Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Bates House "Tour"


"We started off with an 800-square-foot house with eight kids, and now we've got a probably 3,000-and-something-square-foot house, and now we're down to 15 kids."
-Gil Bates

In the video below, Gil and Kelly Bates sit down to answer a question that fans have been asking since the premiere of Bringing Up Bates: Just how big is your house? Gil and Kelly count up all the rooms and bedrooms and share what they are used for. Some might say that 3,000 square feet isn't much space for 21 people, but having lived in much tighter quarters, the Bates consider it a mansion.



Photo/video courtesy of UP

28 comments:

  1. I love that it's Gil's job to clean the bathrooms!! Go Gil!!

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  2. 8.5 bathrooms!! I never realized their house was so big. I think the problem with the Duggars and Bates being on television is that they no longer live like most large homeschooling families, and therefore they're harder to relate to. As a mom of 8 who does it all myself, I was saddened for instance that Michelle uses a full-time tutor, I used to look up to her so much for homeschooling all the children.

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    1. If it's true that Michelle Duggar has a tutor help, she probably didn't when she only had 8 kids. Maybe the Lord wanted to bless them with a little help after they had 14,16,19?? I am a do all by myself mama too but I don't feel like she hasn't walked in my shoes because she probably did for MANY years and I don't have 19 so I certainly haven't walked in hers. :)

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    2. Adding a tutor to the roster gives the children more individual time, both from Michelle and the tutor. It doesn't mean Michelle has checked out.

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    3. I am sure they need every one of those bathrooms epecially when their married kids come over with their spouses and grandkids. Can you even imagine how many grandkids they will have one day when all of their kids are grown? I think it is great if you can homeschool all by yourself, but I do understand Michelle needing a tutor. Generally we all have subjects we are good in and some we are not. If Michelle had a hard time teaching higher math (Algebra, Geometry, Pre-Calc, etc.) then it makes sense to get help. The tutor probably just helped an hour or two originally but with so many in high school at the same time.... it might have made more sense to have full time help. I still look up to Mrs. Duggar. She handles her children with such kindness and love. She is a great example. I am sure she still homeschools all the little ones, but there are only so many hours in the day. I don't think anyone should be ashamed to get help at times.

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    4. I remember watching Michelle home school a dozen plus kids at the old house and the new house. She carried it for a long time. But true to what they believe in, she trained the older ones to help/guide once they had finished high school. Jessa was once the secondary schoolmaster and her personality helped keep the kids on course

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    5. If they can afford a tutor to help the kids get an even better education, I think that's only a positive.

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    6. ...and i remember Josiah saying Jessa is great for the job because nonone messes with Jessa and she is stern (not his exact words but you get the gist). There is no better way to learn something than to step up to the plate and give it a shot, allowing those God given talents to be used. I'm sure after 29 years and 19 kids, with finances to allow, Jim Bob & Michelle decided to get some outside help from a family friend. I remember after having my 3rd child we had to hire a helper for me for the first 3 months because I have a chronic hip condition and postpartum mobility is difficult for me. I was so appreciative for the help. It doesn't make us less than to take a repreive. Michelle is such an inspiration to me and i am ever so careful to criticize a

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  3. I wonder if you can add captions? I'm deaf and can't hear. Thanks! :)

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    1. Hi there,

      Sorry for the delay. Some of the videos do have closed captions on them. (This one does: http://www.batesfamilyblog.com/2017/03/a-makeshift-family-closet.html) We don't have the ability to add it, as we are not the maker of the videos, but we have notified UP to suggest that they add it to more of their videos.

      Blessings,
      Lily and Elie

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  4. Gil can cone to my house and clean my 3 bathrooms.

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  5. I would love to see the episode where they showed around the house when it was finished,what was it called? Can you please post a link?

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  6. I would like to ask a respectful, logical and common sense question here: How is it that a camera crew was at the Bates house at 5am if the fire was a totally unexpected thing caused by two little boys' spontaneous actions? It doesn't make any sense that this was filmed.

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    1. Yeah! Wondering the same thing.

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    2. There wasn't a camera crew there. Any footage you saw was either A) shot by family members on their phones or B) shot well after the fire department had showed up.

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    3. You need to re-read the posts; the fire did not start at 5 a.m., that is the time that Lawson arrived home from his gig and went to sleep.

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    4. They never said the fire took place at 5:00 a.m. That was the time that Lawson got home. He went to bed after that, and they woke him up at some point. We have no idea when the actual fire was.

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  7. I remember the early Bates appearance on TV. Their original house was a way too small, falling down around them little place. Jim Bob Duggar's bright idea to 'give the Bates family a present' and have his family construct an addition on to their house...film it on TLC so TLC would pay for it and have real professionals behind the scene do the actual construction....much like the Duggar home was done. Pretty smart of them to get a complimentary home addition. Jim Bob 'helping' his friend, Gil Bates. Not meant to be sarcastic, but it's pretty obvious this is how it went.

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    1. Maybe not meaning to be sarcastic but certainly coming across like "the green-eyed monster". Remember what momma taught you, if you can't say something nice..........

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    2. I know that is what you think happened, but none of us have all the facts. It isn't our business how their house was added onto. I am glad that they have friends who helped them. They obviously needed a bigger house! Who paid for it is irrelevant. I do remember the episode, and the Duggars were shown working on the house. Do you really think on any of these shows where they do work on houses that the main person on the show does all the work to the house? They always have extra help. I don't recall in the episode where they raised their right hands and said we promise we are doing all of the work.

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  8. If you are a follower of the show than you are interested in the family So what difference does it make on who or how the addition was built or who paid for it when my parents house burnt down many people of the community came together to assist in the rebuild people can be kind and generous with time and product

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  9. I'm very disappointed that my comment was never posted when I asked nicely about adding captions. I assume this website is not friendly for deaf people. :(

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    1. Please don't assume that. We are not always able to answer comments immediately after they are posed. Please see our response above. :)

      Lily and Ellie

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    2. I apologize :)

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  10. Is there another way to watch this video? It isn't loading for some reason. I am only having problems with the videos on this b

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  11. Why does Lawson, Nathan and Carlin seem to always steal the show? Trace hardly ever gets a word in (just wondering).

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  12. You guys have already talked about how big the Bates house is. What I'm wondering is how many acres do they own and how many out buildings there is on their property?

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