BoomerGirl Diary

Recently, I was watching a celebrity interview with hip-hop mogul and philanthropist Russell Simmons.

He was talking about a conference where he was encouraging youth to be financially responsible and not to judge their success in life by the size of their home.

Simmons made reference to the fact that no matter how big your house is, you can only sit in one chair at a time.

This statement reminded me of another comment a celebrity made several years ago about how he and his wife had drifted apart because they rarely were in the same room together because their house was so huge.

When you listen to all of these comments it makes you wonder why Americans are so obsessed with buying bigger and bigger homes.

I even know several couples who have retired, and instead of downsizing, they purchased larger homes.

I guess it's all relative. One might consider a 6,000-square-foot home to be quite small in comparison to the reported 35,000-square-foot mansion owned by Russell Simmons as seen on MTV's "Cribs."

Some of these homes are as large as my old high school in the Twin Cities. I once overheard a friend of mine say that music producer Jimmy "Jam" Harris and his wife's lake home was nicknamed the Jimmy Jam High School. I can see why at 24,000 square feet.

I'm not here to judge, but there is something to be said for creating a comfort zone in your home, no matter how big it is.

So before you go out and buy the largest home on the block, think about how it might affect the closeness of your family.

Go ahead and splurge, but cozy things up a bit when you set out to decorate your space. Use plenty of carpeting and furniture to muffle the echo from those expansive rooms.