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  1. #11
    HIU8 is offline Red Diamond level (10,000+ posts)
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    We have 2364 sq feet for a family of 4 and for us, it's actually not enough space. We really want about 3000 sq feet (that would include a finished basement a separate laundry room and separate office and guest room and a 2 car garage for us). Currently our downstairs layout is open and nice (at least part of it). The upstairs is small and tight and we have NO storage, no guestroom (our 4th bedroom is an office with 2 desks, 2 computers) and a 1 car garage that we can't park in during the warmer months b/c the bikes and outside stuff is brought out from the shed in the back and stored there for daily use.
    Heather

    DS 2004
    DD 2007

  2. #12
    o_mom is offline Pink Diamond level (15,000+ posts)
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    Sep 2004
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    Central IN
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    Ours is about 2300sq ft main and upper plus another 800-1000 sq ft in the finished basement. It is just about right. We could make do with slightly less in the main areas as the basement makes a huge difference in how we use the main areas. The kids have virtually no toys in their rooms, just books and other than a couple of small bookcases and storage cubes in the family room all the rest of the kid stuff is out of sight in the basement. What I would like would be a 3 car garage because I don't know how we are going to fit five adult-sized bikes in the garage eventually.

    Layout makes a huge difference in usability. Our last house had about the same main/upper area, but there was a lot of unusable space that made it feel smaller.
    Mama to three boys ('03, '05, '07)

  3. #13
    Piglet is offline Emerald level (3000+ posts)
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    Apr 2002
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    Canada
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    It really depends on layout. We have a family of 5 and have a 1500 sq ft bungalow with a finished basement, so another 1200 or so livable sq ft in the basement. We have a double detached garage but really need to park our cars there in the winter so it isn't a big storage space. Honestly, I could easily do with less rooms but more storage areas!


    Mommy to:

    DS1 07/2001
    DS2 03/2005

    DD1 05/2007

    DD2 03/2014

  4. #14
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
    Location
    Northern VA
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    9,979

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    We have 2600 sq. ft. here for the 5 of us, but all the rooms are so small (many rooms, but just small ones) that it feels so cramped! We are driving each other nuts some days. Everyone wants to hang out in the living room together where the TV is, but it's no bigger than our master bedroom. Totally ridiculous. When we bought it DS#1 was only 2, and we thought we would fix it up, sell, and buy a bigger nicer house by the time we had another baby. Yeah, you see how that worked out

    I think if 2-3 of the extra rooms (formal dining room, formal living room, den) were eliminated and that space was combined to make a larger family room and larger kitchen, it would feel like so much more space to *breathe*.

    So keep that in mind when you're shopping!
    Mama to "The Fantastic Four":
    DS 02
    DD 06
    DS 09
    DD 12

  5. #15
    khalloc is offline Diamond level (5000+ posts)
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    May 2005
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    We have 4 and our first and 2nd floor are 2600 sq feet. We have a finished basement that brings it to about 3200 sq feet. I LOVE having this amount of room. My master bedroom is large, my kids bedrooms are decent sized. And we use the 3rd bedroom as a guest room. Our first floor has a large open kitchen and living room. So the space on the first floor is really good. We can have a good sized gathering and not be squished. The basement is a playroom/TV room. We use it alot in the winter. I think we will use it more as our kids get older because then they can hang out with their friends downstairs and DH and I could watch TV in the living room.
    DD 11/2005
    DS 4/2008

  6. #16
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
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    DC Suburbs
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    21,474

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    Quote Originally Posted by daisymommy View Post
    I think if 2-3 of the extra rooms (formal dining room, formal living room, den) were eliminated and that space was combined to make a larger family room and larger kitchen, it would feel like so much more space to *breathe*.

    So keep that in mind when you're shopping!
    I think this is good advice. My DH was pretty against having what he called "random extra rooms". And I saw his point. One house we almost put an offer in had an eating area off the kitchen, large enough for a dining room table which flowed nicely into a living area. But then on the other side of the kitchen was another area where the sellers had their dining table, but it wasn't a separate "formal" dining room. You could tell it would just end up being wasted space, or worse, the place where you stuck a bunch of crap you didn't know what to do with! It seemed like we saw a lot of houses like that. In fact the house we rented while waiting for our old house to sell had an addition (converted garage) that we used as a storage area because it was on the opposite end of the house from everything else. Yeah, it added SF, but it was unusable to us.
    Mommy to my wonderful, HEALTHY twin girls
    6/08 - Preemies no more!

  7. #17
    KpbS's Avatar
    KpbS is offline Red Diamond level (10,000+ posts)
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    My very close friend lives in your town and she says a lot of people in her neighborhood (built in the 60-70s) buy houses with generous lot sizes and end up assuming some of the backyard with additions. They have calculated remodeling costs and are considering it since they will be there for at least 3 more years, perhaps indefinitely.
    K

  8. #18
    HIU8 is offline Red Diamond level (10,000+ posts)
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    We toyed with an addition on our house, but in our area, adding an addition would price us out of the neighborhood. So selling would be hard, if it could happen at all. Several people with additions who have tried to sell have given up because the market still stinks here.
    Heather

    DS 2004
    DD 2007

  9. #19
    kijip is offline Pink Diamond level (15,000+ posts)
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    We have the same size house as you with 1 less person and I am fine with it. But if we had 1 more child, I would want the equivalent of another bedroom's worth of space and then a little larger living room and dining room. So 1800-2100 total?

    Since this is your forever school district and you are not moving soon, I would consider a modest addition, keeping with the scope of the neighborhood. Do you have the space to add on? 600 sf would really add a lot it sounds like.

    I would not go to the top of your price limit at all.
    Katie, mama to a pair of boys.

  10. #20
    brittone2 is offline Blue Diamond level (20,000+ posts)
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    Nov 1999
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    back to where we started
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    The catch I see w/ the addition is surviving it being built with 3 young children, kwim? We had considered adding onto our NC house if we had stayed because we *loved* the neighborhood and setting. However, I did think the idea of living through it w/ 3 kids was a little daunting LOL.

    Perhaps it is worse in my imagination than in reality though.
    Mama to DS-2004
    DD-2006
    and a new addition-ds born march 2010

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