how many people really live in a 8000sqft house?
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
Don't be stupid, those are found in homes 15k or bigger |
Anonymous
| There is also a lovers room that husbands dont know about |
Anonymous
|
7200 sf here.
Top floor is all 4 bedrooms. Ours is the master suite with a living room, bedroom, coffee/wine station between the Mbedroom and bath. I have a sink and fridge and a tassimo for coffee two large walk in closets off bath. There is a loft area at the top of the steps where we made it a reading room with built ins and soft leather chairs. First floor is: front entrance, formal living room/piano room, his office, dining room, butlers pantry, kitchen, walk in pantry, powder room, first floor en suite bedroom, mudroom. Basement is unfinished storage space/playroom. The rest is a wetbar with wine/booze, sink, and storage space, and two large open entertaining spaces- one with TV and one without.. Then there is the guest suite with sitting room and full bath. Walk out back patio and main floor deck round out the space. |
Anonymous
| Family of 4 in 8000sqft. We don't find it excessive. Wish we had a sun room. |
Anonymous
| We have about 7000 square feet. It was nice when kids were growing up and extended family often visited. Now that kids are in college, I have bad dreams about visiting rooms I forgot we owned and finding things that need to be fixed. Hoping to sell soon and heartened to know there are still people who like big houses! |
Anonymous
| what is a butler's pantry? |
Anonymous
| ^^ and also, if you have one, do you have a butler too? |
Anonymous
Basically a utility area to store serving items / china, rather than food. |
Anonymous
| Ours is 6200 and I actually can't wait to downsize, but can't do that until the kids are off to college. My parents' home is over 10K sq ft and it's just them. I never want that. Too much house for 2 people - although they entertain a lot more than I ever could. |
Anonymous
|
Plenty of big houses in California.....
But I do know where you're coming from. Lot sizes are much smaller on the West Coast and this restricts the house sizes. This is probably the main reason.
|
Anonymous
| I'll also point out that square footage calculations are always difficult to accurately gauge. DC market tends to include every single square foot in the house, including basements and attics and garage loft spaces. Outside DC people tend not to include basements or attics. I see many 5k sqft house in DC that would only be listed as 3500ish in most of the country. |
Anonymous
|
8000 sq ft on 3 levels, 1.5 ac lot. 3 kids, 2 parents, 2 grandparents. We used to live in a 3400 sq ft house and managed but always felt it was tight, some of it because of the distribution of space. Also lacked enough easily accessible storage space despite the fact we organized every closet - houses just weren't built to be as convenient in the 1970's.
In the 8000 sq ft house we have Second Floor: 5 bedrooms, 4 full baths, laundry room. One BR is used as my office, one is a guest room, one is master, one is for older child, and twins share a bedroom for the time being but can split if so wish in later years (and then there will be no guest space on this floor). 2 of the bathrooms other than MBA are doubles (shared jack & jill, and a large one in the twins' bedroom). Generous closets, we also have a huge closet above the 3-car garage which we use as part closet, part quiet sitting space. First floor: Living room/adults quiet conversation room (very necessary in an otherwise open floor plan with small children) Dining room Kitchen (very large) Family room Sun room - a very large space which currently serves as play room but once kids are older will convert nicely to an adult relax space First floor in-law suite (for grandparents) Mudroom with half bath, laundry area, planning space, closets, cubbies, extra fridge/freezer - this is very large and has many purposes, but with the kids, dogs, nanny, grandparents, garden we do need the workhorse space if we are to keep the rest of the house in reasonably good shape. Basement: Guest bedroom with full bath Exercise room Several storage areas Rec room, with a generous size wet bar, Game room space for pool table Play area For this many people, plus nanny coming in during the day it does not feel too large, but comfortable. Truth be told, if it weren't for the grandparents or the surprise twins, we wouldn't have done it, but we can afford it so no need to get on each other's nerves. The house looks very reasonably sized from the outside and people constantly comment on how deceptive it is once they get inside. Once it is just the two of us (will that ever be, with kids returning home after college all too often?), it will be too large and we will look to downsize. I have started these conversations now (we are at least 15 years away from this) and I can see how it becomes very hard to consider smaller/older spaces once you have lived in these conditions. We have friends who are a 3-person family in a 12,000 sq ft house. That does feel like a hangar, four years in many parts are still unfurnished. But they are in professions that require to "impress" in order to get business so that probably weighed in their decision. |
Anonymous
|
Most people in large houses just have bigger rooms, not so much more rooms than smaller houses. The typical layout of a larger house is:
Main level: Office / Formal living room Kitchen Dining room Family room Powder room 2-3 car garage various misc things like stairs, halls, mudroom Upper level: Bedrooms and bathrooms associated with these bedrooms. Maybe a loft area or something Lower Level: rec room downstairs bedroom (guest room / au pair room / nanny room) downstairs bathroom Misc rooms that could either turned into things like a theater room, exercise room, storage, craft room, play room etc. |
Anonymous
| why do people choose to live with grandparents? is that an Asian thing/culture thing? |
Anonymous
Wow. We are European. It's a non-American thing. People in most cultures feel an obligation to take care of their parents, and grandparents help with the grandkids. |