What is the ideal amount of square footage for a family of 4?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is confusing. NO consistency as to what a sqf is. Some homes list only above the grade some include basement.
To me the most important part is the number of bedrooms and the above the grade sqf. I don't care much about the basement. A house needs one bedroom for parents, one per kid plus one guest room. That is important.
Size is secondary. But.. the size has to be adequate to make rooms livable so kids can be comfy and not need to spend all waking time in the living areas because room is just a bed and zero room beyond that.

A large finished basement is a blessing. I have two guest bedrooms, fridge, full bathroom and a large den, plus big storage room.

[Anonymous]

1500sf would be nice. We have about 1100 and it would be nice to have a guest room and another bathroom.

Don't ask my wife, though. She wants space for a gift wrapping station or some such HGTV nonsense.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Folks who think as you get older you need less space are young and foolish. I was also that way. My house I just bought in my mid 50's as a trade up home is 6,100 square feet, the house across the street sold a few weeks ago to a couple early 50s that is 7,000 square feet. Your fifties and sixties you need the most square footage.

My kids are not 12, 17 and 18. All at once I am hitting the car phase. Right now three cars, one more to come, Hitting dating phase while still in playdate phase. Hitting phase where friends from college come visit and in-laws too old to drive home late stay over. If anything I should have got around 7,000 square feet with a three car garage instead of two.

I have the three kids in a 1,400 square foot house with a one car driveway up till two years ago. Coming up in next 15 years I will host college graduations, engagement showers, weddings, baby showers, meeting new inlaws and son-in-laws for first time. Folks judge. I need room. When kids are little none of that happens. Then you hit mid 70s or so and it starts to slow down as that phase is behind

+1

You can make 1400 square feet work, but why would you want to? Live a little

this attitude is bizarre to me. You can't "live" unless you have a house that's bigger than 3x the US average?

You can't understand why people want more than the bare minimum

People always want more than they have. Doesn’t mean that it’s healthy for the individual or the environment.

Yup. See the Atlantic Article
Are McMansions Making People Any Happier?
Homes have gotten bigger, but Americans aren’t any more pleased with the extra space.
https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2019/06/big-houses-american-happy/591433/

I'm quite pleased. Sorry you have low standards

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Folks who think as you get older you need less space are young and foolish. I was also that way. My house I just bought in my mid 50's as a trade up home is 6,100 square feet, the house across the street sold a few weeks ago to a couple early 50s that is 7,000 square feet. Your fifties and sixties you need the most square footage.

My kids are not 12, 17 and 18. All at once I am hitting the car phase. Right now three cars, one more to come, Hitting dating phase while still in playdate phase. Hitting phase where friends from college come visit and in-laws too old to drive home late stay over. If anything I should have got around 7,000 square feet with a three car garage instead of two.

I have the three kids in a 1,400 square foot house with a one car driveway up till two years ago. Coming up in next 15 years I will host college graduations, engagement showers, weddings, baby showers, meeting new inlaws and son-in-laws for first time. Folks judge. I need room. When kids are little none of that happens. Then you hit mid 70s or so and it starts to slow down as that phase is behind

+1

You can make 1400 square feet work, but why would you want to? Live a little

this attitude is bizarre to me. You can't "live" unless you have a house that's bigger than 3x the US average?

You can't understand why people want more than the bare minimum

People always want more than they have. Doesn’t mean that it’s healthy for the individual or the environment.

The wanters of more drive humanity forward. Those who insist on staying where they are gradually grow irrelevant and get forgotten about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Don't ask my wife, though. She wants space for a gift wrapping station or some such HGTV nonsense.

what, no craft room in your house? How do you all survive?

We also have no man cave. Bad HGTV watchers ;P

I'm waiting for my own she-shed, though

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I would say 1500-2000.

We are a family of 5 in a 1450 she fr home and it is ample space. We have four bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a rec room downstairs, kitchen and living room. The only thing we don't have is a formal dining room but we can seat 8 at the table and I more than that, we do buffet style.

We have a yard, laundry room, tool room, and storage room.

I can see adding another 500 again ft or so but more than that just feels like excess space.

+1.

+2

How in the world do you have all those “rooms” in such a small house! Some of them must be closet sized. I certainly don’t think a rabbit Warren is anything to brag about.

