Homes: How much is enough?

[Smoke]

A year ago, we bought this 1234 square foot (115 m²) house. Although the design isn't ideal for the two of us, it seems to be about the right amount of space. A few blocks away and up a hill, though, there are newer houses that are much larger: three to six times the size of our house. We like to say we live in the peasant village below the castles.

We talk about emigrating, and we talk about building a house. Do we need a guest room? Two guest rooms? Do we need a separate tv room, library, and living room, or can those all be in one room? We've concluded that if our sleep schedules weren't so different, we could live in one big room, but since I'm a night person and he's a morning person, we need a separate room to sleep in. It's nice to have a guest room, and it's nice to have two bathrooms. But how much is too much? How much is too little? We have all these books and DVDs and CDs; we have five computers, four televisions, and three grills (one propane, one charcoal, and one electric). John has a lot of Harley-Davidson, Coca-Cola, and Star Wars memorabilia; I have a lot of paper files and photographs. Is a house to live in, or to store all your stuff in?

In this month's House & Garden, Dominique Browning discusses the private castles of the wealthy. (See article here.)

38,000 square feet. That's the size of a house that designed for a lot in Greenwich, Connecticut. That's most of a football field. It isn't going to be built; the neighbors got themselves into a self-righteous lather about how inappropriate such a big house was, and their very public protests persuaded the owner to withdraw his plans. The neighbors' houses are in the modest range of 27,000 square feet. ...

The rest of us, meanwhile, are beginning to think about downsizing. The problem is that it is such a depressing term. It puts you in mind of "downturn" and "downhill"— as in a downturn of fortunes, down at the heels while on the downhill slope of life. I'd like to propose another concept: smartsizing.

Smartsizing has a lot going for it: it implies that you have the brains to understand what is appropriate— not just for your bank account, but for your town and for the environment. Smartsizing also takes into consideration that people need different kinds of dwellings at different stages of their lives. Smartsizing means that thinking trumps showing off.
​

On the other end of the scale from the conspicuous mansion on the hill is the tiny house. We think tiny houses are too tiny for us. They'd be okay to live in temporarily, or to use a guest house, but we don't think they'd work as permanent quarters -- not for two people.

Some links to sites about tiny houses

• Tumbleweed Tiny House Company
• TinyHouses.net
• TinyHomes.com: Tiny Homes and Small Houses

When it comes to a house, how much do you need? How much do you want? Could you live in a small house without feeling you'd settled for less than you wanted? Most of us don't see ourselves living in a house like this one:

View attachment Zadeh.jpg​

or a house like this one:

View attachment greatlakeshouse0.jpg

But what do you envision as the right house, the right amount of space?
​

 

[MysticSang'ha]

Actually, for just me..........if I lived a life of solitude, the red house you got there would do the trick. I only need a place for a bed, some clothes, some toiletries, a couple of burners for cooking, and a laptop computer.



The walls would be decorated top to bottom with shelves of books.




But, I have a family. One of our kids desperately needs a certain amount of space because of his neurological condition, so that is a priority. My husband likes to have his "man-space" with his guitars, movie posters, and collectable model cars.........not to mention the vintage posters of Marilyn Monroe in "The Seven Year Itch" and Farrah Fawcett hanging up.........and our big screen TV that he loves to play his XBox360 on.




We need what we have now. We had a two-bedroom/one bath apartment for quite a while, and the family as a whole was going stir-crazy. We just moved into our house that is the perfect fit unless we start getting silly and buying more stuff that we just don't need. Right now we live in:


3 bedroom, 2.5 bath, kitchen, dining area, living room, full basement, fenced-in back yard (modest sized)


We don't have a garage, and our storage shed is actually part of the house.


It's about 1600 square feet. Just right.




Peace,
Mystic

 

[BrandonE]

My wife and I were discussing this very recently, due to seeing one of the tiny house designers on TV (did that prompt you to start this?). We've got right at 1500 sq.ft and think that it's about right for us, if admittedly large and extravagant by the world's standards.


I think the tiny house is very interesting. It makes you think about what it is that drives the big house culture that we live in. My first thought on seeing it was that we live in big houses because we spend so much time indoors.

