how much space does a family of 4 "need"?

[StinkerBell]

Dimitri,

what exactly is the "Guy Room" ?

[Dimitri]

Dimitri,

what exactly is the "Guy Room" ?

The Guy room is for my rifle safe, my hunting and fishing gear and a work bench. So I can clean the rifles, reload ammunition, tie fly fishing flies and add a extra layer of "security" to protect the kids (especially when young from a hook possibly falling onto the ground etc) and for theives breaking in. 

Dimitri

[StinkerBell]

Gotcha

I thought you were going to say it was your TV Beer drinking room.....lol BUT your definition is so much better and responsible. 

[Dimitri]

Gotcha

I thought you were going to say it was your TV Beer drinking room.....lol BUT your definition is so much better and responsible. 

Nah, maybe a small TV and radio in the room to listen to news/music, no alcohol cause of the things in that room. Alcohol and fishing from the shore mix with a BBQ, but other then that beer doesn't mix with the type of stuff in that room. I only drink about a case of beer a month anyways. 

By the way, if I marry a girl who is into shooting and all then I guess its "our" room but havn't really met any girls into that kind of stuff. 

Dimitri

[Redoverfarm]

It is probably closely related to " Man Cave".

[StinkerBell]

There are lovely ladies who like to shoot and fish.

[Dimitri]

There are lovely ladies who like to shoot and fish.

Well I havn't met any my age. 

Dimitri

[StinkerBell]

Ok I will ask.....How old are ya?

[Dimitri]

I'm 20. 

Dimitri

[StinkerBell]

Hmmmmm.

I see why you said that. Join a rock climbing club or a mapping club (where the go around and do games based on mapping) you will met people there that share similar interest.

[Dimitri]

Might have to try that. 

But from my experience to date, in Ontario Canada, a girl saying she "loves/likes the outdoors" is a girl thats also Pro-PETA, anti-hunting, and anti-fishing. 

Dimitri

[MountainDon]

There's gotta be some outdoors lovers who don't mind hunting, fishing and eating animals. I've known some who don't mind the fishing but can't hunt because they have gun "issues" 

Fortunately I found one 30 years ago who doesn't mind guns, in fact she tolerates them rather well, even shoots! Present day wife of mine.

[Jens]

My family and I lived in 824 square feet, 2 bed/ 1 bath, quite comfortably for almost 3 years.  Of course we only had 3 kids then, and BTW, part of that we were moving room to room as we gutted the place.  It all depends on what you are, or can get used to.  I think that we could live in a 16X24 2 story for a year or so, but the kids are still young (8, 6, 4, 1), so they don't take up much physical space.  We are outside a lot anyway.  I might be buying a 2875 ft Craftsman from 1920, gutting and restoring/remodeling it, and have no idea what we will do with all that space!  Kind of goes against my personal architectural morals (being so big), but at least I'm not building it from scratch.

[olypen]

This is a very interesting topic to me......We,(me,wife,3 boys 15, 13 & 11) live in a 16 x 24 ( 384 sq. ft. cabin.)  Yes it does get tight sometimes but we all spend alot of time outdoors.  It is a 12 x 16 storage building with a barn style roof with a 12 x 16 shed roofed addition.  The boys sleep in the loft of the storage barn.  It's cozy but quaint....We've got our micro wave, small gas range, laundry sink, 5' tub shower, toilet, fridge, computer, TV with VHS/DVD, it's heated by a small wood stove.  I could use more room but it just isn't in the works yet.  We'll get a bigger house but at least we were able to buy the property we wanted.  I think if you HAVE TO you can make do in very little space.  I've known many people who have lived on boats and that is much more confined than my house.

[glenn kangiser]

That's very interesting and resourceful, Olypen.  Always time to grow later if the immediate needs are taken care of.  Lets you know how much stuff you can get by without.

Look at me -- I have to live in a hole I the ground.

