I've found that absurd, gibberish rooflines, and weird, uneven jutting-out bits everywhere, plus garages shoved way out in front (?WHY?) <i>do</i> make the houses look bigger, which may be desirable for a builder.<p>I've shopped for houses a lot, and after "training" mostly on typical '80s+ suburban houses, noticed that when looking at older houses with saner, calmer designs, I'd have to add 500-1,000(!)sqft to my first-impression guesses at their size to get close, while I'd gotten pretty good at guessing the "McMansion" and mini-McMansion style. The older designs don't look as big, at the same size.