Back in the (1990s?) when the giant house thing was going on I sometimes suggested to my rich, elderly customers that rather than moving to another giant mansion when they were selling and retiring, that they think about a smaller place, (appropriate to their wealth, 2,000 feet?, 3,000?) and spend their money on quality workmanship and materials instead.
That instead of going for 6 car garages and mansions, that they think of building a smaller home purely for themselves and creating an environment of rare quality and expense purely based on their own internal selves.
Better still is when you’ve moved beyond expensive accoutrements. What too many people do is go through the process of filling a big house with expensive stuff before they discover that small and simple is better.
Simplify, simplify, simplify.
Very interesting was a town I lived in for a time... a man built his new home “inside” his old home.. and then took the walls down as he went!! The new home is ‘entirely open air’ with the exception of balcony bedrooms on the second floor. Stunningly beautiful!
I’m thinking of moving down to about 2,000 ft but I want one with at least a 4 car garage, preferable 5 or larger!
A friend of mine just retired at 71 and 2 years ago moved up from a 3,000 ft house and a 3,000 ft garage to a 3,800 ft house and a 5,000 ft garage and he’s not sure if the garage is large enough!
Custom cars and hot rods take a lot of garage space!!!