how small a house is unreasonable for a family of 5 (or more)? - Page 2

[wombatclay]

I have a hard time telling mdc mamas to stay away. If the commute is managable 95% of the year I think it could be a good option! And the nice thing about co-housing communities is having that shared space. There are so many ways to twist and turn space to suit family needs... check out the Not So Big House books for ideas, or something like Apt Therapy. It looks like many posters in this thread at least have found the 900-1100 sq/ft size to work fine for a family, assuming the space is laid out well.

So maybe work from there? Look through NSBH, RV or House Boat catalogs, that sort of thing to get ideas. Since you get to build from scratch (and you'll have amazing out of door space) it should be perfect.

(and looking at your sig... I think you're right, we did meet "in person"! I just didn't connect the user name with the people name I am sooooo bad with names.)

[Juvysen]

Originally Posted by wombatclay

I have a hard time telling mdc mamas to stay away. If the commute is managable 95% of the year I think it could be a good option! And the nice thing about co-housing communities is having that shared space. There are so many ways to twist and turn space to suit family needs... check out the Not So Big House books for ideas, or something like Apt Therapy. It looks like many posters in this thread at least have found the 900-1100 sq/ft size to work fine for a family, assuming the space is laid out well.

So maybe work from there? Look through NSBH, RV or House Boat catalogs, that sort of thing to get ideas. Since you get to build from scratch (and you'll have amazing out of door space) it should be perfect.

(and looking at your sig... I think you're right, we did meet "in person"! I just didn't connect the user name with the people name I am sooooo bad with names.)

Dh is thinking he'd commute part time, work from home part time... so I guess we'll have to figure in some work space for him in the plan, too. But at least we won't have to worry tooooo terribly much about weather being an issue... snowy day? He'll just work from home. Before we realized how long it might be before there's a common house, we had intended to rent one of the offices they plan for the common house.

We've discussed living in an RV-like house... basically, small but where there's a lot of built-in functions and hide-away set-ups (if that even makes sense) so that things stow nicely. He keeps talking about that in reference to the house but i'm nervous at the price explosion that will cause.

And don't worry about not remembering ... I remember b/c our mutual friend referred to you after as a mod on here in context of something else. I'm normally terrible with names, too

[limette]

We are soon to be a family of 5 and would like to have another baby after this one. If I was building to my specific floor plan, I could get away with between 1200-1500 square ft (for 6). Single story, 3 bedrooms with (kids in bunk beds), 2 bathrooms and an open concept living/dining/kitchen space.

We are house shopping at the moment and will end up getting bigger than that because of the crappy layouts of most homes. I would love to be able to afford to build.

[abharrington]

we are 4 soon to be 5 in just under 1000 sq ft. 3 bed, 1 bath. we plan to be here at least 4 more years...and hopefully 1 - 2 more babies. it doesn't really seem small to me...but i can't imagine going smaller. we have a full unfinished basement for laundry, storage and some play space. that REALLy helps.

[confustication]

We are 5 people in about 900 square feet. It's doable, but not comfortable. I'll be the odd one out here, I guess. We're feeling pretty cramped. My oldest is 8, and she has her own room. The two boys are both under two, and are in our room. We will be renovating to add a third bedroom in the next few weeks which will shrink the oldest's room and our living room a bit, but will give the boys their own space.

What makes it work for us has been creative allocation of space. We eat most of our meals in the living room (not in front of the tv) but at the coffee table. We have a lift top (huge) coffee table that converts to a normal sized table with benches. That gives us homeschooling space, project space, and eating space without having to have a dedicated dining area. I have a small kitchen nook that has an eat-in area as well. We do not have a basement or attic for storage, so making choices about what comes in the door is paramount.

If I were able to design the space from scratch this would work better, and a better layout would help immensely. Storage would help a lot as well. As it is though, we've been thinking about moving to a place with similar space, but a full finished basement to effectively double our space. We're struggling with whether to give up OUR space to do that for family comfort, and I'm not really sure what will win out. As the kids get bigger, I feel like they need more space for themselves. I guess I'd think about your family ten years from now, and try to envision the needs at that point in time.