I was probably thinking along these lines because of a recent trip to Cherokee NC. In the "demo village" they had examples of the homes they lived in, and none had windows. The guide stated that this was because the only time they were indoors was either to cook or to sleep, and in either case, had enough light to do what they had to do.

 

[Djamila]

The most expensive places to live in Bosnia are generally in downtown apartments. They are in the upper floors of buildings that house the main shops and boutiques and cost a small fortune not only once, but once each month.

Most Bosnians who live in cities live in small, simple, brightly-painted homes in the suburbs. They're very crowded together in the mahala design and although they're simple, they're generally very comfortable.

In cities you also have communist-era apartment highrises, these are generally home to Bosnia's lowest classes.

But my ideal choice would be to live in a typical, rural Bosnian home - in a town or village on the edge of Sarajevo. These homes are small and poor but they're beautiful and very traditional, which suits my tastes. These homes can be purchased practically for the pocket change most Americans carry around with them, they're so common. So if you can afford to commute every day to work, there's tens of thousands of such homes surrounding Sarajevo to choose from.

 

[Quiddity]

2,000 Sq feet sounds like a good size to me. With a lot size of at least 8,000. I just want room for my kids to run and play. As for the inside, I'm easy, I just let the wife give me room for books and everything else is up to her. She's got a fashion anyways.

Here in southern california studios alone are going for 350,000. That's insane if you ask me. But as long as there is a demand, they will build and rise.

 

[Booko]

A year ago, we bought this 1234 square foot (115 m²) house. Although the design isn't ideal for the two of us, it seems to be about the right amount of space. A few blocks away and up a hill, though, there are newer houses that are much larger: three to six times the size of our house. We like to say we live in the peasant village below the castles.

I nearly drove into a tree last week when I noticed someone is going to build 700K+ houses on the fringe of our neighbood. Our house is maybe 1600 sq. ft. Really enough, even with the home office upstairs and the thousands of books we have.

It's not about the space -- it's how effieciently you use it, and how many material possessions you think you really need.

Here's the question I ask myself these days : If the house burned down today -- would I run out and replace this? If the answer is no: GET RID OF IT!

I'm in the mode of getting rid of a lot of stuff. I don't need it, but someone else will. St. Vincent de Paul is getting to know me very well.

We talk about emigrating, and we talk about building a house. Do we need a guest room? Two guest rooms? Do we need a separate tv room, library, and living room, or can those all be in one room?

We have a lot of multiple use rooms. This is how watching all those Christopher Lowell shows when I was laid up paid off.

I live mostly in the living room/dining room. I have the tv (very small 11 in one) in a corner cabinet, my laptop on a folding table (so if we have an event here, it moves out of the way. I have a keyboard (musical) in the dining room. If we have an event where I need a buffet, I have a board I can put over it, slap a table cloth on it and voila!...buffet!

The family room is where the kids hang out. No kids, no need for family room. I don't use it, though I suppose once they're out of the house I can put a treadmill there. There really isn't a better place to put one. Though if we take over the "family game nights" it might come in handy.

The master bedroom is larger than what we need, so I'm working on turning it into the bedroom/reading room.

The office is jammed. We have lots of computers, and we use most of them, though some of them will be going by the end of the year. We have thousands of books. We're going through and eliminating some of them (again). My husband has tons of wargames. He's selling off ones he doesn't play any more. Some of them he paid $25 for originally are now worth hundreds, because they're pretty much out of print.

My daughter's room is small, and when one of the kids is gone, I plan on turning that into the quilting room. You need good space for that to really work on it. A wall to pin up pieces is a real asset.

My son's bedroom could easily fit 4 people. We may well turn that into the "guest room" eventually, done up with 2 bunk beds. That will give us the ability to have travel teachers or youth doing Years of Service, or whatever the community has need for.

There are some Baha'is in our area that have really huge houses for 2 people, but they use them as de facto Baha'i Centers, as many of our communities are not large enough to have a permanent space. They have weekend retreats and classes at their houses and host other community events, so in this case a big house makes sense.

It's nice to have a guest room, and it's nice to have two bathrooms. But how much is too much? How much is too little?

