I love that house. Anyone want to lend me $2.2m? :)

Yeah, because in a country where there are tens of thousands of abandoned foreclosures out there, building a new 4000 square foot house is such an excellent idea right now.

I would never want a 4000 sq ft house, and it's a little disconcerting that it's only 4 bedrooms given that square footage. I think my 1400 sq ft house is too big, but it's the smallest size you find them in the suburbs here, unless you want to live in a trailer.

Ewe, that's so like 1999... not cool now. Let's wear shoulder pads and pleated pants and go back to incandescent light bulbs!

From the blurb in the link:

"At just under 4,000 square feet, the McAllister is a reasonably sized house..."

Actually I think the word he was looking for was "unreasonably". Just heating it would cost more than my mortgage payments.

What's with all the hate on large homes today, everyone? Some people have big families and/or entertain many guests. My sister, her husband, their first child, and our mother live in a 3200 sq ft home that they plan to be in all the way through a fifth child. They also entertain 10-20 people at least once a week and have had two weddings at their home (mine and my brother's) since they bought it two and a half years ago. I'm pretty sure they wouldn't fit very well in 500 sq ft, especially by the time they finish having all the kids they want. Why is this an issue?

It's an issue because Americans are grossly overconsumptive: we just use eat, buy, and use too much flipping stuff, which is a big part of why we have the environmental issues that we do, our debt problems, and perhaps, also, a deficit of contentment and joy.

From the 1950s to the 2000s, our houses got bigger and bigger, as our families got smaller and smaller. All those rooms and giant cathedral foyers have to be heated and cooled, which means we've increased our energy use inexcusably. Not to mention the raw materials necessary to build a large house, and the many TVs, furnishings, and cleaning products needed to maintain overly large places.

Beyond the overconsumption issues... there's been a big pushback against ostentious spaces because they seem to work against an apparent human need for coziness. Read Sarah Susanka's most excellent, "The Not So Big House." (Take it out of the library, a great free and nonconsumptive way to read.) Kids all in their separate spaces, with their own bathrooms, and no one sees each other. Kind of sad.

Mary

Hmm, bedroom 3 appears to have no doors, and there's no door from bedrooms 2 and 4 into the main hallway? Is anyone else seeing this?

The other thing I would crave from this house is the immense attic. Kid me always wondered why that wasn't someone's room.

All I know is I would ONLY sled down the stairs, never walk. It would help me avoid any flying paint cans.

@ckal, I need that attic, too. Best feature of the entire house.

Interesting... maybe not the Home Alone house but I could definitely see an interest in other movie homes.

Some families may need a large home but most don't. Most families don't have 5 kids, entertain 10 to 20 people a week and host weddings in their homes. You know how older houses had teeny closets? But somehow people still managed to walk around clothed, right? It is mass quick consumption and promoting the American dream that has led to McMansions, not because we all suddenly "needed" more space to live a good life. We need more space to store all our possessions as we continue to buy, buy, buy stuff we don't need on our credit cards (myself guilty...).

The point isn't that tons of people have five kids and entertain large groups of friends and family weekly, but that people have reasons for owning large homes that you don't know and it's silly to judge without knowing anything about them. Not all large homes are new, not all are grandiose. You'd never guess how big her house is from looking at the outside; it's very unassuming. When you walk in it doesn't feel like a mansion because it isn't. It feels like a home.

lol ok so...
I loved that movie. LOVED IT! As a child I would watch it over and over again. Mean annoying brother, feeling like you have a family you don't belong in and a mother that just doesn't get you. Rigging up all those inventions to nab the bad guys. Rocking around the Christmas tree! Somehow I just dont think the movie would have been the same staged in a 800sq. ft. apartment. At least not mine anyways.

The movie definitely wouldn't have been the same in a smaller home. You just wouldn't get the right sense of a little kid being small and alone in a big house. Plus if it took place in a smaller house all the inside shots would have to be on sets because there would be no room for the film crew and gear (even with the size of the house I expect some areas of the house were recreated as sets for filming).

I've recently heard a rumor that one of the executives at my company used to live in this house.

Another old movie home I loved was the the home in the original "Father of the Bride" (not the Steve Martin version).