I was watching Oprah the other day and they had a great show where they showcased homeowners who were their own decorators and had created beautiful living spaces without the aid of a designer.
One of the houses that they showcased was a 1,700 square foot home that they referred to as “small” and they shared how amazed they were that the homeowner was able to make their home feel so large when they were living in such a small home. The homeowners had lived in another country before so they said they had adapted to the European home size.
To be honest, I just sat scratching my head wondering what I was missing . My home is 1,800 square feet and while it is certainly no McMansion, it isn’t as though we are living in a tiny shack either. We have four people in our house and I feel like it is a comfortable home size for us. A family that lived in our house before us had five children in this space!
When I think about buying a larger home, I think about how I often feel that I can’t keep up with my house that I have right now. If I can’t keep a house tidy this size, why would I ever buy a bigger house that would require more cleaning?
I also think of all my brainstorms for how we can maximize the space we already have by creating more built-in pieces and being more creative with the walls and corners in our home.
Am I alone in this thinking? What are your thoughts about McMansions and the American way of super-sizing everything? What size of house is considered small to you?
Wow, our house is 1500 sq. ft. and I feel that it is too large at times. Sure we would like a bigger house (especially for a bigger bathroom) but in no way would I consider my house on the small side!
[Reply]
Right now, I live in a 900-square-foot apartment with two bedrooms. We have more than enough space for two people.
I don’t want to live in a smaller place (and lemme tell you, I’ve lived in some TINY apartments!) but I don’t think we need bigger than double this size once we have kids.
With a bigger house comes higher heating/cooling bills and plenty more to consider.
[Reply]
Our home is 1100sqft with 3br/2ba. Two adults, two kids, no indoor pets. It feels very small to me. We have no coat or linen closets and the kid bedrooms aren’t big enough for bed/storage/play. Neither bath has double sinks, our laundry “room” is actually an oversized closet and none of the bedroom closets are walkins. We desperately need an office as our kitchen table becomes command central and we fight over computer use. I don’t feel our LR can easily accommodate more than 7 people at a time, our eat in kitchen has room for 6 max and I have maybe 7 linear feet of counterspace. It is impossible for me to entertain with ease and grace in this home but we’re raising our children well enough in it. I would definitely call it a small home. My friends who have 1500 sqft or more seem to have more breathing room and I covet that.
[Reply]
Our house is just about 1500 sq. ft. and also for me at times it feels like too much. We have a couple of rooms that we’re not even using regularly and I still have to clean them!
I love checking in on your blog everyday – great tips and stories!
Lisa
[Reply]
We just moved from a 1-bedroom, 900-sq-ft apartment (which was plenty big, but a lot of wasted space) to a 1200-sq-ft house. I think this house will be “just right” for us for the foreseeable future, and we hope to be here 7-10 years, and grow our family by a couple people.
The funny part is, the little white farmhouse we’re in abuts a new neighborhood going in- with mansions “from the $500′s!” (according to the banner outside the neighborhood.) The contrast is comical.
[Reply]
I think it depends on what region in the US you live in. If you’re living in the midwest or southwest, 1700sq ft would def be considered a modest house. On the east coast however, a 1,700 sq ft place is huge.
[Reply]
I am glad I’m not the only one who feels that my 1600 sq. ft. might be too big!
I have carefully arranged our living spaces so that we do use every room daily, but a recent large gathering here showed me that I could pare down to just the kitchen/family room combo with no problem.
(Hardly anyone ventured into the living/dining room!)
[Reply]
Ours is around 1400 I think for six of us. In most ways it is fine, and I certainly do not keep up with the cleaning. The only think lacking is there is no basement or attic. Storage of seasonal items is an issue. If it had a basement I’d be perfectly happy. I find the bigger our house is the more stuff we accumulate.
