area that is quite cold in the winter, so we stay indoors much of the time in winter. Could we live in a smaller place? I’m quite sure we could, but we don’t need to. I realize part of the argument for smaller homes is the environmental impact. We keep our thermostat at a moderate level, we recycle, reuse water, drive fuel-efficient vehicles, I telecommute, my husband rides his bike to work most days and so on. I don’t think our footprint is that bad. Maybe I have my head in the sand.
For the last few years I’ve been living in roommate situations where I’ve had ~100 square feet to myself. When I lived in a cheaper area, I rented apartments around 650-750 square feet; that seems just about perfect to me except that it would be nice to have a guest bedroom/study. And a huge kitchen. My dream is to have a huge modern kitchen, never mind about the other rooms!
My husband and I live in a 1400 sqft townhome with a one car garage. We love it. We’ve had to add in some storage and continue to work on maximizing our space, but we love not having a yard to work on. We started out in 500 sqft. This is an improvement.
The last time we moved, we tried to downsize. And we did, but we are still in a big house. For four people and a dog, we have five bedrooms and four bathrooms. However, with seven relatives staying at my house for a week this Christmas, I’m grateful for every square inch.
Some reasons we wanted a large house:
Lots of friends and family visit from out-of-town.
My husband sometimes works from home.
We have hobbies with a lot of gear.
We like to stay home, and we all like our quiet time and personal space.
We live in a climate that is cold or rainy for much of the year.
Yes, it’s a lot of house to clean, but that’s good exercise!
I live alone in a one-bedroom apartment that is probably 650-700 square feet. It’s a bit more room than I need, bordering on just perfect: the living room is HUGE, almost half the living space. I like to keep it roomy-feeling so I don’t have a ton of seating, but had 8 people for brunch with no problem last month. I’ve also had as many as 6 people spend the night there, but it was quite cozy.
My kitchen is small but functional; my bedroom is bigger than it needs to be, since all my clothes live in the really big closet in my entry. (my camping/travel gear is in my bedroom closet, pleasingly out of the way)
I think about buying sometimes, but I think I’d want just a little different floor plan – if this were my forever-home I’d want two small bedrooms instead of one big one.
I have long loved those Tumbleweed homes, and one of my mental back-up plans in life is to get one and put it on property my friends have on Bainbridge Island. (No, they don’t know this!)
I live alone in an 1800 square foot townhouse (3 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms). It’s hard to figure out the “right size” of house when you don’t know your future. I have no idea if I will get married and have kids. I would like to, but probably won’t. I probably bought more house than I need out of wishful thinking. I figured that if I do get married, the house would be plenty big enough for a couple and at least 1 kid, but for now, I have one bedroom and one bathroom that are almost completely unused (I use my other spare bedroom as an office).
We live in a 1000-1200 house. We rent. Its a bit cozy at times, with my husband and 3 kids. 1300-1500 is about right for us.. so long as the bedrooms are bigger than 10×10.
I’ve really enjoyed reading everyone’s comments today. Thanks for another great post, April!
I became fascinated with this topic a couple years ago after learning about a woman who lives in an 84 square foot home (very similar to Jay’s). The lifestyle seems so peaceful!
http://www.webtvhub.com/worlds-smallest-house-woman-lives-in-84-square-feet-cottage-video/
We are a family of 6 that live in a 1900 sq. foot home.
We moved into this house from a 2000 sq foot townhome.
We moved into a smaller home because the use of the space
is better in our current house, and we have a lot that is a great place for our kids to play.
I’m a big believer in less is more when it comes to housing. I don’t want to heat a cathedral ceilinged room, or clean a 4th bathroom.
The only want I have for a house is an old rambling farmhouse, but I’d have to have multiple generations living in it, and tons of cash for repairs and maintenance.
My husband and I moved into a two-story 2600 square foot house last year. More than we currently need, but we want to start a family, so we took that into consideration. Also, we do quite a bit of entertaining and frequently host get-togethers/parties for my husband’s large family, so a house with large open main floor with a big kitchen was important to us.
