What size house is perfect 1500sq ft? larger or smaller for a family of four?

13 comments

1. 2400 soft. Minimum

2. Depends on your family and their perspective. I grew up in a 1 bedroom with 6 people. Might of been tight for some people but we made it work.

3. Depends on your needs. When our kids were babies we rented 1500 and it was plenty. Now we have about 3000 and it is perfect for us. Each kid has her own bedroom, with space for a desk. My wife and I each have our own home office space as we both regularly work from home. My wife’s office space doubles as her craft room. Family room is big enough for our friends and family to come over and be comfortable. Kids have a playroom/hangout room. Kitchen is big enough for us to all be in there cooking together which is one of our favorite things. Dining room is big enough for our table that accommodates friends and family on holidays/hangouts. Few other things, but with all that we don’t feel cramped or like we’re about to run out of space.

4. I grew up in a 1700 sq ft house, and then a 1800 sq ft house.

   We were a family of four, always had two dogs, and regularly had family members down on their luck crashing with us until they got back on their feet. It always felt like plenty of room.

   Idk what these 2.5-3k sq ft people are talking about. We always could go to our own corners and not bother eachother at all, and had plenty of space to host the entire extended family (20+ people). Anyone saying more likely grew up / are wealthier than the average family and doesn’t know just how much excess space they had but never needed.

   If you’ve got the excess income to go bigger and want to, go for it. But around 1600 ft is plenty for a family of four.

5. Personally, I’d love an 800 square foot one bedroom house.

6. I know how you feel. we don’t need much space, but 800 is a bit small for my family.

7. I’ve got four in about 3k SQ ft. You could certainly do in much less, but at this size it doesn’t feel crowded without company and I appreciate that. Especially the last few years

8. Started in a 1300 with three and it was nice graduated to 4200 (now 4 and 2 dogs) and it was WAY to big just finished building our forever home at 3200 and it’s perfect for EVERYTHING and everyone.

9. All houses have very different floor plans. 1800 squat feet of living space should be plenty for a family of four. Depends on how much space the living room and kitchen occupy as it’ll directly impact the size of the bedroom. Storage is also a concern so the size of your yard and garage also matter. I’m in Southern California (LA/OC) and while there are big homes; most are pretty modest in living space.

10. Generally speaking, if someone approaches me looking for a home design consultation I start with 500 square feet per resident. If they say they want something smaller, no problem I can do that. If they say go bigger, my next question is “ok seriously though, what’s your real world budget for this?”

11. I think it depends on how old your kids are.

    My parents bought a 3 bedroom/1 bathroom house that was about 1,200 sqft when my sister was a baby and I was 5. It was plenty.

    Then when I was 12, dad finished off the basement, adding another 700 sqft of living space and another bathroom. I moved down there. And when my sister and I were 10 and 15, they built a large living/dining room addition.

    There’s no way in hell that the original 3 bedroom/1 bathroom with 1,200 sqft would’ve worked when my sister and I were adolescents. But as small kids, it was fine.

12. I spent my early childhood in a 400 SF house with four of us. That was a bit too small.

    We built a 1600 SF house and that was about right as a teen.

    After buying a modest 3-bedroom, I got married and built a 5-bedroom 4,000 SF house. Lots of room for four of us, and two spare rooms when people visit.

    When we retire we’ll put one of our kids in it and move to a small condo.

13. Depends on where you live. I have the feeling people in the USA tend to live in pretty large houses.

    When I was young, I had to share a room with my brother until I was 12. Then we moved to a somewhat larger house, where we had our own room.