Big Ass Houses

On saturday jerry and I went to see a garden sculpture exhibit at a new housing development in Nipomo. The artwork was wonderful. They had the models houses open so we decided to go through them. There were probably about 10 houses open so we started at the smallest (2000+ square feet) (keep in mind that our house is 800 sf) we keep walking through these rooms that are a total waste of space. You have a little rectangular room with one window in it, no door, and they have decorated it with two couches facing each other. Now tell me, who is going to go in there to just sit on a couch? And very high ceilings....everywhere. There was something in each house that we liked but none of them were together in just one house. The walk in pantry in one was wonderful. The "wine room" that you can see in this photo was temp controled and very nice, Some of the bathrooms were are large as our living room and the master bedrooms were huge. Two of the models were two story with the upstairs being a complete waste of space. And why does a house need two dining rooms? And the money spent staging these houses makes my head hurt. Each house had at least one flat screen tv playing in it. Each laundry room - yes a room just for the washer and dryer, what a concept - had the top of the line front loading washer and dryer. So many couches, desks, beds, tables, chairs, dinnerware. It was a real study in how to outfit a house. And everything is glued down to whatever it is sitting on. Don't even ask how I know that. The sf of these houses went from 2000+ to 4000+sf, and were priced from $681,990 to 1,018,990. This is obscene. I kept walking through these houses mumbling to myself......can I paint that room purple? Do you know how long it would take me to clean this house? And all those bathrooms. And then there are the homeowners fees, and the property taxes. Makes your head spin. And did I mention that these houses are right smack on a golf course so you get the pleasure of either a golf ball coming through your window or seeing the people out there golfing through that big ass window in your bedroom. It was fun going through them and see how the other half lives but it was so nice to come home to our tiny little house. This is where we belong.