Living Large

Morley Safer Reports On The Super-Sizing Of U.S. Homes

(CBS) 

Billy and Tammy Brown built their 11,000-square-foot house outside of Houston with an entranceway somewhere between the U.S. Capitol and a good-sized mosque.

What do people say when they first come into the Brown’s home?

"They're pretty amazed by the dome more than anything else," says Mr. Brown. "You know, they walk in, and you can't see it right away. And then they see the dome. And they go, 'Wow, I've never seen anything like this.' So that was kind of the "wow" factor, you know, that we wanted."

And that is just the opening wow. The house features a billiard room, TV room, pool and other amenities. The bedroom of the couple's six-year-old daughter, including bathroom and closet, is twice the size of a New York City studio apartment.

Asked whether the house felt big or just right, Brown says it’s starting to feel just right. “When we first moved in, it felt really big, because we came from a 4,000 square foot house and this is close to 11. But it’s something we’ve always dreamed about,” says Brown.

Just about everybody who has ever built a house eventually says "If I'd only thought of that." What does Tammy Brown wish had done differently?

"A little bit bigger eating area in the kitchen," says Brown. Her husband adds he would like to have a bigger "gathering room" for parties.

Chris Sims, who built the Browns' house, is building an even bigger one around the corner, a whopping 15,000 square feet.

Sims says the average house size has expanded significantly since he started building homes about 15 years ago. "It used to be a 5,000 square foot house was a large house. These days that 5,000 square foot structure is morphed into an 8,000 square foot house. The 8,000 square foot house, which used to be the extraordinarily large house, is now a 12- or 13,000 square foot house," says Sims. "So, I've seen the size of homes in this market grow by about 50 percent over the last 15 years."

And Sims has built some unusual rooms for his customers: "We've done beauty salons. We've done gift wrapping rooms."

At another house down the street, the owner demanded a volleyball court – indoors, of course. "He likes to have all his buddies over. And they get a good game going," explains Sims. The room has a 26-foot high ceiling.

For the Browns, the floors were the thing.

"The floors were a custom design that we had and we copied from a house, the house in Paris, the Versailles house," says Billy Brown, referring to Louis XIV's palace near Paris.

Meanwhile, Robin Beisswanger gave 60 Minutes a tour of her two-story master bathroom.

"I started out by saying that I wanted a little bit of a high ceiling. And so this was actually my architect's idea. And I thought it was fitting, because the house is a French chateau style. And it kind of reminded me of a tower," Beisswanger says. "This kind of makes me feel as if I'm in an enchanted forest or something."

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As for the disenchanted Mr. Bitz in Chevy Chase, the blitz is over. The moratorium has ended and he'll be tearing down his little house and building one triple the size.