We're a family of 4 with a dog, and we own a 2 bedroom, 1,000 sq. foot apartment. We would like something bigger (it's also a four-story walk-up) but housing prices and taxes are really scary where we live.

Our house is just under 1000 sq ft on a slab. We have 3 bedrooms and one bath. There are 2 adults and 2 preteens along with 2 dogs and 1 cat. You have to go through DS bedroom to get to DD bedroom. I would love to have a different layout and at least 1 1/2 baths, a basement, and bigger closets.

3200 Sq. Ft., not including basement and large deck. 3 people in family. We will probably downsize in about 8 years or so, for now, we're enjoying it!!

wow- lots of people responded to this one! last october we finally bought our first house, we went from a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom 800 sq ft apt with 5 people to a 1950 sq ft, 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom house. and our first order of business with having so much more room was to have another baby- so now it is 6 people. I am so happy to have so much room- we have a boy room and a girl room, and the 4th bedroom is for now a play room- but would make a great office, or a massage therapy room if i ever get lisenced. We don't even use the 3rd bathroom= it is curently the "kitty bathroom" with the litter box and stuff in it- especially usefull since we still have 3 of the 6 kittens + the mamma. I felt guilty at first that the master bathroom was so big- on the floor plan it is bigger than either of the kids rooms, with a seperate shower and a soaking tub, but my realtor/sil told me to get over it and just enjoy it- after living for 5 years in tiny apartments with no space of my own that i deserved it. and my kitchen is about 10x the size of our old one- i got used to living with very little kitchen extras, that we still have a bunch of kitchen cupboards that are still completly empty!

2100 square feet (not including unfinished basement & attic space)....5 people.....4 beds/2.5 baths...works well for us. I think we could go a little smaller...maybe 1800ish square feet & still be ok. We recently relocated here and bought this house, but our previous house was 2500 square feet. I felt like there was quite a bit of space we just weren't really using in that house.

Great thread...it's been fun to read all the responses!

1,400 sq feet. Not much so I keep it really cleaned out and don't let the clutter build up! It is easy to over run it with a big family!

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There are 8 of us and our house id just over 6000 sf. We listed it with a realtor last weekend and are trying to simplify our lives. Hard to do with 6 kids.

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Lisa~mom to 6 (19,17,13,5,3,3)

Family of three w/one on the way. Our house is about 1200 sq ft, but I don't think that includes the basement, which is "partially" finished (not really finished, but a nice, big basement). 4 BR/1Bath on almost 2 acres.
I think that's about normal for the house size in our town, but we've got WAY more yard than most.

We live in 2600 sq ft with no basement. We are a family of 3 plus 2 dogs (which always seem under foot ). We upgraded to this house so that we did not have to move when we become a family of 4 or 5. Plus we needed 4 bedrooms since all our family live out of town and stay with us when they visit. It suits us. Sometimes we wish we had not moved out of our 2000 sq ft home (better mortgage) but we manage.

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"Families are like fudge... mostly sweet with a few nuts."
~Unknown~

We are a family of 5 in a ranch house on a slab - only 960 square feet. My kids are getting older, and it's getting harder. We literally have no room to put anything. We are actually in the process of fixing up our house to sell and look for something a little bigger and hopefully with a basement. Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of money and it's taking us awhile.