I have a house somewhat like that.

As other have said having more space and a lot of storage to be able to hide a mess is key (currently in a 2900sft house for the 4 of us). We currently have a playroom space that is a bit messier.

But honestly it was the same in our small 1500 sqft bungalow.

It is a mindset and i cant really understand how i could live differently. I am European and thats how our French appartment was growing up: you put something out you clean it up as soon as done with it because if not, everything gets overwhelmend by mess in 2 seconds and it is incredible exhausting and stressful to live in a crowded messy place.

I see so many of my american friends spending 2 hours in a big clean up, and then next day the house is the same disaster because DH left breakfast out, DS left shoes in middle of LR, DD left homework everywhere etc etc... And you face another big clean up.

So you spend your life either cleaning up to get a spotless house for one hour or staring at a messy house.

That is not how you do it! And that's the only secret. A million small regular routine gestures that you drill into your family, not a big weekly clean up. And everyone needs to participate, kids need to know where to put their stuff when they come home. After every meal everything gets cleaned right away. No food in areas that are not made to eat (kitchen and dining room and that's it). Intentional limited clutter. A system to manage dirty clothes and clean laundry so that there is never a pile waiting somewhere for a miracle etc...

And yes, on top of that, whenever i move around in my house i rearrange as if someone was about to come in. But thats really details that i do mindlessly: rearrange the coffee table, put away a bag, a lost shoe etc..

I wouldnt live any other way. But as another PP said, some of my kids' friends find that we have too many rules (the food rules and no jumping on couches and generally treating furniture reasonbly gently). I find some of my kids' friends quite feral (some have written on walls at other people's houses!!!) so i kind of think i am doing the community a favor by showing them that in some occasions you need to show restrain

Anonymous wrote:Okay so the consensus is I need to have a 5000+ sq ft home in order for it to be immaculate and picture perfect. Good to know!

I actually think the consensus is “care less, this is unrealistic!”

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You stay on top of it. I have three kids and a dog and I work and I don’t have help beyond cleaners once every 3 weeks but I do have 7000 square feet. That definitely helps. Other than that, rules. No toys on the main floor, no eating other than at the table. Sweep/wipe up each morning. Make beds, wipe rooms, put stuff away before bed. Don’t let there be extra crap around. Throw it away, give it away, take it away.

No toys on the main floor? How weird that the people who live in the home can’t enjoy it.

See you have that all wrong. We do enjoy it. We’d enjoy it less if the main floor was full of toys and crap. The
Main floor is for eating, movies, hanging out and board games and doing kitchen stuff. Basketball and trampoline outside. The top landing is for games and books and cards. The basement and their rooms are full of their toys like Lego etc. This is when the 7000 square feet come in handy. I didn’t do it when our house was smaller but now we can.

That’s why it is easier to have guests come to your home and think you have a well kept home.

We have a formal living room, dining room, music room and foyer that are always clean. Living room and dining room are not touched unless we are hosting adult guests.

Our family does have board games, video games and stuffed animals. We spend most of our time in the kitchen and family room.

Food is not allowed upstairs or downstairs in the basement. In our basement, we have a playroom full of toys. Then we also have a bar, ping pong, billiards, media room and a guest space.

I make kids clean up toys before and after kids leave.

What’s the point of all that space if you don’t use it. Sounds miserable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The people I know with immaculate large (5000+) homes and families have a full-time housekeeper. Adequate staffing is the key to sanity.

Sanity is not buying into this perfection bull$hit in the first place. Employing someone full time so that your house never looks lived in is the very definition of insanity.

I agree with you but we’re talking about people like OP who want an immaculate home. My son visits homes like these and says they have too many rules.

Anonymous wrote:The people I know with immaculate large (5000+) homes and families have a full-time housekeeper. Adequate staffing is the key to sanity.

Sanity is not buying into this perfection bull$hit in the first place. Employing someone full time so that your house never looks lived in is the very definition of insanity.

The people I know with immaculate large (5000+) homes and families have a full-time housekeeper. Adequate staffing is the key to sanity.

Anonymous wrote:Where are these pictures? When a house is for sale...sure but other than that, where?

We have an older 2000 sq foot house with three kids. We have a bi weekly cleaner but it barely makes a dent. We are pretty clean and organized but its always something somewhere that is a mess.

I agree that my friends with massive new construction houses have a lot more places to hide it and for some reason (I guess $) always have pristine first floors with kids who only play in playrooms. The idea of the kids only playing in a playroom is odd to me but whatever works for them.

They are talking about all the “perfect” mommy bloggers on TikTok and Instagram. It’s really toxic but a lot of people don’t see that.

