Is this house too small?

[hibernatingmama]

About to purchase a new house and I'm having slight reservations over the size. It's a new-ish build so rooms are small but the layout is good and when we viewed it felt like enough space.

It's 104sq/m (approx 1120sq/ft), and that'a with a kitchen/diner, living room, utility and toilet on the ground floor, and 3 doubles, small single, bathroom and an en suite upstairs. It also has a garage.

Does this sound too cramped for 2 adults, 1 toddler and a baby?

How big would you expect a 3/4 bed to be?

I think is too small. I think it is the kind of house that ends up stressing you out because you cannot even open the door without tripping with something.

I would rather have a 2 bedroom house that size than a 3 bedroom one.

Thanks for all the replies. It's not our forever home, and we will definitely move when the kids are older.

It's very interesting how split the replies are. Some think it's way too small and others think it's fine! There's not much in between.

It depends how much stuff you have and how you like to live.

How messy / tidy are you ? Is the one who objects the most to mess the most likely to do housework ?

And how much storage space you have elsewhere, like a loft, shed or garage.

If you are, for example, a person who loves to have Several buggies and loads of toys and clothes for your children, it will be tough. Especially if your husband is one of these men who comes in the door from work and expects a tidy house.

If you and your kids are all naturally tidy and super minimalist it will be fine.

We had a three bed semi that was 1100sq ft and it was absolutely fine (when we had two children) and normal.

We have a lot of storage space.

We don't have a lot of stuff and, despite my husbands faults, he's not one of those arseholes that expects a tidy house but doesn't lift a finger

104 SQM is very small for a 4 bed. In my experience that's about the standard size for a 3 bed with 2 doubles and a box room.

The specific room dimensions you've listed are also tiny. I would be very wary. When done as a show home they will have only included minimal furniture so it probably looked more spacious.

We have a 3-bed with just about the same sq footage and no utility (we have a large walk-in storage cupboard in the kitchen but not a utility).

We converted our garage this year which has been really good with lockdowns to have another living area, but the house works for us as a family of 4. The only thing that would concern me is the bedroom sizes as there doesn't seem to be much room there for all the stuff kids have when they're young. I genuinely think that as ours grow up we'll have extra space as there shouldn't be so much plastic tat around!

Be clever with storage - floor the loft and get a good shed in the garden and this will free up the garage if you do want extra living space.

It's not a showhome - the current sellers have king size beds in 2 of the rooms and 3 sofas in the living room so we got a really good idea of how much livable space there actually is.

We are currently living in a much smaller 2 bed flat, so my hope is that it's all relative and we'll feel like it's a palace.

I think just think about what you’ve got and where it will go!

My kids are getting older now and spend a lot of time in their bedrooms, especially at the moment!
It would be important to me that they could fit a bed, a decent sized desk, storage for clothes plus a book shelf or storage unit in their rooms if possible.

In the living room I’d want there to be enough space for sofa seating for the family plus a couple of visitors.
And in the kitchen diner would want there to be enough space for a table and enough space to walk around it okay enough cupboards.
Also think where the kids will play and keep their toys.

I think the shape of the rooms and useable walls etc are as important as the size.
Only you know what you need to fit in there!

And yes, I'd say this is very much a 3 bedroom house that happens to have a small single/study.

I think the total square footage is okay but the kitchen diner and master bedroom are too small.

It all depends on the layout. A friend of mine bought a four bed this size and I assumed it must be insanely small but when I visited it didn’t feel it at all. New builds are clever and don’t waste space

It's below average but just meets the current guidelines for the minimum size of a 4 bedroom home (100sqm).

Personally, I'm not bothered about a small master bedroom as I don't spend much time in there and you have a study/dressing room.

Is the 4th bedroom actually usable as a bedroom though (with room for a single bed and enough wardrobe space)? If it isn't, that will make to harder to resell. Is it big enough for a sofa bed for guests?

How big are the DC's bedrooms? If they have room to keep big toys, play and study in their rooms, the size of the downstairs rooms matters less.

The 4th bedroom fits a single bed and a wardrobe.

The DCs rooms are absolutely fine. Plenty of space for all their toys as they only have a cot/single bed, plus there's built in wardrobes. Those rooms could fit a double.

Upstairs the only issue is a small master and small bathroom.

I like compact and simple. I don’t own a lot of stuff either and so no pointless items to house.

I should say - it has been done very well in terms of storage space and clever design. We are also used to a much smaller space.

@hibernatingmama

We have a lot of storage space.

We don't have a lot of stuff and, despite my husbands faults, he's not one of those arseholes that expects a tidy house but doesn't lift a finger

Pleased to hear it 😀

IME if you have storage and don’t buy too much stuff then you will be fine.

When my kids were small the main issue was the double buggy, bikes, trikes, play kitchens, dolls buggies, tents, bouncy balls, huge plastic tracks for cars, beyblade battling stations, enormous toy cars, fire engines etc - we ended up with two garden sheds .

Then we went apparently seamlessly into sports with loads of bulky equipment. Thankfully their toys are now tiny but cost a fortune.

I think the total sq footage you think it is is wrong op. I’d check again, that’s a very spacious house you’re describing, with big rooms taking a lot of furniture and a lot of rooms individually,

The average size of a four bed is about 15/1600 feet, so I’d recheck your measurements because it seems bigger than that.

Maybe it’s 2100 feet? That seems more likely?

It sounds fine. But just to be devil's advocate...

Are the DC's bedrooms fine for a 5 year old? Is there enough storage space for their clothes (plus school uniform)? Room for a desk (or high sleeper with a desk), a big indoor toy (like a doll's house), a pile of teddies, a giant box of lego, and still room for 2 kids to build a railway or make a den? Not that they need that much space but sometimes is it better to have 3 big bedrooms than 4 small bedrooms if you aren't going to use the fourth room much. Do you need a study or do you need it because the other rooms are small? Will it be wasted space?

It's large for a newish house. Modern houses I viewed were much smaller, hence I chose a 1930s house.

It sounds fine to me. I’m currently in a smaller house, looking to move. Houses we are looking at are around the same as that. Similar family situation.

The house we are selling is 108sqm - it is a 3 bed terrace. It is just about ok for us (2 adults, DC 3&5) but we have no garage and the garden is tiny so we end up storing loads up in the loft (summer clothes in winter, special occasion dresses for me in one of those cardboard wardrobes) which isn't ideal. The kids bikes and scooters clutter up the hall etc. We store wellies and walking shoes in the boot of the car 😂 The utility room is my favourite room - I store so much crap in there and also dry our clothes in there keeping the other areas clear.

I think if you can minimise the clutter and maximise storage it will be fine - possibly not for teenagers but in the short term, definitely doable.
It isn't just about the space though, it is how you live - if you all hang out in the kitchen you will need that to be bigger etc. Obviously we haven't seen the layout - even a hand drawn one? But if you could knock through the living room too so it is all one space (or keep doors that fold or slide away to block off the living area) it may feel bigger (we have done this but DH is working from the living room so the doors remain closed at the moment). It just means if we have friends over (remember that?) we have one big space when it is all opened out.

If you don't need the 4th bedroom I would be tempted to make it one big wardrobe for all your clothes and keep the bedrooms clear of wardrobes and drawers.

Is it a townhouse or is one of the bedrooms downstairs? I can't fathom the layout of the house.

Is the 4th bedroom big enough to be a study/office and a dressing room for the master, and will that be practical? I'm envisaging me wandering about in a towel behind my husbands zoom call if I tried that here!