Driving around looking at houses in Dallas, we came up with a question. How big a house is too big a house? If one had large amounts of money, plenty to go around, how big a house would you want? At what point would your large house make others of humbler means uncomfortable to be in your house? Would that be okay? Is it their problem and not yours? Any thoughts?
Sunday, April 8, 2007
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9 comments:
Although visiting a hotel-sized house in a gated community with a guard house tends to take me out of my comfort zone, it is the people who live in the house that make the difference.
It depends on what you do with the big house. It is "not too big" if it is filled with loving gracious people. If the house is a home where friends and family are always welcome where celebrations are held with family, friends and neighbors invited. It will never matter big or small if the above are always presnt. a friend from Mexico told me I couldn't possibly understand poverty because of my house (the house wasn't really very big). I asked him a few questions. do you feel welcome in our home? do you like coming to our home? (he was there often for a time) Are there often extended family or friends at our home? He answered yes to each question. I said if I lived in a very large house or a very small house would the answers be the same? Yes he answered yes then I replied I have accomplished what I try to do. I want my home to be a sancutary, a refuge, a safe place for all that cross my threshold it doesn't matter the size of the house. My parents live in a large house but there have been countless parties given there by their grandchildren & children to tay nothing of the parties they give, 3 sons were married there, my son was married there. birthday parties, graduation parties, rehearsal dinners, countless holiday dinners, super bowl parties the list goes on and on. They have opened there doors for home tours for several fundraisers for good causes letting hundreds of people parade through for nothing in return. the list of family and friends that have stayed there for a very short time or a more extended time is very long. Often numerous people at the same time. Is their house too big? if just the two of them were there day after day all alone and lonely then yes the house is way too big but it's not too big if it was smaller we wouldn't all fit for all the celebrations and loving family and friends. We recently moved to a much smaller house somedays I am so glad but I am sad when I don't have room for family to stay or when we are so crowded when people are over. but I am blessed and better off than most of the world so my smaller house is a gift from God. Adrienne and Ken live in a small house but it is warm cozy, comfy and inviting and you can always hear the kids so they can't get into too much trouble no stairs to tumble down it is just perfect. big or small it really doesn't matter it is what you make it.
Regardless of the size of a house 900 sq ft or 10,000 sq ft it is too big when it is purchased over the financial limits of the owner when the payments, upkeep etc are always a financial burden when the family is always worried about paying for the house, when working overtime is always necessary to make ends meet. when the home was purchased to "keep up with the Joneses"
I can tell you 1100 ft² is getting pretty small for two adults and 3 kids....
I recently spent nearly a year living in a 22 foot trailer while waiting for our 1600 sq ft house to be built. It felt luxuriously spacious when we first moved in, we were giddy from it! Now, I kinda (very kinda) miss the smallness of the trailer because it was so easy to clean!! :-) But, I'm very happy that for the first time in my married life, I have a spare room to offer to people and I've been blessed to be able to have the workers stay at my home.
I second Lynda, big requires too much cleaning! I suppose if I actually LIKED to clean it wouldn't be a big deal, but our house at 2800(thousands of sq. ft smaller than all of our neighbors) is pushing it to keep up. Plus the acres surrounding it! I'd stick with smaller house and bigger land, but that's just me, I like outdoor parties :)
Hi, I'd say don't get more then you want to clean/vacuum all the time ;)
I used to have a HUGE hang-up on this very thing, especially after I returned from Peru. But now, I have to agree with others: it's the people who make the house a home that make the difference. We wouldn't have been able to keep Chris's grandma for a year and a half if our house had been tiny. I guess there will always be folks with more modest means, and folks who are much more well off. To me, it's the relationships we have with our families and others that matter.
i think that if you've got enough money you can have as big a house as you want. that is as long as you do not always brag about ur house that those who do nt have big houses feel inferior.
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