When it comes to buying a home, most of us want more. More bedrooms, more baths, more storage, more square footage. But how much is enough? And is it possible to have too much of a good thing?
“A sense of space is a psychologically based perception,” says Allan J. Grant of Allan J. Grant and Associates, an architectural firm in Chicago. “People live differently in their homes and that creates different needs. There are no formulas.”
Perhaps the answers aren’t sure-fire, but we have gleaned some guidelines and real-life situations to help you determine how much space you and yours truly need.
Sandi and John LaPointe, their four school-aged children and her father find their 2,500-square-foot home in Carol Stream more than adequate. The two girls have separate bedrooms and the two boys share. When Carmen Santore-better known around the house as “Grandpa”-came to live with them a year ago, they turned the basement into a bedroom/sitting area where he can retreat when the noise level escalates.
They also enlarged the size of their kitchen by stealing a few feet from the seldom-used dining and living rooms. Now the children use these formal areas for homework or quiet reading and the kitchen accommodates three adult cooks and sitdown dinners for seven.
“The heart of our family is in the kitchen,” says Sandi. “All of the important things happen there-meals, homework, just talking.” The adjacent stepdown family room visually and physically expands the space even further so the gang can be together without feeling crowded.
Sylvia Roth and her husband had a different space problem. Their 7,000-square-foot vintage Tudor in a northern suburb was plenty big for entertaining, raising three children and accommodating his and hers studies. Yet they added on another couple hundred square feet because the master bedroom closet storage was tucked under the eaves of the roof. Designed by Grant, the addition sits atop the first-floor sun porch and connects to the master bath.
“The house I have was built in 1929,” she says. “They didn’t own as much then so there wasn’t enough closet space. Rather than take over anybody else’s room or destroy the integrity of the house, adding on was the most sensible thing to do.”
To make their space work for them, the LaPointes and Roth followed the first recommendation given us by real estate and design pros:
1. Evaluate your lifestyle.
Rather than calculating square feet, first establish your requirements, says Terrell Goeke of Terrell Goeke Associates, an interior design firm in Highland Park. “The reason most people move is because their space is not satisfying their needs. You should ask yourself, how many people will be there? Do you need any special spaces, such as a studio, darkroom, sewing room or separate playroom for the kids? Can any of those spaces overlap? Can the studio be part of the family room?”
Grant once designed a home for a couple of empty nesters who wanted to downsize. As they analyzed their lives, they saw children and their spouses and grandchildren coming home for dinners and holiday parties. They decided they needed a greatroom to accommodate them all. Then the wife started thinking that a greatroom isn’t the type of space where she could curl up to read a good book, so Grant added a small library for her. By the time they were finished, the couple ended up with a larger home than the one they left.
“Their family wasn’t shrinking, it was growing,” says Grant. “Just because the kids are in college doesn’t mean you can go to a smaller space. They could revert to living at home before they go onto careers and get a foothold onto life.”
In contrast, another couple specified dining accommodations for six. If they had any more than four guests, they would entertain in a restaurant.
2. Study the configuration of the space. If the layout is conducive to your day-to-day activities, perhaps you can get by with less square footage. If it isn’t, as Sylvia Roth found with dinky and non-insulated closets, you add on or live with annoying inconveniences.
One area that has lost its practicality for many home buyers is the formal living room, says Al Goodman, senior vice president for United Development Homes, a residential builder in Wheeling. In the 1980s, popular new home designs featured both large living rooms and large family rooms. More recent floor plans offer a family room or greatroom along with a small living room reminiscent of the bygone parlor.
“People have been decorating living rooms for years and no one ever sits there,” he says. The parlor concept “is one way you can cut down on square footage and still meet the needs of families.”
Built-in cabinets, drawers and shelves are often less expensive than fine furniture and eliminate the need for extra storage space, points out Grant. “You also have more room to put things because you’re using all of it. A piece of furniture, such as an armoire or a pedestal sink, might not take advantage of the space.”
