Square footage per person in a residential home?

[JasperFrank]

Perception is an interesting thing.
I build a Geo Dome with a 25 foot ceiling open to the top. Its a 50 Diameter with a 3 foot riser and half loft. Its not a big house, 3,400 square feet. But it feels huge even though it only has two conventional sequestered "rooms." The rest is open. The loft is my wife's domain and her work area. I have my floor level office, and there is one large master bedroom. The baths are so big they could also be called "rooms." I think of it as a Big Cabin. Its so open, that even after 30 years, I don't ever feel any lack of space. Then again, we didn't have children, and visiting relatives and friends, stay at their respective hotels.

 

[ericm979]

The place we're building is 2300 sq ft. for two of us. Single story. There's an additional 800 sq ft apartment on the garage for guests and one of the bedrooms can be used for guests too. We tried to get the house down to 2000 but felt that would make some rooms cramped. If we couldn't afford it, we'd have made it smaller and made do.

 

[CalG]

If the dwelling architecture "invites" the occupants out doors, whether by eye or foot, the enclosed space can feel much larger.

This works in bot summer heat and winter's cold.

The book "A Pattern Language" is a good read on what it takes to make a useful environment.

 

[Torvy]

The place we're building is 2300 sq ft. for two of us. Single story. There's an additional 800 sq ft apartment on the garage for guests and one of the bedrooms can be used for guests too. We tried to get the house down to 2000 but felt that would make some rooms cramped. If we couldn't afford it, we'd have made it smaller and made do.

We decided to shrink the guest rooms a bit compared to modern houses. They are around 10x10. We figured it would help dissuade guests from overstaying.

The barn has space for an apartment. More like 400 sqft. I just finished the drywall between the workshop/garage area and the 'apartment'. My big Fall/Winter project is to get the door installed, insulate and put up the 'interior' drywall.

 

[garry1p]

To each his own, so many variables unless you are building.
There are only so many houses on the market at any given time to find "what you want" is a crap shoot you may find something that "will work" only to find "what you want" just came on the market.

 

[2manyrocks]

How much did each of the three realtors salivate over the prospect of selling your present home?

 

[kenmac]

Heck Joe, I live in this all by myself. I would think with 3 of you you would need more than 2000. But I guess it's all in what you want and think is large enough.

 

[Jstpssng]

Do you also plan for a separate building to do woodworking, maintenance and/or other things? That would make a big difference fore, at least. My ideal home has a small bathroom just off a side entry so that you can use the facilities as needed, and at the end of the day take off your boots, drop your wet/dirty clothes and step into the shower without tracking a ross the house.

 

[woody]

I've spent over 20 years making this place my home and if I decide we need to down size I'll simply close a couple of doors. Sorry if this idea doesn't fit the norm but we have worked to long and to hard around here. But different strokes for different folks you know

 

[WVH1977]

I would not worry so much about square footage. I would make sure you had 2 big baths, a 1/2 bath, doorways big enough for wheel chair to get through, big kitchen, and enough utility/mud room space if you are outside a lot. I really regret not getting a half bath when I built. Everyone told me I would be fine with 2. Next time, I will have a half bath. lol

And of course a garage bigger than the house!!!!