Ideal amount of square footage for a family of 5?

[GaPeach_in_Ca]

We are only a family of 4 and we have a 1675 sq ft house. It feels like the perfect size, almost too big for now. We have an extra room that we are using as the "game room" with the foosball table, video games and we might throw the pacman console table in there, too. It has a futon for guests. When the boys get older, they can have the choice of having their own rooms or keeping that one for playing in and having their friends over.

We have no desire for an office. We have a desk in our room that holds our printer and desktop, but really we just use our laptops wherever.

Our house is average size on our street (they all started around 1250 but most added on that 3rd bedroom and 2nd bath) and most have raised familes of 2-3 kids to adult hood, so I don't see why we can't.

We (DH & I) hope to remain satisfied with what we have rather than always wanting more. We'll see how it goes!

We do have to be make decisions about stuff and I like that we don't let it pile up. Even so, I feel like about 50% of what we have, we really don't need.

[smiles33]

I will echo PP's comments about layout. We have a family of 4 and a dog and while the house is large (over 2500 sq ft), it doesn't feel huge/wasted because the layout works really well for us. Plus, our lifestyle is focused on being home or entertaining at home. We have 5 bedrooms and 3 full baths, as well as an open layout (where the kitchen, family room, and entry area all connect with only 1 doorway between the kitchen and entry), so we can fit the tables and chairs for 20+ relatives that we invite over for dinner every 2-3 months for holidays, birthdays, etc.

I'm very tempted to have a DC3 just because we definitely have the space. Too bad DH is against it as he's concerned about college costs and "pressing our luck" since he's convinced we lucked out with 2 DDs that are so good-tempered. That's another thread topic....

[SASM]

We have an 1800sf ranch (3BR, 3 full BA) with a 900sf finished basement and fenced-in backyard. The 2 kids' bedrooms are small (DDs share the larger of the 2) but the rest of the house is do-able. It is not a long-term move but, with a 7, 5, and 2.5 yo, this size has worked out surprisingly well. We do spend a fair amount of time outside but, even with the crazy cold winter, we all did quite well indoors. I think the key for us is that the kids are not really allowed to spend time in their rooms, other than sleeping and AM play before I come and get them. We have an open floor plan but there is still a fair amt of room for the kids to spead out and have their quiet time. DS DOES complain, though, that he would like our next house to have an upstairs where he can sleep in a bigger room away from "the rest of the house" (low TV noise in the LR on the other side of his wall). Our next house will probably be ~2500-3000sf. That was the size of our last home and it worked out well. This would be a better size as the kids grow. That being said, we love the ranch layout and size for its energy-efficient qualities. HTH.

[brittone2]

When we buy again (renting for a year while our house in NC is on the market), we'll be looking for 4 beds. However, we totally could have made do with 3 beds 2.5 baths except for 3 year spacing between boy, girl, boy kids, kwim?

OP, since your 2 youngest are the same gender and close-ish in age, I think it makes it easier to share rooms. We could do it for a while but would eventually hit a point where I'll want a 4th BR for the kids. Don't get me wrong, in a pinch we could make 3BR work (especially right now), but by preteen/teen yrs we'll want a 4th BR.

[SpaceGal]

We are a family of five and have a 2000 sq ft house. The basement isn't finished but we have it set up so they can play down there, but they don't always. I agree that it depends on how you use the space you have. The kids have the living/family room area and the morning room for their things. They are hardly in their bedroom. Right now the office (DH's work office), the dining room and DDs/guest room is the least used. We are mostly in the living room, eat-in kitchen, morning room and our master bedroom the most.

I have two boys (5 and 3 yo) and a girl (1 yo). The boys will share a room for now. DD will get the guest room. Right now, they pile into our room at some point at night/early morning. I think I will make the dining room a study/reading area once the kids get older since we never use the dining room to eat in. I plan to just somehow stop using the dining table as a storage spot, and have it cleared off so they can do homework on it as they get older...that way it's not ruined but we can still use the table when we need to have a fancy dinner or whatnot.

I guess it matters how you use the space and how much stuff you have.

[shishamo]

We have 2500sq ft with another 400-500sq ft of finished daylight basement room for our family of 5. I can totally do without basement room - it is currently our tv room, although I do love having a separate space for television and games- but, again, I can put tv in our living room. So I would say ideally you want 2500 sq ft.

I also agree with pp that the layout is more important than the sq ft. we have open big space (kitchen/eating nook/living area) in the main floor plus 3 bedrooms and a small office upstairs and it works well right now.