A nice house is important to me, so I have no regrets spending money where I think it matters. We’re actually pretty frugual in other ways (We shop at discount grocery stores, rent our DVDS for free from the library, cook instead of going out to eat, ect.) so I don’t feel guilty in the least. We have an awesome rate and are paying down our mortgage as well. And our house appraised at $15,000 more than our purchase price (It was a foreclosure).
I too think it’s interesting what people think is small. I grew up in a 1500 sq foot house…with my six brothers and sisters (and parents).
My husband and I have lived in a 400 sq ft apartment for the last 5 years.
My daughter’s family of three live in about 750 sq feet. The storage and layout is perfect. I would love to move in to someplace like it. Two bedrooms, 1 1/2 bath, galley kitchen (I could upgrade and get taht baby humming) opening to the family/dining room. That is all I need. Our house is Huge for the two of us- we only actually live in about 1000 of the 3200 sq feet.
I live in a sprawling mansion with a grand total of 1365 square feet, and that is just right for myself, my wife, and my son.
Its all in what you do with the space you have
We lived in 2 2-bedroom apts with ~800 sq ft for the first few years of our marriage, then bought a 2bd/1ba 100 year old house about that same size on a 40’x120′ lot where we lived for 4 years. At that point we had 2 boys under age 4. We moved into a 1,800 sq ft 3bed/2ba suburban ranch — 800 of those feet are in the finished basement. About half our basement is extraneous at this point. Our boys share a bedroom and I use the 3rd bedroom as a home office. We plan to have more children and I will move my office downstairs when a baby is 18 months or so and moves out of our bedroom. If we’d stayed in the city (where finished basements are less common), I would have looked for a 3bd/2ba plus small office, probably around 1,300 sq ft. Having some running around room for the boys is great, but stuff just accumulates there. It was really annoying when our living/dining room at our old house had to hold our TV, sewing, and computer spaces.
I’ve looked at house plans if we’re someday able to build our own place and liked one with 1,700 sq ft plus a 1,000 sq ft basement. That’s way too big for a small family, but could work even if we had 4 or 5 kids. I don’t like homes with big foyers or living rooms that sit empty while everyone’s in the family room or guest bedrooms that get used rarely. A pull out couch works for me. I like dining rooms that connect to the living room without a wall so the family can eat there every night (I don’t need an eat-in kitchen), but there’s room to have 20 people for Thanksgiving dinner without people being in separate rooms. I would love a kitchen with more storage and counter space, but I don’t want an extra sink or oven, etc.
I’m an example of “more house than we need.” My husband, daughter, and I live in a 2350 sq. foot house. It has four bedrooms – and guess what, my young daughter still sleeps in our bedroom. So, we literally have 3 ununused bedrooms each night. We also have unused space in a formal living/dining room that goes unused most of the time. When we bought the home we did so thinking of expanding our family, but right now our finances are at a point (because of the house!) where we actually can’t do that. When we bought, we both expected raises consistent with what we had earned in the past, but both of our companies froze salary increases.
We got a great deal on our house, actually paying what we would have for 1-2 fewer bedrooms in our area which helped us justify the purchase. And, I will say that it is because of the house that we’ve gotten so good at budgeting and monitoring our expenses.
But now that we’ve learned how to budget and be frugal, we can see that the house was probably not the best decision. It has taught us a lot of tough lessons, but it has us in a situatio where there is no wiggle room.
On a positive note, our neighborhood is awesome and our 3 year old daughter has play mates available to her at any point . . . so there is a silver lining to this story!
The best house in the world is….the one with no payment! I like my automobiles in the same fashion! Chase your dreams..
How cute. I live in a 1500 sq ft house with three kids and I never plan on moving. As a single mom, I wanted to optimize the space and what I could easily afford. We don’t need big houses to clean and more importantly higher electric and gas prices too. Great inspiration!
@Kathryn – You’re the only one who will know how much space is right, but I’ve been daydreaming about what I would want when my kids are grown. My sister moved away and comes back over the summer to visit for several weeks. She and her three kids stay with our parents. They have a very nice, quite large house, but the layout doesn’t give everyone clear, separate spaces so the visits tend to get on everyone’s nerves.
