Whether we live in one or not, we have all known someone who has or we all have been in a house that is bigger than needs be and perhaps bigger than yours. Beautiful chandeliers, expensive carpet, heated floors, imported rugs(not to be walked on), swimming pools, trampolines, hot tubs, security systems, well maintained yards,walk-in closets that dwarf the average persons master bedroom, bathrooms that take the hired maids hours to clean, a kitchen with all the amenities that will hold and feed hundreds and sadly a mortgage that most often puts many in the poor house.
Don't get me wrong, big is beautiful, but too big can be unbecoming and even sickening sometimes.
When we lived in Utah one our pastimes was Sunday drives to look at new construction homes around the Draper area. We came upon this house that, yes, takes up the whole end of the cul-de-sac at the very top of a hill that overlooks the whole Salt Lake valley and I was literally stunned. I was floored. At the same time though I was so very curious at who in the world affords these crazy big homes? Is it all for show? Who wants so much to live in this size of home when homeless people are in abundance? How can that possible be homey? How can that possible be good? Do you know where in the house your kids are and what kind of trouble they are into?
We had the chance to walk through it as I so desperately needed to subside my curiosity about this castle on the hill. The owner's son had to sit and send people away by the dozens, but we were given the privilege to take a tour that took a good 30 minutes or more!
I can't even begin to tell you what was in this house! It was UNBELIEVABLE and seemed so not right. He mentioned the square footage somewhere in the ball park of 28,000 sq. ft.(I believe that is an underestimate) and honestly it was so big that I couldn't comprehend even after being through it. There is a full size basketball gym(with electronic scoreboard) in the basement with adjoining locker rooms(showers, lockers, about 5 toilets). An elevator for the older folks who come to visit, a built in slide in the wall from the 1st floor clear down to the basement for the kids to slide downstairs at their leisure, a kitchen to die for(bigger than a restaurants cooking facilities), a slate roof lined with copper rain gutters and trim, a gun range....yes, I said, GUN RANGE INDOORS, just to mention a few! We got lost & turned around so quickly.
When we visited this last time we went to Utah, I thought that it might be finished since it's been almost 2 years, it's completion is ever so close, but not quite finished.
Is it competition? Is it stupidity? Is it money? Is it ego-driven? Is it "little-man's -syndrome?" What? Please tell me what it is. Let me tell you that I lived in a measly 4500 square foot home and after I walked through that monster of a house I felt claustrophobic in our house.
Let me verify something though. I love homes that are huge and glorious and maybe even a bit showy, but honestly I couldn't live in one. I love the coziness of a home with average sized rooms, bathrooms, closets etc. Besides I think that I would be embarrassed to have guests over....very uncomfortable for me. Not only that how do you find the decor for something like that? It would be as expensive as the house itself! I hope that they are happy with their choice of house!
Just thought that I'd show you all the crazy competition that lingers in Utah and is pushed aside by many as they too try to attain that mansion on the hill and aim at always bigger and more ornate than the Jones'.
I am happy with my cozy home that forces us to be in each others faces and love on one another.
Keep in mind...this is one & only ONE house out of the hundreds on South Mountain that are gigantic!
