Great inputs everyone.

Definitely a con to bigger house is the cleaning.

Does anyone have a central vacuum system in the home? If so, please provide any thoughts / feedback.

I am about to build a new home under 3K Sq Ft above ground where contemplating central vacuum system ($5K).

Anonymous wrote:Larger houses allow/require living differently. I like a larger house for its ability to allow rooms to create very different moods as my needs require. The study is for working, the library is for reading, the bedrooms are for sleep and sex, etc. In the right person, being able to move around a large house is liberating. It also makes it easier to be on different schedule than other HH members. I'm an insomniac who loves to take my early morning coffee in a large windowed room with views of the flora and fauna and I like being able to do this without waking everyone else up.

This describes well some of the things I love about our very large house. Like others have said, I also really appreciate having the space to host large gatherings and have room for out of towners to stay with us. The space allowed my mom to stay with us for with us 3-4 months every year in perfect harmony, and the close relationship she formed with my kids during those years is something they and my husband and I will always cherish. We lost her this year, and it's really helping a lot with the grieving process right now.

I don't love the higher energy bills and the need for house and garden help, but once we retire I will really like having space to grow vegetables and take on other projects that the extra yard area will allow.

We're currently in a 1600' townhouse, and I'd love to go a bit larger, even if we never end up having any kiddos. Though actually 1600' isn't too bad for us, but the layout is what's really driving the thoughts of moving - our kitchen/dining/living room area is only 500' (and not completely open floorplan), so entertaining is kind of tough. Would be much better to have that square footage all in one level and in just a few rooms, rather than spread out among 3 levels and multiple small rooms.

A family member had a 4500' house, which was great for entertaining, but felt kind of empty and lonely when there was just 1-2 people around. I didn't like that either.

I guess that this is a long way of saying that I agree with a previous poster that a 2500 sq ft with good layout on two levels, plus a garage and a screened in porch, would be absolutely perfect for us.

Anonymous wrote:We went from almost 6K to 2500 and wondered what the hell we did with all of that useless, wasteful space. So liberating. I will never again own a home over 2500sq.ft., the smaller the better.

Then again, we plan to move to CA where a lot of your living is outside so we won't need all that space anyhow.

The point about outdoor living space is a good one. I'm from CA and grew up in a house I would never buy here in the DC area (2 BR, 2BA, no basement) but considered it very large compared to my friends' homes. We had few, but large, rooms, and we spent a lot of time outside. My parents even store furniture outside, because it never rains.

My family (3 plus dog) currently lives in a 2300 sq ft townhouse and we feel slightly cramped. The rooms are small and the up-and-down of a townhouse means we don't use the basement much. 2500 sq ft on 2 levels, plus a garage and screen porch (neither of which we have now) would be ideal.

Larger houses allow/require living differently. I like a larger house for its ability to allow rooms to create very different moods as my needs require. The study is for working, the library is for reading, the bedrooms are for sleep and sex, etc. In the right person, being able to move around a large house is liberating. It also makes it easier to be on different schedule than other HH members. I'm an insomniac who loves to take my early morning coffee in a large windowed room with views of the flora and fauna and I like being able to do this without waking everyone else up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I don't like huge sprawling rooms on an everyday basis. I like to sit in a cozy den sized room in the evening. We have a fairly large house, but find ourselves never using the living room and dining room, three of the bedrooms and two bathrooms. Our son is at college and we are basically living in the kitchen (large), den sized TV room, master bedroom and master bath (and half bath near TV room). We virtually never go in the finished basement.

Sure, it's nice to have the other rooms when people visit (and we use the living room for Christmas once a year. I don't think we'll move quite yet (moving is a hassle and we like our yard). But eventually we will get something smaller.

We're in a similar situation where we never use the dining room and the living room is empty. However, we wanted a certain sized MBR, kitchen and family room and in order to get that size we had to buy a 3,600 sq. foot house.

I thins is a smaller original house with a blowout addition, making the kitchen and family room bigger on the main level and making the master bedroom, MBR bigger on the upper level. Ideally, the previous owners did it and had good taste!

Nah, it's a regular ol' 90s colonial Stanley Martin tract home. The MBRs on the 2,400 sq. ft. houses that we looked at were just smaller than we wanted.

OP Here. This is what is pushing us towards a larger house. We have large extended family in the area that we would like to have over a lot (20+ people at a time) and a great circle of friends (12+ people at a time), and we would really like a large kitchen and family room because that's where everyone hangs out. If the house had a completely open layout, I think we could certainly be comfortable in a much smaller home. But since we are looking at a bit older homes (the new homes in the area we are looking have much smaller backyards), to get the size kitchen + family room we want we're looking at nearly 6,000sq ft and the formal dining and living would probably go unused (unless we can think of a different use for those rooms...)

We went from almost 6K to 2500 and wondered what the hell we did with all of that useless, wasteful space. So liberating. I will never again own a home over 2500sq.ft., the smaller the better.

Then again, we plan to move to CA where a lot of your living is outside so we won't need all that space anyhow.

If you live in a big house, you absolutely have to have a maid. Otherwise, it is aweful. Your life is very short, and you will end up scrubbing 5 toilets, 3 bathtubs and 2 showers all the time. Add a large kitchen and 5-6 bathrooms.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I don't like huge sprawling rooms on an everyday basis. I like to sit in a cozy den sized room in the evening. We have a fairly large house, but find ourselves never using the living room and dining room, three of the bedrooms and two bathrooms. Our son is at college and we are basically living in the kitchen (large), den sized TV room, master bedroom and master bath (and half bath near TV room). We virtually never go in the finished basement.

