We’re looking at a house. 850 sq feet. Feels a LOT bigger to me. 2 big rooms + large eat in kitchen first floor. Basement 65% finished. Top floor, 2 good bedrooms + bath.
It would be obscenely roomy next to where we are living now. I’m psyched. Today we go back to shoot photos and make a first offer.
Last house in prior life was 1,700 sq feet. But it was a house and not a home. 
I currently live in a 400sq ft studio. (Maybe 450, I don’t know.) Before I moved in, I was wondering how I was going to function in so tiny a place, having spend the previous 15 years in a 2-bedroom with a large kitchen and a porch.
I’m pretty comfortable in it, though. My only complant is the kitchen, which is basically a walk-in closet with a stove. I’ve managed to pull off Thanksgiving in it a number of times though.
If I had unlimited funds I’d go with a 3 bedroom house with a great room that serves as library and media room. Add a freakishly large kitchen with pantry and dinning room that could hold 10 people comfortably. It could extend into the great room to accommodate all the people. Garage would be detached 2 story building large enough for 6 cars downstairs, a loft bedroom and machine shop upstairs. So maybe 2500 sf of house plus enough basement for storage. and 1800 sf of garage. Put it all on 2 acres.
But I survive just fine with 1800 sf of house and 600 sf of garage.
Layout is key. My wife, son and I live in 1500 square feet and it is enough for us. If the layout was a little better and we had an extra bathroom, we could stay here indefinitely.
When my wife and I didn’t have kids we were happy in a 600 square foot apartment. We lived in an 800 square foot unit that felt big to us.
I live alone. As long as I have enough room for a bathroom, a refrigerator and a place to lie down flat, I’m fine.
My flat is what’s considered big enough for a family of three or four in Spain (a bit squishy for 4, but because of layout; too much hallway and one of the bedrooms is on the small side): 2B1b, thereabouts of 650sq ft. I live alone, but in Spain smaller places tend to be considered “luxury” (they’re usually downtown in big cities - here that’s The Place To Be - and often have stuff I don’t really care about such as marble floors).
I have been comfortable in 450 sq ft and had room for visitors, but those visitors didn’t snore and those 450 sq ft were very “clear”, just a big rectangle with the bathroom in one corner and a partial wall separating the kitchen from the part that served as way-to-bathroom/walk-in-closet.
At one point I rented a 3B1b flat that was aprox 970sq ft and it was way too big, there were two rooms I pretty much never entered. It was the only thing I could find in that beach area where the owner wasn’t trying to charge vacation rates for long stay and where neither the bathroom nor the kitchen came with their own ecosystem, though.
Hopefully, 2057 square feet will be just right, since that’s what we’re moving into next month! Honestly, we could function in our current 1600-ish if we had any storage space, but for 5 people, a total of ten linear feet of closet space just isn’t working. The new house has 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, living room, den, large-ish eat-in kitchen, and a 6 by 12 alcove that will be perfect for a computer setting. Additionally, there’s a 15x30 heated and air conditioned building in the back, which the guys are already dubbing “the man cave,” and a shed for bikes and lawn tools and such. We’ll convert one of the public rooms to another bedroom, since the girls’ age difference makes it harder for them to share space. (And, if need be, we can convert the man cave into an in-law apartment or a college apartment for when the kids reach that stage.)
We looked at lots of houses during our search, but this one seemed ideal: enough space for 5, but not so much that we’ll be rattling around in it in the near future when only 2 or 3 of us are at home.
I’ve often thought it would be really cool to life in a big, rambling house, the kind of house you could go exploring in, the way the Pevensie children do at the beginning of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
But I probably never will, because of how expensive it would be, to buy, to heat, and to maintain.
I live alone in a 1400 square foot, two bedroom condo. That’s about the right size for me. I wouldn’t mind another bedroom so I could have a full guest room and an office though.
Our current house is about 3000 square feet. (actually a little less, I think). It’s manageable for 4 people, but I’d prefer a little more space. We have a few thousand acres leased year-round for (private) hunting. I go there frequently when I really need some space and solitude.
I live in a 1000 square foot apartment, usually alone. And usually I feel as if I am swimming in too much space. But when my kids are here for the weekend it becomes tiny and crowded way too quickly.
