How much space is enough?
August 27, 2018
Talking to my dear mentor-friend about living spaces, I was mulling over my wish to have just a bit more.
We are usually perfectly comfortable with what we have for 2 adults, 1 child, 2 large dogs, and hosting 1-2 adult guests for a week at a time multiple times a year. But there is still a bit of me that wishes we had just a tad more.
She declared that buying too much house was just a waste. She’s absolutely right.
The “more” I want is just a bit more luxury. The ability to comfortably host 1-3 of JB’s friends at a time (at this age, a friend means the whole family with siblings) or even just our own friends and their families for birthdays and other celebrations – 300 square feet inside. The ability to have spacious grass for the dogs to play AND a food-producing garden – 200 square feet outside. The space in the garage to fit two cars without playing Tetris each time we pull in – 50 square feet. Room to plant tall and thin plants along our side walls so that our neighbors can’t just glance over and see everything we’re doing – 50 square feet.
Even if we had to pick just two, we would have been paying a whole lot more money, though. Let’s say we got a bigger place which has, on average a lower price per square foot. Not low, mind you, just lower than our current PPSF. There’s a place listed for 1.25M in our neighborhood with about 2400 square feet. It’ll sell over list price, they almost always do, so call that a 1.3M/2400 square foot = $540 per square foot.
Just skipping the garage Tetris? $27,000. Hosting space? $162,000.
Put it that way, paying $200-400 a year to rent out space a couple times a year, for the kids to play or to host a birthday party, is looking like the far more affordable option. We usually celebrate birthdays with a special home cooked dinner and a couple of friends over, so really, it’s just big milestone birthdays we’d host.
And honestly, though I get a pang of envy whenever we visit friends in the Midwest who have 3000+ square feet, I don’t want to be cleaning all that! Our hands are full with what we do have right here. If we were actually rich then we could stimulate the economy to hire a house cleaner, a gardener, and what have you. But we’re not so it’s all DIY for the daily living chores.
So in the end, my mentor-friend stays right. At a much bigger footprint, our house would own us, not the other way around. That’s no way to live.
We are at 1100 sq ft for two adults. What we have now feels perfect for us now but will probably be a little cramped when we have kids. Luckily we can convert our attic into living space, adding another 500-700 sq ft, which feels like it’d be enough for our family. I hate cleaning, so the smaller the better.
1100 square feet does feel good for two adults to me as well, I don’t want to spend more than half a day a week cleaning! If that much, even.
Lovely that you have conversion options!
I get the feeling it has a lot to do with perception and the surrounding area. The house we put an offer on was just under 2400 sqft, which feels comically large to me. It had a lot of the other things we were looking for though (large yard, parking, excellent price per square foot for the area), so we went for it. Our last house was ~1200 sqft, and I honestly thought we would end up somewhere between 1500-1800 sqft when we first started looking. Currently our family is two adults, one toddler and a large dog. We would like to have another child, but we’re in our mid-thirties now so it’s anyone’s guess as to whether we’ll be successful. A friend of ours runs a cleaning service, and I do hire her for the sake of my own sanity, so I’m sure she’s quite happy about us having a larger house, lol.
That might be the case. We are surrounded by a mix of similar footprints or double what we have.
I just have to remember that we can’t afford a cleaner so I don’t want more square footage to clean, on top of the money we’d already be paying in mortgage premium. 😀
I came to the same conclusion regarding a vacation home on our Gulf Coast. Yes, if would be great to purchase one for family. BUT, I can rent two Condos once a year, for a few days, and have us all enjoy them. Considering the outrageous cost of hurricane insurance on our coast, renting is a bargain. Plus, my kids have jobs/school. They cannot get away more than once a year anyway.
Vacation homes sound great in theory but like some versions of timeshares, I can’t imagine paying all the cost of a second home that we’re not also using full time. I also wouldn’t want all my vacation time to be limited to that one destination every year which it would be or else why have it?
We have a 3/1.5 that is 1120 sq. ft. That’s small, and it is, but it’s so well laid out that it doesn’t feel that small.
