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Trooper61
Member
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# Posted: 12 Jan 2026 01:14pm
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What would be considered the ideal size for two people living there full time?
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MtnDon
Member
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# Posted: 12 Jan 2026 01:37pm
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There are too many variables in people's wants or needs to say what number of square feet is ideal. Are the people minimalists? Some people need a larger kitchen than others because they do more kitchen things, for example. I'm sure nobody needs a mansion. It takes a bit of time & effort to plan it all out.
Something between 500 and 1500 sq ft is my broad range depending on personal desires.
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jsahara24
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# Posted: 12 Jan 2026 02:25pm
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Like Don said there are so many variables that come into play. But for me I would want to have 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, living room and eat in kitchen.
You will also need a place to store things, Christmas decorations, seasonal clothes, etc. A garage can work for many of these, but don't forget about storage.
I think you are going to be looking at ~600 sf at a minimum.
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 12 Jan 2026 03:07pm
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We have lived in 940sf c/w a full basement for ~35ish years and it sure would have been better at 1200.
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Fanman
Member
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# Posted: 12 Jan 2026 07:23pm
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It depends on how much "stuff" you have, whether you will have visitors (overnight or not), how much time you'll spend inside vs. outside, etc., etc.
Our cabin is roughly 780 ft² with an additional ~200 ft² screen porch. That includes 3 small bedrooms, kitchen, living room, bathroom. Laundry machines are outside under an overhang. There's also a plastic storage shet (new this year) and a storage garage up the hill. We have too much "stuff", trying to do something about that as we age.
That's for two of us, with occasional visits by our daughters & their husbands, and frequent grandchildren visits (only two so far).
Our old cabin was around 470 ft², two bedrooms, plus a smaller screen porch, and that's one of the reasons we moved... we had both daughters living with us at the time.
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DRP
Member
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# Posted: 13 Jan 2026 11:12am
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Waiting for mortar to slake and cruising the LOC, lots of cool old buildings there. This one just caught my eye
https://www.loc.gov/resource/hhh.va0990.sheet?st=gallery
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Brettny
Member
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# Posted: 13 Jan 2026 03:21pm
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Use an interior layout program. Measure things in your house and figure out what you need. This is one of those things that only you can awnser.
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 13 Jan 2026 07:54pm
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Much depends on your family situation too. My wife, Buddy the dog and I are comfortable at 500 feet. Unless Buddy gets the wrong leftovers, the aroma can get pretty bad. Hey, get outside! Least I hope it’s the dog…
Cleaning tonight’s hamburger helper.
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 13 Jan 2026 10:13pm
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Too small and there is no place to 'get away to' if/when things aren't going well.....
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philpom
Member
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# Posted: 14 Jan 2026 08:12pm
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This is very dependent on the people living inside. Our cabin is 768sqf broken in to 2 stories plus a 288 sqf screened in porch. The upstairs is a nice large bedroom with sitting area etc. Downstairs is one open room with the bathroom under the stairs, dining on 1 wall, kitchen on another, and seating (living area) on another. Plenty of room for the wood stove and all. When it's nice out we do most of our cooking on the screened porch. Bulk storage is in the shed. This would work for us full time but I spend most of my time outdoors when we are there. I have a large carport, a smaller lean-to off the shed etc for outdoor places to work/hobby/play and more on the way.
This would be a drastic change from our nearly 3000 sqf home in the city and as we age we have discussed things like climbing those stairs in our older age (our land will be our final destination on this earth). We will build a larger place on the land when we are ready to sell in suburbia and move. Probably in the 1200-1500 sqf range.
Things change, dreams change. This doesn't bother me too much, we'll have a nice clubhouse/guest house down the road. Carefully consider what life will look like down the road, do you need a craft room, hobby room? Do you work out, need space for the gear?
If you want a minimalist life with the lowest possible expenses then ~800 sqf or less can definitely work but think carefully or at minimum build in such a way that you can add on down the road.
Hopefully helpful,
Cheers
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 14 Jan 2026 10:52pm
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The 12x12 loft in the '83-'84 build was fine until I blew out my rt. acl in a motorcycle crash.....after that I slept on the couch. No way could I negotiate the ladder and even stairs would have been tough for those 'midnight trips'. Then my wife had health issues....and the loft became 'storage'. We decided after that cabin that one story was the way to go, and that was before we reached our 'mature years'. We dont miss a loft at all in the one story new build.
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