How big is your ideal house for 4?

HouseCart · 2021-10-21T07:32:29+00:00

In square feet, for family of 4. Both parents WFH. What would be your minimum and ideal? Im thinking 1500 & 2500? I know layout and garage, drive, garden adds to requirements.

daisypond · 21/10/2021 08:39

I don’t think square feet mean anything. I wouldn’t know what my house was in square feet. What matters is room number, size and layout. You can get a two-bed house that’s bigger than a five-bed house, but the five-bed might be better for a family. A garage is unnecessary, as far as I’m concerned. No one has a garage or off-street parking where I live.

Fredoftheforest · 21/10/2021 08:41

I think you’d struggle below 2000 square feet. We were in a 1500, moved to a 2000 and that was fine.

DampSquidGames · 21/10/2021 08:42

My family is a family of 4 adults and my house is just under 1600, it’s perfect for us. Downstairs we have a good sized living room, a large kitchen/diner and utility room, also a smaller reception room that we use as a snug/second living room. It would also make a good study. There is also a downstairs cloakroom and a large L shaped hallway. Upstairs there are four bedrooms, one of which is a good size study. Two bedrooms have an ensuite, we have a couple of really good cupboards upstairs and in the kitchen is the under stairs cupboard which I love. I have lots of perfect sized cube units in there. I have shelving units in the upstairs cupboards rather than just bunging stuff in them.
We have a double garage and drive, we use the garage in the winter for a car so try keep half really tidy.

FurierTransform · 21/10/2021 08:43

You could fit it into 1300sqft if it was designed well - you probably wouldn't have a 20+ft kitchen, separate 'play' room or a dormant spare bedroom, but space for 2 adults, 2 kids with separate rooms, and dedicated WFH space shouldn't be a problem.

user512 · 21/10/2021 08:44

Ours is around 1500sqft which is great for us, it's configured perfectly for us as it has separate rooms (not a fan of too much open plan): office, snug (should be a dining room), good sized living room, and a kitchen diner. Upstairs is 3 doubles and a single with the master a very good size, doubles enough for double beds, wardrobes and desk for the kids and the 4th room is my husband's office. I'd want 4 double rooms if we were a family of 5, and our house (new build) is configured to have 4 more evenly shared double rooms in some estates but love that ours prioritises the master bedroom! Bathroom also has both separate shower and bath.

We also have a double garage and parking for up to 6 cars. Our garden is quite small by comparison to the house though, I would make that bigger if I could but the house is worth it for us. We lived in an 800sqft house for the 4 of us previously which was a real struggle, especially with me WFH.

DelilahDingleberry · 21/10/2021 08:52

Just looked up the square feet for my house and it’s about 1200, and we’re a family of six. No wonder we feel cramped!

DampSquidGames · 21/10/2021 08:52

This is almost my house design but I have a slightly older design and there are a few small changes.

Sausage222 · 21/10/2021 09:08

Depends where you live? London you’d find 1400 sq ft for 4 people a luxury!

user512 · 21/10/2021 09:08

Ours is like this (although not the site, don't live anywhere near here!)

www.barratthomes.co.uk/new-homes/dev002200-barratt-at-overstone-gate/plot-314-h7419314/

atmos · 21/10/2021 09:57

Ours is 930sq ft and it's far from ideal for a family of 4! Looking at moving to a 5 bed house, we're looking at places 2500-3000 sq ft (but I am pregnant so it will be for a family of 5).

Clandestin · 21/10/2021 10:08

There are only three of us, but our 2,560 ft doesn’t feel too big.

Oneforthemoneytwo · 21/10/2021 10:10

We have moved from 2100 to 1700 and it's fine. I would prefer another room downstairs but we have a garden room which adds a bit more to that. It gives us 4 double bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, downstairs loo, 24ft kitchen diner, a large sitting room and utility room. Ideally I'd like an office downstairs too but it's fine without

user512 · 21/10/2021 10:15

I've just seen you've asked for minimum and ideal. I guess ours (1500sqft ish) is somewhere between minimum and ideal for us, a second reception room wouldn't be the end of the world so long as there was an office still, having a snug is great as the kids get older but not essential, so I wouldn't say ours is minimum. But I'd love a bigger utility (ours isn't really a utility, it's a small add on to the kitchen) and an additional bedroom for guests would be a bonus, but not required for our everyday living. Not sure what the Sqft of that would be though! Probably 2000ish for the extra room downstairs and upstairs?

