Right-Size Your Home: Is Your House Too Big?

Take our quiz and found out if your home's proportions are infringing on your quality of life.

May/June 2009
By Sarah Susanka 
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You can assess the appropriateness of your home’s proportions by asking yourself the following questions. If you answer yes to five or more, your house is suffering from a case of “Too Bigness.”

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■  Are any living areas in the house taller than they are wide?

■  Do any spaces feel comfortable only when the house is full of people?

■  When you are in the kitchen, do you have to shout to be heard in the adjacent family room?

■  Is your house so large that you can coexist with other household members without running into them?

■  Are any spaces particularly echoey?

■  Are any spaces rarely used? Is there no need to repurpose these spaces because there’s already plenty of room in the house?

■  Does the house look huge from any exterior angle?

■  Do you sometimes feel as though you are rattling around in the house—that there’s too much space and not enough of a sense of place in any of it?

■  Do you sometimes wander around the house looking for a comfortable place to sit and read or have a cup of coffee?

■  Do you have any rooms that are more than 16 feet tall?

■  Do guests stepping into your foyer or living room for the first time look upward and say, “Wow”? (This is not always an indication of approval, just awe.)

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Comments

  • Lisa 5/9/2009 5:07:43 PM

    My family of 3 (plus 3 indoor/outdoor cats and 1 small dog)live in a century old house of less than 900 square feet. Most of our rooms are multi-functional. Plus we converted one tiny bedroom into a walk-in closet and dressing room with shelves for extra storage. While renovating we have taken care to build in extra storage where none was available before. We still all have our private areas for meditation and the like. And dressing in the dressing area is no problem either. A folding screen provides for complete privacy. I believe I could live in an even smaller space without a problem, but my husband still thinks that bigger is better. I've mentioned the desire to buy wooded land and build a small camping cabin on it, so I may win him over to my way of thinking yet!!!

  • Julie 5/8/2009 8:16:31 AM

    Less than 2000 feet for retirement? Try less then 1000 feet. My family of six lives in a 1500 square foot home very comfortably. And our whole extended family (24 guests) comes to our house every holiday. No problem. We all eat at tables set up in the kitchen, living room and study (as we call the room that used to be called a parlor back when this house was built, because we home school in that room). Our one and only small bathroom never causes us a problem either. We have learned to use our space wisely.

  • ckraus111 5/7/2009 12:24:49 PM

    I did a Home Usage Audit of all the homes past and present I have lived in and found out the following;

    I don't need the dining room as I only used it 2-4 times a year, just the space to hold the big table.

    I don't need a resort/hotel sized bedroom as I only sleep, dress and on occasion watch TV or read.

    I don't need a walk-in closet as once a Home Contents Audit was done I found out I hadn't used most items in it in more than two years. Gave all that away by the way.

    I don't need a spa sized bath with seperate shower because we only used it for the 3 S's (sh_t, shower, shave) on a daily basis.

    I don't need a formal living room AND a casual family room as the living room was only used the 2-4 times a year I had a lot of people over. I only needed the space for these people.

    I am planning my retirement and looking to build green somewhere so this was a step I did to see just what size and style my retirement home should be. This was a real shocker that I needed less than 2000 sq ft.

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