Perfect small home or imperfect larger

[blastthepast]

Would you go for a home of the size where you can have each room interior designed - not megabucks, but just nicely done to last and how you exactly like each room.
Or a larger house with more space but accept that you don't have the skills to translate your natural style into all the surroundings?
The latter is us now, and I want to downsize for the former.
But DH wants to stay where we are as its more of an investment. We have a mortgage anyway, so we'd owe less money if we moved, but DH doesn't seem to think that is a problem.

He is a financial lawyer, so actually I completely trust him on the financials.

But its so appealing to live in a show home, created for me.....

Depends on the size of the two options and how much space you need really.

Why can you have a smaller house interior designed but not a larger one? What's the size difference? It seems an insane thing to do, on the face of it!

Depends if you have the time and money / money to employ people to get things done. We also have the latter and is an investment but its taking ages to get sorted (Covid hasn't helped as would have done a lot whilst children in school).

Living wise - we should have took the easy done option and time taken away from family.
Investment wise - will probably give children a headstart with a deposit on their properties or university fees when we downsize. So on the fence.

God No, stay where you are in a home with a bit of character and the potential to improve it as you go along.
I would hate to live in a show home but it is actually not that hard to put together a room, get some mood boards started and have some fun with it.

Stay, and spend the cost of moving house on design?

What are you looking to do & how much would it cost?

Would plot size be a lot different if moving?

Another one saying stay and make it the way you like.

If you don't trust your taste, do you have a friend with a house you've always admired who might help you?

I’d always have the larger home given the choice.

Larger one for me. The more space the better. Can't you use an interior designer?

Stay where you are as long as it’s not ridiculous too big for your family.

Could you afford to have the rooms you spend the most time in done? Avert your eyes and save up to do the rest.

I can see where you’re coming from. We’re in a larger house that we’ve done to our taste. However, I have found it slightly frustrating that due to the size of the house we’ve settled on some cheaper furniture and furnishing. Eg we’ve got 6 sofas and 6 armchairs in the house so the quotes for bespoke options was c 30k. We’re a bit too frugal for that so there’s still some Ikea furniture around.

Having said that, I wouldn’t even move to a smaller property to spend £££ on decorating that would look dated in a few years and be money down the drain.

Why not go for quality rather than quantity? Who needs six substandard sofas rather than three decent ones?

@Thisismytimetoshine People with 5 reception rooms and cinema room? I’m not sure why you’re assuming they’re substandard: just because they didn’t cost 3k a piece?

Ok, fine. I'm sure people with 5 reception rooms and a cinema room and room for a pony need all the cheap sofas they can get their hands on 🤣

Lol, don’t trust a finance lawyer on financial decisions! A house isn’t really a financial decision anyway so long as you are living within your means (and it sure as fuck isn’t an investment if you’re living in it long term unless you are in a gentrifying area).

I would rather live in a smaller character home done to my exact taste (so long as the size met my minimum requirements for comfortable living) than a big house that I’m not in a financial position or have the practical skills to make my own, I really would prefer small and beautifully formed than big and bland.

I love space for everyone and their stuff so big home everytime. Space gives me much more pleasure that immaculately styled interiors.

Just because you’re not spending £££ on stuff, doesn’t mean your place is bland. Ours certainly isn’t- I’d say it’s eclectic with quite a lot of original artwork (as that’s sth we’re happy to spend on). It just takes time to decorate and evolves slowly as things come from places like antique centres or sales.

I always wanted a larger house but as I get older (and so do the kids), I realise I prefer a smaller house. We've done it up up so I love the inside, less to clean and we all still have a bedroom. Add to that the addition of not stressing over a big mortgage and knowing we'll be mortgage free soon is a big bonus

Location should be the decider.

Large house vs small house has different meanings to different people! My view is once you have enough space for your needs then anything bigger is just more space to clean and to fill with stuff.