I dream over the Tumbleweed plans--I love how compact and well designed they are! That would be my perfect house if I were living alone.

As it is, our house started at 1,000 square feet for four of us (me, DH, two kids) and it felt crowded--tiny bedrooms upstairs meant the kids played downstairs, and there was no space for toys (either to play with or to store), so we put on a 200 s.f. family room addition several years ago, and now I'm happy with our space (especially since that includes a woodburning fireplace, the one thing I thought our house lacked when we bought it). I suspect as the kids get older and toys become less of an issue, it'll feel positively spacious. We designed the addition so it could easily be converted to a bedroom, so theoretically we could have an elderly relative move in with us if necessary, or we could make that the master bedroom as we get older and can't/don't want to manage the stairs.

If we could only give up our books and our hobbies, we'd be fine with less space.

Sarah