What qualifies a home as a McMansion?

LOL@Wayne02. That SUV has a farm tag on it and is used to haul a horse trailer, feed, dogs, hay, etc. It's covered in mud at the moment and is seven years old. Note the small car next to it. That's what my husband drives to work.

Believe me, hubby and I live exactly the way we want and don't give a hoot what other people think (people are the reason we prefer to live out here with dogs for company).

I posted the photos of my house because it irritates me when people make generalized assumptions about others. Now, I know the McMansion mindset exists - we ran far away from the McMasion society in Dallas/Ft. Worth. A lot of what folks here think of it is true...and a lot is not. There are always exceptions.

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I'm running so far behind I thought I was first!

http://hickahala.blogspot.com/

Thanks, Ravenlost!

Mon

RAVEN: NO not quite a Mcmansion....more a Happy Meal. :baby04:

Not all big houses are Mcmansions and certainly not old ones that have been added to or lovingly cared for although when they were built they might have been considered the McMansions of their day. Whats that line in Gone With the Wind...where Scarlett wants the biggest most vulgar house in atlanta...and Mammy says they aint nothing but Mules in Horse Harness.

John often caters for a man who made his money in Sandwich Shop franchises.
I wont mention any names. He bought a fine old house in the old swanky neighborhood across from the old country house. Very old money sort of house that certainly needed some updating. It sat on a huge lot. He tore it down and literally covered the lot with a huge mock tudor style house. It has 3 kitchens and john has never been able to count all the baths. The man and his wife and 2 young children live there. One of this mans pride and joys is the set of elephant foot bar stools he literally shot himself. You have never seen anything so gross and ugly in your life. When this house was done he decided he needed more room, so he bought the house next door and the one behind it and tore them both down. Then he used one lot to build an enormous carraige house/poolhouse because the attached 4 car garage wasnt big enough. he and the architect are now trying to figure out what he will do with the empty lot next door. Thats 3 fine vintage houses destroyed so this man can spread his wings..of course he is smack in the middle of town
about 1/2 block from a 5 lane street that feeds into the shopping mall and box store drag strip on the north side of town. Recently he threw a dinner party for 8 people as a send off for an employee who was going back to college.
Jimmy John wanted to serve brownies late in the evening as a snack, but he didnt want them pre made. He insisted that John and two waiters stay until 11pm and make the brownies from scratch so that they would be warm from the oven and the house would be filled with the smell of fresh brownies. That meant John didnt get home until nearly 1am. It was 4 hours of overtime for 3 people plus the expense of the brownies. 4 hours times $15.00 x 3 =180 bucks plus 50 bucks for 2 doz double choco brownies. its that kind of mentality that builds mcmansions. BTW John doesnt set those prices, the company does and even though they charge 15/hr for the waiter, the person only gets about 6.50/hr. So dont blame Jon.

Meanwhile, there are people living in cardboard boxes in NYC and Habitat can build perfectly good 3 bed room houses for 60k or less. End of mini rant.

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FolioMark

Mus uni non fidit antro. ~ A mouse does not rely on just one hole.----Plautus

FolioMark, it is good to see you posting again -- it must mean you are back from Missouri and working on your "non-mansion". How did that go for the past couple weeks?

Isn't conspicuous consumption like you describe above an interesting (and conspicuous) statement of a person's priorities? Ostentatious comes to mind.

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Whether you believe you can or you believe you cannot – you are usually right.

This does not include flying or moving mountains unassisted or attempting to prove the existence of an “afterlife”.

My idea of a McMansion is a Home Owners Association and at least one room in the house you can't go in because it's all white.
I've got a larger house and an even larger yard (8 acres) but it can't be seen by anybody but me. I keep the yard and the house up for me and me alone.
Come inside and it looks lived in. Not dirty just lived in. 5 dogs, a cat and 2 teenagers is enough to wreck anything.
I work in McMansion City because that is where the fools and the money part.
If they are willing to part with it, I am more than willing to take it.

