Anonymous wrote:We have 2300 sq feet - 3 boys, 2 parents - 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. I wish we had one more bathroom. That's about it. We use all our house, and I'm so glad there isn't wasted space to furnish and clean.

What are do you use as office? How about exercise room? And guest room?

We're about to go from 4 to 5. Our house is currently 2700sf and 4 bedrooms, and we're having the basement renovated and a 5th bedroom added. I don't think the basement reno will officially add square footage as it's below grade, but it will work as kid hangout space. In a perfect world, I would like our current arrangement plus two rooms that could be used as home offices.

Humble brag

Anonymous wrote:We have 2 kids and 1800 sf. I wish we had a bigger kitchen, but we could do that without increasing sf. I also wish we had our own bathroom (we share with the kids), but there’s room for that as well.

If we had a mud room it would just be a landing spot for stuff. We have a bench and hooks in the foyer. If there was more space, there would just be more stuff accumulating.

Like PP said. More to clean.

I grew up in about 1300 sf - one parent, 2 kids. It was fine.

We have 1800 sf and 3 kids. Also have unfinished basement and attic, which makes a big difference. Our old house had nowhere to store things. My ideal home would have two more bedrooms (so each child would get their own) and a dedicated office. Otherwise I'm happy with the size of our living space and already overwhelmed by the amount of cleaning required compared to our old 1000 sf house. So maybe 2500 sf would be my ideal. With a housecleaner, since I'm fantasizing.

We have about 6000 sq ft, including finished areas of basement. 6 beds plus den/office and 6.6 baths. For 4 people this gives us a MBR, 2 kids bedrooms, one dedicated guest room, a dedicated workspace for the kids and dedicated workspace for each adult). Thought it would be more than we need when we built it and will eventually be more than we need but right now feels just right.

I'd also consider the age of your kids. I now have two in college, and we are so happy to not have a big house to clean and maintain. We've lived in our current home for seven years, and it went by so quickly. If your kids are MS-HS, I wouldn't upgrade at this point. Utilize the space you have.

[quote=Anonymous]OP here thanks for the feedback.. yes we do not have two separate office spaces.. so my office is now in the first floor formal living room and my husband is in the sitting room upstairs off hte master. It is not a forever issue as we will both eventually be 85% back in the office , but post covid we will both likely WFH at least one day a week... We really use all the space in the house and I agree, if our kitchen was turned the other way to allowe for seating at the island it would really do wonders for us I think. I also cannot find that mudroom space so half our garage is mudroom space. I love our upstairs , it is laid out perfectly . Perhaps I will put some money into utilizing hte basement space a bit more efficiently , we just finished it over the pandemic and I am not using it to its full potential I guess.
Thanks so much everyone ! [/quote]

I'd also consider the age of your kids. I now have two in college, and we are so happy to not have a big house to clean and maintain. We've lived in our current home for seven years, and it went by so quickly. If your kids are MS-HS, I wouldn't upgrade at this point. Utilize the space you have.

2200 sf plus a 2 car garage and partially finished basement for family of 4. Tbh we could use more garage space bc we have all sorts of tools/bikes/etc. We should have gotten a shed years ago.

Unfinished basement is great for skis, hockey gear, workout bench, camping gear, Xmas decorations, laundry and more tools.

Storage space is almost as important as living space depending on your hobbies and sports.

Family of 4, about 3500 sq ft, and that’s over my ideal. We use all the space but don’t need to and it’s a lot to clean and keep organized. Plus we aren’t forced to get rid of things we don’t need.

But it’s not crazy big. I love our house and I’m grateful we have it.

For a family of 5 I think 2500-3500 is perfectly sized.
I grew up in much less and it was fine.

We are 5 in a 2400 sq ft house (5 br 3 ba), and it’s plenty. The one thing I wish I had is a bigger yard so I could put in a pool.

OP here thanks for the feedback.. yes we do not have two separate office spaces.. so my office is now in the first floor formal living room and my husband is in the sitting room upstairs off hte master. It is not a forever issue as we will both eventually be 85% back in the office , but post covid we will both likely WFH at least one day a week... We really use all the space in the house and I agree, if our kitchen was turned the other way to allowe for seating at the island it would really do wonders for us I think. I also cannot find that mudroom space so half our garage is mudroom space. I love our upstairs , it is laid out perfectly . Perhaps I will put some money into utilizing hte basement space a bit more efficiently , we just finished it over the pandemic and I am not using it to its full potential I guess.
Thanks so much everyone !

Square footage is a lot less important than how the space is used.

I once lived in a 4,000 square foot house but then my Dad got a job

For a while our family of 4 lived in 1600sqft. it was tight but we had two full bathrooms and the kids had their own rooms, so it worked. We sold in November and purchased a 2600sqft house, which is now a perfect size for us. More than that is just not needed, if the spaces are designed efficiently.