Why do people need such giant houses?

[midnight armadillo]

Some family friends showed us the new house they built recently. It's a family of 3 (2 adults, 1 kid) that won't be getting any bigger. The house is 4 bed, 5 bath, 4400 sq ft. The master bedroom alone is 800 sq ft. They put every penny they had into this monstrosity and will be paying nearly $1k/month in property taxes, on top of heating, cooling, and electricity.

I just don't get why 3 people would want so much space to maintain and attempt to fill - they have many rooms without furniture since they're not sure what to do with them. I think I lack the gigantic house gene.

[crispini]

1. I really don't know. So they can fill them up with crap?

So they can avoid their fellow human beings? No idea. I have several of those in my hood. The people in them never participate in the neighborhood.

[NYC_SKP]

55. Yes, it's a fact that people own far more crap than ever before.

The average home built in the thirties and forties has quite small closets, if any, and maybe a one car garage.

The average square footage of a home has nearly doubled.

4400 s.f. is ridiculous.

It's embarrassing.

[Bucky]

2. A big house can be a comforting, calming thing

I don't think people should withdraw from society or buy homes they can't afford. But there's good things about big houses. My grandfather was a college president and when I was a kid he lived in this big house--4 or 5 bedrooms, two big living rooms, expanded kitchen, bumper pool in the basement, and a wide hilly back yard with no fence around it. When the cousins clustered there every summer the experience really built strong bonds between us.

[Deja Q]

59. So can a small apartment... what's wrong with people withdrawing from society?

[Bucky]

63. for some people, actually, that's an excellent suggestion

Or at least that's the way it seems from my perspective here, sitting in the dark with my computer...

[Deja Q]

67. Same here

:D

Time and context, everyone needs alone time. Granted, it's been an excessively emotionally draining week but I'm back on even keel (my original context being, society allows "boys to be boys" which in turn drives others to lives of painful maudlin solitude that few can understand and all that )

[NewJeffCT]

3. And pretty soon

they'll be parking in their driveway because the garage is so filled with crap.

But, perhaps they anticipate their family growing by another child or two, or perhaps they expect in-laws/relatives to move in for an extended time?

[Hardrada]

78. Our neighbors use their garage for stuff and not cars!

[Deep13]

4. They don't. It's wasteful. nt

[raccoon]

5. They don't. And that's one thing that makes it hard to compare living standards of today

with those of yesteryear.

Many people say, "My father worked and supported our family on just one income." Well, yeah, but some things were very different. Chances are your family wasn't living in a humongous house. IME, a three-bedroom, one bathroom house was pretty much the norm.

[oregonjen]

6. I wouldn't want to clean it!

Too big. I suppose if you can afford a big house, somebody else would do the cleaning. :shrug:

[zanne]

7. I think they're symbols of achievement...

My sister climbed the corporate ladder and bought a big house on a hill with a view of a beautiful lake and mountains in the distance. It's a four-bedroom house. She and her husband have no children and will never have them. Her husband built a two-story "barn" (actually just another house) right next to it and he builds boats there.
I know it sounds excessive, but we grew up in a working class neighborhood in a small house. (I now own that house and live there). Some people need material proof of their success. I don't and my needs are few. I consider myself to be the lucky one. Does that make sense?

[MicaelS]

8. Makes perfect sense all the way around

And, yes I consider you the lucky one.

[Blue_Tires]

60. +1

for so many people, if you can't live in the 'right' neighborhood, an oversize house is the next best thing to show you've arrived in this world (although in a lot of cases, they are both in the same place)

[harmonicon]

75. it makes sense, but I think that it's sad

building boats (whether it's a profession or a hobby) sounds like a very cool thing to do, but I don't understand wanting to show off an achievement with property. All of the things that I'm proud of in life have very little to do with money. I will always be poor, and I'm ok with that. I do become jealous of people with money, because it represents a level of comfort and security that I will never know, but I fail to see it as a mark of achievement, so the display is wasted on the likes of me. However, if they're happy, there are far worse things they could be doing with their money (I'm assuming they aren't donating it to hate groups and the like, such as/or the GOP).

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

9. I would have a huge house if I could afford it

I'd have no problems using up the rooms.

And, if I had a bunch of money to get such a house, I'd make the house really green.

