What do you consider a large house?

[monkeybug]

How many square feet?
I have almost always lived in small houses. We are moving this June and the only house we could find near the schools we wanted is really big (we are renting it), or at least I thought it was! I was googling other houses in the neighborhood that are for sale, and they are all much bigger! Our house is definitely among the smallest in the neighborhood. (not that I mind, I was just surprised that in a "normal" neighborhood so many houses were so big)
Then I googled some more, and it turns out that our homes square footage is what some believe is the new average size of an American home.
I guess living in military housing, and renting on the economy to stay with in our BAH, has given me an unrealistic expectation of what constitutes a big house!
Now I think some people who heard me proclaim our new house is "So huge!!" are probably shaking their head and internally saying "poor hillbilly" (of course that could be because I also proclaim "The fridge has an Ice maker!...and WATER on the fridge door too!!! SO fancy!" LOL!
So what's the size of a big house in your mind?

 

[abdmom]

Different localities count square footage differently. Most places count "finished" square feet, not including basement, but some places count the basement too. Our 3300 sq ft house in MA was much bigger than our 5100 sq. ft house in MN. We're currently in a 4600 sq. ft. house and it is "smaller" than both. As my kids have aged, the amount of room dedicated to their needs has grown and the amount of room dedicated to mine has shrunk.

Oops, to answer your question, I would say something that is 3000 sq ft not including the basement/non-heated areas, is a big house.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

These days, anything under 1,500 starts to feel small where anything over 2,500 is definitely large. For me personally, anything over 2,000 starts to feel large.

Other factors play into it as well. 1,500 with an open floorplan and a basement is going to feel a lot larger than a traditional 2,000 with no basement.

 

[Swan4Me]

1000-1200 is small

1500-1800 is medium

2000-2500 is large

anything over that-too big to clean

 

[bigbabyblues]

My IL's have a 4500 sq foot home with 6 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. Their house is large to me. Our house is 2600 sq feet and a finished basement and I think it's normal. I grew up in a small home also.

 

[marybet]

I think 3000 sq. ft. is large and anything above 4500 sq. ft. is huge!

My house is 2400 sq. ft., I don't want more rooms but I wish some of my rooms were larger.

 

[mr.bungle]

My house is 2300 and it is just my wife, myself and 3 cats. It is too big and a PITA to clean. We had the big house dream and in hindsight, we'd be happy in a 1500 one story. We have 3 "living areas" and really only use one. C'est la vie.

 

[disykat]

I think under 1500 is small, 1500 - 2500 is average, and over 2500 is big.

Our home for our family of four is 1800 sq ft. plus a small basement space for storage etc. (you have to go outside to access it) It's fine for four, but will still be good for just the two of us.

I think small usually have only one living space, medium have two living spaces or one extra large one, and big homes start to have more than two living spaces.

 

[wdwmom0f3]

1000-1200 is small

1500-1800 is medium

2000-2500 is large

anything over that-too big to clean

I agree with this, but it really depends on the floor plan too. Our last house was 2515 sq ft two story and seemed much bigger than our current 2500 sq ft home that is one level. I still find that we need more room so I am going to say that for me, anything over 3500 sq ft is large, and no way would I want to clean it.

 

[MIGrandma]

I have no idea how many square feet our house is, it's a big 'ol farmhouse with an addition.

It has a living room, dining room, kitchen, office, laundry room, master bedroom, two bathrooms and a 24'x24' family room downstairs.

Upstairs is a third bathroom and 3 large bedrooms.

I think it's a large house, especially when it comes to cleaning it.

 

[kimmar067]

1000-1200 is small

1500-1800 is medium

2000-2500 is large

anything over that-too big to clean

...a-MEN...

 

[tigercat]

I guess I have lived in a small house then. Our house is only 1300 sq. ft.
tigercat

 

[snowy76]

Great question. It reminded me of a discussion I had with my sociology students last semester about what constitutes a normal/average standard of living in the U.S. One figure we found said the average new home in the 1950s measured about 900 square feet. Today many new homes have a three-car garage with - you guessed it - 900 square feet.

I grew up in a raised ranch with maybe 1200 sq ft. My home currently has 1800. I thought it was big until I started noticing my neighbors' homes and homes of some of my friends - we have the small house LOL. I wish our LAYOUT was different, though I think the size is just fine.

 

[Robinrs]

Coming from NYC I am a fanatic about space now that I can get it.