I’m thinking that our old house of 960 sf with a finished basement of almost that would serve well. Plenty of room on the main floor for day-to-day living, with enough space in a nicely finished basement to accommodate guests – they get what feels like their own “private” suite.
How does GRS do it? This is the best set of reader responses I’ve EVER seen on any blog!!!
My son & I would love to build one of the small, Tumbleweed-style houses in the gigantic backyard of his 1,200-square-foot manse (built in 1951, when houses were small and families were large), so that instead of having to rent the bedroom directly next to his and share the kitchen, he could move a renter into his or her own domicile. With a little house on a big lot, it ought to be possible to construct another little house to function as guest (read “rental”) quarters, an office, or an artist’s studio. Not clear, though, whether these nifty minihouses meet city code.
My wife, daughter, 2 dogs, and cat live in a 2,742 sq foot house. We both work from home so we are kind of hermits in that we spend so much time at home.
I have also always found it more productive when I have a separate space for work with my dedicated home office rather than trying to work from a bedroom because then I tend to be more stressed out by being around work stuff all the time.
We will probably upgrade at some point because I always joke with my wife that since I am the oldest of 7 kids and my Dad is from a family with 11 kids that we need to have 12 kids in order to beat my Grandpa … she thinks I am joking but she is not really sure… 🙂
I live in a 915 sq ft house, it’s just me and my husband but we have a TON of room. We’ve considered downsizing actually. We keep our possessions and mindless consumption to a minimum. The bedrooms are on the small side but there’s three of them! One for sleeping, one for my sewing/office, and one for my husbands musical instruments/recording gear. If any kids come into the picture, we’ll simply combine the sewing and music rooms into one. My only wish is an extra half bath.
I live alone (with 2 cats) in a two bedroom, 1 bath house of about 1100 sq ft built in the early 50’s. It was actually listed as 3 bedroom when I bought it, but it’s pretty obvious that the ‘third’ bedroom was a dining room with a closet added at some point years ago. The picture window gives it away, as does the pocket door directly into the kitchen. No problem, I use it as a den. It would be nice to have a guest bath, but I can’t say I really need it. And frankly, I don’t use the front bedroom. Maybe because that’s where the treadmill is. Anyway, I love this house and God willing, I will live here for the rest of my life. I certainly hope to.
The wife and I live in a 900 square foot condominium in downtown Bangkok. Location is great- walking distance to many restaurants and the skytrain & subway- Bangkok is notorious for massive traffic jams so access to public transportation is key. We each have a car and can park in ground floor / underground indoor parking. There is a nice pool and simple gym room that we can use.
The size is 2 bedrooms / 2 bathrooms. 2 bathrooms are a must have as I can’t deal with waiting to use the bathroom if we both need to go at the same time… also no problems if we both need to get ready to leave at the same time in the morning. Life is good with 2 bathrooms. Another must have is a basic kitchen (many places in Bangkok have no kitchen since there is street food available 24/7) and washer & dryer – we have a small stackable unit.
We had to get rid of a lot of furniture to make the space feel good, and it’s great to stay in a smaller space. Annual condo fees are lower (based on sq ft, ours is about $1200 per year), and utilities are cheaper with a smaller space (electricity is about $60 per month because Thailand is hot and I like to sleep in a cool room). There are no annual property taxes in Thailand- only paid when you buy & sell.
We have a small balcony that overlooks the pool and the other building- really no view. All our windows have a view of the other building- this is the biggest drawback.
I bought the place for $170K USD back in 2005, liquidating my entire savings except 401k and bought it outright. Since then I’ve been able to save up about $1 million since I’ve been in high paying jobs and our fixed expenses are nearly zero. It’s a good feeling.
For our next house I’d like to get a place in Palos Verdes Estates (Southern CA) overlooking Downtown LA and the Pacific ocean- would like a small infinity pool overlooking the sea and a nice breezy house. Doesn’t have to be so big. I am waiting for the housing market to properly correct (may take a few more years thanks to our crazy gov’t) then will buy a nice place in cash. My budget is up to $2M which I should have in the next few years if we can keep saving like this- if interest rates are much higher it’s all the better for me because I’ll plan to pay in cash.
