I have 1,500 for a family of 4 and it's fine. The youngest's bedroom isn't all that big but it's hardly a cell. The layout is crap, it's a 1950s split so that 1

I have 1,500 for a family of 4 and it's fine. The youngest's bedroom isn't all that big but it's hardly a cell. The layout is crap, it's a 1950s split so that 1,500 square feet is divided over 3 staggered levels. One room, half the bottom floor, is as big as a one car garage and is just my office. The main floor is open living room and dining room, with a separate kitchen, then 3 beds and two bathrooms upstairs. We have never noticed feeling cramped, though I would definitely enjoy the extra space in my friends' larger houses. In our case we bought on the edge of a park a five minute walk to every school my kids will need until college. So we can suck it up. (And if it gets too cramped, we'll build another floor.) It's only bad when the kids go nuts and spread their mess out over the ground floor. You just have to learn to be tidy!