Lovinglife45 · 21/10/2021 10:28

Interesting thread.

I have never lived in a flat or house bigger than 1000 Square foot. Thankfully I am ultra tidy. The dc could do with more space to invite their friends round and I would love to have a bedroom large enough to walk right around the bed. We buy sliding wardrobes to maximise space.

The loft really is a saving grace.

Original poster

HouseCart · 21/10/2021 11:08

@FurierTransform

You could fit it into 1300sqft if it was designed well - you probably wouldn't have a 20+ft kitchen, separate 'play' room or a dormant spare bedroom, but space for 2 adults, 2 kids with separate rooms, and dedicated WFH space shouldn't be a problem.

Not impossible for sure, but may be more "minimum" than "ideal" if tweens growing into teenage adult sized people... 1300 immediately means less bathrooms also

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Lovinglife45 · 21/10/2021 11:12

Housecart
We have one small family bathroom. Would love a downstairs toilet for visitors to use.

Original poster

HouseCart · 21/10/2021 11:14

@user512

I've just seen you've asked for minimum and ideal. I guess ours (1500sqft ish) is somewhere between minimum and ideal for us, a second reception room wouldn't be the end of the world so long as there was an office still, having a snug is great as the kids get older but not essential, so I wouldn't say ours is minimum. But I'd love a bigger utility (ours isn't really a utility, it's a small add on to the kitchen) and an additional bedroom for guests would be a bonus, but not required for our everyday living. Not sure what the Sqft of that would be though! Probably 2000ish for the extra room downstairs and upstairs?

Utility room almost always correlate with larger size, 2000 sounds about right if that is a must

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stackhead · 21/10/2021 11:14

My 3 bed detached is 840sq feet. We converted half the (separate) garage into an office and the only thing missing for me is some utility space.

I reckon another half house would be plenty big enough for us, so 1400 sq feet as an ideal?

Though my DD is still small, so it'll probably feel cramped with 2 teenagers.

Original poster

HouseCart · 21/10/2021 11:15

@Sausage222

Depends where you live? London you’d find 1400 sq ft for 4 people a luxury!

One can still dream

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Original poster

HouseCart · 21/10/2021 11:18

@daisypond

I don’t think square feet mean anything. I wouldn’t know what my house was in square feet. What matters is room number, size and layout. You can get a two-bed house that’s bigger than a five-bed house, but the five-bed might be better for a family. A garage is unnecessary, as far as I’m concerned. No one has a garage or off-street parking where I live.

We store the garage with seasonal stuff like Xmas tree and several bikes and scooters but yes, it's not needed for parking.

It's not counted for internal living space but really handy for clutter

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Aroundtheworldin80moves · 21/10/2021 11:24

We currently have 2 double bedrooms, one single bedroom, one bathroom, a kitchen/utility room a living room/dining room and a conservatory. Its sufficient for 4 people.

We would love to extend into the car port to make storage at the front (for bikes, camping equipment etc) utility room at the back and current utility room into a bathroom. Upstairs getting an extra bedroom maybe, or at least bigger ones.

However our current space is more than liveable

Original poster

HouseCart · 21/10/2021 11:30

@atmos

Ours is 930sq ft and it's far from ideal for a family of 4! Looking at moving to a 5 bed house, we're looking at places 2500-3000 sq ft (but I am pregnant so it will be for a family of 5).

Congrats! I realised it's different when younger and older (mine rarely play in garden now). Then they bicker a out bathroom.

Anyway 3000 sounds dreamy. Will it be too much to clean and maintain though

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Original poster

HouseCart · 21/10/2021 11:31

@Aroundtheworldin80moves how big is the living space do you know

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Aroundtheworldin80moves · 21/10/2021 11:38

This is the floor plan.

PissedOffNeighbour22 · 21/10/2021 11:52

Our new house is 2400 square feet and it's not big enough! There's only me, my. DP and our toddler but there's another baby coming soon.
It's all about the layout and useable space. We have large rooms and that doesn't suit our lifestyle at all. We need smaller rooms so we can put all our furniture somewhere other than the middle of the room!
The layout of the bedrooms will not work for us once both kids are old enough to want their own space.