How big is your home and how does that affect your life?

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I’m currently living in a home that is much too small for our needs. Less than 1000 square foot for a family with a child. Maybe around 600 square feet. No outside space of any sort.

In our case we are fortunate as it’s temporary (1-2 years) and I fully appreciate many people are living in inadequate accommodation long term, so this is not a moan.

I’ve just noticed how much harder things feel than when we were living in a decent size house with garden.

I feel like I am permanently tidying up because everything has to be in its place or it is chaos, there is limited room for DC to play, play dates are a nightmare, DC can’t go outside to let off stream. It’s dark and cluttered and gets me down. It’s tricky to go on wet muddy walks as literally nowhere to store / hang muddy wellies and wet coats. No where to keep bikes or scooters.

I WFH too so spend far too much time here.

It’s really made me realise how much harder life is for those who do not live in accommodation that meets their needs.

We have about 3500sq ft. The DC are grown and we are rattling around.

DH and I have had rare words this evening. A house he has always remarked upon in the best local road has come onto the market. It is bigger. It needs work. He wants to look at it tomorrow. There are just two of us. I have told him he needs his brain examined and if he buys it he can also buy me a little bungalow!

950sqft (3 bed new build). Me, dh, 4dc (one adult child at uni but living at home, 2 teenagers and one one younger) plus dog.
In some ways I'd like more space - especially storage! But in other ways I hate how much there is to clean. So it is probably the perfect size for us

Houses in the UK are not usually listed in square feet/metres, so I don’t know the overall measurement of our house. There are just the two of us, plus 3 dogs and 2 cats. When we bought the house it was a 4 bedroom detached, one bathroom house, with an additional downstairs wash room and a conservatory. I had one bedroom converted to a bathroom as I like my own and it means I don’t have to “share with a boy” (a line from Friends). During the COVID years, we had the Conservatory converted to a garden room. I use one of the bedrooms as a sewing room, so that just leaves ours bedroom and one spare. I avoid open plan. I think separate rooms are important. It’s easier to heat, as smaller spaces stay warmer. Despite it starting as a 4 bed house for 2 adults, it isn’t two big for us. We use it all.

Ours is big but doesn’t feel it as it’s all on top of itself! We’re built into a hill so our rooms are spread out over 4 floors. I like it though, 2 adults and 2 kids and it’s just about right (although I think most people would like some extra space!)

I have a 2 bed flat and love it.

No idea on square footage but it's a flat with no outside space.

It's fine. There's me and DS and we have a bedroom each. We've always lived here.

I wouldn't particularly want a big house. I'd feel more vulnerable to be honest, plus the additional costs to heat it and more housework. I don't like "stuff" and keep possessions at a minimum so don't need loads of storage. I've got a Christmas tree and DS's bike in the store cupboard and that's it!

If I didn't have a child I'd live in a mobile home or even a studio.

I am a single woman. My house has three storeys, four double bedrooms, three receptions, two kitchens, three toilets and two bathrooms. How this affects my life is as follows: when I bought it some years ago I was fit and athletic since when I have become disabled and now and more or less confined to the ground floor.

I have three lodgers.

We have a 4 bed house, about 2000sq ft. Two adults, one DC, both parents WFH. I wish we had fewer bedrooms and more living space and smaller/fewer bathrooms (also 4). We also don’t have any outside storage and do a lot of outdoor hobbies (I have a lot of skis, we camp, we have multiple e-bikes etc) so all that ends up shoved in hallways and random corners. Size is fine, shape of house isn’t ideal. House shape means DC can’t play outside super easily on their own (still pretty young) and we can all feel a bit on top of each other in our living space.

Ours is a 6 bed, 2 bathroom semi over 3 floors built in 1892. I think it’s about 2500sq ft.. There’s me, DH, and 2 teen DC and a big dog. Large front and bank gardens which need a lot of upkeep.

Cons: original sash windows that we can’t afford to replace so it can be drafty and massive heating bills. No built in storage.

Pros, plenty of space to spread out: there’s 2 reception rooms plus a kitchen diner with sofas and one of the 6 bedrooms has been turned into a library. We love hosting family and friends and it’s a good party house due to the downstairs layout and the garden.

DH built a lean-to as an extension to the utility room so we have a dedicated laundry and drying room and it’s great for hiding piles of clothes

We had 2 DDs in a very small 3 bed house, the third bedroom was a box room so the study and they shared the second bedroom.

We upsized a few years ago to a 4 bedroom house with a garage and the change has been remarkable. (Family of 4.)

The pros are that DDs both have their own bedroom, we have a downstairs WC so no going upstairs constantly to use the loo, our 4th bedroom is a study and guest bedroom (the bed is squeezed in against the wall as the room isn't that big but it does help having it.) We have a garage for extra storage and a medium sized garden which is perfect. We don't need a bigger garden as it's a lot of work already but we really appreciate the outdoor space.

The cons are it is more expensive all round. A bigger mortgage that we will be paying off longer, the bills are more expensive. It's also harder to maintain, more cleaning, more upkeep, more house to look after in general.