I don't find much use for a guest room, except if I'm sponsoring travel teachers or something like that. Otherwise, my living room can easily be the guest room. Who's coming besides Mom?

In the past, we've blown up the inflatable mattress and put it on the floor for guests. If there are any issues of age or infirmity or whatever, we take the air mattress and the guests get the bedroom.

We have all these books and DVDs and CDs; we have five computers, four televisions, and three grills (one propane, one charcoal, and one electric). John has a lot of Harley-Davidson, Coca-Cola, and Star Wars memorabilia; I have a lot of paper files and photographs. Is a house to live in, or to store all your stuff in?

If you had a fire today -- which of those things would you go out and replace in the next year?

I've learned the hard way that clutter is not just a problem of having too much stuff. Clutter has a whole 'nother psychological dimension to it, and unless that gets moved out of the way, you'll just accumulate more stuff. Having lots of stuff is a way of protecting yourself. Find out how that works for you, ask that tough "fire" question, and you'll see things start to move out.

On the other end of the scale from the conspicuous mansion on the hill is the tiny house. We think tiny houses are too tiny for us. They'd be okay to live in temporarily, or to use a guest house, but we don't think they'd work as permanent quarters -- not for two people.

And yet, 75 years ago 2 people lived in houses like this all the time. What happened to change that?

When it comes to a house, how much do you need? How much do you want? Could you live in a small house without feeling you'd settled for less than you wanted? Most of us don't see ourselves living in a house like this one:

Here's what I see myself living in after we "retire."

The A-frame house is not for everywhere, but in a cooler climate is absolutely wonderful. I have no idea why these didn't catch on for more than cottages at the lake or in the woods. I think they're ideal. The sleeping and "quite" area is upstairs, and the downstairs is very open and efficient.

These houses are especially good in a cool climate because in winter the heat goes upstairs so you can really turn down the heat at night. In the summer, just open the windows to let the heat out. They're very sensible, and you can even get kits to build your own.

Imagine if you had the roof oriented the correct way so one side of it could have solar panels...

 

[evearael]

The house we are in now is maybe 1,200 sq. ft. and it is on the big side for the three of us because we don't have that much stuff. I would love to build a little cottage to live in after my husband retires, many years from now, because I would prefer land to a giant house. I want to grow our own food, keep chickens for eggs and angora bunnies so I can spin my own yarn and knit. I don't need a lot of space, but I prefer very open floor plans with lots of windows.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I personally don't need much space to live in. The red house would do when it comes to space.

 

[dannisayz]

Growing up on Long Island I've seen the sky-rocket effect with property values and it's insane. No one my age (22) can afford to purchase a home here anymore. It's rare to find a home for under $300,000 that is in decent condition and in a good neighborhood. So, we're all moving upstate NY (above and around where my friend Maddlama lives).

My fiance and I are looking at town homes here on LI (2 bed, 1.5 bath, kitch, etc.) and they go for approx. $300,000. Currently we live in a 900sq. ft. apartment and it's ok for now, but I'm feeling cramped. We're both teachers and spend a lot of time indoors during the school year grading papers and making lesson plans. We don't have a formal office and it drives me insane. I wish we could get a bigger apartment, but we cannot afford the increase in rent (we currently pay $1600 a month plus utilities - that is CHEAP for Long Island in an apartment community).

*sigh*

I wish I could just move to lakefront property and build a log cabin home. Then I'd be happy.

 

[Buttercup]

But what do you envision as the right house, the right amount of space?

The house we live in for the time being is around 1800 square feet on a quarter acre city lot. Three bedrooms plus lots of storage and my jewelry studio included. Seems to be enough room for Rick, me and my son Brandon but our house has one major drawback.....only a single, solitary bathroom. That's a 1950's cottage for you.

However, as an air traffic controller my husband has the option to retire at 50 and is required to retire at 55, so when that time comes.....we'd like to move here and buy a couple hundred acres of property. Oh, and have at least two bathrooms.

 

[Booko]

The house we are in now is maybe 1,200 sq. ft. and it is on the big side for the three of us because we don't have that much stuff. I would love to build a little cottage to live in after my husband retires, many years from now, because I would prefer land to a giant house. I want to grow our own food, keep chickens for eggs and angora bunnies so I can spin my own yarn and knit. I don't need a lot of space, but I prefer very open floor plans with lots of windows.

