Do you regret living in a large house?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:my house is a late 70s southern colonial with 2,800 sf above grade (another 800 or so sf in a finished basement). It is so embarrassing having less than 3,000 sf, so I am thinking about converting the garage into a den and putting another bedroom above the garage (and then building a new 3-car garage next to the existing garage). I don't need the space, but peer pressure is effective.

Is this a joke?

[Anonymous]

Re. carbon footprint, I was feeling bad about that too until I realized that my 3500 square foot house uses FEWER KW total of energy than my old 1800 square foot house built in the 1930s did. Better insulated, more efficient.

If you have a big house, throw it open for friends and family. We do a lot of entertaining because we now have the space.

[Anonymous]

We went from 2100 to 5200 and we don't regret it. It is SO nice to have extra space for entertaining, for houseguests, and for playdates. I love it.
No, we were not able to decorate it all right at once. I want to do it right, so we are doing it very slowly. But all the rooms are useable in their current state -- and I love that it is a long-term project to make it just how we want it.
It was not farther out, though -- still close-in burbs. I do think people who move further out regret it because of the commute.

[Anonymous]

You don't have to feel so bad if you build an enviro-friendly house. Solar, recycled material and water, green rooftop, etc.

[Anonymous]

We just downsized from 6000 to 2400. Love it though my kids not so much. So much easier to take care of and clean. We purges a ton of stuff too. Didn't appreciate it completely until Christmas when it was so easy to decorate/undecorate.

Plus now my MIL can't stay with us.

[Anonymous]

Depends on your lifestyle. We think a big house is great for having social events, hosting out of town guests, big closets, lots of storage space, etc. And we hope that our kids bring guests and eventually spouses and kids over for the holidays when they are older.

[Anonymous]

Why not just buy a regular sized house and add in closets for off season clothes or whatever? The basement or attic? Some people act like a big house is like a big penis or something. Hint: it's not.

[Anonymous]

Ours is not as big as yours, we are at 3200 inc basement. We moved from a 1000sq feet and definitely do NOT regret it, we are about to kill each other in the small rambler.

However, I think the layout in our house somewhat sucks. I see no purpose in a living/dining room. I wish our main level had one HUGE great room and an office. We saw one like that, but the neighborhood was not too hot, but I still think about that house.

[Anonymous]

I wonder why everyone thinks people who live far out commute great distances? DH and I have worked various jobs along the Dulles corridor for the last 12 years and have never once had to take a job inside the beltway. Our commutes have ranged from 10min-30 min. All I see out here is more and more businesses coming and can't see why we would ever commute. Its great because housing is more affordable and the jobs pay well. Our quality if life land housing options leaves nothing more to be desired.

[Anonymous]

Are people who are saying that a big house is nice for entertaining, houseguests, etc., what kind of entertaining are you doing? We live in 1400 sq ft, and while I can see going up to 2000 or so feet, I can't imagine what I'd do with more than that. But on the other hand, when we "entertain", we're just having our extended family over at holidays, maybe a party with at most 50 people. And we can accomodate one family/houseguest in the basement. Just wondering what scale of entertaining requires more space? Or maybe I have just been a sucky host without really knowing it.

[Anonymous]

OP...you'll soon get used to it and you wont regret it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just downsized from 6000 to 2400. Love it though my kids not so much. So much easier to take care of and clean. We purges a ton of stuff too. Didn't appreciate it completely until Christmas when it was so easy to decorate/undecorate.

Plus now my MIL can't stay with us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are people who are saying that a big house is nice for entertaining, houseguests, etc., what kind of entertaining are you doing? We live in 1400 sq ft, and while I can see going up to 2000 or so feet, I can't imagine what I'd do with more than that. But on the other hand, when we "entertain", we're just having our extended family over at holidays, maybe a party with at most 50 people. And we can accomodate one family/houseguest in the basement. Just wondering what scale of entertaining requires more space? Or maybe I have just been a sucky host without really knowing it.

Not the pp you reference, but we can now host parties for school, work, church, etc with 80+ guests (more in the summer) that we could have never had in our smaller house. Also, living in the DC area, there are always houseguests, and, and while the old house was ok, I think the guests always felt a little awkward staying very long because space was so tight. I realize for some, that is feature, not a bug, but it wasn't for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You don't have to feel so bad if you build an enviro-friendly house. Solar, recycled material and water, green rooftop, etc.

Depends. Part of being green is being reasonable about consumption. Having more than you need is not really green. Heating/cooling rooms no one is in, or even whole floors full of big rooms, isn't green even in a relatively efficient home.

[Anonymous]

We upsized from 1350 to about 2250. It has been great. This includes two spare rooms for family to stay, which is the only down-side...
I can't imagine wanting much more than this though. Maybe another 50 sq ft in our kitchen, but other than that we have everything we could want.