I think it's a balance. I do sometimes think fondly of our old house as we could have been mortgage free much quicker and it was a doddle to clean. But having the space makes day to day life much easier.

What I've found is I honestly wouldn't want the upkeep of a very large house. It would be too much for us. I've focused in on what is important for us which is a bedroom each, two loos, storage space and access to a garden even if it's small. Just somewhere to sit and have a coffee and read and a few plants to tend to.

We've recently downsized from a 3500 detached 5 bed to a 200o (originally) 4 bed detached with a smaller garden.

I absolutely love it. Even though it needs work the time it takes to clean has halved, tiny mortgage, cheaper bills and just better.

We moved into a house last year after a long time in a large maisonette. I love it.

The things that have made the biggest difference:

Having a shed in the garden so we don't have bikes and scooters all over the hall

Having a home office/spare room so not WFH from ours or our kids bedrooms

Kitchen storage so we can buy food and drinks on offer and store

Family of 4. We have 4 bedrooms and house is 1500 sq ft. With a reasonable sized garden. It’s fine for us. We could have more space and a better layout, but I don’t want a big increase in mortgage.

I don't know about square footage. But I live in a small new build 2 bedroom bungalow with my DH and DS age 6. One bedroom is barely a double and the other is a single. Then we have a small box room sized kitchen and a small lounge/diner than is narrow at 2.75m wide. No hallway as the front door opens into the lounge. Small bathroom.

It's small and we have no room to have play dates or many visitors, my DH works from home too. It's cramped and cluttered. But we can't afford to move anywhere bigger as house prices are so high where we live.

No idea how many sq ft. 2 of us in a 4 bed, 3 bath, 2 reception house. Sounds a lot but it was originally a small 1990s 3 bed (well 2.5 bed really) 1 bath that has been extended so all the rooms are fairly small. The kitchen is quite big but it is long and thin. All the bedrooms are small, the tiny one is my office. One of the receptions is the conservatory/dining room so we don't use it most of the time. One of the bathrooms is a very compact downstairs shower/toilet/utility.

How it affects my life... I am able to work from home. I have enough bedrooms to have family come and stay, but never both my children and their children together. I don't have to hear the washing machine/tumble dryer when they are on. I don't have to go upstairs to wee. I can have all the family together for a meal as we can seat everyone in the dining room. The kitchen is big enough so that DH and I don't murder each other if we're both in there together - that was a major consideration when we were looking for a house.

Ideally we would have another 3 bedrooms so we had room for all the children and grandchildren to stay, but that's neither practical nor affordable! Downsizing is all very well, but in my very humble opinion if you have children and grandchildren you actually need more space not less!

Do you mean feet? 400 square metres is big! Sorry to hear about your problem- I felt the same in our old flat. Still feel cramped with no outdoor space but needs must!

Ex council house, around 740 sq foot. 2 adults, 1 child. 2 tiny bathrooms but 2 decent sized bedrooms, 1 box room and living room. It's manageable but need to keep on top of clutter! Both work from home so have built in multifunctional spaces to do this. Small mortgage left so prefer the security of this rather than moving to a bigger place.

6 of us in 1000 square foot and it's hard. 3 DC share a room which isn't ideal. We would love to move somewhere bigger but just can't afford it.

Yes sorry sqft, approx 370sqft for 4people!

I live in a 2 bed flat with a private garden, sheds, attic, garage (tons of storage). It's brilliant. It's small enough that I spend hardly any time cleaning. Maintenance costs are very low. Plenty of space to store things and a spare room to use as an office or when people come to stay.

I agree with the difficulties of housing a pushchair and bike when not in use and you don’t want wet muddy wheels in your house. And no outside access to a secure garden space.

Also the issues with drying any regular exercise gear and wet towels etc make me realise the maintenance for regular exercise is also about financial wealth and spacious housing.

4 bed, 2 bath detached 2000sq ft. Its ok. Five of us plus dog. In time we'd like to convert the playroom to a fifth bedroom.

I'm in a 5 bed town house. The rooms are all a good size . 3 toilets /2 bathrooms . Mine is council though. I just wish it was over 2 floors rather than 3. But obviously I'm extremely grateful for what I have.

I was in temporary accommodation for a long tome which was pretty small and over crowded the set up of the house was awful. It was really hard to run. There was no real space for the kids to play etc but the house we are in now is fantastic compared to what we had. I do love this house but I probably would not chooses it if i was in the position to be able to.

This thread is very useful to help me think what my priorities are for moving. I don’t care about size of kitchen but as they get bigger I do want a place that kids can play separate from adult socialising space.
So realistically that means either small living room + bigger kids bedrooms or in fantasyland smaller bedrooms + two areas that can be used just for socialising. Not sure how much choice there is for either of those layouts round our way though or what is realistically affordable.

You're so right, we moved from a tiny 2 bed terrace to a 3 bed bungalow with gardens and old build so good size 3 beds.
We had a toddler and she would just run up and down the hall and I could see the space giving her joy.
We don't have many reception rooms though only a lounge and kitchen diner.
That sounds greedy but it would be nice to have another room but I am very grateful.