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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask all Americans here

61 replies

OftenHangry · 01/03/2019 19:08

What's up with the houses in US???
Is it real or is it just in movies? I tried to google some pictures and it looks real.

How come houses have 2 giant living rooms, gigantic kitchen, probs even a dining room, yet when couple has an argument it's "Slee on a sofa" thing. Considering the size of downstairs, there should be enough space upstair to house even an extended family, yet one always sleeps on a sofa...
Applues to ginormous flats too btw. Can't believe a flat which has living area bigger than my upstairs and downstairs would have 1 bedroom😳.

It's been bugging me for years...

OP posts:
Squigglesworth · 01/03/2019 21:35

I think a lot of it comes down to room size. Of course it varies depending on region and city vs. country/suburbs, but based on what I see online and on TV programs, American bedrooms tend to be a little on the larger size. It might be possible to take two standard American bedrooms and redistribute the space to make three smaller rooms, but generally people would rather have the two larger rooms.

In my own home, there are only two of us in a four bedroom house, and we still don't have a spare bedroom! We've had one in the past, but it was only used once every three years, at the most, so we finally decided it was a better use of the space to make those rooms into things we'd actually use all year-- so now we have a dedicated hobby room each and small home gym. (Yes, we are pretty spoiled in this respect!) We just move things around and use air mattresses on the rare occasion that we have someone staying over. Most of the time it works out great, but there are times when I wish we had a spare bed (snoring husband or can't sleep and want to sit in bed watching TV w/o waking him). I'm trying to figure out if we can fit a daybed in somewhere...

Flowerplower · 02/03/2019 08:22

"My DH and I just closed the purchase of a newly constructed home in a suburb of Atlanta,Georgia yesterday. My new house has 2600 square feet. Three bedrooms and three full bathrooms with a bonus room upstairs. It's a craftsman style home with an open floor plan. The kitchen has a huge island with granite counters. There's a laundry room. There's a fireplace and a small back yard. All floors are hardwood except the bathrooms are tiled and bonus room iscarpeted.Twocar garage. We are very fortunate but both work full time and have been married 26 years. We swear this is our last move. Lived in an apartment for six months while the house was built

What’s all that got to do with the price of fish!"....

Well, this just illustrates what I was talking about earlier about being in a big house possibly in the middle of nowhere. If this house is in an established intown neighbourhood like Virginia Highlands, Decatur or anywhere near Emory University, that is amazing and I would be a little jealous! If it's way up 400 in Alpharetta, over in Norcross or Tucker or down in Jonesboro...well that would not be my choice and I've have bought a much smaller place in one of the intown neighbourhoods. Either way, congratulations on your new home.

redredrobins · 02/03/2019 09:14

I know in some states property tax is calculated by number of bedrooms, so a house with lots of living rooms may have fewer bedrooms to keep the property tax down, but still be a spacious home.

SenecaFalls · 02/03/2019 17:21

What is a bonus room?

Where I live this almost always means a finished room over the garage, and if the rest of the house is one story, it will have its own stairs. Some common uses: sewing/craft room, guest bedroom (if it has an ensuite bathroom), home theater or extra TV room, home office, home gym or yoga studio. It will almost always have a closet so that it can be counted as a bedroom in real estate listings.

RyvitaBrevis · 02/03/2019 17:31

To answer an earlier question, in a lot of American houses the foot print on the ground floor in fact does not match the floor above. For example, a common style is the "split level," where you have the main living area on the ground floor, and the bedrooms are not directly over the ground floor rooms but next to them, a half story above (directly over a finished basement).

Splodgetastic · 02/03/2019 17:40

Stupid question, but what is a closet? Is it just a built-in wardrobe or a cupboard with wash hand basin or a toilet?

SenecaFalls · 02/03/2019 17:43

A closet is a built in wardrobe.

pallisers · 02/03/2019 17:44

Where i live in the northeast, loads of people live in small older capecod style houses. 2 bedrooms upstairs, living room, kitchen/dining, and a master bedroom downstairs. They aren't that big and if you have 2 kids you don't have a spare room. If you are prepared to move miles out and commute an hour to work, then you can live in a 5 bedroom new build for the same price.
I imagine a lot of people in the UK wouldn't have a spare room either.
I don't think movies and tv are great at showing the lives of real people.

hammeringinmyhead · 02/03/2019 17:50

The cathedral ceiling thing is really common and chops space off the upper floor. I stayed with a friend in Aurora, Illinois and behind the front door was an open staircase with long fancy light fitting, 2 storeys high. They had the basement done up to add extra bedrooms.

Conversely I live in a 1100 sq foot townhouse and we have 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, kitchen, lounge diner, downstairs loo. Not an inch of wasted space.

