Anonymous wrote:We have a great house in a great school cluster with a great commute. It is in a very nice neighborhood. It is under 2000 square feet. We have an only child and are not having more. I hear all of this talk about size and wonder what I am missing. We have a den and a guest bedroom in addition to our bedrooms. We have 2 bathrooms. Why would we need more space? Is this only if we had more kids? Serious question.

Um, ok. So what is your point???
You are content in your living situation. Do you want a gold medal? We, too, are content in our living situation. Should I write a post about it? I don't get it.

I also had a sandwich for lunch. It was just the right size and the perfect ration of bread, turkey, cheese, and condiment. I didn't need to eat any more. Why do other people eat so much for lunch? Serious question.

You don't. I have 2 kids, an annoying dog, and REALLY annoying inlaws who live out of town and come for long visits. I have 3300 on 2 floors and am about to finish another 1300 in my basement so when my inlaws visit, I can pretend they are not here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a family of 3 with 2 dogs. We absolutely need every square inch of our 4000 square foot house! What would DH do without his bar? I NEED my sewing room. How could any family live with less? I pity you.

Sarcasm, I hope. Same boat, 2 adults, 1 kid, 2 dogs. 1000 square foot home. Great Neighborhood and no plans to move. Maybe we will finish the basement someday.

I think the OP invited this. She is free to live how she chooses in a smaller house if it suits her needs. Does she really need others to tell her so, or is she trolling to start another lovely debate about urban riff-raff and fat suburbanites.

Exactly, PP. It is obvious that there is a difference between "need" and "nice to have" and you jolly well know it and are just trying to stir the pot.

I moved from a house with 1200 square feet to 3400 square feet. I didn't "need" the extra space. We lived just fine walking through the front door directly into our living room and depositing our shoes in a basket by the front door and then walking 10 feet over to the hall to hang our coats on hooks we'd hung up in the hall outside the bedrooms. But it sure is nice to walk through the front door into a foyer and stash hang my jacket in a coat closet instead.

We didn't "need" a mudroom entrance through the garage, or even a garage for that matter. I could always put an old towel down by the door on rainy days and somehow we managed just with stashing the kids' sport equipment in the trunk of one of our cars. And really street parking was fine most of the time --we could deal with the rare snow day and if it was pouring when we pulled up at the house we could just sit in the car for a few minutes and wait for it to pass. But now the kids don't have to haul their bikes up a narrow flight our stairs from a dingy basement anymore, and we don't have to leave our rakes and shovels under the porch where they get rusted out every season.

We didn't "need" a guest bedroom with an attached bathroom. But it is much more comfortable for my 75 year old parents, and we've really enjoyed being able to host our friends and family members in quarters that are comfortable and a bit more private.

I am sure I could come through your home and list all the things you don't "need" and wonder why on earth you need all that stuff. I once saw a photo showing Gandhi's worldly possessions that he owned when he died, and it was something like his glasses, his one outfit, and a tin cup.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are a family of 3 with 2 dogs. We absolutely need every square inch of our 4000 square foot house! What would DH do without his bar? I NEED my sewing room. How could any family live with less? I pity you.

Sarcasm, I hope. Same boat, 2 adults, 1 kid, 2 dogs. 1000 square foot home. Great Neighborhood and no plans to move. Maybe we will finish the basement someday.

I think the OP invited this. She is free to live how she chooses in a smaller house if it suits her needs. Does she really need others to tell her so, or is she trolling to start another lovely debate about urban riff-raff and fat suburbanites.

Went from 2000 to 5800 , use every square inch , the difference is we all have space and rooms aren't multifunctional

How would I watch movies without my in-home cinema? Televisions in living rooms are passe'.

We are currently a family of four in about 1400 square feet but us needing more space was more we don't have outdoor space, our kids (b/g) each need their own room and things like kids bikes in your only living area gets old since we can not put them anywhere else and we feel kids need each need a bike. That said, when we were looking, we knew we did not need 3,000 square feet.

I agree with the person on layout. I will be working from home so instead of needing 3 bedrooms we needed 4- the rest was really just a wishlist and we were able to find almost everything we wanted and found 2500 square feet to be a great size home for us.

We are family of 5 and 1 dog. We have 1700 sf 3 bedroom. Would love an extra bedroom though.

I bought my 1,500 SF house from a family with 3 kids. I bought the previous 1,200 SF townhouse from a family who had 4 kids. (they moved out when pregnant with baby #5.) I like my house a lot, though I definitely get a little house envy of people who have nice master bedroom closets (which I gave up for this house), or when a friend has a very awesome large kitchen. (I cook enough that I could rationalize a great kitchen.) Could still have that stuff in 1,500 SF though. (+ finished basement that we don't even use!)

well, at 2000 sq ft, you have 600 sq ft/person, and it sounds like a 1:1 bedroom:person ratio so you are ahead of curve. a family of four with 2500 sq ft and 3 bedrooms would have smaller ratios than your family.

our family of 4 is in 1500 with 2 bedrooms, and all we really miss is the yard.

and a gift wrapping room

Our house is 1800 square feet on three levels. I really want to convert the basement to a rental apartment (leaving 1200 sf for the three of us + huge tabbycat), but my husband refuses. Not because of space reasons (though most of the crap in the basement is his), but because he doesn't want to "share" our space, doesn't want to worry about loud walking disturbing tenants, etc.

All that to say, we're fine and you are too.

I have a 1300 sf house. 2br 1.5 baths. It really hinges on the 2nd kid for us--if both kids are the same sex or we have an only child, we will probably stay as is. 2 kids of different sexes, we will eventually move to a 3br or block off part of the living room with french doors to make a 3rd bedroom. We will probably also get some closet organizers and built-in cabinets since storage is already an issue.

We also have 2 cats but they don't really take up much space! Even if we had a mansion they'd still want to sleep on someone's head at night.

We were in a 1000 sf townhome in that situation for the first 5 years of our child's life. No room for expansion, no basement storage, etc. I found that too small.

We moved to a 2200 sf SFH and it is slightly too big, honestly. We're still not sure we're one and done, so we might add another child at some point. At least we have more flexibility now with extra space and extra bedrooms. 2 BRs and no space for expansion stunk.

If you're comfortable, I see no reason that the house you're in can't work long term for you.

Totally agree! We are three people in 1500 sq feet and it is fine. I would like parking and a shed, attic, or garage for storage, but we have more than enough room. A huge back yard would be nice, but we have a great city park steps from our front door, so our patio will do just fine.

Op. we are four in 918sq ft. So, it is tight. We were ok until no. 4 came along. At 2000, u have plenty of space. But each family's needs are different.