-Mike
We are a family of eight living in a 3 BR/2 BA ranch home of 1975 sq ft, and no basement. We fit just fine, except that my husband and I sleep in a windowless “room” measuring 6.5 ft x 8.5 ft. It would be nice to have a bit more bedroom space for ourselves.
Our bedroom opens directly into the main living area so we have no privacy except when everyone else is asleep. Our hanging clothes are in here too (we don’t have many), and our 4-drawer dresser is in the living room. We also have shelves covering two walls of our bedroom, so we can store more folded clothes there, plus my sewing supplies and our toiletries. The bathroom is a hike across the house, and it has no storage, so we store our toothbrushes etc in our bedroom.
The three real bedrooms are divided up thus: middle daughter has her own, son has his own, and married daughter, her husband, and their two little guys share the real master bedroom/bath.
Except the kitchen, the public rooms of the house aren’t used as designed, but it works better for us this way. The real living room is our dining room (we can fit a bigger table in there); the real dining room is our computer lab with six computers on various tables and desks, plus most toys are stored here too. The real family room or den holds all the furniture originally in the living room too, so we have two sofas, three club chairs, TV, file cabinet, and assorted tables in there. Plus a fireplace and assorted baby equipment. The kitchen table is used for hobbies like sewing and crafts, not for eating.
We have lived in this house for 17 years, raised our children here, and yes, the girls shared a standard-size bedroom until the oldest got married. They LEARNED to get along, which is a skill that everyone should have.
We consider the current arrangement temporary: the economy will recover, and in a few years we will be empty-nesters. Then we will probably rattle around in all the extra space. But we hope to see our children’s families often so we will want to have the extra bedrooms.
Bottom line: we live in a flexible house that is just the right size for us now, was the right size in the past, and we expect will be the right size in the future.
The wife & I (we are in our early / mid 30’s) got a 900 sq foot place in downtown Bangkok- very close to the subway & skytrain station. It’s big enough for us but we needed to get rid of big furniture to properly utilize the space.
The big preferences for us were:
-Having 2 bathrooms- the convenience factor is huge
-Having a working kitchen, many places do not in BKK
-Have a washer & dryer
-Having a comfortable bed
We’ve got all those things- the only thing lacking is a view since we look out at the pool and the other building. So we got some nice curtains to deal with this.
The great thing about a small place is not only are expenses low but because it’s relatively small the mother-in-law cannot move in. For sure she’d be moved in if we were in larger space!
Bought it in 2005 for $170K USD, paid in full liquidating my savings (except 401k) at the time. Since then we’ve been able to save up $1M in cash by having a high paying job and very low expenses.
Next home would be to buy a hopefully small place in Palos Verdes Estates with views overlooking downtown LA and the Pacific Ocean. A small infinity pool facing the ocean would be nice as well. Having a nice breezy house by the sea in So Cal would be very nice indeed. I plan to wait a few more years as it will take that time for housing to correct thanks to the crazy policies of our gov’t (the best gov’t lobbying money can buy)- hopefully interest rates will be higher as that will drive down housing prices. I don’t care- will pay in cash and the budget should be up to $2M by that time depending on the value offered for money.
-Mike
I wonder how much what feels “small” or “large” depends on the size of house one grew up in? I feel like this is an issue that hinges a lot on perspective. I personally grew up in a home about 2200 sqft for a family of four and it felt just right if not a little big. Now my husband and I live in a 1300 sqft condo and it feels just a touch small.
Sorry about the double post- I took the time to write post #1, didn’t see it in the comments (sigh) and then re-wrote it. That’s why the wording is different.
In hindsight the best reason to have a smaller place is so the in-laws can’t move in. I love ’em to death but am very thankful not to live with them day in and day out- a few visits a week are just fine.
-Mike
@Budgie (#115):
“And our house appraised at $15,000 more than our purchase price (It was a foreclosure).”
Sorry, this is a pet peeve of mine.
