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Comment by Toutouxc | Hacker News Reader

> the original LAN house was not very big: 1400 sqft. This made for a pretty awesome bachelor pad, but would have been a bit cramped for raising a family.

That’s 130 m^2. A fucking bachelor pad.

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1400sqft is relatively small in the US for a house. Typical 3 bedroom house size is going to be a lot closer to 2000 sqft.

The only way you would see new construction at 1400sqft is if it’s a condo or something.

Are people that much larger in the US? I’d happily raise three European-sized kids in the 130 sqm bachelor pad.

Larger? No, not really. But there’s generally just an expectation that rooms are larger. Most bedrooms you expect to have king size beds for adults, for instance. Master bathrooms and closets also tend to be quite large. Americans just tend to have a lot of stuff…

Houses are also often poorly laid out. I’m not sure if it’s a side effect of open concept, or cheap builders, but it’s definitely a thing. I toured a new build community north of Austin once that mostly had < 2000 sf homes, and they felt spacious, because the layouts were excellent. In contrast, the house we wound up getting was 2600 sf but felt roughly the same to me, because the layout was just “make square rooms.” The primary bedroom was 400 sf, for crying out loud. We put a couch in there we never used, just to fill some of the space.

Absolutely true. The other thing inflating the square footage is condos or other space-constrained floor plans tend to waste a lot of space on hallways and stairways. Since you count the square footage of hallways and stairways, a 3 story condo could feel somewhat cramped for a 3 bedroom despite being on paper 2400+ sqft. Could easily be 500+sqft wasted.

I toured a 2600 sqft 3 story condo ages ago (happened to live nearby and was curious during their open house) that felt quite cramped and 'railroad' style, purely because it just had to be 'narrow' due to the lot size and had to waste a bunch of space.

I have had the privilege of growing up very poor while working for and being around the rich and wealthy.

I grew up in a 700sqft home and now own a 1400sqft house and my friend is building a custom 4000sqft house. They both feel 'small' for different reasons.

The very rich I know have 2 or 3 homes, each >3000sqft.

The most wealthy people I know have a modest house on as many acres as they can get because no neighbors and gardens and horses and tractors are where the life is at.

The fish bowl theory is we grow to our environment. Look at the billionaires and their yachts, it is never enough.

Contentment must be learned. I am beyond content now while I could afford a house 2x the size.

It's insane. My current 3 bed house where I live with my wife and 2 kids is 900sqft, and we're not exactly short on space. The idea that 1400 would be "a bit cramped for raising a family" just doesn't compute - unless your family has 7 kids or something?

You're right in an absolute sense, but trust me its easy to get used to a much larger space than that. And I can attest that in my world people don't stop aspiring for larger spaces until the space per person is much higher than what you've quoted.

Where do you eat meals?

At the table in the living room?

Yes, the whole post just screams / drips of extreme privilege.

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