[Reply]
i think it’s so pathetic that Oprah’s show calls homes less than 1700 square feet ‘small’. talk about putting pressure on people to have a bigger place! for what? to have big, beautiful rooms you don’t use, but pay to heat/cool/clean/renovate? to one-up the Joneses? that is the ‘American Dream’ gone materialistic, in my opinion.
i think it’s all in how you utilize the space. less is more, in many cases. kids sharing rooms isn’t bad, and not having a full bath for each person isn’t, either. we lived in a 1275 sq. ft. home when we had our daughter, and now have moved to a duplex that’s slightly smaller – and we’re expecting in January – and the space is utilized so much better here. it feels bigger, and we use every room. my husband and i decided that we don’t need 2000 square feet to live comfortably, and i don’t think we ever will. it just makes sense (financial, economical, environmental, emotional) to us to have a ‘small’ place.
[Reply]
Our house is 1100 s.f., and the main living area is sized very nicely. The bedrooms are on the small size though. I once picked up a book at the library, thinking it would be a help to me, it was a Better Homes and Gardens book on how to decorate and organize small houses. The “small” houses in the book were all 2000 s.f. and above! I don’t think of our house as “small”, it would be nice if the bedrooms were larger, but I’m very content with my house. The people who we bought the house from had three little ones and a dog, the house did look crowded, which is why I’m sure they moved. But for the two of us, we have plenty of room. Our first apartment was 500 s.f. THAT was small! =)
[Reply]
I wondered the same thing. Our house is 1,370 sq. ft. and seems massive compared to what I saw on TV. I was thinking that house was a tiny, cute little cottage, but it’s bigger than mine! They had more stuff crammed in than we do, and their furniture was a lot bigger. Maybe the house looks smaller on TV than it is? I don’t know, but I felt really, really good about our layout. We love our house and it feels huge and roomy to us.
[Reply]
We live in a 900 square foot apartment.I’m with you: if I can’t keep it clean now, what’s a big house going to be like?
I think it’s less a question of square footage and more a question of where your feet are. For example, I’d love a big kitchen (our current one was built for dolls, I think) but I don’t think we need a family room AND a living room AND a den.
McMansion? Never! I want something simple and tasteful.
[Reply]
we lived in a 2600 square foot home with one child we decided it was to big so we built another home to our suprise it ended up being 3800 square foot. WAY to big. I spend all day cleaning…the bigger the house the more there is to do. and the bigger the house the more heating and cooling. to me i would rather a smaller house any day. we have 2 kids now and still have way to much. bigger isn’t always better.
[Reply]
Interesting topic Amy, we have a 2000 square foot home and just finished off our basement for another 1000 square feet (for ALL THE TOYS). I’m frightened of all the cleaning already. More space = more work. OY VE.
[Reply]
No – you aren’t the only one that think Oprah has COMPLETELY lost touch with the average person! LOL DaHubby and I lived comfortably in an 800ft bungalow just us two as well as after Viking #1 was born. And, we’re now in a 1500 sq foot home with the addition of Viking #2.
And, I am familiar with your feeling of “if I can barely keep THIS place clean, how in the WORLD would I do it with a house three, fur, ten times this size!?” LOL
[Reply]
Our house is 1100 square feet – we moved here from a 700 sq ft apartment. I love it, and I think it’s plenty big!!
[Reply]
Hi Amy, I love your blogs!
I think the key with a “small” home is to get rid of the clutter. We had a huge yard sale pared down everything. I still have more I can get rid of but I have to work on the hubby. Any size home can feel big depending on how you decorate it.
Jodi
[Reply]
I guess its just a matter of what you’re a customed to.
We have 6 kids and have lived in a house as small as 800 sq ft before. We also travel a ton and stay in hotels and/or 1 bedroom corp apartments. Amazingly, it doesn’t seem too small or insanely crowded. Our kids are all under 10 so I am sure that helps and we won’t be getting away with so little space during travel when they’re bigger.
On the flip side, we own a 3200 sq ft. house. That’s always nice to come home to after being on the road.
[Reply]
We’re 7 people..8 soon..in 1008 sq ft. It’s too small. Seriously. But when we moved in with 5, it wasn’t. It was perfect. I can clean it so fast. But in bad weather, it’s WAY TOO SMALL!!! We’re praying for 1600 or so when we move.
