Fewer larger rooms or more rooms but smaller?

[Ruralbliss]

I'm sure this boils down to lifestyle and personal preference but I'm viewing houses which have similar square footage but one has large airy rooms with multi aspected windows but only one reception + kitchen diner & four bedrooms.

The other claims to have 5 bedrooms all of which are pretty small esp the 5th which would be a teen study downstairs it has two small receptions one would be lounge and the other my multi purpose office/library/gym/additional guest space if I could squeeze a small sofa bed in as well as desk & yoga mat. Also has kitchen diner

I have two teens moving with me possibly three but the expectation (🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏) is that my 18 yr old son will make his own way in the world when we move else will have to quit his job due to lack of transport.

Anyhoo what would you do - fewer rooms but bigger ones. Oh yes the garden is twice as big or perhaps 50% bigger.

The one with smaller rooms is £40k less & on a big new build estate and as I'm aiming to financially downshift the price alone
The bigger roomed one is in a prettier setting with a small cluster of recently built houses.

WWYD?

What rooms do you have downstairs? We (rental) have lots of small rooms.. Dc had their own lounge which was a hit...

Teens will gradually fly the nest - which one do you see yourself in in ten years? Do you want to move again or is this your forever home.

I wouldn’t want to be on a big new build estate. I live alone and enjoy my garden, walking to the shops and having a large park on my door steps for running and bike rides. So location and garden matter more for me.

I'm definitely in the camp of fewer but larger rooms. So much more convenient for the kids to have their own, personal space and then a shared living room is less of an issue.

Bigger rooms 100%

Your teens won't be living at home forever, or even that long by the sounds of it? Also if you have a very big garden do you have potential for building something outside for teens?

We viewed quite a few newish builds with small, rabbit Warren rooms and it just made me want to knock all the walls down! Very happy we went for a more open plan house in the end. Good luck!

Larger rooms for sure. But agree with @Thinkingthinking - maybe a summerhouse in the garden for teens to hang out in that you could use during the day for yoga etc?

Do the listings have the area of the house in sq ft or m? Get the bigger house, never mind the number of rooms.

Thanks all.

Sadly both gardens pretty small. One is teeny and the other slightly less teeny.

I'm downshifting from an acre and huge open plan 5-bedder but just a mediumly temporary move of 8ish years until my youngest finishes school then finishes university. Definitely not my forever home. My eldest is likely to live with me beyond this move as chronically ill. So her having some rooms of her own besides her bedroom (or conversely me having spaces free from the incredible unsightly messes my kids enjoy making is worth considering)

The estate itself is pleasant but tbh when I looked round the bare (no flooring, no kitchen etc) small roomed house did make me want to cry so maybe that right there is my answer. However I like the aspect and chatted with my would-be next door neighbour there today. He's v happy with their choice. Quite like the idea of experiencing being part of a brand new community plus choosing my own bits and bobs ahead of moving in

The estate option also gives easy 2 minute walking access to a new small retail park with a supermarket x 2, McDonald's, vets and some other stuff as well as the same distance walk from the town high street as the larger more rural feel house (15 mins) which is nowhere near the retail park. Have a fantasy of DDs running grocery errands or being self-sufficient with no more moaning that there's 'nothing to eat!' by popping to shops themselves. Also would allow more cash for savings, holidays blahdy blah.
The poky rooms do though have paper thin walls. It even says in small print not to hang anything heavy on internal walls!

Viewing the larger roomed one tomorrow. And a couple of others which would both be a £££ stretch & have definite downsides to them but good to see all options.