Another pic of the "great room" or as we're now calling it, the small room....

Do you have exterior photos of one that's been completed?

Have you drawn in the furniture, on your floor plan? That's why I do that all the time. It's not the size of the room...so much as how much space you need for everyday and entertaining.

If your furniture fits and you have comfortable walkways, then the home should be just right for you and your family :)

Your previous home was massive...and you probably purchased furniture that suited that larger scale. Honestly, I wouldn't fret too much about your old furniture being too large for your new house. Even if it technically would fit, the proportions would likely look awkward in your new, cozier home. Take this as a sign from above that it's time to go furniture shopping, or maybe to ask your builder to do some built-ins (for example, the nook where you wanted a computer desk sounds like it's just BEGGING for a built-in desk!)

You really have to wait for drywall. I have heard this from a lot of people who build. When my footers were set I thought...this is waaaayyyy to small. Heck I even thought the house was going to be to big for the lot. It's 1.5 acres...but wooded so the cleared area made me question it.

It still seems small and my house is 4600 sq ft above ground. The Basement adds another 2600. So I know I am delusional. However, I have started playing with furniture placement online and know that I have more than enough room.

But no matter how big the house is, just about every owner questions the size until the drywall and lighting are in.

Yes, our old house had a 28x36' great room and easily swallowed all our current furniture. We'll wait for the drywall, but a trip to the furniture is probably in order. Didn't think to play with house plan software and furniture.

:)

Our house isnt near your previous house of almost 4k sq ft (ours is 2,250) but when the foundation was first poured and cured. I remember walking on the slab like this doesn't look like all of our rooms on the 1st floor are going to put let alone the 3 car garage. Once framing went up the house even appeared smaller to me so thats why I had to laugh with your post because I remember at that point pulling out the tape measurer to make sure the dimensions were correct. Let me tell you that if you feel its small now, you will start to think its even smaller once the drywall goes up because you wont have the depth perception of being able to look between all of the rooms...lol In the end the specs of the rooms were on but for some reason during the build they just appeared to be smaller than they really were!

We were told that it would look small until the roof was on. Because your perception is skewed when the sky is the roof! lol

I kept thinking that there was a mistake during framing because all of the rooms felt so small. It was not until drywall and the roof went in that the rooms felt the right size for us.

I didn't have that issue. I had spent so much time in our house in my head before we built it, that it all seemed exactly right as the framing and then the sheetrock went up.

The only time the space felt huge was when the hole was dug as they had to excavate under the garage as well. Then the place seemed ginormous.

Especially with the mountains of material that came out of the hole.

Layout trumps raw square feet.

Very neat looking house!
I hugely regret not furniture planning before framing. Our keeping room is way too small and might not be usable the way we intended--to comfortably relax on couches and watch the tv above the fireplace. Our architect assured us it'd be a great size, but everyone comments on how it's just a tad too tiny :( oh well, live and learn (though there is no way in hell I'm building another house--I agree with your wife)!

I have very poor spatial reasoning - I can't gauge, for example, how a 10x10 room would feel until I'm in it. And yes, I'm a major clutz because I'm constantly misjudging distances & steps...

When the walls went up on our build a few weeks ago I freaked out because it was so big! Of course, we're coming from the opposite scenario (2000 sq/ft house to almost 4000 sq/ft) but still. Although I love the flow of the house I'm thinking we should have found something smaller. The roof is being framed this week so I'm curious to see how that's going to affect my perception.

jzinckgra, how did the house turn out? I am in the planning stages for a Prow style home like you built.

I would agree with this. We are building a single story on one acre. It's just under 5000 sq ft. The crew just about completed the slab forms yesterday. When my wife and I walked the area it did appear much smaller than the plans called for. I guess time will tell but it's an unusual illusion.