Here a large house is anything over 3000 square feet, small is 750 - 1500.

In NYC that would be multimillion dollar properties.

 

[Katy Belle]

Our current house is 3500 square feet. It is large, but not huge. Our first house, 23 years ago, was 1,100 square feet and it was definitely SMALL. The houses in this neighborhood are all under 7 years old... and ours is one of the largest, but there are a couple that must be over 5,000 sq feet. I'd say the smallest in the neighborhood are around 2,000 sq ft.

 

[RadioNate]

It all depends on what you are used to.

I think about 2500 sqft is average. Our biggest house was about 3000 and it was 'normal.' We decreased from there to 2500 and 2200. Our first house was 1700 and after apartments it seemed big

I'm currently in 1900 and it feels small. I'm finishing the basement.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

Great question. It reminded me of a discussion I had with my sociology students last semester about what constitutes a normal/average standard of living in the U.S. One figure we found said the average new home in the 1950s measured about 900 square feet. Today many new homes have a three-car garage with - you guessed it - 900 square feet.

When I was probably 10 years old, a very successful doctor built a house in a new development near me. Aside from having a thriving practice, he had 7 kids. We all thought the house was a monstrosity, and it was the first $100,000 home anyone had ever heard of around here But, it seemed on par for a successful doctor with 7 kids. The development built up all around that house over the next 30 years & despite 99% of the rest of the homes being owned by middle-class (at best) folks, that doctor's house is now the smallest one in the neighborhood.

 

[Ephany]

1000-1200 is small

1500-1800 is medium

2000-2500 is large

anything over that-too big to clean

I wish our LAYOUT was different, though I think the size is just fine.

We own a house ~1600sq feet, two-story with a garage. DH and I agree that it's plenty of space for the 3 of us. Our bedroom is huge (the people who built it took the 3 bedrooms upstairs and made 2 into the master). We wish that they would have left 3 rooms upstairs and then we'd each have an office. Other than that, it's a good fit.

The house we're renting while I finish school is ~900sq feet, one-story, no-garage. It's almost identical to the house I grew up in. It's doable, but with the 3 of us + 4 animals there's not a lot of alone space. I see now why with 5 people and 6 animals my mom was always snappy (especially with only one bathroom ).

If we ever have another child, we might upsize, but we both hate to clean so we're trying to be careful about not having more space than we need.

 

[Nette]

The first house my parents bought (in the 80s) was a 1962 ranch with 962 sq ft. FIVE of us lived in it with only one bathroom. I recently flipped that house when my dad died, and it seemed small, but not tiny. Perfect for a couple with no kids. It was also on a large lot... about 1/3 of an acre.

The first house my husband and I bought was 2005 sq ft and was built in 1992. The lot was probably about 4000 sq ft (that's about 1/10 of an acre I think). And that house had SO MUCH wasted space.

When we moved, one of the things we really had to have was a large lot. Neither of us could stand that postage stamp of a yard that was too small for even a single swing for DD. The house we bought is a 1976 ranch with ~1700 sq ft (there is some discrepancy about the actual sq ftg between appraisers and TAX appraisers). While it's tight with all 4 of us living here, it's laid out much better... and more importantly it's on about 1/3 of an acre on a corner lot.

None of these houses had a basement (good luck finding more than a fruit cellar in central TX. )

I'd say anything over 3000 sq ft is freaking ginormous and I can't figure out why the average 4 person family would need that much space. between 1600-2500 seems to be the average around here in my neighborhood, but we all have big lots, too. "Tiny" would be like my dad's old house.. under 1000 sq ft.

 

[Sarah_Rose]

We just sold our 1500 sq foot house (no basement) and bought a 1300 sq ft townhouse (it also has a finished basement that is not included in the square footage). It feels like we're getting so much more usable space because we'll be able to throw all the toys in the basement. I grew up in a 1300 sq foot house, my parents currently live in a 1300 sq foot bungalow, and my DH grew up in a 1200 sq foot house. So 1300-1500 feels "average" for me.

We do hope to be able to "trade up" in the next 5 years or so, but for more land, not a bigger house. I wouldn't want to clean more than 1500 sq feet!

While we were shopping for our new house, we looked at a 3200 sq foot house (a new show home) just for fun and thought it was ridiculously huge. There were rooms that the stagers didn't know what to do with, and the house just felt sparse and vacant. So that feels uncommonly large for me, in our area!