Define a closet. We have 900 square feet - three bedrooms, one bathroom, living room/dining room and kitchen. Its fine. I'd prefer 4 bedrooms but we make it work.

You have a family of 4 living in a 900sqft house with ONE bathroom and you call that ideal? Your kids must be in diapers, right?

Nope, elementary age... its fine.

But ideal?

[Anonymous]

Family of 4 here in 2300 square feet and I feel like it's more than enough. 4 bedrooms, 2 full, 2 half baths. Large walkout basement with a family room and play area and large unfinished storage area.

That said, I think layout is important. We are about to move into a temporary rental which is roughly the same square footage, but feels much smaller.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Folks who think as you get older you need less space are young and foolish. I was also that way. My house I just bought in my mid 50's as a trade up home is 6,100 square feet, the house across the street sold a few weeks ago to a couple early 50s that is 7,000 square feet. Your fifties and sixties you need the most square footage.

My kids are not 12, 17 and 18. All at once I am hitting the car phase. Right now three cars, one more to come, Hitting dating phase while still in playdate phase. Hitting phase where friends from college come visit and in-laws too old to drive home late stay over. If anything I should have got around 7,000 square feet with a three car garage instead of two.

I have the three kids in a 1,400 square foot house with a one car driveway up till two years ago. Coming up in next 15 years I will host college graduations, engagement showers, weddings, baby showers, meeting new inlaws and son-in-laws for first time. Folks judge. I need room. When kids are little none of that happens. Then you hit mid 70s or so and it starts to slow down as that phase is behind

+1

You can make 1400 square feet work, but why would you want to? Live a little

this attitude is bizarre to me. You can't "live" unless you have a house that's bigger than 3x the US average?

You can't understand why people want more than the bare minimum

People always want more than they have. Doesn’t mean that it’s healthy for the individual or the environment.

The wanters of more drive humanity forward. Those who insist on staying where they are gradually grow irrelevant and get forgotten about.

er, wha? There's a big difference between being driven professionally, artistically, etc. and wanting a bigger house to fill with more crap. I'd venture to say that those who minimize their lives have richer intellectual, creative, and personal lives. At least in my experience. I'm somewhere in the middle currently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Folks who think as you get older you need less space are young and foolish. I was also that way. My house I just bought in my mid 50's as a trade up home is 6,100 square feet, the house across the street sold a few weeks ago to a couple early 50s that is 7,000 square feet. Your fifties and sixties you need the most square footage.

My kids are not 12, 17 and 18. All at once I am hitting the car phase. Right now three cars, one more to come, Hitting dating phase while still in playdate phase. Hitting phase where friends from college come visit and in-laws too old to drive home late stay over. If anything I should have got around 7,000 square feet with a three car garage instead of two.

I have the three kids in a 1,400 square foot house with a one car driveway up till two years ago. Coming up in next 15 years I will host college graduations, engagement showers, weddings, baby showers, meeting new inlaws and son-in-laws for first time. Folks judge. I need room. When kids are little none of that happens. Then you hit mid 70s or so and it starts to slow down as that phase is behind

+1

You can make 1400 square feet work, but why would you want to? Live a little

this attitude is bizarre to me. You can't "live" unless you have a house that's bigger than 3x the US average?

You can't understand why people want more than the bare minimum

I think the point is that your idea of "bare minimum" is off base.

[Anonymous]

5 BD, 5 full Ba with 5,000 sq feet is perfect for us. I wouldn't mind a 6th bathroom though as often entertain guests for 2+ days. We have a large extended family who like to visit often.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Folks who think as you get older you need less space are young and foolish. I was also that way. My house I just bought in my mid 50's as a trade up home is 6,100 square feet, the house across the street sold a few weeks ago to a couple early 50s that is 7,000 square feet. Your fifties and sixties you need the most square footage.

My kids are not 12, 17 and 18. All at once I am hitting the car phase. Right now three cars, one more to come, Hitting dating phase while still in playdate phase. Hitting phase where friends from college come visit and in-laws too old to drive home late stay over. If anything I should have got around 7,000 square feet with a three car garage instead of two.