[1gobluedem]

10. My first thought is always 'who is going to clean that?'

That being said, I'd love a huge OLD house if I could afford it and didn't have to clean it. I'd love the luxury of having rooms like a sunporch, a library,and a big eat-in kitchen. But I don't want to have to clean it or bankrupt myself by buying it.

[tigereye]

47. yes, plus a music room.

only big old houses with turrets, etc. None of those hideous McMansion things...


on edit, we bought a medium sized house that we could afford.

[greendog]

11. Lack of imagination. Gullibility. n/t

[azmouse]

12. Just out of curiousity, what do you consider a reasonable size house?

[jobycom]

13. Why do they need small houses, even? Why do we need enough food to make us the most obese

society in history? Why do we need radios and televisions and computers? Why do we need pets?

Everything beyond a bowl of porridge and a small communal hall to live in is excess--ask any medieval monk. Living on a communal farm, owning nothing, and eating only what we grow, never leaving the five square miles in which we were born, that's the ideal situation. And even then, the cavemen would wonder why we put on such aires.

Another question is why we are so interested in living other people's lives for them when are own probably don't make much more sense.:shrug:

[Shell Beau]

17. Yep! I don't see what difference it makes how big someone's house is.

[Arugula Latte]

24. To me, the thing is that they are needlessly using up so many resources.

I know that someone in a smaller house could say the same about me and my family, but my husband and I both primarily work at home (no commuting resources burned there) and we use every room in the house every day, and we have two kids and four indoor-only mammals. We're not rattling around in empty rooms.

It's a matter of scale -- kind of like, who the hell needs a Hummer?

[Shell Beau]

31. Well not every big house is full of empty rooms. Some people need

the space.

[bobmorr1]

14. small houses

Buy the smallest house in the best neighborhood you can afford. Your house will hold its value more than the others. It will be easier to pay off, easier on the utilities and taxes. We did that, paid it off fairly easy, it's still worth more than twice what we paid for it. The monstrosities around us have dropped in value tremendously. Wouldn't want their utility bills or real estate tax bills. They have to both work as much as they can to pay their mortgages. Best thing we ever did. The larger the house, the more clutter you accumulate.

[Shell Beau]

15. Some people like a lot of space.

I would like a bigger house. Not 4400 sq ft. though.

[Gormy Cuss]

16. They don't need a giant house. Why they may want a house that size, many reasons.

Some people just like lots of space.
Some have home-based businesses and want enough room to have discrete business and home spaces.
Some people collect lots of stuff and want space to display and store it.
To some it's about ego. The bigger the house, the more successful one appears.

But what do I know? That 800 SF bedroom, broken up into 2BR,living/dining area, kitchen and bath(s) would be enough for me with that size family. In fact I've just described friends' city apartment.

[MANative]

18. I fell into the trap myself.

We owned a 2000sq ft house (which I loved to pieces) for about 10 years, then had to move because of a job change a number of years ago. Had to move into a 900 sq ft apartment, which felt incredibly tiny in comparison. When we were finally able to buy again, and at the time were earning nicely into the 6 figures, I rebelled against that small space and bought a 3500 sq ft house. Been regretting it for the last 5 years, as my business has sucked wind against this failing economy. Haven't been able to unload it, and are now slaves to the big mortgage that goes with this monstrosity.

[MajorChode]

19. Mostly it's simply a status symbol

Every area of the world I've ever been has status symbols of one type or another.

At least with a home it's a reasonably good investment (even today). As Mark Twain said, “Buy land, they're not making it anymore”.

I don't think huge homes will be as attractive from a long term investment prospect. As energy costs rise, huge homes are going to be like the SUVs of today. Few are going to be able to afford to heat and cool them eventually.

My home has about 2,500 sq ft of living space. Some might consider that huge, but it's actually the smallest home in my neighborhood. Certainly it's more than I need, especially since my kids are spending less and less time at home, but it's well under what I could actually afford. Somehow I do manage to fill it with junk despite my best efforts to minimalize.

[LanternWaste]

20. Even though I live alone...

Even though I live alone, had I the money I'd quickly buy up one of those huge, antique British estates with little thought behind it. Not for status or validation, mind you-- but simply because I've always thought them the coolest things on the planet.

Libraries, armories, butler's pantries-- I don;t really need any of them, but it would be so cool to own one and live there...

[lizziegrace]

23. But what you want is different

you want to be a caretaker. (you never really own an historic home or castle...)