I have a 1 bedroom that’s probably 650-700 square feet. I moved here a year ago from a probably 500 square foot 1 bedroom place. It’s so much bigger, and perfect. I wouldn’t want to go much bigger for just me and my cats. The living room and kitchen are open, and the kitchen is so big I have a table that seats 6 in the middle with room to run around it. Not a lot of counter space, but with the table right behind me I have lots of space for cooking prep. If I were to add a partner to the mix, I think I would need two bedrooms and a much bigger living room. Not sure I’d want to share a bathroom, either.
I live alone in a one bedroom that is just over 700 sq ft. Add in another person and I would be uncomfortable, but I’ve lived in this layout (though this is my second apartment in this building) for four years and I’ve been pretty comfortable.
Being single,
My last apartment was 680 sqft. That was just about perfect for my needs. No empty space, no clutter. My one wish was that I had a bigger kitchen, since despite not being much a cook I love to experiment.
About two years ago, I bought a condo (based mostly on “the price was really good” rather than “I needed to move.”)
Honestly, it’s too big for me at about 1500 sqft. One bedroom (painted like a nursery) still has unpacked boxes from the move, two years ago. One of these days I’ll get motivated and just throw the stuff in their out, but since move-in it’s pretty much just been sealed off as an empty room.
The living room is about right. Room for a couch, a loveseat, a fireplace, a nice reading chair and the TV.
I’ve got another empty space - “the study”. It’s connected to the dining room, has a faux hardwood floor, and nothing in it but a ratty couch that I haven’t sat on since I moved in.
Bedroom is OK, though I need more bedroom furniture. Right now I just have the bed (queen), two nightstands, a dresser and a few lamps. A lot of empty space.
Two full baths - again, overkill. I use the bath off the master bedroom daily; the other one I’ll use the toilet but have only used the bath/shower once.
“Nook” area off the living room. Perfect for my computer desk and compy. That’s where I’m sitting right now. A bit of shelving which is good for books and discs.
Short answer, I’m probably not using about 40% of my living area. I really should find a girlfriend and have her move in, LOL.
But I’m not complaining. The price I got for this place was great.
I’m by myself in a 1500 ft3, 3br (one used as an office) townhouse, and it’s certainly a bit bigger than I strictly need. I previously lived in a couple of different 2br flats of around 800 ft3 and they were quite large enough for me. I’ve lived comfortably in as little as maybe 400 ft3 at various points in my life, so I suppose I could do it again if need be.
Maybe a bit off topic but I will admit that what I consider one of the best things about my life is that I don’t have to have a roommate if I don’t want one, which I guess works both ways because I snore like a tugboat. No extra charge for the unsolicited info.
I’m a single parent with 2 kids, 3 largish dogs, and several (4 at last count) cats. We live in a little 1040SF house with 3 bedrooms and 1.5 baths. I used to live in an 1800SF house, and I have to say I like the smaller house better, mostly because it’s easier to keep clean.
Upside: cheaper, easier to clean, cozy, and enforced togetherness.
Downside: gets a little crowded on winter nights when everyone wants to be in the living room, hard to entertain a crowd, and the kids are getting bigger so we have to dance around each other in the kitchen and hall a bit more.
Overall, I’m happy with the size of this house…there’s always a garage I could convert to another room if needed.
If I were alone, I’d keep the house and turn the big bedroom into a studio and the small bedroom into a library, and sleep in the middle one. But I can’t do that until I’ve completed my Evil Plan to Take Over the World. (It could be a while.)
The three of us (me, husband, 12 yo son) live in a 1400 sqft, 3 bed/2 bath house. We have one large dog and two cats. It’s just about perfect. I wish the Kiddo’s room was bigger, or at least shaped differently, but other than that, it works well for us.
How big does a house for one person, or two, need to be?
It all depends on the design. In general, the better the design, the smaller the space can be, and the more intense its identity. However I personally like proportionally big roomy kitchens and porches.
When I was single in Japan, I lived in 180 sf apartment for 2.5 years. Now, with my wife and 3 kids, and after having lived in small places (800-1800 sf) for close to 20 years, we are building a 3,700 sf heated + 3 car garage dream house. I think it will be huge but nice
I live, with my two cats, in a 3-bedroom house (plus basement and attic), and have totally run out of space. My partner lives next door, with his two dogs, in a 2-bedroom house, and has space to spare. There doesn’t seem to any limit to the number of rooms I need; my possessions just keep expanding into whatever space I have.