I grew up in a 5BR/3BA 2,340-sq.-ft. home in San Diego. This was from the time I was 10 until I left home, late 60s to mid 70s. It was a new 4BR house when my parents bought it, but soon enough they built an addition, a family room, so that the original family room became another BR. My dad told me recently that he and my mom wanted each sib to have her own room. I can understand why — we are a brawling Irish clan and they probably figured that one of us would end up killing another one :). (We still are cautious at family gatherings when carving tools are being utilized!)
Now my dad putters around that big house by himself. It’s kind of sad. But he’s closed off all the upstairs rooms except for two. Why won’t he move? Prop 13, of course. He paid only $800 in prop taxes last year.
I am hoping that the kids of Baby Boomers like me (they’re called the Echo Boomers or Millenials, and their generation is almost as large as mine) are learning that personal space is becoming increasingly limited. Our kid has a friend at UCLA who shares a room in a dorm that is about the size of one of our small bedrooms with two other girls. Our daughter is living in a room in a private home that is so small she has to crawl across her bed to get to her desk/computer. BFD. At 20, she can handle it, and she doesn’t complain about it.