I would love to be the caretaker of some beautiful old house some day. :)

[LanternWaste]

29. I feel justified and validated!

I feel justified and validated in my wants. Thank you... :)

[lizziegrace]

36. Happy to help

:)

[arcadian]

21. Here we go again. The "it's their money they can do what they want" crowd will be here shortly.

If they aren't already.

[leftofthedial]

22. to hold more squatters after foreclosure.

[AlCzervik]

25. when we lived in Texas we had what i consider a large house for 3 people, 3500 sf.

3 baths and our master was 20 x 22. It was a nice house but we didn't use about 5 of the rooms and the utility bills, omg texas in the summer so the A/C bills were gigantic. The upkeep was a lot, we had a 1/2 acre that i mowed and watered and i do not miss it at all.

anyhow out house is a little under 2100sf which is still kind of a waster for us, i never use the formal dining or living room, i'd rather have an arcade sized air hockey table in either room. The only thing i need to have is a garage, we have a 3 car garage right now and that's the best part of having this house.

[av8rdave]

26. So they can pay someone to clean and maintain them

It's good for the economy.

[Burma Jones]

27. Our house was 3600 Square Feet....then my brother finished the basement

Now it's a giant house......He finished the basement for about half of what it would normally have cost, so that's why we have a giant house, oh, we have three kids and I work out of the house.

We would like to buy this house nearby that's about the same size, but without operating HVAC and on 8 acres. We want to put in a geothermal HVAC system and slap some solar panels on the roof - something our HOA will not allow in our current house.

We do have a lot of furniture, somehow we ended up with a lot of pretty nice hand me downs, and every room in our house is well used. There is an ugly modern trend of building master bedroom suites that could only be described as arrogant while sticking one's kids in over-glorified closets.

[applegrove]

28. It is a gilded age thing. The last time we had a gilded age and then bust..they tore down

many, many victorian mansions. Or turned them into group homes or businesses. But these old gilded age pre-depression houses were located in the downtowns of cities and towns. Don't know what they'll do with the monstrous houses out in the suburbs.

[Jamastiene]

30. Status

People sometimes do that because they want to appear "better" than everyone else.

That might not be the case with your friends, but in a lot of cases, that's exactly what it is.

I don't get it either. Like a redneck in a Hummer...throwing a hot dog down a hallway and not because the woman is worn out...if ya know what I mean. That's the only explanation I can come up with, to be honest.

[geardaddy]

45. I love that phrase.

lol

[CaliforniaPeggy]

32. My dear midnight armadillo!

My husband and I have a house that's almost that big, and I'll tell you why...

We've had a number of houses, and they were fine. Just not quite big enough, esp. while our girls were growing up...

And then, back in 2000, we discovered that we could afford to build a home for us...

We called it our "Forever House."

It's about 4200 sq. feet...

My husband wanted to make it as big as the zoning would allow, and so that's what we did...

It's a beautiful house, full of nice rooms, and every room is used. We have a nice sized master suite, a couple of studies, an office, a living room, a dining room, a family room, a guest room, a laundry room...plus two garages: one single for me, and a double for my husband, since he has two cars.

We had never had enough space, and this time we wanted to fix that. We do rattle around in it, but we love it!

That's why...

:hi:

[QueenOfCalifornia]

34. That does it!

I'm driving up and visiting!

xoxo

[CaliforniaPeggy]

35. My dear QueenOfCalifornia!

C'mon up! I'd love to have you stay in our guest room, with adjoining bath! It's a very nice room, with a queen bed!

How appropriate is that??

xoxo back atcha, sweetie!

:hi:

[Xipe Totec]

71. I'm with you on this, Peggy

Check #70.

[Critters2]

33. They don't need it. I live in a huge house, a parsonage built in the 1880's.

It's really nice, but there are whole parts of it I never use. It has two parlors/living rooms on the main floor. One I use for my living room, the other I keep closed all the time, unless a parishioner comes by for some reason, in which case I meet with them in there. It actually has 2 dining rooms, of which I use one and the other is basically a sun room for the critters, with no furniture but two large southern windows. 4 bedrooms, of which I use one, one is a guest room, one is used for storage and one is empty. And a huge walk-up attic, also empty. And an enclosed porch--also used mainly by the critters.