The storage is decent, too, particularly since our garage is storage/project space (Southern California weather). Mostly, we need to get rid of stuff. A LOT of stuff.
That said, it would be nice to have a real master bath and closet. Our closet is very tiny and weird, and Mr. Sandwich has done pretty much everything that can be done to maximize it. And Baguette’s room (and ours) could be a smidge bigger. So for slightly larger bedrooms and an ensuite, maybe, I don’t know, another 200 square feet? But based on local square foot price, that would add another $100,000 (give or take), so no.
I LOVE a great layout that makes the most of the square footage!
I wonder if you could do a reasonably priced reno to give you a good ensuite.
Maybe some day, but for three humans and two small dogs, the space works fine–just having the extra half bath is such a game-changer.
We were just talking about the lifestyle inflation of knowing how much better life can be with TWO TOILETS in the house.
We went from a larger house on a smaller property to a smaller house on a larger property. The place we are was mainly driven by what my husband really wanted– he’s into the idea of having land, and we’re now on 5 acres.
I’m, well. I’m okay with being where we are. Really good schools for my daughter, better commute for my husband, and my home office has a really beautiful view. But for me, 5 acres is too much. And the interior… it’s not so much that I feel like we need a lot more interior space as it is that I feel like the space we have needs to be adjusted to be more useful. It’s ubiquitous– even in dumb little things, like I can’t hang things in the closets without standing on my toes and reaching–the rods are too high. And the kitchen cabinets are unusually shallow, so I can’t fit in as many glasses as I’m used to. The whole house has too-big/too-little dichotomies going on everywhere.
We would still buy this house if I had it to do over, because my husband loves it. But I will confess (anonymously on the internet) to periodically looking at houses for sale and mentally sighing now and then. Nearby, less expensive, smaller yards, closer to playgrounds, and–at least in photos– more congenial spaces.
Anonymity on the internet can be an amazing outlet 🙂
I hope that you can resolve those dichotomies so it works better for you at least! 5 acres is a LOT. I keep thinking of all the weeds you’d have to pull.
So we have about 20% too much house; it’s around 3100 square feet, with about an acre, for five of us plus there’s a MIL apartment in the basement in case our parents need to come live with us. We bought a too-big house because we live in a rural area with a population density <40 people/square mile and there were not a lot of choices. (Also the university offers a ludicrously good deal on mortgages.) We are two blocks from the elementary school and can walk to work and the city plows in the winter and I've taught the children to vacuum. They also help clean the bathrooms (of which there are four!) It's fine. We'll downsize when we retire and maybe one day I'll get a real job and hire a cleaner!
If I also had help cleaning the bathrooms, I wouldn’t mind four. But two is luxury enough for us 🙂
I have 1492 sf. It’s almost a perfect layout for 1 person. I have extra space in one area that I wish the space was used for a laundry/utility room instead.
I was looking for a bit smaller house actually. And I really toyed with the idea of much smaller but didn’t think my current furniture would be fit ideally. I love the (old) apartment therapy apartments that were perfectly furnished and designed (of course I lack that design skill).
Yes! The old apartment therapy designs were AMAZING.
I wouldn’t want anything bigger, at least not for a cost. Better closets and a true “master bath” would be really luxurious, but unnecessary. I like our layout for hosting small gatherings, but I suppose we’ll see if we still fit nicely when we are trying to accomodate kid parties /gatherings. The main thing I dislike is our lack of a useful yard. The park is very close, but it isn’t a yard. This is mostly an issue for kids since we have a patio & deck for adult outdoor space.
After baby comes, we’ll still be able to host up to 2 adults with relative comfort (last year we packed in 5 adults and 2 kids, but it was crowded!).
I wouldn’t want to spend another penny on a mortgage, so I think we’ll make do with what we have!
Same, I’m not willing to pay any more than we’re paying now.
If I could figure out the optimal landscaping for our yard, we might be able to host people more comfortably.
Our 2 bedroom condo is just a little under 1,000 sq ft. That’s very tight for 2 of us, one kid, one mom, and one cat. We’re about ready to move into a bigger space. 🙂
I wouldn’t want to live in a house bigger than 2,000 sq ft, though. I’d need a cleaning person to help out then.
