Sep. 14, 2006 - Big House
My parents sent me an interesting article about average house size and average family size. It was especially encouraging as we are about to move down in house and up in family size.
I have noticed the MacMansion trend. I always experience a strange sense of awe as I drive past brand new developments and see the houses with their massive edifices, 4 car garages, and city-park sized playgrounds in the back yards. Statistically, the likelihood that any family in that development has more than 3 children is almost nil. So what do they do with all that space? How on earth do they keep it clean? How do they avoid buying too much junk in an effort to fill up the empty spots? When do they ever see each other?
It's become a bit of a game for me to imagine how many kids we could fit into either of our houses. I look through Ikea's storage solutions and mentally arrange the bunkbeds in the kid's room. Right now I figure we could fit a good many kiddos in there. Josiah wants to enclose the porch eventually and that would add another bedroom. I think we'll be fine. Though, I can't help but be a little jealous of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar's new house, 'specially with that indoors playground. But I think they've earned it, after spending many years fitting their increasingly huge family into a 3 bedroom home-they didn't move in to the big new house until their 16th child was born. Now that is amazing.
Comments
Sep. 14, 2006 - interesting...
Posted by dawilli
Yeah, I've never really thought of our house as big, it's about 2300 sq ft, but we're all in 3 bedrooms, and most of the space is the large open great room that is our living and dining room in one and is totally open to the kitchen... that and a modest to average family room downstairs... anyway, if this next baby is a girl, we'll be moving up to bunkbeds as we'll have 4 girls in one room! But our kids never really play in their rooms anyway so I'm not too worried about it...
We're content, for now...
Have a good one,
ali
Sep. 14, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Christine
You said, "How do they keep from buying stuff to fill up the space?"
THEY DON'T!!! They're in debt up to their eyeballs, they never see each other, and they have a bunch of stuff they never use.
Keep living small and simple. Life is much happier that way!
Sep. 14, 2006 - Interesting
Posted by DiWilliams
We lived in a 1552 square foot house for 6 years. It was 3 bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms. We moved in with 2 children, and by the time we moved out we had 4 children. All around us were similarly sized houses, with mostly childless couples or singles - VERY few children. Several couples moved into their houses with 1 child, and then sold their houses after the births of their 2nd children, saying their houses were just too small. I just never understood that. If we could live there with 4 children, and homeschooling to boot, why couldn't they live there with 2?
Now we live in a 2816 square foot house with similarly sized houses all around. Most of the families are either childless, or have 1 or 2 children. We think it's crazy to have a big house with few or no children, but it is very nice (though certainly not neccessary) when you have a larger-than-usual family. I certainly wouldn't want anything bigger, though!
One thing I've been seeing lately around here, is huge homes for senior adults. (This being Florida, where everyone seems to move when they retire.) I have seen advertised 3000 square foot/3 bed/3 bath pool homes for seniors! What are they going to do with all that space?!
Blessings ~ Diane
Sep. 15, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Martha
I think small houses make for less trouble in the family and closer family. We live in a 16x80 mobile home and it is the biggest place we have ever lived in. The one bedroom apartment with three boys was the smallest in square footage, but the 14x24 2 story cabin was actually bigger, but smaller because of layout. We had only 2 boys then, of course there was not electricity, running water and all that! I think it would be nice to have more space sometimes, but then what? More upkeep, more floors to clean, more bathrooms to keep clean.......no, small houses are harder to keep clean because of lack of storage, but give a me a tiny home with lots of closets and I will be happy! An indoor playground would be nice and my dream is to put the mobile on a basement and pad the walls and floor and put in monkey bars and climbing ropes. Yeah that is a dream too!
When are you moving? You are not moving anywhere near me are you?
Sep. 15, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by cappuccinosmom
Alas Martha, we're staying in Pennsylvania. When we actually move is still waaaaay up in the air. :)
Sep. 15, 2006 - Interesting
Posted by almost_grinch
That was an interesting article.
I live in Northern Nevada where new construction abounds. There is so much new constructions builders can't even sell it all, and they start offering huge insentives to pick their homes.
Out in the newer ends of town here there are golf course communities where all the houses are 4,000 - 5,000 sq ft. Geesh! What do people do with all the space?
I live in a manufactured home that is 1,344 sq ft. The living room is very big and we still don't know what to do with it, so we made a puppy play area in 1/4 of it. I wish the bedrooms were a bit bigger though - if my husband would clean out some more of his junk they woud have more room. :)
Sep. 16, 2006 - Congrats!
Posted by Phyllis
I don't think I ever said congratulations to you on your wonderful news! I love to play that game of "how many could we fit in here," too.
Oct. 5, 2006 - Jim Bob & Michelle
Posted by Anonymous
Heya 3capp!
Saw the link to your blog on the forums. I really like all the stuff you write about here and in the forums.
I saw the second show about Jim Bob and Michelle and the 16 kids. They went on a trip to Disneyland. I wish I could have seen the first. The family is truly amazing. It was nice to see how the older kids helped so much with the younger ones. Definetely don't see that on today's sitcoms. Well, good for them!
Anyway, congratulations on your baby-to-come!
See ya,
TheGirlNextDoor