That “appraisal” is meaningless, because it was made at the time you bought the house. At that moment in time, the house was worth exactly what you paid for it – not $15,000 more. If it were really worth $15,000 more, then someone else would’ve stepped in and bought it for $15,000 more than you paid for it. The reality was that of all the other people who were looking to buy a home at the same time as you and looked at the house you bought, none of them were willing to pay that extra $15,000. And if nobody is willing to pay a price for something, then that means the item is not worth that price.
Now, if your appraiser was willing to buy the house for $15,000 more than you paid, then that might be a different story. But the reality was that the market looked at your home, and nobody was willing to pay more than you did. Thus, the “value” of your home at that moment was AT MOST what you paid for it – not a penny more, and certainly not $15,000 more. Everyone else had plenty of chances to outbid you, and nobody did. So your purchase price was the correct, accurate value of the home.
Sorry, not a nitpick on you personally, it just bugs me when people say their home is worth way more than what they paid, because it “appraised” for a certain number. It’s meaningless until you actually try to sell it. If nobody is willing to pay a certain price, then that’s not the actual value.
I think I’m learning that less is more. Just my husband and live in a 1300 sq ft townhome, with only two bedrooms, 1 1/2 bath, and no basement, den or garage. I always thought of it as a small “starter home” and had visions of a large 4-bedroom single for our real, grown-up home.
The thing is, this is a very manageable home, both in terms of maintenance and financially. We don’t need expensive furniture and decor to fill it; our bills are reasonable and comfortable (we live in the northeast and haven’t even turned on our heat yet!). We enjoy time outside and our cozy home, without with need for always wanting more or “bigger.” I’d like to stay here as we begin our family. We just don’t want to overextend ourselves regarding care time or money. We enjoy a small home.
We made a bit of a mistake when we moved from our appx 1800 sq ft. home to the 1660 sf we now live in.
For one thing, we didn’t think about rooms vs. area. Our old home had more rooms, thus more wall space. There was no place for some furniture because of that.
More importantly, we totally forgot about all the stuff we had stored in the basement. That was another 600 sf or so, and it had a lot of wall space for shelves, etc. – the attached garage here has wall space, but it dooesn’t match our old basement – so again, more “stuff” had to go.
Well, we did intend to “downsize” and are happy we moved, but a two car garage and another 15 or 20 feet on the house would have been better.
My husband and I (and our dog) live in an 1189 s.f. bungalow that was built in 1922. It has 2 bedrooms that are 11.5′ square, a small den/home office that is 7.5′ x 8.5′, and a 6′ x 8′ bathroom. We removed the wall between the dining and living room, and that really opened up the space giving us a room that is approximately 30′ x 14′. Our kitchen is eat-in style, and pretty room for us at 14′ x 16′. The other renovations that we would like to do is convert the den into a second small en-suite bathroom with a closet, and add a room that would be a combo laundry/mud/exercise room. We think 80 to 100 s.f. should be quite sufficient. We don’t want a larger house, because we are fully using the space we have, and don’t want to clean up more area than we have to.
I grew up in a house that was 1100 s.f. Three adults (my grandmother lived with us) and two kids–my sister and I shared a room until my grandmother passed away. The house we’d lived in previously was a 1 bedroom, shared by my sister, my grandmother and I, and my parents slept on a couch in the living room so 1100 s.f. with 3 bedrooms and 1.5 bathrooms was certainly a step up.
My husband and I have purchased five houses since we’ve been married. The first one was 1300 s.f. for four of us, but we added on a master bath and enlarged the master, then had to move before we got to enjoy it. The second house was 1800 s.f. for three to five of us at any time. When it was three of us, it seemed too big. The next house, for five of us, was 2300 s.f., which was great when the kids were teenagers and were in the finished basement. The next two houses were for two of us and were 1550 s.f. and now 1468 s.f., which is just a good size, but I do wish it was laid out a bit differently.
Jay doesn’t live there anymore, IIRC. He built a 500 sq ft house next door when his wife got pregnant.
Layout and use of space is much more important to me than square footage.