That is TINY for 4 humans and a cat! 🙂
I have about 700 square feet for one person, and it’s almost as much as I want. I would like the kitchen to be a bit bigger for my own ease of cooking and the living room to be significantly bigger so that I could host my family for dinners, but I would only host a few dinners per year, so it doesn’t seem worth the cost. I will probably die in my one-bedroom apartment and be eaten by my cats someday!
Noooo we won’t let that happen to you!
Oh boy, your area is expensive! 2400 sq. feet in my part of the world costs about half of what it does in yours. I understand the desire for space. I don’t think it’s a matter of materialism (at least not always), but of personal preference. When our children were young, it was great for us to have space. Now that they’re young adults flying the nest, we’d be happy to scale way back. Do you have the option of adding an extension to your house somewhere down the road?
IT IS.
We kind of have an option to but it’s not a great way to do it. Right now, I don’t think it’s worth the trouble.
We have about 700 square feet at our 1 bedroom in-law in SF but as BwC is going on 2.5 years next month and keeps growing we feel like the we are slowly but surely outgrowing our place and definitely need more space. It’s still okay for now but maybe within the next year or two a bigger place is what we need. We’ll see how the housing market swings within that time span.
Crossing my fingers for your hunt!
“Put it that way, paying $200-400 a year to rent out space a couple times a year, for the kids to play or to host a birthday party, is looking like the far more affordable option.” Got THAT right! And the more hassle-free option. The 1860 s.f. of the Funny Farm is a bedroom or two larger than I need. But it’s a far cry from the 3,000-s.f. shacks I lived in before making my escape. You can hire the most brilliant cleaning help on the planet, but you’re still going to end up being the one who has to take care of it. Agreed, a little extra space is good…but there’s a limit. 😀
I just have to remember this for birthday season!
The garage space is probably worth it since you’d get daily use out of that one. But hosting space isn’t, like you said,it’s not much value for
… For just a few days of use per year. And think of the cleaning indeed, I would have to get a professional for that, I hate cleaning. X-D
Very true! We spend time in the garage every day!
My apartment us 600 sq feet so for me and Harrison, it works out great. I regularly host friends for dinner, and I can do up to six then we feel a little squished. I also wouldn’t mind a big tub to soak these bones in and just a tad bit more counter space for when I am hosting.
But, I’m content and happy. My apartment complex is quirky and gorgeous, I live in Central Phoenix in a neighborhood I always made googly eyes out then finally did it. My utilities are included which is so the bees knees, especially with our summers and my asthma. I’m happy and thankful for my place.
That sounds so comfortable!
I have 1180 square feet, a 2 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom townhouse. Way too big for 1 person, but it works great for when family comes to visit! I moved 1,000+ miles away from “home” so my parents and my grandma come and stay with me for sometimes weeks/month at a time. Then the place feels too small! 😉
It sounds spacious for a single person but you get 3 visitors at a time for weeks and months? Oh heavens!
Usually only my dad for one month, since he retired last September. Used to have my grandma and her boyfriend come stay with me for 4-6 weeks during the winter, but they paid my mortgage that month and grandma cooked for me, so I couldn’t really complain! 🙂
Ooh ok I see!
Awfully nice to have a grandma who will cook for you.
My 2/1 house is just under 1100 sq ft. It’s just the right size for me and my revolving roster of short-term roommates. I’m not keen on only having one bathroom, and I wish I had a tub that was a bit deeper and better for baths. I have a very large back yard and I often think about adding a master suite with a tub nice soaking tub. But I just don’t think that I’d ever be able to afford it. Plus, I honestly don’t need the space for myself. And I’m hoping that at some point I can actually just live here on my own with only the occasional visit from a friend or guest. I also wish my one car garage was just a tad larger. I can squeeze the car, but I’ve already damaged one side mirror and scraped up a rear fender trying to get in; it is a really tight fit!
I surely do wish we could expand the garages and bathrooms like TARDISs!