I have the three kids in a 1,400 square foot house with a one car driveway up till two years ago. Coming up in next 15 years I will host college graduations, engagement showers, weddings, baby showers, meeting new inlaws and son-in-laws for first time. Folks judge. I need room. When kids are little none of that happens. Then you hit mid 70s or so and it starts to slow down as that phase is behind

+1

You can make 1400 square feet work, but why would you want to? Live a little

this attitude is bizarre to me. You can't "live" unless you have a house that's bigger than 3x the US average?

You can't understand why people want more than the bare minimum

People always want more than they have. Doesn’t mean that it’s healthy for the individual or the environment.

The wanters of more drive humanity forward. Those who insist on staying where they are gradually grow irrelevant and get forgotten about.

er, wha? There's a big difference between being driven professionally, artistically, etc. and wanting a bigger house to fill with more crap. I'd venture to say that those who minimize their lives have richer intellectual, creative, and personal lives. At least in my experience. I'm somewhere in the middle currently.

Most of the people I know with McMansion type homes live in exurbs and don't get out of the house much. Not an enviable life to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Family of 4 here in 2300 square feet and I feel like it's more than enough. 4 bedrooms, 2 full, 2 half baths. Large walkout basement with a family room and play area and large unfinished storage area.

That said, I think layout is important. We are about to move into a temporary rental which is roughly the same square footage, but feels much smaller.

I think people adjust to what they have. We were 4 people (2 adults, 2 kids) in 950 square feet and it was a little cramped, but overall it was fine. Then we moved to 2350 square feet and it still feels like we have more space than we know what to do with. All my NYC friends think it's HUGE whereas my suburban friends think we have a tiny home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Family of 4 here in 2300 square feet and I feel like it's more than enough. 4 bedrooms, 2 full, 2 half baths. Large walkout basement with a family room and play area and large unfinished storage area.

That said, I think layout is important. We are about to move into a temporary rental which is roughly the same square footage, but feels much smaller.

I think people adjust to what they have. We were 4 people (2 adults, 2 kids) in 950 square feet and it was a little cramped, but overall it was fine. Then we moved to 2350 square feet and it still feels like we have more space than we know what to do with. All my NYC friends think it's HUGE whereas my suburban friends think we have a tiny home.

PP here: I suppose. But I also think it depends on what you are used to. Our previous home was 1100 square feet. It was fine when there were two of us, and even three. But when we got to four, it definitely felt small. I'm sure though if we were in Manhattan it would feel different.

[Anonymous]

We are a family of 4 living in ~1800 SF (1400+ is above ground and we have a fully finished walk-out basement). It is plenty. There are rooms I don't even go in very often. Admittedly our bedroom is small but it's definitely enough space to live in comfortably.

We have 2 bathrooms which I think is perfect. I could live with one more half bath but I don't feel deprived by not having it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Folks who think as you get older you need less space are young and foolish. I was also that way. My house I just bought in my mid 50's as a trade up home is 6,100 square feet, the house across the street sold a few weeks ago to a couple early 50s that is 7,000 square feet. Your fifties and sixties you need the most square footage.

My kids are not 12, 17 and 18. All at once I am hitting the car phase. Right now three cars, one more to come, Hitting dating phase while still in playdate phase. Hitting phase where friends from college come visit and in-laws too old to drive home late stay over. If anything I should have got around 7,000 square feet with a three car garage instead of two.

I have the three kids in a 1,400 square foot house with a one car driveway up till two years ago. Coming up in next 15 years I will host college graduations, engagement showers, weddings, baby showers, meeting new inlaws and son-in-laws for first time. Folks judge. I need room. When kids are little none of that happens. Then you hit mid 70s or so and it starts to slow down as that phase is behind

+1

You can make 1400 square feet work, but why would you want to? Live a little

this attitude is bizarre to me. You can't "live" unless you have a house that's bigger than 3x the US average?

You can't understand why people want more than the bare minimum

People always want more than they have. Doesn’t mean that it’s healthy for the individual or the environment.

The wanters of more drive humanity forward. Those who insist on staying where they are gradually grow irrelevant and get forgotten about.

er, wha? There's a big difference between being driven professionally, artistically, etc. and wanting a bigger house to fill with more crap. I'd venture to say that those who minimize their lives have richer intellectual, creative, and personal lives. At least in my experience. I'm somewhere in the middle currently.

That hasn't been my experience at all. The opposite in fact.