Soon after our baby was born we moved from a 1 BR apartment to a 2 BR house. We did not gain much in square footage — about the area of the extra bedroom. However, the space in the house is laid out much more efficiently than in the apartment, which had an oddly-shaped living room and a bedroom that was way too large. We have far more useful storage space. That extra bedroom can also accommodate long term visits from baby’s grandparents, who are not up to sleeping on our couch.
I can imagine having another baby or two and wanting another bedroom, but that’s the maximum extra space we’d ever need.
If I were getting a house built I would read through the series of books on the Not So Big House and find an architect or builder that understood those concepts. I read the books (checked out from the library) because I’m fascinated by architecture and I don’t like most of the new homes being built in my area. I currently live in approx. 2000 sq. ft. (perhaps less since I’m not sure on the actual living space in our basement). Our dining room is a very tight squeeze and the kitchen has wasted space that could be used more wisely but we have enough actual square footage. We have 6 children ranging in age from 10 months to 17 yrs. and we homeschool. We have 4 bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms. One of the things I love about the Not So Big House concept is that the space is well planned for the way the occupants really live. It would be very simple for a family of 4 to live in less then 1000 sq ft. and feel that they have plenty of space if the architect used Not So Big design concepts.
Jen,
Since you have more house then you need you should think about renting some of that space to someone else. Perhaps a single mother with one child, a college student or something. Of course you’d have to do plenty of screening, etc. but it could become a win-win situation for you and a struggling mother or young adult.
Our family of 11 (soon to be 12) lives in just under 1200 square feet with 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom.
It’s cozy, but it works for us right now if we avoid the impulse to hoard. Our bedrooms are very modest and our living area is open and airy, and we often entertain groups of 30-40.
We have found some unusual solutions to make things work – quadruple bunks and a system for bathroom triage are at the top of the list. 🙂
I don’t know the square footage, but I’m pretty sure it was A LOT Of Square Feet. I had an old Edwardian – over 100 years old, now – and it had acres and acres of space, which I LOVED. It was an island against the neighborhood; it was near public transportation; and my husband and I were performers and re-enactors, occupations and pastimes which take up A LOT of space. I LOVED having a library, which corralled – well, a fair proportion of the books; of course there was overflow. Liked having an office, would have liked it more if it had been organized SO IT COULD BE USED; liked the enormous dining room, enormous kitchen, pantry which held the washer/dryer; loved having a room which stored MY costumes (a necessity), a room which stored HIS costumes (ditto), and a sewing room – MANDATORY for the acting/re-enacting/sewing which contributed to the family income. Yes, it was a lot of square footage for two people and a Whole Bunch Of Cats – but it suited me. Heh. Makes me think of Sam Pepys and his wife – their place held them and the up-to-seven-servants who took care of them.
My aprox 1000 square foot Craftsman bunglow felt squeezed with two adults and a teenager (2 BR, 1 bath)and 2 dogs. It’s perfect for me plus 1 dog. My son married last year, but he is still storing some things at my place (he and DIL are in the military – both of them enlisted).
I would like to finish the basement of this place for hobby space so I could set up my loom again. If I didn’t have so many books and space consuming hobbies it would be easier. Also, my late husband was a total pack rat – I’m STILL going through boxes – slowly.
Tony Lawrence @ 135:
For one thing, we didn’t think about rooms vs. area.
So much WORD to this! I’m in a house now, but it’s less well-laid-out than the apartment I had to leave! One of the “bedrooms” is microscopic, unless you’re of a really ascetic turn; and there’s less storage. I miss my enormous, sunny kitchen with 5′ windows. I miss my bathroom, where I had the litterbox AND a nice little 3-shelf bookcase – AND a 5′ window. *sigh*
That said, it might be worth perusing Dover Books’ catalog under “Architecture” – I believe they offer floorplans for 19th Century cottages that might well meet the tastes of people looking for Smaller, yet with some History and/or Charm.
Thanks April – I’m hopefully moving to Canada next year and I was trying to figure out what size home we might want when we get there.
So your advice has come at just the right time. Now I just need to find out where I put the tape measure.
