Houses

I've always liked big houses.  Even as we occasionally think about expanding this house (I'd like to add a room over the garage and install an elevator into what is currently our bedroom), and I realize that the house, as it exists, is really a little too big for us already -- we have two spare bedrooms, and they're normally both empty - when I see a bigger house, I think wow this is nice .

I can recall four times when this happened.

One, where we visited the parents of one of my daughter's college friends; the kitchen was huge, the 'TV room' was huge, the 'game room' was large; the dining room was huge plus, and the hallways could have been rooms by themselves.

One, where we visited a friend from work; the house itself wasn't amazingly big, but they'd integrated an in-law suite into the design; a lockable door on the second floor led to a private retreat for the parents, but the living room and kitchen were big enough to handle everyone. (I told my wife when we left home, I liked my house.  When I returned, I thought  Yeah, its okay, but its a little small.)

One, where I attended a party at the home of a guy who has two or three auto dealerships in the area; when the lights were not all on, it was difficult to see the far end of his living room. This was also the first house I'd seen with a projection television, as well as a Pac-Man arcade console.

And one where my wife's uncle lives; none of the rooms in the house are amazingly large, but the number of rooms is amazing, and they're on multiple floors.

And then there's the home of my sister in law, which we just visited; its got multiple rooms with twelve foot ceilings; nice architectural details throughout; carpet, tile, the whole bit.  The house sits at the top of a small mountain; when you step outside, you're almost literally playing King of the Mountain.  I've seen stand-alone houses that were smaller than their stand-alone three-car garage.

I wouldn't want to have to pay for one, but I do like large houses.