06. Typical House

Our house compared to a typical house.

Square Foot House Comparison

In 2021, according to the Census statistics and Design and NAHB analysis, the median single-family square floor area was 2,338 square feet. The house I grew up was only 1,677 square feet. This means our current house — at roughly 5,000 square feet — is triple the size of my childhood home and double the size of typical home.

Percentage Use House Comparison

Ok, it’s big, but how else does it compare? Let’s look at how space is used in a typical house.

Typical house:

• 28% = bedrooms

• 12% = bathrooms

• 40% = living rooms

• 20% = support spaces

Our current house:

• 22% = 1082 square feet net of bedrooms

• 11% = 537 square feet net of bathrooms

• 45% = 2198 square feet net of living rooms

• 20% = 1012 square feet of support spaces

I think it is remarkable how typical it is, in terms of percentages, despite its labyrinthian layout!

What rooms are missing?

So what is missing? From our Pre-Design discussions, we know we are missing at least one more bedroom and two dedicated offices. Pushing a few bubbles around — easy peasy — I think this could work!*

*I have to be honest here. I have spent the last 10 months working on the floor plan. This is the bubble diagram created after months and months of testing out different options.

My next step is to reveal the floor plan and share how I got there.