poll: is the home you currently have the largest one you've ever lived in?

[franksolich]

Collecting for casual statistical purposes only; in this instance, "apartment" or other rented unit counts as "home" too.

[Chris]

Technically, no.  I rented a house between 1998-2000... it was quite a bit larger than your average apartment.

I suspect these threads are a ruse.  "Statistical purposes", my foot.  Congratulations on grabbing the #2 spot.

[Gratiot]

I suspect these threads are a ruse.  "Statistical purposes", my foot.  Congratulations on grabbing the #2 spot.

[franksolich]

I suspect these threads are a ruse.  "Statistical purposes", my foot.  Congratulations on grabbing the #2 spot.

No, no, sir, not at all.

This is market research, to figure out what might pull traffic to the Lounge.

Thus far, apparently baseball doesn't attract.

[Carl]

It is the only one I have ever lived in.

[SilverOrchid]

My parent's house is not big but what I call "comfy" but nice enough to suit my mother's pretensious taste (I say this with love). Since I moved out, I always lived in apartements, expect I rented a room once in a townhouse in my single days.  The one I live in is less ghetto then where I have lived, we do plan on getting a little house with a yard in a year or so, our little family is getting big.

[franksolich]

My parent's house is not big but what I call "comfy" but nice enough to suit my mother's pretensious taste (I say this with love). Since I moved out, I always lived in apartements, expect I rented a room once in a townhouse in my single days.  The one I live in is less ghetto then where I have lived, we do plan on getting a little house with a yard in a year or so, our little family is getting big.

The biggest house in which I ever lived was my childhood home, alongside the Platte River in Nebraska.  It was enormous.  It had been built in 1910-1911 by a banker, then the most properous citizen in the town of circa 3,000 (population when I was a child).

It even had a stable in the back, somewhat--please notice the word "somewhat"--converted to sort of a garage.

It was a "white elephant" that the parents had gotten cheap (when I was an infant); nobody, but nobody, in town wanted a residence that big.  It was dirt cheap for its time, and had an orchard of cherry trees in the back.

The bedroom of my younger brother and I, on the second floor, had once been a ballroom.

My older brothers set up two 4' x 8' sheets of 1" plywood in the dining room, to accomodate a set of electric trains, still leaving much of the dining room vacant.

The kitchen was enormous, having been built to accomodate servants, cooks, and somesuch.  A six-burner (electric) stove, even.

There was a wide-open staircase that turned three corners before one reached the second floor.  And a real vestibule at the entrance, and a walk-in pantry, and a front porch that circled the house halfway around.

It was a great house, but I guess the heating costs were astronomical.

I dunno how it was heated; an older brother once mentioned to me that the furnace "knocked" and "banged" constantly, but I don't recall that.  The same older brother also mentioned that whenever it rained, the "pitter-patter" on the roof was constant, and apparently maddening.  I don't recall that.

It had a big basement, but I never went into it, having been told by an older brother that "Purple People Eaters" dwelt down there.

The house still stands, and is inhabited by the people who bought it from my parents, and they're getting up in years now.  The last time I communicted with them, they supposed they would have to take a loss on it (cost + interest + improvements over the years), because it's just too big to be "marketable."

[SilverOrchid]

The biggest house in which I ever lived was my childhood home, alongside the Platte River in Nebraska.  It was enormous.  It had been built in 1910-1911 by a banker, then the most properous citizen in the town of circa 3,000 (population when I was a child).

It even had a stable in the back, somewhat--please notice the word "somewhat"--converted to sort of a garage.

It was a "white elephant" that the parents had gotten cheap (when I was an infant); nobody, but nobody, in town wanted a residence that big.  It was dirt cheap for its time, and had an orchard of cherry trees in the back.

The bedroom of my younger brother and I, on the second floor, had once been a ballroom.

My older brothers set up two 4' x 8' sheets of 1" plywood in the dining room, to accomodate a set of electric trains, still leaving much of the dining room vacant.

The kitchen was enormous, having been built to accomodate servants, cooks, and somesuch.  A six-burner (electric) stove, even.

There was a wide-open staircase that turned three corners before one reached the second floor.  And a real vestibule at the entrance, and a walk-in pantry, and a front porch that circled the house halfway around.

It was a great house, but I guess the heating costs were astronomical.

I dunno how it was heated; an older brother once mentioned to me that the furnace "knocked" and "banged" constantly, but I don't recall that.  The same older brother also mentioned that whenever it rained, the "pitter-patter" on the roof was constant, and apparently maddening.  I don't recall that.

It had a big basement, but I never went into it, having been told by an older brother that "Purple People Eaters" dwelt down there.

The house still stands, and is inhabited by the people who bought it from my parents, and they're getting up in years now.  The last time I communicted with them, they supposed they would have to take a loss on it (cost + interest + improvements over the years), because it's just too big to be "marketable."

That sounds like a nice home to grow up in! I love those old houses, especially the ones with so many memories.

[franksolich]

That sounds like a nice home to grow up in! I love those old houses, especially the ones with so many memories.

There was a massive grate on the floor, between the dining room and the living room, for the furnace.  I used to lay on top of it as a child, reading.

Also, the rooms upstairs had those window-thingamajigs above the doors, that one opened and shut using a steel rod.  I'm not sure the right word, "transoms," perhaps?

On the first floor, on the inside of the windows at the top, there were wooden box-like thingamajigs which hid curtain rods and stuff.  I have not the slightest idea what those things were called.

[jtyangel]

There was a massive grate on the floor, between the dining room and the living room, for the furnace.  I used to lay on top of it as a child, reading.