3. Baths and bedrooms are a separate issue. Many of us who grew up with one bathroom in the home remember the days when everyone, including the family dog, seemed to congregate at the same time. Today’s homes are less communal but unless you’re buying a luxury model that features a private bath with every bedroom, some degree of sharing will probably still go on.
One configuration that can get a lot of mileage is a compartmentalized hallway bathroom. With a dual vanity in one room and a toilet in another, two or three family members can use the space at one time.
As a general rule of thumb, families should plan on a minimum of 2 1/2 baths, says Goodman. “Two (full) baths are handy simply for speed and getting out of the house in the morning, especially for working mothers. And a first-floor powder room offers added convenience for the family and guests.”
To figure a minimum number of bedrooms, a family with three children-two of the same sex-can get by with three bedrooms, he adds.
“In some cases people feel the sons can share a bath or bedroom, unless they have six sons, but not the daughters,” says Grant.
“Young children often find it’s nice having a roommate,” says interior designer Goeke. “They like the security and company. I wouldn’t stick two kids in a 10-by-12 room, but if it is 12-by-16 it can be cleverly done with some fun levels of furniture or bunk beds.”
The LaPointes are rethinking the bedroom assignments in their home. The girls, ages 9 and 10, who have separate bedrooms, have ended up sleeping together. The two boys, ages 13 and 15, fight over how neatly their room should be maintained. Sandi has decided to redecorate, separating the boys and combining the girls.
“John (junior) is the oldest,” she says. “He should have his own room.”
4. Think beyond the mortgage payments. The more space you have, the higher the utility bills, the more decorating you have to do and the more maintenance projects you have to cut into your weekends. If you’re on a 5- to 10-year improvement program, “that’s a long time before you can feel good about your space,” says Goeke.
“Furniture can be a huge expense,” says Deborah Arnold, broker/owner for Re/Max Exclusive Properties in Chicago. “Even the cost of painting the house can be huge. You don’t want to go in there and never go out to dinner again. I’ve had people do that and it’s not nice.”
Her advice to buyers is: Sit down and make a list of priorities, realizing you may have to give up something. “Don’t just look at what you’re qualified to buy but what you can live with comfortably monthly so you can still have a life.”
Sylvia Roth contributes another thought: “Everything you own expands to fill the amount of space. It’s just the two of us and we just accumulate all kinds of stuff. We have thousands of books. We’re avid readers who never have time to read. If we haven’t gotten to it, we still have it.”
5. Someday you’re going to sell. And when you do, you may find that bigger isn’t always better, particularly when you’re looking for a quick sale. There are market stories of realty agents advising sellers to list their homes as having “four bedrooms plus” rather than “five bedrooms.” The reasoning is that four bedrooms sell better and a key way of organizing properties for sale in the multiple listings data banks is by the number of bedrooms.
“Real estate is just like the stock market; it works according to supply and demand,” says Thomas Myers, general manager of Century 21 Clark & Holm Ltd., in Woodridge, and secretary of the Du Page Association of Realtors. “There’s not a lot of demand for six-bedroom, four-bath houses. In fact, a house with more than 2 1/2 baths has reached the point of diminishing returns. The additional plumbing doesn’t add that much to the resale price.”
Large homes tend not to appreciate as quickly as those that appeal to a mainstream audience, says Goodman. “It’s cyclical. There are times when the luxury home market is very small and appreciation is low. Now is one of those times.”
“People who have the most difficult time are those who did specific things for themselves, such as make a wonderful master bedroom and bath but eliminate two more bedrooms,” says Arnold. “In the $600,000 range, people are really expecting three or four bedrooms unless they are wealthy swinging singles, of which there don’t seem to be too many.”
Another resale horror scenario is when the couple buys a big house but can’t afford to furnish it, she says. Homes show and sell better when there is furniture in the rooms.
“A lot of brokers are renting furniture on their own,” she says. “Buyers just can’t visualize” without it.
“Realistically the young professional couple who doesn’t plan on a family needs only a two-bedroom, one-bath house but would find a three- or four-bedroom, two-bath property a better investment,” says Myers. “This division of interior space, plus a 2 1/2-car garage for cars and outdoor equipment storage, is the best from the point of resale.”
