When does a house become a mansion?

[RamblingRose]

I picked up my daugher from a friend's house today. It was the biggest house I've ever been in. It was very pretentious, especially for only 3 people. I don't know the parents very well, so what do you say, "I love your house"? Well, they obviously know that, or they wouldn't be living there! I tried not to make the house into a topic of conversaion and didn't get the "grand tour," but she did mention that it has 5 bathrooms, and 2 half-bathrooms.

The house really is gorgeous. So I started thinking, if I had that much money, would I really want a house that big for only 3 people?

And all the toys that their only daughter has!!! Won't she disappointed when she comes to our house.

Probably definite repugs.

Any thoughts???

[Muddleoftheroad]

1. When someone ELSE owns it

[greatauntoftriplets]

2. McMansion?

Sounds like one. Although the triplets' parents have a house with four bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths. Of course, they need it!

[DS1]

3. Not all repugs are bad

Why not just judge them as people if you get to know them instead of pre-assuming that they're on a personal mission to raise your taxes?

:bounce:

[GOPisEvil]

4. The official definition is:

A large, imposing residence. From: www.m-w.com

[Bertha Venation]

5. barf

Sounds like it would make a fabulous halfway house or battered women's shelter.

My house, 1,400 square feet, three little bedrooms, two little baths, unfinished basement, is made a mansion by love. That's how I rank houses in my mind: by the love in them. So most houses I know of are mansions.

[populistmom]

6. My house will soon have 5 bedrooms

But it's far from a mansion. It'll just be another 3 bedroom, 1 bath, cookie cutter 1950's ranch with 2 extra bedrooms and a bath in the basement. We, however, need the space.

I think once the square footage gets over 4,000, it's a mansion.

[oldleftguy]

7. In my own mind I defined mansion as..

..a home large enough that it needs staff to maintain it.

[solinvictus]

8. When it's time to re-assess property taxes.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

9. Can't stand those McMansions

they lack character. I much prefer the old architecture, but a lot of those older mansions are less than 4,000 sq feet

[NashVegas]

11. McMansions

I think they're funny because their such an architectural mish-mash, trying to evoke every era of great house at once. "Well, we want something Georgian, but we also want a lot of gables, and we also want it to look kinda colonial ..."

[NashVegas]

10. When the Walls Are Plaster*, Not Drywall

*or other semi-solid material.

[underseasurveyor]

15. Well then if that's all it takes is plaster.........

ha ha Then I live in an 80 year old, 15 thousand dollar, 3 bedroom, 1 bath, 2 story mansion :bounce:
COOL :-)
Oh....with an unattached single car garage ;-)

[HawkerHurricane]

12. word origins

Mansion - French Maison, or house.
House - German Haus, or... House.

Basically, after the Norman Conquest in 1066, the nobles (being French speakers) lived in 'Maisons' (corrupted to Mansions) and the peasants (being German speakers) lived in a Haus (corrupted to House).

Wonderful language, English.

[Snow]

13. Don't worry about when their daughter comes to visit....

when I was a kid, we lived in Van Nuys (in the 50's) and my dad was business manager & a teacher at a pricey private school. I got tuition waived. So a lot of my friends lived in similar places, usually up in Sherman Oaks, or even Bel Air. But they were fine coming to play at my house - lots of kids in the neighborhood, and I don't recall them noticing or much caring about comparative house sizes - and trust me, our house was really your basic Valley post-WWII stucco crackerbox. Dunno just why, but some of them preferred visiting my house to me going over there. You can never tell with kids.

[vpigrad]

14. Here's what I was taught

What a bunch of gluttons! They only need two (assuming the parents sleep in the same room) bedrooms, and they have five! There's just no way to justify that type of waste.

I'm going to show my age here, but when I started working for the local paper many years ago, the editor told us to use the word mansion to describe any house worth more than $25,000. Now due to inflation, I guess that amount would be ten times that now, not that I know much amount houses that expensive. I've never been in one.

[HawkerHurricane]

17. Only 10 times?

My San Diego home goes for more than that. 5 bedrooms, two baths, one car garage, postage stamp lot.

[kimchi]

16. Not sure of the definition.

I once lived in a "mansion", 10,000 square feet. It didn't feel like it because it was well lived-in and well utilized. I really miss living in that wonderful house in the middle of the woods. A truly magical place and great people.

Now, my neighbors are building a house that will block the sun from MY house. Three master suites with three hot tubs; plus 2 more bedrooms. THAT is beyond ridiculous for 2 parents and an adult child.

I'd love to have a large house for entertaining because I live in a tiny one. I would never buy one of those pre-fab McMansions with a postage stamp yard, though. But I'd give my eye teeth for a Victorian out in the middle of the country.

Creative activities are just as enjoyable as toys and most times moreso.