How much space?

[Mandalor]

House hunting and trying to work out how much square meterage is the 'right' amount - can I ask, the size of your house square meter wise and the number of occupants? Does it 'feel' big or small?

Trying to research as much as I can!

Really depends on your personal requirements and lifestyle - e.g. do you and anyone else in your household need an office space, in addition to living space / bedroom, any hobbies, age of children, etc. all have an impact..

We just moved from a roughly 100 sqms house and large garden to 161 sqms house and a small-ish garden. This is four people (2 adults, 2 children 6+8 years). Our house isn't massive but feels the right size to me - if we could've afforded something a bit bigger, I wouldn't have minded that either, but this suits our needs. We both work from home for some days each week and DH has a hobby collecting items that take up a fair amount of space. If it wasn't for this, we could've gone for less space.

That said, people manage with a lot less space if need be, so I wouldn't get too hung up on numbers - all depends on budget, area, etc!

first flat - 45sqm - 1 person 2 tiny bedrooms all very compact
second flat - 77sqm - 2 people 2 bedrooms. decent space for 2 but would be crowded with more
current house - 177sqm - family of 4, 4 bedrooms + study + open plan. again a decent space but still find I could use more space. DH is fully wfh in the study and I partly wfh in the spare room. the kids bedrooms are pretty tiny.

These have been our more recent houses ending with our current home -

325sqm detached, 6 beds/3 receptions, large garden for city location, permit parking - family of three. Very spacious, but never really felt too large as we entertained a lot! Sold due to mounting costs to run/DS leaving home.

148sqm detached, 2 beds/5 receptions + conservatory, small wrap-around garden, driveway parking - two adults.
Bottom-heavy house that felt a bit small overall as - despite serious decluttering - we'd downsized with loads of furniture/stuff.

232sqm attached, 5 beds/3 receptions, 0.3 acre garden, driveway parking - two adults.
Felt too big for two, but adult DS visited with GF/friends frequently so entertaining space good.

185sqm detached, 4 beds/3 receptions, large garden, garage + driveway parking - two adults.
This, imho, was our perfect sized house (shouldn't have sold it!).

130sqm detached, 2 beds/2 receptions + garden room, 0.5 acre garden, driveway parking - two adults.
Feels small inside, despite our best efforts to reconfigure to a more spacious layout. Hoping to upsize again in the near future!

Recently retired and moved into a 125sq/m house which is plenty big enough for just the two of us (no kids).

OH has a (detached) garage & shed where he does all of his "stuff" leaving me the study (bedroom-3/double) which is where I do all my artwork, sewing etc.

Our old house was larger but not as well laid out (separate kitchen which was too small) so this feels roomier as the layout is spot-on.

We’re currently buying a 275sqm semi. 2 adults, 2 small kids. Lots of storage. We won’t outgrow it.

we lived in a 160sqm terrace before, and an extended 110sqm terrace before that. The previous house was big enough but if we could have afforded bigger we’d have gone for it. Again we had lots of storage. But we’ve moved to a different area where we can buy a house we won’t outgrow.

my big big issue from viewing A LOT of houses and owning small houses, are houses that are built small then extended to be “big”. The dimensions are never right and there’s always somethings that don’t work. So I was adamant I wanted a house that was built “big enough”. But appreciate I am very fussy and had the budget to be able to be that fussy!

First house 110sqm 3 bedroom bungalow for two people. It had been built by the previous owners and had decent sized rooms and storage.

Second house 135sqm 4 bedrooms, 2 storey, just for me. In spite of being larger, it never really felt like it was as the rooms were small in comparison to the bungalow.

Third house was 185sqm but we have extended it to around 270sqm. Technically it’s a 3 bedroom house but we extended on the ground floor so it has 4 well sized reception rooms plus a livingroom/kitchen/diner downstairs now. Just for 2 of us. It’s undoubtedly big but we do use all the rooms, and the new rooms on the ground floor were designed to be used as bedrooms for when we are old and doddery or if we sell. I’d agree with a PP that small houses being extended can still feel small if they are not designed in the right way.

245 sq metres, two of us permanently, one adult child stays regularly, we both work from home, and we have lots of friends or family to stay regularly , so works for us.

72sqm - typical 2 up 2 down Victorian Terrace. I bought it just for myself, but it was ok with partner there as well. Small garden with a tiny garden office so I could WFH. The addition of two primary-age kids made it feel very small and cramped.

I like smaller houses - less to heat and clean - and this was the perfect amount of space for me at the time, I'm now looking for a slightly larger place for me and DS, maybe about 95-100sqm.

I can't imagine a house ever being too big, as long as the rooms/flow is cleverly designed. Everything downstairs open plan could feel too big, even in a relatively compact house, but in a large space that is divided into a small snug, a large drawing room, kitchen diner etc. you would always find a cozy place even if you are home alone. Often very large houses can be surprisingly cheap (our 500+sqm pile was significantly cheaper than many a 150sqm bungalow) as many people are put off by them, but the large size works well for the 4 of us. We 'only' have 4 bedrooms, but have space for a dressing room, study, pantry, utility room, boot room, store room, different 'adult/formal' reception rooms and informal kids/dogs hang outs. Those extra spaces make life much easier and the whole house more tidy. I don't have a cleaner and find our current house easier and quicker to clean than our previous 150sqm, where there was more stuff in a smaller space and every room was used daily. For heating, we pay less than the typical household as we only heat the room we are in, and only ever to 16 degrees.

Good point re: cleaning made by @NellyBarney - I also found cleaning etc far easier/quicker in our 325sqm house than I do in our current 130sqm one.

Great storage is vital and being fortunate to have those extra spaces (pantry, boot room, separate receptions for adults and DC - we used some of our six bedrooms as DS's living room and a music room) makes a huge difference to the smooth running of a home imho - 'a place for everything and everything in its place'.