[phalynx]

Currently, while we are building our "larger" home, we (me, wife, and 2 girls) are living in a 300 sq ft camper.  It's tight, but we really don't mind it.  No one really complains about the space.  We enjoy being a family. 

[akemt]

I like the link that was posted...loft space is a great idea and what we're planning to use for our kiddos.  The other thing to think about if you're building yourself with cash, is that you can start out with something you think is doable but maybe not your end goal and then add on a little later when you have more time and money and a place to live rent-free.  There are lots of ways to add on with shed roofs, a second building attached with a mud room or breezeway/deck, or even just build a larger building that better fits "growing" needs a while later completely detatched and rent your little cabin or have it as a guest cabin.  We're strongly considering the 14 x 24 linked earlier for our family of 5 (dh and I, roughly 5 and 3 y/o daughters who share a room and 6 mo old baby).  We know the size wouldn't last us very long, but even a 10 x 20 addition a year later would help out tremendously, and we could easily do that on each side...especially if we modified the plan with 4' knee walls on the second floor instead of just the plain trusses.  Then the roof angle could simply be continued.  The fact of the matter is, once we aren't paying rent or a mortgage, we'll have a lot more money to play with and could probably double the size of the house every year if we felt like it and didn't have any fun medical expenses, etc pop up.  Okay, way too much about me, but I do think this is doable for a family of 4.  The key would be finding out where your house's wasted space is right now so you can do away with that in your next place, and of course, cutting back on the "stuff" you've got.  We're slowly working on that one.  The wasted space in our house, I've noticed, is in interior walls and large bedrooms.  A 20 x 30 living area is more than sufficient for our family if it is open, and then all we need for nightime is enough room for our beds, as long as we've got enough storage somewhere for our clothing, etc.

Anyway, best of luck!

[Dimitri]

My current apartment is roughly 500 sq ft. its huge for a single guy. 

Sorry its off topic I know. 

Dimitri

[ScottA]

I have this theory that 200 sq. ft. per person is enough. So if you have 500 you you have enough for a wife and .5 children. 

[Dimitri]

I have this theory that 200 sq. ft. per person is enough. So if you have 500 you you have enough for a wife and .5 children. 

Actually a wife and a kid is doable in my 1 bedroom apartment. Especially if I could build a wall on the one side to add a small bedroom for the kid. 

But I need to find a sweet cute thing to be my wife before I think about the kid. 

Dimitri

[Drew]

We're getting away from the idea that the home has to be under one roof.  Okay, maybe it does if you live in town on a quarter acre lot or in an apartment, but if you're on ag land, the sky is the limit.

Or at least 120 sq. ft. in our county.

Our plan looks like this:

- Of the family of 4, send two of them off to college.  Keep an air bed for when they come home (One at a time).
    - If college is a stretch for the 9 year old, go with an extra bedroom, but the concept is the same.
- Build John's 20'x30' cottage.  This is for sleeping and getting ready for work on the farm or in town.
- Everything else is an accessory or ag building.  The former just needs to be <=120 sq. ft. and can be a wash house out near the field, a place for a sofa and books, whatever.  The later needs a permit, but ag exemptions are easy to get as long as you don't sleep in the building (I simplify a bit here).
- Barn, once we hit a certain growth point.  Our neighbor has an empty barn he paid $85K for. 
- Railroad container.  Tough as all get out.  You can stick lathe on them and grow climbing plants to make them look nice.  Or paint dirty words on them and face them toward your neighbors.  It all depends on how you feel.

So what does a family of 4 "need"?  Space to sleep safely, space for -that season's- clothes (store your shorts in January), space to clean yourself up before and after bed, and space to eat dinner when it's raining or snowing.  Everything else can happen in out buildings.

Our son wants to take over our earliest 120 sf. shed, insulate it, and make it his crash pad when he comes over.  Don't tell the county.

Our place is below the snow line and we go from the 30s to the 100s during the year.  This is the California Gold Country, so it's drier than some places.  YMMV, but adapting is what we two-legged vermin do best.

I have a guy room, too.  It's right on the other side of the front door.