[Reply]
Well, I currently live in a 31foot long camping trailer with my husband and 3 kids and I don’t find the space to be too small at all! And this coming from someone who used to live in a 3600 square foot home. That was MUCH too big!! It was NEVER completely clean and we NEVER came close to using even half of the space each day. It was such a waste! Living in Mexico, I see 15 people living in tiny little plywood homes that are maybe a couple hundred square feet. But it’s funny, they don’t complain! Their kids are just as happy as mine! It just goes to show how much we are influenced by people around us. If we spent more time outdoors (in our massive yards!) we wouldn’t need so much space in our houses. If our children shared bedrooms (and it’s very healthy for them to learn how to share their space at a young age – just ask any single child the first year of their marriage, lol!), or if our families actually spent time with each other in the same room, we would find we don’t need as much space as we think. So many people are moving into larger houses because their smaller ones aren’t big enough to house all of their “stuff”. But then, in a new house, they end up with empty space and have to buy more “stuff” to fill it! It’s a ridiculous cycle!
Wow, I’m ranting, lol!! Thanks for your post. Thanks for making us take the time to think about issues like this!
Tee
[Reply]
I think it all is what you are comfortable with and being a good steward of God’s money.
I do not think that McMansions are “right”. This is just my personal opinion.
Here in the South the average home tends to be around 2000-2500 sq. ft. I live in north central Alabama.
Our home now is just right for my hubby and 20 month old twin boys. it 2026 sq. ft. Kitchen, DR, utility (with walk in pantry off of it), Living Room, Den, 3 bedrooms, Master bedroom (w/ retreat), master bath (w/ walk-in closet) and a second bath. We have plenty of closets. No basement or garage or carport though. We have a small storage building outside. We are blessed to have our home.
When dh and I first married we lived in a 700 sq. ft. home. The original bath was an outhouse. The bath was made some 30 years later. I do not think we would have been comfortable there with more than 2 children forsure.
I think we all forget how blessed we are to live in the land of the free. Especially Hollywood!
As far as 1700 sq. ft., well I think it is plenty big enough for most any family.
Has anyone seen Oprah’s home. Way too big. Even for all the servants and her dogs! I saw it last year via her show, around Christmas I think.
America’s appetite (standards) is TOO big!
[Reply]
Love the post! I realize that the more place we have for “stuff” the more “stuff” we’ll put into the place.
I’m continually (thanks to my daughter’s encouragment) purging my stuff. I do long for simplicity and with stuff to manage, you can’t really be so simple! Great subject.
[Reply]
We have about 1500 sq.ft. and it is just fine. Since our children are grown, and gone we took the smallest bedrooms and turned them into offices for me and my husband. I would like to have more seasonal storage but oh well – it means I don’t buy to store – not really a big deal is it. I had the big house once when the children were smaller and all there friends would come over too. It was so hard to keep clean, took all weekend! With this house, a few hours and it’s just fine. I really get bummed when I hear that I live in “such a small home!” Oh My stars! I like my home. It’s made with love, kindness, and warmth!
[Reply]
We live in a 60′s ranch, 1500 sq ft. If we had more space, we would just accumulate more junk, and more rooms for me to clean! I’m happy with our home for our family of 4.
[Reply]
When I drive by the McMansions, I wonder how you afford enough furniture to fill them, who cleans them, how much do they cost to heat/cool, and what do you do with all that space?
[Reply]
We are a family of 4 (plus 1 dog and 1 cat) in a 1,700 3B, 2BA house. I think that the size is great for our family. It’s not perfect for entertaining more than 8 at once, but we only do that once or twice a year. So, who needs spaces designed for things that are done so infrequently.
[Reply]
Our home is 1600 and we have six people, soon to be seven when baby #5 arrives. The house has a strange layout and it makes the living space seem small, but it would be nice and large if the layout was good. The kitchen is too small for someone who loves to cook for six or more.
