If you HAD to live in a 30,000-sf house, what would you do with it?

Okay, let's play a game since John Edwards' 30,000-sf house seems to be top of mind here.

Pretend you just got into some kind of a deal where, at gunpoint say, you were forced to build, at someone else's expense, a 30,000-sf building and live in it. You can set it up any way you like, you don't have to live in the whole building, but it's gotta be 30,000sf and you have to live there.

How would you set it up?

I think I'd put living quarters in 5000sf at one end and turn the rest of the building into a factory.

:evilgrin:

IF multi-family units allowed AND a college was near by, with mass transit available - student housing, very reasonable and with discounts for maintaining good grades. Upon graduation the students would get all their rent back, with interest.

If I had the $$... sigh

connected by a covered walkway - making the whole thing just one old "under roof" 28,200 square feet of connected space. The main house is 10,400 square feet and has two garages in that number. The recreation building, a red, barn-like building containing 15,600 square feet, is connected to the house by a closed-in and roofed structure of varying widths and elevations that totals 2,200 square feet.

The recreation building contains a basketball court, a squash court, two stages, a bedroom, kitchen, bathrooms, swimming pool, a four-story tower, and a room designated "John's Lounge."


So no 50,000 sq ft monster.

Do folks ever realize when the GOP right wing is blowing smoke?

.

n/t

Seems early, but SOMEBODY wants him to scream about something and look un-presidential.

Who was it that didn't like Dean? Oh, yeah, the DLC and there muscle... AND the GOP.

lot of it so that I could grow gardens indoors. (And of course it would be uber eco-friendly and self-powered with solar panels and wind and whatever else i got handy.) And maybe I'd start up a halfway house or something?

About 1,000 square feet would be for me, since that's what I'm used to. The rest would be for the cats.

:)

That or animal rescue. Or both.

It would be able to house a lot of people.

Artist's colony... non-stop feast for the extended family... visits from abroad... workshops, studios, music

It's really not about the size of Edwards's house, but juxtapose it with his nobility of the working class routine, and the vague rhetoric in which the clearest positions turn out to be the usual imperial war bag (let's get Iran!). He's a man of his class, obedient to its interests, smooth and sensitive and boyishly good looking though he may be.

Considering that a significant portion is a garage and a covered walkway to the barn...and I believe a covered swimming pool that Elizabeth needs for her therapy...how much is really left?
They have 3 children...and hopefully one day grandkids...so there will be plenty of room for their family.
Personally...I wouldn't have a house that large unless I could hire "illegals" to clean it for a cheap price.:sarcasm::hide:

People concern themselves with issues that are pretty much meaningless. We have a WAR going on people! Enough with the friggin house already! Oh I would put a large pool, sauna, a tennis court and indoor palm trees with a tropical theme in the rec room. I would have a separate theater room. Maybe a large bar, and a small library. I only wanted a 10K - 15K square foot house. 30K is just over the top...lol

State of the art recording studio, large cigar room/library, game room with regulation-size pool table, entertainment room with theater-quality video and audio.

I'll dump on two rich people at once!!

:rofl:

:spray:
You better run for cover.

children, and 1000 sq. ft. (very well soundproofed) for me.

The entire house would be state of the art environmentally friendly.

Maybe a pool.
Yes, I know that I sound selfish, but I'd invite other people over to use the facilites too. Maybe the people who I work with are right, quitting work might be a nice thing to do if I won the lottery if I could have a place like that for doing what I wanted.
Unless I started making a lot of money in the lab or green house though, I probably couldn't substain that lifestyle for long.
Of course, the house would be energy efficient and have a good solar energy system.

is only about 9K square feet.

My house (without the 4 car garage) is that big. Not sure what Edwards house is worth, but mine was in the $6M range 5 years ago when new.

Like Edwards, I can afford it. Why should I live in a shack? You want the money for a house like this, do what I did, go out and earn it.

I might point out that most of the favorites here in the Democratic party are not exactly poor. Kennedy has plenty of family money, Pelosi has a vineyard and farm worth in the $50M range, Kerry is married to one of the richest women in the USA, and the Clintons did well for themselves.

There would be rules, to the effect that being involved in criminal activity or defacing the property would result in eviction. But I think there are many people who deserve a second chance, and I'd love to be able to give them that chance.

for the DU mods ... provided with material solely from Home Depot, of course.

:evilgrin:
dp

edit: cuz i can.

Hey... it's Saturday night and I'm bored. Is that alright with you?

:evilgrin:

wonderful mother-in-law why I STILL didn't have space for her to live with us . . .

.

and run for President, just to watch DU explode.

room every night.:D

Artist's studio, recording studio, library, guest rooms, artists' commune, indoor pool.

and inside each sparsely furnished room i'd put lifesized cardboard cutouts of homeless families, starving artists, abandoned pets, emaciated African victims of famine, and an American Indian shedding a single tear.

:silly: :evilgrin:

seriously, why has this crap suddenly taken over the minds of DU? did world peace happen while i slept and there's nothing left to bicker about?

And not one of these crappy, rec-league, 80-foot ones with the composite floor. I'm talking 94 feet, Boston Celtics parquet, with at least a 30-foot ceiling. So that's at least 6,000 sf right there. Maybe 10k, if I decide we need a seating area.

I won't insist on an official Olympic-length pool, at least not for the INDOOR one.

to put all my books-which now are in piles in various rooms due to lack of space.

oh yes, that would be delightful.

just like in the movie

and at least an acre of yard work....i could easily downsize without a problem. this is my parents old home and where all the family gatherings are so it is special beyond the normal reasons for a house. but truly, i dont need this kinda space and the work and repair and cost doesnt make it worth it.

A house that size, that's all you'd do, each and every day.

o.O

Lots of apartments for people to live in, free of charge, if they agree to help with the farming for so many hours a week. Oh, yeah, we have indoor farms, too. We grow everything we need to eat and divide it equally amongst ourselves. Solar panels, too. Entirely self-sustaining.

And seven iguanas and a two-foot tall pony with free run of the house, just to make things interesting.