I go to a lot of estate sales and have always wondered about those SUPER large homes with so many rooms...I've seen houses of 10,000 square foot!! I mean, if I fall down the steps from the second floor, it's certain no one would hear me screaming for help. So, I wonder how long I'd lay there before someone came by and saw me?

Every now and then there's one of those big houses with an intercom system, but not as often as I'd expect...do they ever talk to each other? Do they just live as ships in the night?

Some of those super big houses 5,000+ foot just really make me sad for the people who live there.

Mon

3000 sq ft and up

no yard or token yard

no trees

mix of styles: gables, pitched roof, columns, porticos, unusable porches, Victorian, Federal, Frank Lloyd Wright, bungalow and everything else piled on top

newish construction

large windows and high ceilings

laminated floors, composite tile, granite counters

at least one spa bathroom

often poorly constructed but majestic and similar homes throughout a single subdivision

Ravenlost, that's not a McMansion.

Those ARE porches to die for, though! Lucky you!

I don't really know what a McMansion is. But my brother bought a house for $350,000 in a fancy subdivision--LOL, one of those places with a name stating what was killed to put the subdivision up--tee hee....I love that!!!! It has 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. It's average sized, maybe even a little smaller than average sized. From his kitchen he can see into his neighbor's house. He is not allowed to have a vehicle sitting in the driveway. He is not allowed to have a tool shed unless it has the same siding and shingles as the house does. He is not allowed to have certain decorations on his house or in his yard. No clotheslines.
We spent $115,000 on our house. We have 2 bedrooms, 2 baths, 15 acres. We can holler to our neighbors and I hate that they are THAT close. We can have whatever we want in our yard (or not). It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that we probably have less money to spend on housing than my brother.
I understand that my brother enjoys the "convenience" of not having to drive too far to get to anywhere (but he does have an hour commute...the difference between his commute and mine is that I am moving and he sits in traffic!). But it's just so hard for me to understand how, since he has that kind of money, he wouldn't choose a place that was actually comfortable (I do understand that not everyone likes living in the country but I can't imagine anyone wanting to live in a subdivision where all of your freedoms are taken away like that).
I am not jealous of him. His house is not much fancier than mine, really....newer, of course....but not much else that he has that I don't have.....I just fail to understand why people who have "that kind of money" to spend on housing would let themselves be swayed into something like that just to have the status of the address or whatever his reasoning was....he could've gotten an older version of that house ten miles away, still with a good neighborhood and good schools, no "covenants" as to sheds, cars, decorations, etc....for half the price....and to me that is the McMansion mindset--the status of an address. Not the size or type of the house as much, but the zip code and the craziness that comes along with it.

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And how am I to face the odds
Of man's bedevilment and God's?
I, a stranger and afraid
In a world I never made.
--A. E. Housman

McMansions frighten me; what is wrong with us that we want to live in huge subdivisions where all the houses look the same? I personally know of least two places where there are only four or five colors you are allowed to paint your house, and even those are very similar, like shades of tan and gray...

Look at some of our older neighborhoods, yes, some of them have similar houses, but many of them have a brick house next to a clapboard house, next to a two story house, etc., etc....except in some really large cities, of course...and I love to look at the architecture and wonder about the people who lived there first, and the builders and designers...

Why do so many people now consider living like clones to be a good thing? It only seems to be getting worse...so many are terrified of being different from everyone else, and I'm married to one of them!

Sunshine, condolences.

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Whether you believe you can or you believe you cannot – you are usually right.

This does not include flying or moving mountains unassisted or attempting to prove the existence of an “afterlife”.

In my parents neighborhood you need to get permission to PAINT your trim, they have to appove the color. All outbuilding must be brick or approved before building. All mailboxes must match. No outside animals, dogs must be kept indoors unless being walked on a leash. No chain link fencing of course, all fences must be approved before installation. I could go on and on.

My parents LIKE all of this. I would go crazy

To me any home you don't have to take the wheels off of is a McMansion.

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Barack Obama - Spending beyond belief, dismantling our military, groveling to enemies, and wiping his butt on our constitution daily.

EYOW!