[mum4boys]

We are a family of 8. We had 3 teenagers (they are all grown up and living on there own). We live in 1200 square feet. It is perfectly douable to live in a house this size. In fact right now, I think we have too much space. There is 5 of us left 2 adults, 12, 11, and 3. If your house is well built and thought out 1,500 square feet could be huge.

[happyblessedmama]

We have soon-to-be-6 children in a 1600 square foot house, and I really, really, really want more space - or to move before another winter.

Where we live winters are extreme and we cannot go out for weeks at a time to play outside due to very, very cold temps (-25F and lower). Being stuck inside with 200 SF per person, basically - not much fun.

[FelixMom]

We are a family of 5 with 950 sq ft of living space. It's okay for now, with the oldest 8 yrs old. We'll be moving to a 1 200 sq ft ground floor apartment, so we'll have a backyard, plus storage space in the basement.

If forced to stay at our current location, we could probably make it work with lots of serious decluttering...

[Justmee]

I agree focus on the living area. My three girls share a small bedroom and ds has his own at the moment. We have an open space that is LR / DR / and (off to a corner) Kitchen. We also have a spare room that will eventually be the girls' room. We have 1500 sq feet and it's fine. i know a family of 7 who lives in 1050 sq feet, and a family of 6 in approx 850 sq feet (four kids ranging from 10 - 17). These are all apartments, btw, so limited outdoor space.

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

Family of 5.

We moved from a 2400 sq ft home to a 1700 sq ft home.

Even the 1700 sq ft home has rooms we almost never use. We could definitely go smaller.

Small = less to clean, more motivation for the kids to go OUTSIDE.

We have a huge back yard. I want them to spend more time there.

We are minimalist.

[wombatclay]

The Ithaca climate is twitchy... snow starts in late October, generally stops in April. Though it's snowing right now It doesn't get super duper cold, but the windchill knocks it into the negatives regularly. So not an ideal "living outdoor" climate, but not horrible either. Check out the Scandinavian styles for ideas that can maximize space/light during winter and of course the architect will have ideas for passive solar and green building.

[Juvysen]

It's snowing here, too. Down in town in bingamton is a bit warmer than where I live (up on a north face of a hill), but I think Ithaca (well, Danby) is about the same as up here on the hill, from what i can tell.

[muchpeace]

I think the layout is almost more important than the amount of sq ft. We have about 1000 sq ft with a basement but the layout is what kills us, we have no place that we all fit together as a family when we eat on the main living floor. But we have plenty of storage.

If I had it to do over again, I'd have chosen a more open layout that made use of the amount of sq ft because right now with 6 of us it would be nice to fit around a table together in one room comfortably (the eat-in kitchen with dining table isn't very comfortable).

We've also found that lately we've been decluttering, parring down & making better use of the space we do have. It's helped us be more mindful & we've found we have more space than we realized when we were holding on the excess items that had no use or purpose in our lives anymore.

[justmama]

We are a family of 4 in 900sq ft, no attic, and the basement is only good for the washer and dryer due to some flood damage/environmental reasons. You cannot store anything down there really. The amt of sq footage is not the problem. If the space was better managed, it wouldn't be a problem. I have 3 girls that all share the massive master bedroom. If that could be 2 bedrooms, the house would be more than fine. And I want more counter-space in the kitchen. 2 sqft really doesn't work. But there's room in the kitchen, it's just not properly managed space. But we rent so. . . . . . . . .

But 900 sq ft is enough for us. I don't see the need for these massive houses that most Americans think they need at 3000 and 4000 and more sq ft. How do they even find each other in those houses??????? If you need an intercom to find each other, it's too big!

[Drummer's Wife]

Originally Posted by justmama

If you need an intercom to find each other, it's too big!

The intercom means I don't have to yell as loud.