If I had one kid, as your friends do, I'd have to use one more bedroom, still leaving one for storage, and might use the extra dining room as a play room. Other than that, there'd still be lots of wasted space.

It's clear that my house was built as a sign of wealth--so was our church building :puke:. The same is true of the McMansions. The reason people build larger houses than they need is because they can.

[Left Is Write]

37. I am not interested in keeping 5 bathrooms clean.

[midnight armadillo]

49. LOL me neither

I mean, how much shitting can 3 people possibly do?

[geniph]

38. I recently visited my niece in her new house

which has got to be 5000sf. For her and her husband and two dogs. Yes, the dogs are fairly large, but jeebus. They don't intend to have kids, and they don't entertain much, so what they have is about 1500sf of living space and 3500sf of empty rooms.

My husband and I are in a 1000sf house, and I close off three of the rooms so I don't have to heat them, because we use them so seldom! I admit, when my stepsons were living with us, I'd have loved to have had a second bathroom, but I still have no idea what we'd have done with a 5 bedroom, 5 bath house like my niece's, with a family room, media room, living room, den, and formal dining room. I kid you not. What do you do with all those rooms other than acquire more shit?

[AngryAmish]

39. Long answer - blame Darwin

We are animals with the ability to think. Everyone likes to think that they are purely rational and driven by higher powers. yet it is not true.

We like to live in packs. It makes sense - many are stronger than one. However in packs mating success (and ability to raise your kids so they can breed too) depends on status.

In human cultures status is measured in many ways. At it's most brutal it is the ability to order people around - there were status symbols in the Khmer Rouge. Spartans had kings. Among Deadheads the most . We crave status in everything we do. We crave it because it is tied to our most base desire.

A big house is a way in their culture they think they need to have to prove status.

You may lack the gigantic house gene...but you crave status nonetheless. Among penniless monks there is status - the most serene, et al.

Somewhere there are signals to the outside world who you are. maybe it is the political sign on your front lawn. maybe it is a reusable shopping bag. Used clothing. The brand of smokes you smoke. All these things give signals to others who you are. You may not be consciously aware of what you do to mark your status...but it is there.

[midnight armadillo]

50. I agree

You may lack the gigantic house gene...but you crave status nonetheless. Among penniless monks there is status - the most serene, et al.

This is true. I do lust after a stable of recumbent (or other off-beat) bicycles, although current space and budget limitations mean I own just one. It's a cheaper habit than modifying cars :D

What's somewhat amazing to us is that our friends seem a bit bewildered by the monstrosity they've built. I strongly suspect in a few years the upkeep will prove more expensive (esp. since they earn roughly the same income as us, and I know there's no way in heck we could afford that house) than they currently expect, and they'll end up selling it and downsizing.

[Lethe]

54. Don't blame Darwin, blame civilization

Darwin merely codified the evolution of species into scientific theory.

Humans have existed for the vast majority of our time on earth as tribal hunter-gatherers. You try to equate status with some sort of genetic link for the human race, when in reality hunter-gatherers existed as egalitarian groups, which has been documented thoroughly.

Agriculture and its resulting civilizations are the causes behind your theories, not human evolution.

[mopinko]

72. we didn't stop evolving when we invented fire and huts.

although mr darwin only had a glimmer of all that evolution meant, i think it is ok to give him a little credit for where his idea went. evolutionary psychology is a very interesting subject.
i don't know how you could prove that hunter gatherers were egalitarian. and simpler monkeys than the chimps we evolved from have hierarchies.

[Lethe]

79. just read the literature on hunter-gatherer societies

they're always egalitarian, it's the natural way among non-civilized peoples

humans didn't evolve from chimps. humans share a close common ancestor with chimps that we both evolved from. we went one way, they went another.

[mopinko]

80. no

there was no bucolic past where everyone got along. and there is no contradiction between being hunter gatherers and being hierarchical. or being murderous. apes are. wolves are.
war and violence is what set the human animal on the evolutionary path that brought us here.

[Lethe]

83. i was addressing the issue of social strata and heirachy

which was the original issue of the post i first responded to.

i stated the social structure of hunter-gatherer tribes are egalitarian, which is true. They are egalitarian amongst themselves in their own tribe, with few possessions and little to no social heirachy.

Did different hunter-gather tribes fight and kill each other? Of course they did.