Also, the rooms upstairs that those window-thingamajigs above the doors, that one opened and shut using a steel rod.  I'm not sure the right word, "transoms," perhaps?

On the first floor, on the inside of the windows at the top, there were wooden box-like thingamajigs which hid curtain rods and stuff.  I have not the slightest idea what those things were called.

My grandparents home had those grates, Frank. I remember the one in the bathroom. If you looked down a certain angle, you could see the basement. I remember the stairs being steep and narrow and wood so if you had socks on, you slid.

[MrsSmith]

The house I now own is about the size of the house I grew up in...around 1100 square feet.  In between, I've owned everything from a 10'x50' trailer to a duplex.  It was a BIG 3 story duplex...2 floors and a full basement.  I had one side, and kept the entire basement...so we had 5 bedrooms, a family room, a living room, a dining room, and a kitchen.  We started with one full bath (on the third floor, which just about killed those that slept in the basement), and added a half bath in the basement. 

The heating costs were astronomical...I kept the thermostat on 58, and we ran electric radiator heaters in each bedroom, and used a potbelly stove in the family room.  We lived without A/C.  My kids were tough.   

I totally sympathize with your parents, frank.  I wonder if that old furnace was natural gas, or if they had to shovel coal into it??

[Lacarnut]

Being single, I do not want anything bigger. A 2 bedroom 1k sq ft house is the right size for me. When I was a kid, our house was much bigger. Same deal when I was married.

[Chris]

Being single, I do not want anything bigger. A 2 bedroom 1k sq ft house is the right size for me. When I was a kid, our house was much bigger. Same deal when I was married.

I would be happy with something like that if I could at least get an attached garage with a car lift and 220v electricity.

[Chris_]

I came from a big family with a big home.  How my mother kept that place spotless inside and out amazes me to this day.

Sometimes smaller is better. 

[DumbAss Tanker]

Larger in terms of number of bedrooms, as far as pure square footage goes, probably not.

[Wayne]

 When I lived in Yuma AZ in the mid 70s I bought a 3300 foot house cuz it was cheap.. 54KNow have 2000 feet on a lake ....PERF........

[whiffleball]

It's the biggest, but a bit too large at 2440SF.  It has a great heated 2 car garage, T&G interior and sits on 2 acres in a densely wooded area which I absolutely love.  If it had a couple more acres and sat on an elevation of 3000+ with no neighbors for a few miles around it'd be perfect.

[NHSparky]

I refuse to answer this poll question because it does not include a possible response for, 'TEH JOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSS!!1!11!"

[Flame]

If we ever get the basement finished, it will be close to the biggest I've lived in as adult, but I'm sure my childhood home was bigger.

[jtyangel]

If we ever get the basement finished, it will be close to the biggest I've lived in as adult, but I'm sure my childhood home was bigger.

That's a good point. Our basement is a full one and spans the entire first floor so it would add a good 1100 sq foot of living space if finished. That would make this the biggesthome I've ever lived in if it was finished.

[Flame]

That's a good point. Our basement is a full one and spans the entire first floor so it would add a good 1100 sq foot of living space if finished. That would make this the biggesthome I've ever lived in if it was finished.

We are about halfway finished...ran out of funds....hope i get lots of work this year so I can finish it!

[RobJohnson]

This might be the smallest, or one of the smallest. About 1600 square foot smaller then the largest.

But since I am single with no pets or children, it's simply perfect and not very old.

It's all I need & it's paid for!

[debk]

The biggest house in which I ever lived was my childhood home, alongside the Platte River in Nebraska.  It was enormous.  It had been built in 1910-1911 by a banker, then the most properous citizen in the town of circa 3,000 (population when I was a child).

And here I'd always thought it was my ex inlaws, that had the biggest house......she always talked like it was, complaining how small their 4000sf condo in Omaha was.....


The house I live in now is the biggest I've ever lived in.....too much for 2 people and 4 cats...but it's our "cottage in the woods"....

[franksolich]

And here I'd always thought it was my ex inlaws, that had the biggest house......she always talked like it was, complaining how small their 4000sf condo in Omaha was.....

Yeah, they did have a pretty big house, in the Sandhills, just up over the hill from us.

I dunno if it was the largest in town--it may well have been--but it was at least one of the very largest.

They lived on the other side of the hill from us, and going down that hill on the south were two other very large residences, but very old, from circa 1900 or something (the house of your exes was new), owned by then-widows of prominent bankers.  One in particular, on the west side of the street, had vast grounds.

But that was in the Sandhills; the biggest house I ever lived in was alongside the Platte River, about 60 miles south.

When we moved up there, the parents looked at three old houses, and decided no, we'll just have a new one built.  This new house was the only house around there for years and years and years.  Our neighbors were wheat-fields.

Being kind of outside of town, there was always a disagreement about what the street should be named; when we moved there, its monicker was "Sioux Lane," but shortly thereafter it was changed to "Sioux Avenue."  Some years later it reverted back to "Sioux Lane," but the parents thought it silly, and always referred to it as "Sioux Avenue" to the end of their days, and I still do.

Incidentally, I never saw so many variations of a name, this "Sioux" bit.  I think only a small proportion of the mail we got, had "Sioux" spelled correctly.  Correspondents from the northeastern states, including relatives, never got the word correctly.

But going back to the three older houses first examined; two were large two-stories, a little bit smaller than our former home on the Platte River.  The third was two stories, not quite as tall, but meandered for half a block.  A whole half a city block.

That was the one I wanted us to get, but my father pointed out that the family wasn't going to grow any more, and in fact shrink (because the older children went off to college, got married, moved away, &c., &c., &c.).

I really wanted that house.  It was ultimately purchased by a gasoline-station owner, who had 16 children.