I'm with you on this, I see it too here. We are in a way too big place ourselves, but really only because it is exactly where we want to live, I purchased it out of bankruptcy at the bottom of the housing cycle, if you want to live on the water the options are extremely limited, and it is paid for. That is why we have a large house, and I absolutely do not regret it. That being said I think there are a enormous amount of people who are happy as clams in their work, have overachieved savings wise, could retire tomorrow if they wanted to. There is way more money out there than you realize. That being said, if they are like me, all the bases are covered, and you can't take it with you...why not do what make you are your family happiest. I know this site is all about frugality, and I concur that small and simple is better, a big home will not make you happier permanently (potentially the opposite) but hey peoples wild spending is also one of the things that drives this crazy stock market growth that allows average investors to FIRE early. People buying a monster house in 2018 might regret it though after the next challenging cycle starts. I really like having a portion of my NW in waterfront real estate, if the markets (financial or Real estate) drops 50%, I'll still be up on my purchase and happy I've gotten the enjoyment out of it.
Side note/off topic...It would be really interesting for Jim Collins to go back in time are revisit his post on selling his "big" family house. I think it was 2012/13 or something, would be cool to see what the math looks like after 5 years of big gains and renting vs. owning. He probably could have lived for free and have an extra $100k to boot, but that is just me irresponsibly speculating.