My original point is that civilization is made possible by agriculture and technology, which demands an ordered society with a power structure heirarchy for it to function properly. This type of social structure is not what humans spent the vast majority of our time evolving in - it's unnatural for us, stresses us, and creates unnatural behavior. This includes humans who are obsessed with social status and owning material possessions by which they acquire that status.

Contrast that with the natural way humans evolved and existed for the majority of our time on earth: as egalitarian Hunter-gatherer society with few material possessions.

[flvegan]

40. You can have that many more pet chimps.

[geardaddy]

41. To house their giant egos?

:shrug:

[Shell Beau]

42. I don't get it. Why do people who have big houses have big egos?

What if they have big families? Or need lots of space?

[geardaddy]

44. I'm talking about the people who don't need a big house.

No one needs that much space. IMO

[seaker]

43. To show case their very little....

levels of social responsibility

[kentauros]

46. Although the buyers are partly to blame for wanting McMansions

the builders must share some of the blame for coming up with the idea of filling every square foot of lot space, and paving over the rest. Then the county/parish has to invest the homeowners' taxes into massive retention ponds (more like lakes) to offset the loss of permiable land from all these big boxes. I have yet to see any of them look like anything more than a three-storey literal box. No imagination in the architecture, no thought put into efficiency. Why not just build a similar-sized warehouse with interior levels? ;)

I would love to see home builders get beyond whatever their problems are with prefab houses and start building them for all income levels. If they would, I'd just buy a lot and have 1500sq.ft. house shipped in and assembled :D

Oh, and look at these cool small/efficient houses in Australia and NZ:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/02/australia-new-zealand-houses.php

[harmonicon]

76. I love that kind of architecture

I've thought for some years now - and especially now - that it would be great to have something like the WPA for architecture. Did you know that the WPA hired artists, including fine artists? Ad Reinhardt, for instance, was on some WPA scheme where he had a title like "easel painter level 1". The government could hire young clever architects to design new homes and other buildings, which would both save the customer the expense of hiring an architect and contribute some real culture to communities, instead of just plopping down this cookie-cutter crap that will all be gone in 100 years, or should be if it isn't.

[nickinSTL]

48. that's insane.

We've been looking at houses lately (there's just the two of us, no pets...though we'd like cats) - and at lesst one of the houses we've looked at was smaller than that master bedroom (it was like 624 square feet - which we discovered was too small even for us)

One of the best houses we've looked at was under 1600 square feet - and it seemed HUGE. Two floors, four bedrooms...plus a cool, creepy basement (all brick, and bone dry after a day of heavy rain).

Weird, since the other top place we've looked at seemed smaller though it's over 1600 square feet.

But, apparently we also missed out on that gigantic house gene.

[midnight armadillo]

51. layout is everything

One of the best houses we've looked at was under 1600 square feet - and it seemed HUGE. Two floors, four bedrooms...plus a cool, creepy basement (all brick, and bone dry after a day of heavy rain).

Weird, since the other top place we've looked at seemed smaller though it's over 1600 square feet.

Our last apartment had a 15'x15' kitchen, but since the only way to go from the living room to the bathroom or bedroom was to walk through the very middle of the kitchen its useful space was much smaller than you'd expect just eyeballing it. Efficient use of space is a big factor in how a house or apartment 'feels' inside.

[OmahaBlueDog]

52. You need the house to store your ever expanding collection of stuff

Stuff that fills rooms, basements, and an entire 3 car garage.

[kentauros]

53. Then you put all the soft stuff in SpaceBags

and in containers that go under the bed/furniture/dog and then you go out and buy even more stuff on your overburdened credit limits :P

[last_texas_dem]

56. Probably the same reason people do most of the things they do: because they can.

In the majority of cases, it has nothing to do with "need."

[Manifestor_of_Light]

57. I would like to have more room, for several reasons.

I'd like to have a library with built in bookcases. I moved 23 bookcases into my new residence. It's quite old, smaller than my former house in the big city, which was 2100 square feet.

The country house is smaller, and does not have enough closet space. It also has some very inefficient things about it. The bathroom with the bathtub & shower is pretty tiny. However, the house was built before indoor plumbing, so they probably were being luxurious in having a full bath in the added-on part in the back. I think it was added on in the 1940s.

