Anonymous wrote:why do people choose to live with grandparents? is that an Asian thing/culture thing?

Wow.

We are European. It's a non-American thing. People in most cultures feel an obligation to take care of their parents, and grandparents help with the grandkids.

why do people choose to live with grandparents? is that an Asian thing/culture thing?

Most people in large houses just have bigger rooms, not so much more rooms than smaller houses. The typical layout of a larger house is:

Main level:
Office / Formal living room
Kitchen
Dining room
Family room
Powder room
2-3 car garage
various misc things like stairs, halls, mudroom

Upper level:
Bedrooms and bathrooms associated with these bedrooms. Maybe a loft area or something

Lower Level:
rec room
downstairs bedroom (guest room / au pair room / nanny room)
downstairs bathroom
Misc rooms that could either turned into things like a theater room, exercise room, storage, craft room, play room etc.

8000 sq ft on 3 levels, 1.5 ac lot. 3 kids, 2 parents, 2 grandparents. We used to live in a 3400 sq ft house and managed but always felt it was tight, some of it because of the distribution of space. Also lacked enough easily accessible storage space despite the fact we organized every closet - houses just weren't built to be as convenient in the 1970's.

In the 8000 sq ft house we have

Second Floor:
5 bedrooms, 4 full baths, laundry room. One BR is used as my office, one is a guest room, one is master, one is for older child, and twins share a bedroom for the time being but can split if so wish in later years (and then there will be no guest space on this floor). 2 of the bathrooms other than MBA are doubles (shared jack & jill, and a large one in the twins' bedroom). Generous closets, we also have a huge closet above the 3-car garage which we use as part closet, part quiet sitting space.

First floor:
Living room/adults quiet conversation room (very necessary in an otherwise open floor plan with small children)
Dining room
Kitchen (very large)
Family room
Sun room - a very large space which currently serves as play room but once kids are older will convert nicely to an adult relax space
First floor in-law suite (for grandparents)
Mudroom with half bath, laundry area, planning space, closets, cubbies, extra fridge/freezer - this is very large and has many purposes, but with the kids, dogs, nanny, grandparents, garden we do need the workhorse space if we are to keep the rest of the house in reasonably good shape.

Basement:
Guest bedroom with full bath
Exercise room
Several storage areas
Rec room, with a generous size wet bar,
Game room space for pool table
Play area

For this many people, plus nanny coming in during the day it does not feel too large, but comfortable. Truth be told, if it weren't for the grandparents or the surprise twins, we wouldn't have done it, but we can afford it so no need to get on each other's nerves. The house looks very reasonably sized from the outside and people constantly comment on how deceptive it is once they get inside.

Once it is just the two of us (will that ever be, with kids returning home after college all too often?), it will be too large and we will look to downsize. I have started these conversations now (we are at least 15 years away from this) and I can see how it becomes very hard to consider smaller/older spaces once you have lived in these conditions.

We have friends who are a 3-person family in a 12,000 sq ft house. That does feel like a hangar, four years in many parts are still unfurnished. But they are in professions that require to "impress" in order to get business so that probably weighed in their decision.

I'll also point out that square footage calculations are always difficult to accurately gauge. DC market tends to include every single square foot in the house, including basements and attics and garage loft spaces. Outside DC people tend not to include basements or attics. I see many 5k sqft house in DC that would only be listed as 3500ish in most of the country.

Plenty of big houses in California.....

But I do know where you're coming from. Lot sizes are much smaller on the West Coast and this restricts the house sizes. This is probably the main reason.

Anonymous wrote:growing up in the west coast, I have to admit I never seen so many 6000-8000 sqft house before I moved to mclean

so I wonder do those families really have like 5 kids or live with 3 generations in those 8000 sqft mansion?

I always get this dilemma when I talk to people about building a house, I think 4000 sqft would be the right size for a regular family, but then people would tell you 4000 sqft is too small for mclean and not good on the value

well whats u guys' take on this?

Ours is 6200 and I actually can't wait to downsize, but can't do that until the kids are off to college. My parents' home is over 10K sq ft and it's just them. I never want that. Too much house for 2 people - although they entertain a lot more than I ever could.

Anonymous wrote:what is a butler's pantry?

Basically a utility area to store serving items / china, rather than food.

^^ and also, if you have one, do you have a butler too?

what is a butler's pantry?

We have about 7000 square feet. It was nice when kids were growing up and extended family often visited. Now that kids are in college, I have bad dreams about visiting rooms I forgot we owned and finding things that need to be fixed. Hoping to sell soon and heartened to know there are still people who like big houses!

Family of 4 in 8000sqft. We don't find it excessive. Wish we had a sun room.

7200 sf here.

Top floor is all 4 bedrooms. Ours is the master suite with a living room, bedroom, coffee/wine station between the Mbedroom and bath. I have a sink and fridge and a tassimo for coffee two large walk in closets off bath. There is a loft area at the top of the steps where we made it a reading room with built ins and soft leather chairs.

First floor is: front entrance, formal living room/piano room, his office, dining room, butlers pantry, kitchen, walk in pantry, powder room, first floor en suite bedroom, mudroom.

Basement is unfinished storage space/playroom. The rest is a wetbar with wine/booze, sink, and storage space, and two large open entertaining spaces- one with TV and one without.. Then there is the guest suite with sitting room and full bath.

Walk out back patio and main floor deck round out the space.

There is also a lovers room that husbands dont know about

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ours is about that size, just across the river from McLean. We're a family of 4.

It's not that difficult to fill. You end up with rooms for a specific purpose, like his and hers home offices; exercise room; children's playroom, and so on. Then we have 2 guest rooms since we have visitors from abroad who visit every few months.

This.

His office
Her office
Butler's office
Butler's exercise room
Children's playroom
Children's butler office

Easy. How can anybody live with less than 9,000 sq ft?

6500 sq ft.

- His office
- Her office
- Home gym
- 2 large storage rooms the size of bedrooms
- Home theatre
- Downstairs Bar/Pool Room

No gift-wrapping room?

Don't be stupid, those are found in homes 15k or bigger