This is to be our family house for the next 20 or so years, to see us through the teenage / early adults years with our 4 children.
House 1:
2150 sq foot
4 good sized doubles and 2 box rooms that cannot be merged (we need 5 bedrooms but not 6, so one child would always be in an 7ft x 8 ft room).
2 reception rooms, plus open plan kitchen / diner / living space
70 foot north facing garden, overlooked at the back and by next door neighbours.
A few doors down from a primary school.
House 2:
1800 sqr foot
5 double bedrooms, although 3 are pretty compact doubles (8.5 x 13 ft sort of size). Cramped once you add in desk and wardrobe but at least a double bed would fit unlike the 2 box rooms in house 1).
1 reception room, plus open plan kitchen / diner / living space
110 foot south facing garden, not overlooked.
Quieter road.
Both houses similarly priced. Practical day to day living is similar in both houses, just house 1 has grander, better proportioned rooms all round hence the bigger square footage.
Would love to hear which of these you think is best for teenagers as we’ll be entering that phase in a few years. House 2 would have ample room to build a big cabin at the back of the garden, whereas house 1 would have a further reception room / single garage conversion for the kids to hang out in - is it better to have their hangout space under your roof or further away where you can’t hear them? 😂
To sum it up: would you prioritise bigger living space and some bigger bedrooms over outside space, or would you prioritise smaller but more equal sized children’s bedrooms and a larger nicer quieter outside area over a larger footprint house?