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

[Anonymous]

I say you live a place YOU and your family like. Listen to your own opinion.

[Anonymous]

These numbers blow my mind. We are 3 in 1100 sq ft -- I feel like if we had a second child, I'd want maybe 1500, thinking through the end of HS. We also have a storage unit of about 20sq ft.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

We are a family of 4 in 2200. I think 3000 would be ideal.

ITA. We have 2000 and 2500 would be great but 3000 would be perfect.

Agree.

We are 2,200. Closer to 3,000 would be perfect for us as well.

[Anonymous]

We have a 5000 square foot house on a 20,000 sq foot lot in DC. Both are perfect for our 2 kids and 3 dogs.

[Anonymous]

I'd put a lot more emphasis on the number of bedrooms and bathrooms and the layout than I would on the square footage. Smaller houses with great floor plans are better than bigger houses with poor layouts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These numbers blow my mind. We are 3 in 1100 sq ft -- I feel like if we had a second child, I'd want maybe 1500, thinking through the end of HS. We also have a storage unit of about 20sq ft.

We have two adults and two kids in 1400 square feet. I guess I’d like a little more closet space? But really I think the greed for more and more square footage and more and more stuff... well, I think it’s obscene.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These numbers blow my mind. We are 3 in 1100 sq ft -- I feel like if we had a second child, I'd want maybe 1500, thinking through the end of HS. We also have a storage unit of about 20sq ft.

We have two adults and two kids in 1400 square feet. I guess I’d like a little more closet space? But really I think the greed for more and more square footage and more and more stuff... well, I think it’s obscene.

Teenagers mat change your opinion. Just saying. (Someone who happily lived in 800 square feet with really young kids!). Closets and drawers get a lot smaller the bigger the clothes get.

[Anonymous]

6000 sqft would be the minimum. We are a family of 4 living in a 5000sqft home and it's pretty tight.

[Anonymous]

We found 5600 too small and 8200 a good size but we don't use the basement as much.

Maybe 7000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These numbers blow my mind. We are 3 in 1100 sq ft -- I feel like if we had a second child, I'd want maybe 1500, thinking through the end of HS. We also have a storage unit of about 20sq ft.

We have two adults and two kids in 1400 square feet. I guess I’d like a little more closet space? But really I think the greed for more and more square footage and more and more stuff... well, I think it’s obscene.

Teenagers mat change your opinion. Just saying. (Someone who happily lived in 800 square feet with really young kids!). Closets and drawers get a lot smaller the bigger the clothes get.

OMG.. this. When they were little, I didn't need a closet. Everything fit in 2 drawers. Now -- not so much. And the toiletries in the bathroom also increases as they get older.

Some people don't mind living on top of each other. I like space, not for stuff, but just personal space. I actually don't like clutter and hate shopping. But, I grew up in a tiny house with 5 other people. Never again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These numbers blow my mind. We are 3 in 1100 sq ft -- I feel like if we had a second child, I'd want maybe 1500, thinking through the end of HS. We also have a storage unit of about 20sq ft.

Have 1200 sq ft for four and love it

[Anonymous]

520 sqft/live body. Significantly less if dead.

[Anonymous]

We have 2200 sf (4 br/2.5 ba) with no basement, but an attic over our garage. It could use 1 or 2 more rooms (I would love a room for our exercise equipment), but as we keep clearing out the little kid crap, we are making more closet and attic space available. We can certainly live in this space fairly comfortably. Our home lacks a decent entryway, mudroom and laundry room, but that is a layout problem rather than square footage.

My childhood home was a tiny ranch house (3 br/1ba) with a gigantic finished basement that was our rec area. We moved into a larger home when I was a teen that was about the size of our current house with a large unfinished basement that was basically a dumping area. My husband lived in small houses with no basements (they just aren’t a thing where he grew up due to flooding issues), so we aren’t upset with no basement as long as we have a storage space somewhere (which is how we use our attic). My family has pack rat tendencies and I am trying not to be so bad. Not having an enormous space to fill with junk helps. I have enough clutter now - I can’t imagine how much crap we’d have in a bigger space.

I am with many other posters saying 2500 is a sweet spot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:4000 if you want to have an au pair, welcome guests, or have another child.

We are four in a 2000 sq ft split level with 5 bedrooms. We have a 5th bedroom and 3rd full bath in the downstairs utility room where we had a live in nanny for a while while still having an extra room upstairs for visiting grandparents. Layout really makes a difference.

Eww

I would think so too if I wasn’t living it! The utility room is actually above grade with a private entrance and windows, so it was great for the nanny. Now the kids use it to hang out. Really...layout layout layout.

[Anonymous]

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.