We are a family 4 in 2600 sq ft above ground and we love it. We had been in 1200 sq ft total (above ground plus finished basement) and it felt so crowded and like no one had personal space.

Imo sq ft isn’t super relevant, what matters is the spaces you need/want.

We have an 1800 sq ft house for our family of 5. It's adequate for now, but I can see us outgrowing it in a few years. As a tiny house lover, I honestly wish it were a bit bigger. 2000-2200 would be ideal.

All of our bedrooms are small and every square inch is used. Our kids are still little and share a room. I have a tiny room as my home office. But sometimes the kids need separate spaces to do homework and activities, and we don't have that.

Ideally we'd have bigger bedrooms with ample closet space and somewhere for a chair. I also want a dedicated exercise area, where I can store weights, mats, and other gear, but we have to make do with what we have.

More than anything, I just want some empty space and some breathing room instead of using up every inch of available space. When we lived in bigger houses before, we had the same amount of furniture, but they were more spread out and just felt more calm and zen. Now our same amount of stuff in this modest house feel more cluttered.

1755 sqft
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/7503-Murillo-St-Springfield-VA-22151/51911211_zpid/

We're a family of three in Petworth and our rowhouse is about 1,800 with the sunporches and finished basement. 4 bedrooms (one in the basement) and 3 full baths. Plenty of space, though DC's bedroom could be bigger.

I'm 2,000 sqft above ground and as a single I find it just the right amount of space. What wasted space are you worried about?!

You are making an enormous mistake focusing on square footage. It should be how the house feels to you when you tour it. Why are you afraid of 2,000 sqft?

2000sqft is not bad, that's what our 70s sfh has, and we (like previous owners) are leaving the basement unfinished.

We are a family of five in 1800 square feet and it’s fine. I think there are a lot of houses like this in the Burke, Springfield, Fairfax areas.

Anonymous wrote:We are just starting our housing search and I have concluded my ideal size home is 1800 sq ft. This is annoying because houses this size are somewhat rare. We will wind up in either a well laid out 1500 sq ft house or 2000 sq ft house with a bit of unused space. And we definitely won't be getting a new build because those are all, minimum 2500 sq ft. We are a family of 3 and I just don't want to furnish or maintain a larger house.

What is your ideal size for a home? How many kids do you have? Why?

In a similar position. I keep seeing houses that are way too big or too small. I also have zero interest in the pressure/cost to furnish and maintain a big house.

My house is 2000K square feet above grade. 4 good sized bedrooms with living, family, kitchen, and dining room on the first floor. If you count the below grade finished area, it's 3K. It's perfect for our family of 4. No wasted space.

So if I had 1 DC instead of 2, I think 1800 would be perfect. I am in Western Fairfax and there are actually tons of those. If you want to build to your tastes, you can find neighborhoods in Vienna, Falls Church, and I'm sure other places where people tear down the 900-1200 sq ft. post war housing and build what they want.

This is such an arbitrary number.. 200 sq ft extra shouldn't make you not buy a house, you're just not ready to commit.

Agree that you need to look for older homes. That's the size of our 3 bedroom/2 bath colonial. We have a bit more space in the loft of our detached garage, including a small office and workshop. I think it's the perfect size. I don't really need or want to maintain more space, now or later.

We now have one kid left at home, but our two boys shared a large bedroom up until the time the first left for college. I'm very glad we didn't decide on a bigger house. I do not need to downsize now that they are doing their own things.

We are a family of three in 1800 sq ft and it’s fine. Our 3rd bedroom is a guest room/office. We have 2.5 bathrooms and enough space, but our basement is unfinished.

I think 2000 sq ft is a perfect size. I wish 2 of our bedrooms were a little bigger, plus I’d love an entryway to store coats, shoes, etc.

They’re not at all rare. There are plenty of older homes of that size in Bethesda, Chevy Chase, Potomac, Silver Spring especially in the under $1.5M range.

We are just starting our housing search and I have concluded my ideal size home is 1800 sq ft. This is annoying because houses this size are somewhat rare. We will wind up in either a well laid out 1500 sq ft house or 2000 sq ft house with a bit of unused space. And we definitely won't be getting a new build because those are all, minimum 2500 sq ft. We are a family of 3 and I just don't want to furnish or maintain a larger house.

What is your ideal size for a home? How many kids do you have? Why?