Growing up, I lived in a 1008 sqft rancher with my parents, brother and sister. I shared a small room with my brother, and somehow we all managed with one shower. It didn’t even have a basement. But we had a very active childhood and we played outside all day.
I’m 22 now, and just bought a 1200 sqft house and share it with my girlfriend. I love the size, and I could easily see myself raising two kids in a house of it’s size.
One thing I learned though, is to not have children share rooms by the time they reach about 12 years old. My brother and I shared a room all the way until I was 18, and we ended up getting into some pretty severe fights due to the lack of personal space, until I moved into the shed.
Jay was featured on Yahoo’s homepage today http://vitality.yahoo.com/video-second-act-jay-shafer-20910192
Just found this article as we look to move out of our 1300 sq/ft home into something bigger. We are 3 adults and 5 children. It was getting tight in that amount of space (a 3 bedroom home, which we converted the lower laundry/family room into a master bedroom)…
I think 89 sq.ft. might really be enough. When I look at the Tumbleweed floor plans, it sure looks like it will be enough.
Only thing I wonder about is if I can get used to it or not when I currently have 1000+ sq.ft.
My 3 teens and I left a 2400sq ft SFH to go to a 1600 sq ft townhouse. Bad move for us. We are severely cramped, bikes in the living room, no space in the kitchen, horrible parking. We thought my oldest was leaving home for college, but plans changed so she will be at home for at least another 3 years, then the youngest will not graduate until 2015, and we need the garage space for their cars, and my grandmother may have to come live with me in the very near future. Thinking about a 3000 sq ft 5/3/1 in the same neighborhood. Utility estimates around 285 per month, about 60 more then what I pay now, mortgage (including taxes, insurance, and HOA) will be less than my rent in the townhouse. The teens will soon have jobs and can pay for some of their own expenses. In my case, I have to go bigger, at least for another 8-10 years.
So I guess the fact I’m looking at a 3800sq/ft house for four is ridiculous. I like me space a lot and I like to have rooms with individual purpose. IE: music room, workout room, office, bedrooms, entertainment room and the list goes on..
My family and I used to live in a two bedroom, 550 sqft apartment… There were four of us, ages 11, 13, 14, and 40… Besides the two bedrooms, there was one bathroom,a living room, and a kitchen. The house had a weird layout in which the front door opened into the kitchen (no room for a table) in what looks like a bedroom.On the other side of the room was a door to a room. That room was the living room. On one wall were three doors, leading to the bedrooms and bathroom. We had no yard except for a community park down the block.Oh, and we also had three cats. It was a bit crowded, but what really sucked was the mold on the walls and the leaks in the pipes… I’m glad we moved, to say the least
We bought a 1200 sq ft cape, and could not happier. There is one bedroom downstairs and two small bedrooms in the upstairs, which is half a floor. Our home saves us so much money in heating, not to mention time saved cleaning.
We have enough space for two adults to have home offices and STILL have 3 bedrooms. It’s all in how you use the space.
The rooms in our house in general are small bc of the era in which it was built – small rooms were the style – so we opened up much of the downstairs so that it is one open space. This means we could easily use one gorgeous cast iron wood burning stove to heat the whole floor.. pays for itself in less than half a winter!
I really dislike large houses, and don’t know what has happened to this country, that everyone wants to supersize everything. Where has it gotten us except in debt and burning away oil, gas, and time?
My parents bought a very large five bedroom, five bath house, which was far more than we needed, even with 3 kids, and they spent their lives in financial trouble because of it. It felt huge and unfriendly and was impossible for them to maintain was they got older.
Yet their house pales in comparison to the ugly monster houses people build today.
I cannot understand why people need a “show” house to tell the world how much money they are wasting. Huge houses waste resources and take up too much space, and they are not much fun to live in.
I tell everyone I know: do NOT make the mistake of buying oversized homes.
Show the world you are smart, and spent your money making your small house the best small house ever, with all the trimmings. Spend the rest of the money you save on a little cabin somewhere all for yourself, or vacations every year.
Don’t let people dictate what type of home you should or should not buy.
The only “rule” to follow is to buy the home you love BUT that you can also comfortably afford.
