Is it better to live in a big house?

[rosiesunflower]

We've sold our small house and ended up renting a big house. We'll big to us anyway.
I feel so much more relaxed and calm. I have space for the first time. I get all the extra cleaning and things like that but overall the space is outweighing anything else.

We're now looking to buy again and everything has changed about what we thought we wanted in our next home. I feel like I can never go back to a small house again. Has anyone gone from a smaller house to a bigger one and regretted it? I'm talking quite a large house ie 4000 sq ft plus. Our house we sold was 1000sq ft! I suppose it would be very long term purchase. We only have one primary aged dc.

I lived with my husband and two teens, toddler and baby in a 3000sq ft house. We could possibly have used more space downstairs (if it had been this size over two storeys rather than three), but that would have simply been for entertaining a few times a year. As it was we could have a grownup lunch party in the dining room while the teens had their mates over to watch the footie in the family room off the kitchen.
I then lived in a 2200sq ft home with my two younger kids (I'm now widowed). It meant good sized rooms, my son had a games room. But I didn't really need a 20ft bedroom, and the 20ft dining room was used about three times a year. But I did love having a second 'day' livingroom.
I've now moved back to London , just me and my youngest, to a 1300 Sq ft terraced three bed plus study. I love it. Yes my bedroom is considerably smaller but I really only sleep there, and my teen daughter has the converted loft room with en suite so has plenty of room. It would be tight if my 18 year old son was here, but for two with occasional guest it's perfect.
You don't say how big your family is. If it's just two of you I'd say 4000sq ft is a lot of house. If you have three or four kids then plenty of space to utilise!
A lot depends on the lay out. Same amount of rooms but much larger? Or more bedrooms? You'd have space for a good sized utility room, boot room, home office, games room etc. Only you know what you need.

I live in a house which is about 3500 sq ft after living in a lovely three bedroom semi
I am not going to lie, I feel much happier and content in this house than I did in the small house. There is more space and privacy .
However, we have a bigger mortgage and cleaning the house can be a pain.
When the kids leave home , I will definitely downsize to a smaller home.
We are a family of five and there are rooms that we don’t even go into
Dh’s friend has just moved into a 8000sqt foot home . Only himself, his wife and one teenage r will be living there. That is too much house for me,but that is his choice

I love that you think 1000sqft is small. 🙄

I think OP is pulling our collective leg.

Energy bills would be my consideration.

Think that you may be right

I have no idea about square footage but we moved from a three bed terrace to a four bed semi and the space has made a huge difference to our quality of life. However- another baby, rising costs etc sometimes make me wish we were back in our little house that was kept warm by our neighbours!

If you think 1000 sqft is small then you have a completely different life to me.

I'm just going the opposite way - from a large 4 bed detached to a 2-bed victorian cottage. I can't wait. It has really made me think so hard about what I really need from a house and what possessions I really need.

My DC have left home so their rooms + the spare room were barely used and they won't be missed. I have made sure I have decent downstairs space though which I think is more important.

The rooms won't be missed - the kids are! 😵

Like all things… there are nice big houses and horrible big houses. I’ve seen 4,000 square feet houses that totally lack character and are soulless. That’s a different proposition to a 4,000 sq ft Georgian Vicarage with high ceilings and full of features.

So I guess what I’m saying is - only buy a big house if you can afford a nice one 🤣. And if you can’t, be prepared for what someone above says - it’s insanely expensive to do work on big houses!

I can echo the comment about the extra zero. Every single job we ever get quotes for is £4,000. Everything. It makes it very easy to budget at least..

I do enjoy having a big gaff. It’s a lot of work to maintain, but it is almost entirely self sufficient after we rebuilt it and that should pay for itself in a few years. I enjoy being able to host all of the families, and our house is a-given as to where our friends congregate. Plus I hope it stays in the family for a long time to come.

We've just reduced ours, sold a 1400sqft for a 950sqft. Much prefer the new space. It all depends on how it's used I think.

I grew up in a really small semi, I had the box room. It was crowded, sometimes we bickered over space but it was also immensely good fun and excellent practice for living alongside other adults when DB and I both moved home after uni for a while!

Now I have 2300 sq ft of usable space. Both DH and I wfh so we do use every inch of space and we are contemplating an attic conversion + solar panels rather than buying a bigger house. I wouldnt want something vast, because I'm comfortable making space multi-purpose. However I'd like my DD to have more of her own space as a teenager because I think that reduces arguments. And I'd like to have more guest space - one extra room is all I really want! - for when family visit.

I'd rather have a huge garden than a huge house, but that's a whole different thread...

What @Ruthietuthie said. It’s such a relief after a childhood of cramped conditions

I find the responses here very interesting as I am about to move from a 2,500 sq ft house to a 5,500 sq ft house. We are a family of four plus live-in nanny in our current house and it is bursting at the seems - so much so that we have had to put a bunch of stuff into storage because there is no space for it in the house. I can't wait to have more space, with proper storage and an actual utility room with space for drying clothes (at the moment our kitchen and living room are always full of drying clothes).

The only advice I would give is make really sure you can afford what you buy. We have a lovely really big house with an outdoor pool at the bottom of the garden( you’d be amazed how much use it gets even with our British summers!) , but relatively little disposable income! It’s not a bad thing as our day to day lives are lovely, but there isn’t the spare for expensive theatre tickets, restaurants, holidays etc…

No, bigger houses to me just mean more clutter to fill it and more cleaning, decorating and organising. Even when I have the extra space I've found that I don't really use it.

1000 ft² ≈ 93 m² for anyone like me who doesn't understand square feet.

4000 sq ft? Jesus! I used to live in a 6 bed house that was 2220 sq ft and it was far too big for us. We couldn't fill it!

We downsized to 1200 sq ft which is perfect size but we're moving soon to a 1600 sq ft house (moving due to area not size).

I guess it depends how you live, how much stuff you have/need.

I am in a 1100 sq ft with DH and DS. Both of us WFH. It's way too small though we have hardly any stuff. But central London and close to the tube, so putting up with it. I have been working in the library lately just to not hear DH talking on Zoom.

I never live in big or open plan houses when we only get two warm months a year.
I like a series of rooms that can be shut off when it's cold so I only have to heat one room. Preferably with a woodburner.
It's worked for me the last 40 years.
I dont like bright hoses either. They show up all the dust. If I want bright I go outside.

I was coming on to say exactly this! I only like beautiful big houses full of charm and character, huge soulless rooms do absolutely nothing for me, you see it on rightmove all the time, large houses but dull as ditchwater.

We are also a family of three (plus a tiny dog) in a 4k+ sq ft home. It allows us to both work from home in dedicated spaces, our daughter has a playroom where her toy/mess are confined, we have a library for our books (our toys/mess confined!), and very comfortable guestrooms for our family who stay an average of 2-3 nights per week as they help with childcare. I assume when we sell it will go to a Mormon family or for multi-gen family living. We have 2 cleaners work about 3 hours a week, plus a roomba. it is much easier to be tidy when there is space for everything.