SenecaFalls · 02/03/2019 17:53

pallisers's post brings up a good point: there are a lot of regional variations in housing in the US as there are in most things. For example, there are no basements where I live as the entire state sits on an underground river.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 02/03/2019 17:54

Splodgetastic I've only ever heard it used to refer to a wardrobe - either the type with sliding doors over a niche or with a door into a larger space, which would be called a walk-in closet

A closed off room containing just a toilet (or sometimes with a small sink) would be a "water closet". In larger houses you'll often see these positioned just off the actual bathroom, rather than the toilet being in with everything else - and the bathroom itself's often referred to just as a "bath", even though it has sinks, shower and often a tub in it too

Hence you'll hear about houses with 2.5 "baths" ... one full family bathroom, one full one often en suite, and a half bath with loo and sink (also called a powder room if it's downstairs)

SarahAndQuack · 02/03/2019 18:05

I know some areas of the US don't have such enormous homes, but I always feel sorry for/schadenfreudally amused by American colleagues who look at English houses.

I remember a friend of a friend who moved to Cambridge on a postdoc salary (ie, around 30-35k), and she was absolutely shocked and bemused that lettings agents just laughed at her when she said she wanted a double-door fridge in the kitchen. She really couldn't imagine they were not common in your standard two-up, two-down terraced house (which was what her budget would allow her to rent).

Another friend of mine came to stay with me while we were both grad students, and slept on my sofa for a week, and she was shocked my fridge was a little under-counter thing, and that the kitchen and living space were all one room.

It's just another world.

pallisers · 02/03/2019 20:51

the thing with the fridge though is because of the temperatures here I store stuff in the fridge I would leave in a cupboard in Ireland. I think that is why they are so big.

The one movie I found very funny was Central Intelligence with Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart. The kevin Hart character brings him home and sure enough he sleeps on the sofa. I know the house/street where that was filmed and there every house would be 4/5 bedrooms at least. It was just silly that he was on the sofa.

I love that we have basements where I am. It adds a huge amount of storage space to the house even if you don't convert it into a room.

SarahAndQuack · 02/03/2019 20:53

YY, I know. I was explaining that in this country, unless it is very hot, you don't need an ice machine in the fridge and you don't need to keep fruit in there. But it must feel weird if you are used to that.

BareBelliedSneetch · 02/03/2019 20:55

Not in the US, but we have a spare room with a spare bed in it. But it’s sooooo full of crap I can’t actually see the bed at the moment. So if either of use wasn’t sleeping in our bed it would have to be the sofa Grin

Sweetpea55 · 03/03/2019 17:52

Why, in america is having a fireplace seen as a big thing?

ataleoftwothenthreethenfour · 03/03/2019 17:58

Good post. Can I ask what half a bathroom means please?

Mominatrix · 03/03/2019 18:11

Half bath is also known as a powder room (toilet and sink, no bath).

Original poster
OftenHangry · 03/03/2019 18:22

So half a bathroom is a toilet. Loving that.

Thanks all for the comments. It's an interested read!

OP posts:
TooManyPaws · 03/03/2019 18:34

"Half-bath" just makes me think of those tiny but deep baths where you sit upright in them.

SenecaFalls · 03/03/2019 18:41

So half a bathroom is a toilet. Loving that.

Yes, and is a good example of the fact that Americans avoid using the word "toilet" at all costs. Americans use the word only to refer to the actual bowl and then only in a dire emergency such as, "DH can you come in here please? The toilet has overflowed." So if you ask an American where is the toilet, you might be told "uh, it's in the bathroom."

SenecaFalls · 03/03/2019 18:45

Why, in america is having a fireplace seen as a big thing.

Good question. I'm really not sure. I live in Florida. Lots of houses have fireplaces, including ours. We turn it on (it's gas) possibly three times a year.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 03/03/2019 18:54

I've never known about the fireplaces either. Maybe they make sense in the north, but I have friends in Florida who rave about the number they've got and really can't say why

I've sometimes wondered if there's a part of the national psyche which harks back fondly to pioneer days and all that communing round the campfire Wink

SenecaFalls · 03/03/2019 18:59

I do remember years ago when we lived in a house with a wood burning fireplace that we had a very unusual several days of very cold weather. Most heating systems in Florida are run by electricity and our electric company just could not keep up with the demand and so instituted a rolling "brown out'. That means that every few hours electricity was cut off to our house. It was really cold inside, and we did use the fireplace for several days to keep warm.

dadshere · 03/03/2019 19:02

Two things here. Firstly, US TV, is aspirational, it shows everyone (mostly) having great houses, lots of money ( in comparison to others) and doing well. It is part of the American dream, 'if you work hard you will get all of the good things in life'. UK TV is much more 'gritty' it shows all the bad things, that are happening to other people, but not you, at least not all of them, ( streets in london with multiple rapes, murders, incest etc), villages in middle england with a body count that rivals the Bronx. So in the US, people have 'nice' housing, generally.

Secondly, the US is HUGE and the UK is tiny. Houses there, are on average MUCH bigger than here.

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