Where are these pictures? When a house is for sale...sure but other than that, where?

We have an older 2000 sq foot house with three kids. We have a bi weekly cleaner but it barely makes a dent. We are pretty clean and organized but its always something somewhere that is a mess.

I agree that my friends with massive new construction houses have a lot more places to hide it and for some reason (I guess $) always have pristine first floors with kids who only play in playrooms. The idea of the kids only playing in a playroom is odd to me but whatever works for them.

Anonymous wrote:Okay so the consensus is I need to have a 5000+ sq ft home in order for it to be immaculate and picture perfect. Good to know!

It is easier to hide the kids’ messes if they have different spaces. That doesn’t mean the family doesn’t do the same things as someone with a smaller home.

Or maybe people who host just have tidier homes. We host a lot. Our house is good for hosting. I have a housekeeper who cleans, preps food, etc. Our house is almost always ready to entertain.

Okay so the consensus is I need to have a 5000+ sq ft home in order for it to be immaculate and picture perfect. Good to know!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You stay on top of it. I have three kids and a dog and I work and I don’t have help beyond cleaners once every 3 weeks but I do have 7000 square feet. That definitely helps. Other than that, rules. No toys on the main floor, no eating other than at the table. Sweep/wipe up each morning. Make beds, wipe rooms, put stuff away before bed. Don’t let there be extra crap around. Throw it away, give it away, take it away.

No toys on the main floor? How weird that the people who live in the home can’t enjoy it.

See you have that all wrong. We do enjoy it. We’d enjoy it less if the main floor was full of toys and crap. The
Main floor is for eating, movies, hanging out and board games and doing kitchen stuff. Basketball and trampoline outside. The top landing is for games and books and cards. The basement and their rooms are full of their toys like Lego etc. This is when the 7000 square feet come in handy. I didn’t do it when our house was smaller but now we can.

That’s why it is easier to have guests come to your home and think you have a well kept home.

We have a formal living room, dining room, music room and foyer that are always clean. Living room and dining room are not touched unless we are hosting adult guests.

Our family does have board games, video games and stuffed animals. We spend most of our time in the kitchen and family room.

Food is not allowed upstairs or downstairs in the basement. In our basement, we have a playroom full of toys. Then we also have a bar, ping pong, billiards, media room and a guest space.

I make kids clean up toys before and after kids leave.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You stay on top of it. I have three kids and a dog and I work and I don’t have help beyond cleaners once every 3 weeks but I do have 7000 square feet. That definitely helps. Other than that, rules. No toys on the main floor, no eating other than at the table. Sweep/wipe up each morning. Make beds, wipe rooms, put stuff away before bed. Don’t let there be extra crap around. Throw it away, give it away, take it away.

No toys on the main floor? How weird that the people who live in the home can’t enjoy it.

See you have that all wrong. We do enjoy it. We’d enjoy it less if the main floor was full of toys and crap. The
Main floor is for eating, movies, hanging out and board games and doing kitchen stuff. Basketball and trampoline outside. The top landing is for games and books and cards. The basement and their rooms are full of their toys like Lego etc. This is when the 7000 square feet come in handy. I didn’t do it when our house was smaller but now we can.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t have a dog but I do have 3 kids and a 10,000sf house. My kids’ rooms are definitely lived in and not always immaculate except when the cleaners leave. We have weekly cleaners. When we have guests, we tidy up our common areas.

My kids know that when they have play dates, they clean before and after.

Me again. We used an interior decorator to put out home together. People usually say we have a beautiful home. It is probably magazine worthy. Before we used the designer, it was clean but not as well put together.

Holy cr$p, what does 10,000 sq ft look like?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My next door neighbor has three kids. Her first floor looks like no one lives there. They have furniture, decor, etc., but no detritus. I couldn't get my house to look like that. They don't even have visible phone charges. She's a SAHM so maybe that helps.

I’m a SAHM and it does not hide my phone chargers for me. Hidden phone chargers take space + the money to redo a kitchen or entryway just to accommodate a phone charging garage or drawer.

The people I know with pristine houses are all very, very rich. It takes space and money to hide the evidence of everyday life, and you have to be able to redo it frequently as that evidence changes. The people I know who keep up with this have contractors in multiple times a year to redo closets, redo playrooms, reconfigure bathrooms, even move walls. If I run out of closet space, I get rid of stuff or accept that some stuff will be visible. My friend will literally move walls and make more closet space!

I put that all on her name

Another example of why social media is a toxic cancer - looking at all that has you concerned about something that shouldn't matter.