[gnutter]

layout-def. the most important thing. People usually say that our house seems much larger inside than from the outside. The living room,dining/kitchen combo have most of the living area-and there is a lot of light from the double doors and the windows-this is the space we use the most and even with everyone here its ok. Furniture that is convertable is a must-our kitchen table has a leaf that is built in-you pull the table apart and it flips open in the center-this means when we are all here for dinner it takes about 30 seconds to adjust the table size-which is convenient enough to make it a non issue. the layout and your furniture choices make a huge difference in a small house.

[Punchy Kaby]

I can't comment on house size, we live in a house that is way too big for our family of 4. But, I can comment on a long commute. My commute is 20 miles, DH's is 24. We have to leave 90 minutes early most times during traffic just to be safe, and sometimes it does actually take us that long. We don't go to work everyday so it is not a 5 day a week commute. We LOVE where we live. It is almost like a commune in that our cul-de-sac is a private rd with 7 houses, we know the neighbors well and whenever we go outside, some else usually comes out to play with us. We share tons of meals together, during the summer months we have 'cocktail' hour. Our kids frequently hang out at one of the neighbor's houses (they are like grandparents.) In addition to that, our town has great schools, community center, and a true sense of 'community' that we take advantage of. Some days I hate my commute, but we love where we live and it is sooooo worth it.

For ideas on design/small space living, DWELL magazine is fantastic! They have a lot of articles/pictures online now, so if your library doesn't have copies you can still check out great ideas. I dream of someday retiring to a prefab home like the ones I see in Dwell!

[ssantos]

I think the layout and specific room sizes is more important than actual square footage. We are a familty of four and we have lived in two different 1,700-sf houses. One had more rooms but every single room felt too small and cramped. The other had fewer rooms and every room was plenty big (and could have been slightly smaller and still comfortable). We loved the house with fewer, bigger rooms.

We currently live in a 1,500-sf house and it is a good size for our family. We would like a slightly bigger kitchen, though.

Figure out what rooms you want and how big each room needs to be to fit your furniture and be comfortable and then add the numbers up - you will have your ideal square footage.

[dmpmercury]

I'm actually really considering the White Hawk Eco Village outside of Ithaca in the future if things work out right. I get emails from them. We will be a family of 5 too.

I plan on building a small straw bale house with 3 bedrooms about 1200 sqaure feet. Right now we are in 1050. If it was layed out differently I could definately live in a space this size but the kitchen is really small and I prefer another bedroom for the future since we have boys and girls. We just looked at condos with bigger kitchens and an extra bedroom and a 1350 sq foot place seemed really big and definately plenty. I like to make use of a small space rather than build bigger to really make use of resources and to keep with the sustainability theme of an ecovillage.

I think if you are going small it is important to really think through the design. You want lots of built in storage and mini walk in closets. I like a small mudroom entrance with lockers for winter gear and shoes. I hoping for a nice size kitchen with lots of storage but I don't mind if the bedrooms are a little smaller if there is storage. It is important to keep up on decluttering and to keep things simple. I will also make use of outdoor unheated storage.

Good luck! Since my dh found a new job here recently and we are living pretty tight we aren't as close to my ecovillage dream as before and haven't started the membership process yet but I still hope to make it possible. I really loved everything I saw about White Hawk. Ithaca seems like such a cool place and I like how you design your place in White Hawk. If you do move into White Hawk and build a place I would love to hear about it and what you decided to do.

[Juvysen]

Originally Posted by dmpmercury

Good luck! Since my dh found a new job here recently and we are living pretty tight we aren't as close to my ecovillage dream as before and haven't started the membership process yet but I still hope to make it possible. I really loved everything I saw about White Hawk. Ithaca seems like such a cool place and I like how you design your place in White Hawk. If you do move into White Hawk and build a place I would love to hear about it and what you decided to do.

We started the membership process a couple years ago, but sort of backed away for a while and now we're leaning toward moving forward with it, but we need to figure out house plans and financing options.

Tomorrow we're heading to Danby for our first WH meeting in a couple years.