Maybe we could be neighbors? I already know a lot about keeping chickens.

Hm, do you like vegetable gardening? Just keep the bunnies out, though.

I do like to knit, but there's not much call for it in the South. I miss the snow, so would like to move North eventually.

Windows are a must, as natural light is the best. And with the double and triple pane windows they make nowadays, they don't have to be such a heat sink.

I wonder if anyone is using fiber optics in homes to bring in natural light?

 

[Booko]

I wish I could just move to lakefront property and build a log cabin home. Then I'd be happy.

See if you can find a job around Saugatuck, MI, then.

Great artist community. And there's lots of little lakes, along with the "big" one. Heck, I'd move there just because it's a fruit growing area. :eat:

 

[CaptainXeroid]

My wife & the 3 :kat:s & I live in a 1,200 ft2 townhome. She wants us to move into a bigger home to accomodate all our stuff, while I would prefer we reduce, organize, and stop acquiring stuff.

/me eyeballs Booko's A-frame house....very nice! I'll take one as well.

...I've learned the hard way that clutter is not just a problem of having too much stuff. Clutter has a whole 'nother psychological dimension to it, and unless that gets moved out of the way, you'll just accumulate more stuff. Having lots of stuff is a way of protecting yourself. Find out how that works for you, ask that tough "fire" question, and you'll see things start to move out...

Very nicely stated, and we really need to take this 'test'.

 

[Booko]

She wants us to move into a bigger home to accomodate all our stuff, while I would prefer we reduce, organize, and stop acquiring stuff.

Men always do. :slap:

Gee, I don't suppose you'd like to take a look at some of the new lofts and townhomes going up in Chamblee, would you? The area is really going up, and in a hurry. On the other side of me, Dunwoody is coming south. Haha, we can't miss with our home values, I think.

Very nicely stated, and we really need to take this 'test'.

If by chance you ever need any help to go through stuff and organize things, I know this absolute wonder of an organizer, and she only charges $35/hr which is dirt cheap. Everyone else charges $50. Her 17-yr old can sell stuff on eBay for ya, and he is good at carpet cleaning too. She's *very* fast, but not pushy.

If we haven't finished with the office by the end of the year, we'll be hiring her for that, even if it means my husband has to get a job on the side. If nothing else, it'll save on arguments, because I'll let *her* tackle the Rooster in this henhouse.

Shucks, I'd do that myself in a minute if I thought any employer could deal with phone calls like, "gee sorry I have a migraine, can't come in today."

 

[cardero]

I never understood how houses appreciate over the years. This rule does not apply to cars, clothes or already eaten food. With the exception of moving into a new house, shouldn’t an old house cost less depending on how old it is?

Another thing that I have never understood is how some people boast about how much they had gotten when they sold their house compared to what they originally paid for it. They say “We paid $22,000 for this house 20 years ago and we just sold it for $320,000!!”


Good for you, now go out there and find another house for $22,000.

 

[Sunstone]

I tend to keep my possessions to a minimum, so any house over a few hundred square feet would be wasted space for me. I'm better off in a small apartment in the neighborhood that I want to be in than in a large modern house in a newer neighborhood that had not enough trees to allow me to feel comfortable in it.

 

[Buttercup]

I'm better off in a small apartment in the neighborhood that I want to be in than in a large modern house in a newer neighborhood that had not enough trees to allow me to feel comfortable in it.

I hear ya there. Older neighborhoods with established landscaping and trees are much more appealing. I'd sacrifice size for esthetics too. I imagine you to have a artist's loft style apartment or something similar. Or an apartment in an old, charming house. Am I close?

We hope to buy that place in the country as land can be bought in large parcels for as little as $1,000 an acre in eastern Oregon. But, if we end up living where we are in town forever...that would be fine as well. I really gotta have another bathroom though.

 

[dannisayz]

See if you can find a job around Saugatuck, MI, then.

Great artist community. And there's lots of little lakes, along with the "big" one. Heck, I'd move there just because it's a fruit growing area. :eat:

I have my heart set on the Adirondack Mountains here in NY. I could never leave NY.