Do lots of MNers live in big houses?

[Wishimaywishimight]

Just curious as there are quite a few posters having people staying over Christmas.

Here it's just me and DH in a 3 bed semi so plenty of room for just us but only suitable for 1/2 guests in the spare room (box room is my office).

I live in Dublin (suburbs) and I always envisage Londoners living in the fabulous spacious houses from Outnumbered and Motherland (I know of course this is not the case)!

What is your definition of 'big'?

I live in the same size house as you, two double beds and a small box room. It's good enough for us, there are bigger houses but equally some are in smaller or flats with kids. I don't have anyone to stay ever, it's Air B and B or cheap hotels or they don't come. I let my children have sleep over parties though, it's just my family I don't let stay over, it's a way of containing the stress and being polite and nice the rest of the time! If I had a big house with a separate area/bathroom for guests, I could possibly have a nice one!

@ANightmareBeforeChristmas I suppose I just mean those posters who have seemingly hordes of people staying over, I guess I mean 5 bedrooms +, multiple reception rooms etc.

I do live in quite a big house but only because I had an inheritance. We have space for 3 couples to stay in beds/sofa beds, (and more if we include air beds). But it very rarely happens because I don’t really like having a houseful- I just like peace and quiet!

Nah. I live in a 1930s ex council house, 2 massive bedrooms, just me and my DH. I spend all my spare cash on fabulous holidays instead. :)

We live in a one-bedroomed bungalow.

The cat sleeps on the sofa so absolutely nobody can stay.

Yes and lots of MNers live in small houses. There are also quite a few in medium sized houses. 😉
Iirc Mumsnet is demographically weighted towards the better off side of average but that would still leave most people in very normal sized homes. We are also geographically diverse and there is huge variation in how much house you get for your money depending on where you live; there will be very well off Londoners in much smaller houses than less well off northerners.

It’s an anonymous internet forum. You can be whoever you want to be, and live wherever you want to live.

If your impression of London is from watching EastEnders then yes, they live in four storey Edwardian houses even though the head of the house only works 10 hours a week dahn caff.

But the majority of London housing stock is inter-war suburbia - 3 bed semis mainly - and post-war tower blocks.

Also, we only ever have guests for 1 night, I can"t imagine someone staying for a week although in theory the idea of lots of extended family all cosied up together for days playing boardgames and watching Christmas movies sounds lovely.

*DD not DH! And two cats.

3 beds with two kids.
When we have guests DD2 moves into the "box room" (its not a bad size for a single bedroom, not really a box room). In warmer weather sometimes guests use a blow up bed in the conservatory but not in winter! Otherwise its the living room. Weve also had a tent on the garden in summer!

We considered buying a 4 bedroom house but because this is ex-military housing the rooms are quite generous with a good size garden, so a lot more space than a hew build 4 bed. Just could do with an extra toilet really.

Ours is biggish (five bedrooms, draughty old Victorian) but only semi-renovated, so we don’t often have people staying, because we prioritised living space/downstairs, and the bedrooms and upstairs in general are a chilly wilderness of dust and boxes which were used to, but other people aren’t...

So I live in the midlands in Ireland in what would be seen as a big bungalow, it’s old and had work to be done and so got it cheap. Would kill to live in Dublin but we never could have (got 250€k) as a mortgage). It’s kind of one of those things, I want to live in Dublin but never get why more people don’t decide to live outside of Dublin for a better standard of living, my friend lives in a flat in Dublin and pays more than rent for a 5bed house around here

No guests possible here. 2 up 2 down Victorian workers terraced house like Coronation Street, not Motherland.

It’s a forum - there’ll be a spread of all types of housing on here.

Three bed detached in the middle of nowhere! Lots of outbuildings, a converted caravan for volunteers and three stables so, in theory, we could host most of the nearest village 😊

@TheTheCountessofFitzdotterel Ah, I know of course there is a huge variety of MN housing, I'm more curious about those who have mulpiple people for staying for several days over Christmas and what sort of space they have 😉

Mine is not big but has a lot of bedrooms

Very cheap area and I'm half way through renovating it - I do have guests for Xmas but they are putting up with a half renovated house.

We have plenty of room but I thoroughly dislike having people stay over and also don’t like staying at other peoples homes . I’d rather stay in a hotel if I’m visiting . I will quite happily cook and host all day as long as people have somewhere else to sleep .

@stastayathomer Whenever we go on holiday around Ireland I am so envious of the bigger rural houses with huge gardens. Practically though, I like being within walkimg distance of things. I am in north Dublin and have shops, restaurants shopping centre cimena all nearby. Much as I love getting away to the countryside, the fresh air and the peace, I would miss all of that so have to compromise with a smaller house!

Nope! I live in a 2 bed semi in Essex - second bedroom is my DSS’s room and he has a single cabin bed so not really suitable for guests! We can’t have people stay unless they fancy the sofa.

our house is for us, not for guests (and this is what we could afford so!)

Ah we also live in central Dublin. We live in a 4 bed terrace and have quite a small entertaining space. So wish we had more room in the living area! I’m often on daft dreaming of being able to afford a bigger house! Also love looking on Rightmove but I guess the grass is always greener hey.

It's also partly about how you lay out your house and approach guests staying.

We have a four bed house, two children and both WFH a fair amount. So you could say - we don't have space because we use 3 rooms as bedrooms and have a home office.

But in fact the home office has a very comfortable wall bed in it so can be used as a spare room and one of the kids rooms is set up so that they can share and free up another double bed. So we can and have had two couples plus a couple of small children on mattresses on the floor to stay.

Some people - and that's fair enough - wouldn't want a dual purpose room or to get their kids to share etc

(Of course some houses are just too small to have guests but sometimes it's more about choices. We have a lot of family overseas and being able to host is important)

Nope. Small 3 bed ex council house here. Never ever have overnight guests or people for food.