We’ve been ok with the bedrooms, but I don’t know where to put baby #5. We have outgrown our house. I think a 2000 sqf home would be perfect for our family. Big enough for us to fit and have room to move about.
Still, it isn’t so much about how much space, it is how you fill your space and how much clutter you keep.
[Reply]
We currently live in a 3 bedroom, 1 bath, 1000 square foot cottage…four adults (there are two of us girls still at home and we’re in our 20′s) with several home businesses. My parents are looking into buying a house around 1700 square feet…we’re going to feel like we’ve moved into an estate!
[Reply]
Our house is 860 sq ft and is lived in by 2 adults, 1 14mth old, 2 cats, 1 dog and a large fish tank. I love it! Now, the floor plan is very well laid out, and the bedrooms are quite large, but it is small.
Everyone always comments on how we are going to have to move out as soon as we have another kid or how it would drive them crazy to live in such a small house. It really doesn’t feel that small.
And exactly, I am able to keep it neat and tidy. There is no way I could do that in a larger house.
There are some things I wish for, but isn’t there always?
[Reply]
Popular topic! We have, I think, a little over 1800 sq.ft. for 6 of us and I usually think it’s too small. I’m okay with the sizes of the rooms, except for the bedrooms. I do wish they were a little bigger & I’d certainly LOVE a master bath. The rest of it feels cluttered at times, but that’s ’cause we have too much stuff. I don’t think I’d want too much more space (mostly because I’d feel the need to fill it all up!!). And I certainly wouldn’t consider 1700 sq. ft to be small by any means. Oprah’s perspective is, um, a bit skewed, I’d say. A problem, I think, with most celebrities who have huge mansions with just them living in them!! Of course, they probably have someone else to do the cleaning, too!!
[Reply]
One thing I’ve learned – different areas of the country list the square footage differently. My sisters 900 sqft. condo in DC was not much bigger than my 500 stft condo in Chicago. In DC – they took the outer dimensions of the unit and calculated the total. In Chicago – they used the LIVING space (so no closets or bathrooms included in the total). SOO your 1700 sq ft house may be SIGNIFICANTLY larger than one in another area of the country – if yours does not include closets, bathrooms or storage (basemetn) and someone elses does.
[Reply]
i’ve got very strong feelings about this topic… and i find the excesses of society depressing.
blessings,
k
[Reply]
I love this topic.
I live in Nashville and work in one of the most affluent counties in Middle Tennessee. It is “McMansion” mecca!
Our home was built in 1968 and has about 1,900 square feet. I do not consider it small, I just wish we had more closet space and one more full bath (especially with two girls!)
My dream for our next home is to have more closet and bathroom space and a walk-in pantry. But honestly I have no desire to have a huge home! Too much to clean.
I guess I consider our house to be “average” size, but compared to newer homes it probably would be deemed small.
But today people want more more more. It speaks volumes for what people consider to be of value. And that is kind of sad.
p.s. your ad looks great!
[Reply]
our house is 1,100 sq. ft. so it’s pretty small. However, hubby finished the basement when we moved in so now he has a workshop, I have a luandry room with shelving, cupboards and counter space and the office/family room is down there, too. It helps SO MUCH! We’re a family of 4–with 3 br, 1.5 baths. We despserately need more closet/storage space, though. Luckily, I’m the only gal in the house! As for McMansions, I’d rather have a smallish house (maybe just a tad bigger than this). It seems like in those HUGE homes, families could go for days without ever getting or having to be near each other!
[Reply]
I watched Oprah show too.
Need to see more.
Then I ‘ve found your blog.
[Reply]
Hey guys,
I stumbled across this board looking for advice on whether an apartment was big enough or not and wanted to know your guys thoughts…
Me and my boyfriend are in college, and I found a great 2BR apartment that is only 900 SF. My brother is also our roommate and I was curious if maybe 900 SF was way too small for 3 young adults? I’m clueless to imagining space a what would be acceptable!
Thanks for any help!
[Reply]