Sure, it's nice to have the other rooms when people visit (and we use the living room for Christmas once a year. I don't think we'll move quite yet (moving is a hassle and we like our yard). But eventually we will get something smaller.

We're in a similar situation where we never use the dining room and the living room is empty. However, we wanted a certain sized MBR, kitchen and family room and in order to get that size we had to buy a 3,600 sq. foot house.

I thins is a smaller original house with a blowout addition, making the kitchen and family room bigger on the main level and making the master bedroom, MBR bigger on the upper level. Ideally, the previous owners did it and had good taste!

Nah, it's a regular ol' 90s colonial Stanley Martin tract home. The MBRs on the 2,400 sq. ft. houses that we looked at were just smaller than we wanted.

Sorry - so weird - there were other words I typed that didn't show up. I think THE IDEAL is a smaller house with a blowout addition, etc.

We ended up in a larger house than we wanted because we wanted a large family room that connected somehow to the kitchen. Now our living room is bigger than we need, we have a sitting room that is completely extraneous, etc

Additions on shacks or rachet

We have a bit under 4,000 and a cleaner every other week. No regrets.

Anonymous wrote:Family of 3 + a dog in a 7k square foot house. At first, it felt too big because we spend a LOT of time out of the house doing activities but I've had a change of heart over the years. Especially on snow days and extreme summer heat. The extra space also means we can host guests a lot and enjoy a more active social life as a result.

This is exactly us, without the dog.

We love having the space. Wouldn't trade it for anything. Nice house, great lot with lots of space.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I don't like huge sprawling rooms on an everyday basis. I like to sit in a cozy den sized room in the evening. We have a fairly large house, but find ourselves never using the living room and dining room, three of the bedrooms and two bathrooms. Our son is at college and we are basically living in the kitchen (large), den sized TV room, master bedroom and master bath (and half bath near TV room). We virtually never go in the finished basement.

Sure, it's nice to have the other rooms when people visit (and we use the living room for Christmas once a year. I don't think we'll move quite yet (moving is a hassle and we like our yard). But eventually we will get something smaller.

We're in a similar situation where we never use the dining room and the living room is empty. However, we wanted a certain sized MBR, kitchen and family room and in order to get that size we had to buy a 3,600 sq. foot house.

I thins is a smaller original house with a blowout addition, making the kitchen and family room bigger on the main level and making the master bedroom, MBR bigger on the upper level. Ideally, the previous owners did it and had good taste!

Nah, it's a regular ol' 90s colonial Stanley Martin tract home. The MBRs on the 2,400 sq. ft. houses that we looked at were just smaller than we wanted.

Sorry - so weird - there were other words I typed that didn't show up. I think THE IDEAL is a smaller house with a blowout addition, etc.

We ended up in a larger house than we wanted because we wanted a large family room that connected somehow to the kitchen. Now our living room is bigger than we need, we have a sitting room that is completely extraneous, etc

Anonymous wrote:To me, the layout is more important than all the square feet.

I think many of the new houses have too many living areas.

We went from 2400 sq. ft to 5600 sq. but our layout is terrible and although it is nice to have all the storage space, we would have been fine with a 3,000 sq. foot house with a better layout.

Agree that too many bathrooms to clean is a PITA plus all the time it takes to change out towels and refill soap and TP etc.

It is nice when you have company.

Ideally, I would like an average sized home with great layout and a lot of land.

I don't understand the people who love to live in crowded subdivisions. Give me open space and acres any day! It is so peaceful to be outside and enjoy nature and quiet.

Unless 20 people live in your home the amount of times to change soap and TP won't change

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To me, the layout is more important than all the square feet.

I think many of the new houses have too many living areas.

We went from 2400 sq. ft to 5600 sq. but our layout is terrible and although it is nice to have all the storage space, we would have been fine with a 3,000 sq. foot house with a better layout.

Agree that too many bathrooms to clean is a PITA plus all the time it takes to change out towels and refill soap and TP etc.

It is nice when you have company.

Ideally, I would like an average sized home with great layout and a lot of land.

I don't understand the people who love to live in crowded subdivisions. Give me open space and acres any day! It is so peaceful to be outside and enjoy nature and quiet.

In this area, to have such a large house, chances are you have cleaners to do this.

+1000

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I don't like huge sprawling rooms on an everyday basis. I like to sit in a cozy den sized room in the evening. We have a fairly large house, but find ourselves never using the living room and dining room, three of the bedrooms and two bathrooms. Our son is at college and we are basically living in the kitchen (large), den sized TV room, master bedroom and master bath (and half bath near TV room). We virtually never go in the finished basement.

Sure, it's nice to have the other rooms when people visit (and we use the living room for Christmas once a year. I don't think we'll move quite yet (moving is a hassle and we like our yard). But eventually we will get something smaller.

We're in a similar situation where we never use the dining room and the living room is empty. However, we wanted a certain sized MBR, kitchen and family room and in order to get that size we had to buy a 3,600 sq. foot house.

I thins is a smaller original house with a blowout addition, making the kitchen and family room bigger on the main level and making the master bedroom, MBR bigger on the upper level. Ideally, the previous owners did it and had good taste!

Nah, it's a regular ol' 90s colonial Stanley Martin tract home. The MBRs on the 2,400 sq. ft. houses that we looked at were just smaller than we wanted.