Because it has an oval parlor in the middle, with four rooms coming off at a diagonal, there are several paths to walk through the house. And it has lots of character, in spite of chickenshit electrical things, and unpredictable slopes in all directions -- I call it THE FUNHOUSE. :D



I threw away/gave away a lot of stuff in both houses.

I'd like to have a music studio, an art studio, a library, and a big open room for parties and dancing. However, i wonder why people who do not need workshops, or studios for art/music projects, or say, greenhouses for gardening, would have so much need for space.

If you don't work on cars, have a hobby, do gardening, collect books, make music or art, why would you need that?

[LSdemocrat]

58. My uncle has a huge house, but it also allows him to frequently host many family members comfortably

As a rather geographically spread out, but close family, it's nice to have a place we can all gather under one roof.

Of course it's expensive as all get out and they can afford a maid service, but my uncle earns every penny working long hours, running his own, albeit high-end, clinic and doing some top medical research.

[wartrace]

61. Because they are pigs?

They need more than they can use. They need to waste energy. What does one DO in an 800 sqft bedroom? Unless they have some very acrobatic sexual practices and need the space to get a running start- why? You only sleep in the damn bedroom. My entire house is only 700 sqft and I share that with eight animals. I have plenty of space, it is efficient to heat & cool and I was able to pay it off in less than five years.

[Deep13]

62. It's to fit their giant egos. nt

[Roon]

64. All I need is one room..a bed, computer

and I am cozy and snug as a bug. I wouldn't even mind the Y with their community bathroom as long as I had my 'puter and broadband.

[Inchworm]

65. A place to put all their junk?

Well, for me.. it really is junk hehe.

:hi:

[MajorChode]

66. To compensate for their small white penis

[no name no slogan]

68. Their master bedroom is as big as my whole inner-city condo

I'm one of four units in a 120-year-old building in a historic inner-city neighborhood-- the same one F. Scott Fitzgerald lived in as a kid. I have approx 800 sq ft, including two bedrooms (11x12 and 9x8), one bath, a kitchen, a dining room, a living room and a three-season porch.

I bought this place last summer, with proceeds from a home I sold during a divorce a few years ago. All but $20,000 of it was paid in cash. I took out a 15-year fixed rate mortgage for the rest. My monthly payments (+ taxes) are less than 20% of my take-home pay, so I've got more money to do stuff I like to do-- and more to save for a rainy day or retirement.

I could have bought something twice as big and expensive, but I don't like being a slave to my house. I have plenty of space, and it's just enough room for one working person to take care of.

[dana_b]

69. so they don't have to talk to each other?

we are at the other end. 3 adults and one large daog in a 680 sq foot apartment. woo hoo!! good times!

[Xipe Totec]

70. I miss my mother's old house...

[wickerwoman]

73. Nine familes out of ten that end up on Supernanny live in enormous ass houses

on lower-middle class incomes.

Usually dad is like a telephone repair guy and mom sells insurance out of the house and they live in 3,000 sq ft + houses that are really nicely decorated. OK... maybe you're doing really well at your plumbing business but maybe you should buy a smaller house and spend more time with your three year old and he won't get kicked out of pre-school for attacking the other kids.

I feel sorry for the kids that have to grow up in McMansions with totally absent parents trying to pay for too much house. Who really needs a three car garage for two parents and young kids plus two dining areas and multiple spare bedrooms?

They ripped down the wooded lot behind my house where I used to play as a kid to build a dozen of these 3000 sq ft + monstrosities with postage stamp yards and two thirds of them are sitting empty right now. Plus it encourages the car culture which makes it so difficult to get decent public transportation.

[harmonicon]

74. I don't get it either

I fantasize about having a small house some day. Not too small, but I just don't understand this thing with big rooms. My house (only I live here) basically has two rooms; upstairs and downstairs. One is bedroom/office, and the other is living room/kitchen. Both floors are small. I especially don't understand why people have large bedrooms. How much space does one need for a room that they mostly just sleep in?

[leftyclimber]

77. They like to vacuum?

That's what I always think when I see those big honkin' McMansions -- OMG I do NOT want to vacuum that.

[Fleshdancer]

81. I don't understand it either

I know a wonderful guy who's house is over 7,000 sqft. It's beautiful, but it's way to big for me. The only home I ever owned was 2,000 sqft and my family had more space than we needed. Buying furniture for the sake of filling a space is ridiculous.

[Fire1]

82. Status.