Families of 3, how big is your house?

[Anonymous]

We live in 1600 sq ft as a couple with a dog and it seems plenty big but I wonder if it’ll still feel that way when we have a kid. If you have one child (dog not required) how big is your house and does it feel too big/small/just right?

[Anonymous]

I’m single with 2 kids. My house is 1500 sq ft plus a semi finished basement. Works perfectly for us.

[Anonymous]

less than 1000 square feet - yours would be great. Some of it is the layout.

[Anonymous]

One kid and one dog. 2500 square feet. Four bedrooms. One bedroom is DH’s office since he works from home. The other is a guest room. Feels right for us, but I’d prefer the guest room to be on a different level. Looking back we should have built the “bonus room” over the garage to be used as the guest room.

[Anonymous]

850 sq feet with a huge basement storage room. I'd like another bathroom

[Anonymous]

About 1800 sq ft plus basement, totally sufficient for 1 child and dog

[Anonymous]

Almost 1700 square feet. Two BRMs up with a shared bath. One BRM down with bath for guests. That room also doubles as an office. We have a family room, living room, laundry room, and mud room but no basement.

[Anonymous]

2200 square feet, 5 bedrooms but we use one as an office and the basement bedroom as a gym - those 2 bedrooms are like 10x10, so small. Open floor plan on the main floor which isn’t huge, but we have a den at the back of the house which is DS’s playroom. 3 bedroom upstairs sand 2 baths. 4 bathrooms total. The basement bathroom never gets used. I think it’s perfect.

[Anonymous]

I live in about 1700 sf with 2 kids and it’s starting to feel a bit small, but we’ve done it for years.

Are you planning to have only one child? I am an only child and grew up in a house that was about 3500 sf. I always felt like it was too big and empty and it’s one reason why I haven’t minded living in a smaller house.

[Anonymous]

We had one kid and about 2400 sq. feet plus about 600 sq. feet more in a finished basement. We could have had a couple more kids and been fine, but that didn't happen. Now that the kid is gone, it's way too much room. We never go in the basement and we don't use 3 of the bedrooms. But we already have it and it's useful when guests come. Other than that, we don't need this.

[Anonymous]

Two kids - 1200 sf for the four of us. That gets us 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and enough other space to live in.

I grew up in a 1500 sf house with five kids, so this feels quite comfortable. What you grow up with probably has a big effect on what seems right.

[Anonymous]

3 and a cat. 2600. We have a half finished basement that doesn't count towards that amount that we use as an at home gym. Wood floors and walls and ceilings are done, but no heat or AC goes to it so it's not really a livable room. Good for a gym though.

I'm hoping when DS gets older we can turn his current playroom into DHs office, as his office currently serves as our guest bedroom too.

[Anonymous]

2360 plus a fully finished basement. We have 4 bedrooms/4 baths and study. We have guests often so the 2 extra bedrooms get used plenty and we bought thinking we'd have 2 kids (we have 1). We would be perfectly fine with less space but frankly I think layout of the house is more important than size of house. I rather have bigger closets and a laundry room than extra bedrooms.

[Anonymous]

I think the layout matters more than just the square footage. You want at least two public spaces (living room/family room/basement tv room, etc) so that when entertaining, people have places to be, especially when the child has friends over. Are the bedrooms big enough for the occupant to hang out in, or will they always be in a public space? Is there enough storage to keep the rooms fairly clutter free?

We’re three in 2100 sF and it’s fine, except for the lack of larger closets/pantry. But people aren’t always on top of each other and my child has a lot of play space in their room.

[Anonymous]

I'm single with 2 kids in a 1350sq ft house. We have 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms which is critical. We also have a really large dining room which I've been able to configure so that one end of it is set up for the kids with desks/etc so they have more free space in their bedrooms. If I was still married, I think we might feel cramped with another adult in the same space--but for now we have plenty of room.

I would sometimes like to have another living space (basement or something) but I can't afford to upgrade in our neighborhood. We do have outdoor space and are walkable to a lot of things which makes us feel less constrained.