I personally could not imagine living in anything less than 3,000 sqft. My home now is about 5,000 and I absolutely love it.
But if someone want to live a 1,000 sfqt home, thats their choice and I would never criticize them.
We have lived in a 2,317 square foot home for 17 years. We moved into this home when I was 53 and my husband was 56 and we were empty nesters. It is a single-story home, four bedrooms and two baths. It is a very open floor plan which works well for us because we have a lot of people over from our church — and fairly large groups, up to 20 on the average. My husband and I both have our own office which we love since we still works part-time in our business. Our guest room is really our grandson’s room primarily which is perfect because he stays with us pretty often. We love our home and use all the space almost all the time, so we feel we found just what we were looking for 17 years ago and plan on staying here, good Lord willing, until He takes us to our real home!
Hello, Caroline…I just read your message as we are thinking to move/ build a new house. Your house sounds ideal to us (we also need two offices as we both work from home, a large dining/sitting and a spare room. Can you please share a sketch of your home layout. Thank you.
I had a 1200 SF house and it was perfect. I had (have) musical instruments, art and lots of books. Also frequent house guests (friends in town, etc.); I had to leave, and now I’m in a 900 SF condo and going crazy, weaving around stacks of boxes. “First world” prob, many would be grateful!! But what I have are the treasures of a lifetime and I’d like to have access in the time I have left.
We are empty nesters and living in a 750 square foot condo, coming from a 2500 square foot 1/2 acre home.
I’d say the rule of thumb is 350-400 square feet for each person in a household. Small yard is O.K. because the kids hardly played in it, once they reached 10 years old.
Also, two FULL bathrooms (a must) for more than 2 in a home.
Our two-story, 4 BR/2.5 B, house for just me and my wife is 2450 SF, plus a partially finished basement, on a third of an acre. We specifically sought houses that had at least 2750 SF finished and at least a 1/4 acre. It’s the perfect size in all respects. We like having the space to spread out, even if not every room gets used every day, particularly in the Midwest where you’re stuck indoors at least four months a year and the walls seem much closer when you start bouncing off them in February. And I enjoy a decent-sized yard and find maintaining it relaxing and enjoyable (and sometimes an outright workout). But if the house or yard were any bigger we’d be approaching the waste/unmanageable line. I also like the fact that, with 700 sq unfinished in the basement hidden behind a wall, plus two crawlspaces under the roof and plenty of closets, we’d have to try really hard to run out of storage space.
abl you need to move to Detroit!
Useless article to me. The Title is “How Much House Do You Need.” but offers nothing but common sense advice.
I expected some sort of calculator at the least.
I have to be honest a lot of these articles make me chuckle because I can’t understand why some people have trouble grasping that others simply need the space they have, if they can afford it. I save about 80% of my income let me say that first, and have almost no mortgage (less than 20% of the home’s value). We are a childfree couple in a 3,600 square foot house and use every bit of it every day, basically. We each have a bedroom, that way I can store my clothes in one and she uses the whole master closet. She also wakes up early sometimes when I don’t have to, so no sense sleeping together then. Another 2 bedrooms are our home offices, we each run our own businesses and I’ve worked from home for 15 years. The final “bedroom” is a game room with multiple TVs and consoles, for watching sports or hanging out late at night watching movies after she sleeps or gaming. Also gaming with friends. It’s my private oasis. The loft is a home gym and I work out religiously. The backyard is pool, spa, fire pit, outdoor TV, BBQ, and fridge and I swim March – November most years, I use the backyard like my summer living room and it’s summer weather most of the year. So a typical day might look like me waking up in my bedroom let’s say for this illustration, getting some food from the kitchen, working in my home office, wife working in hers, we come together to watch TV in the living room, I work out in the gym after that, she’s back working, we hang out in the living room some more, then I end the night in the game room watching a movie. Literally every single part of the 3,600 square foot house is being used and that’s a normal day. Her office doubles as a guest bedroom, even. The game room isn’t big enough to fit the arcade or pinball machines, which is awkward. So ideally for even just 2 of us and no kids ever, we could really use a slightly larger house.