Yeah, you live in one - *but* having a homesteading heart and all those critters, and not letting your house go to your head makes up for it.

McMansion living (or "Hoity houses" as my dh calls them) which includes the "we're special, you're dirt" mentality, is really what irks me. If people are happier in big houses, that's their buisness, although, I wonder if you wouldn't be just as happy in a smaller house. But most folks (maybe not you) use more of the earth's resources to heat, cool and maintain them. That is something to think about also.

donsgal

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Life is what happens while you are making other plans. (John Lennon)

LOL there is a new subdivision of "semi-McMansions" just south of Clever, Missouri that is called "Ancient Oaks". Dang, there isn't an oak tree left standing thanks to the developers. Kinda sad and ironic at the same time, isn't it?

donsgal

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Life is what happens while you are making other plans. (John Lennon)

OH NO! A McMobile! LOL

donsgal

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Life is what happens while you are making other plans. (John Lennon)

Donsgal, while we do have central air and heat (separate units for upstairs and down) we insisted they build a woodburning fireplace (builder wanted to put in a gas or electric fake fireplace). Except when it's over 85 we use windows to cool and in the winter we use the fireplace A LOT. We have enough woods to maintain so we have all the firewood we need. This was our dream house and we have no plans to ever leave it. I dream of installing solar heat and air, but haven't convinced my citified hubby to do so yet.

By the way, this house really isn't big enough for us. I'm a packrat and we're full to the top! Plus, I have big dreams of using those two guest bedrooms and future media/game room for lots and lots of grandkids!

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I'm running so far behind I thought I was first!

http://hickahala.blogspot.com/

New Jersey is being overrun with these type of subdivisions. I don't like to criticize others and their choices, people are welcome to live however they want.
Personally, I just don't like the looks of most of what they are building now. Too big, lots too small, whole walls with no windows. No trees. Seeing so many of them sprouting up makes me almost hate the look of vinyl siding anymore. And I find street after street of houses all looking the same in the same color to be intimidating, how do they know which house is theirs?? And I can't even imagine living somewhere that you have to ask permission to paint something or plant something or park your car in the driveway...not to mention hang laundry outside.
Just my opinion.

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[COLOR="Blue"]Expect Little - That way you will be seldom disappointed.../COLOR]

Yup, this is an example of "high density housing". This picture doesn't do it justice but there is literally only 6 feet between the back of the house and the fence. The front "yard" is not much better. The hoa rules are so complex they give them to you in a 2" three ring binder. No parking on the street, no parking in the driveway over night, garbage can has to be to spec. Kids playing in the street is discouraged etc. You can get these "starting" in the low 500K.







My wife and I have some friends in developments like these and find some common themes.

1. When you drive through these developments its striking that there are no children "visible" for the most part. There are of course some children living in these houses, but there is nowhere for them to play outside with those non-existent "yards".

2. This leads the parents to have to drive the kids to a county park to play, or get them involved in organized sports so they can get some playtime somehow.

3. Same thing with pets. If they have a pet that requires outside exercise they pack them up in the car and drive to the county "pet park" to "socialize" their dogs etc.

4. Social activity among the neighbors is almost non-existent. In part because nobody ever goes outside (where would they go?) and you don't get any interaction between neighbors. In the old days the kids would play ball outside or ride bikes or something. Eventually kids would make friends in the neighborhood and by extension their parents would become friends. That doesn't happen anymore with this type of housing that forces people into their little isolated worlds.

5. Finally, I simply don't think humanoids were meant to live so close together. It's just not natural, people need to have some space of their own, some privacy etc. How often would you even open the blinds in a house like this? How often will being crammed so close together cause friction? What if a guy wants to listen to some music while sitting out on his 3' x 4' concrete "patio" while he stares at the pretty 6' tall board fence that is right in front of his face? Even music played at very considerate levels is going to bleed over for three or four houses in each direction.

Uh, oh, the complicated rooflines means I have a McMansion...



If you don't count the basement we're under 500 square feet per person...

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Gun-toting, church-going, homeschooling, right-wing conservative, happily married, stay-at-home mom of three living in the real United States of America!