how big is your house & how many live there?

blushingbride_3

ok great thanks everyone, with the size & shape of the building we'd be able to create 3 bedrooms each 3 x 4m is this a reasonable size? there'd also be a bathroom & ensuite

JBD

blushingbride wrote: »

ok great thanks everyone, with the size & shape of the building we'd be able to create 3 bedrooms each 3 x 4m is this a reasonable size? there'd also be a bathroom & ensuite

These do sound a reasonable size to me, but again it is what you are used to. They would definitely be big enough to take 2 beds. It might be an idea to measure up the bedrooms in your present house to give you an idea. You could also do scale drawings to see where you could arrange furniture[like when you design a fitted kitchen]. It is definitely a good idea to have an ensuite, also a downstairs cloakroom is very useful when you have children. And lots of storage space.

bertiebots

We have a 3 bed house ,the size is typical for our area with 2 doubles (13 ft x 10 and 10 ft by 9) and a single/box room 8ft x 7ft. There are 5 of us here and ds's share , dd has the small room and we have the biggest which has a small en suite. We manage ok with a good sized lounge and dining kitchen but it would be nice to have another room to escape sometimes!
The kids often all pile in one bedroom in school hols to sleep- watch a film etc ,they get on most of the time really well!
My dh was one of 5 and they lived in a 3 bed semi -4 boys sharing. The only girl got her own room but it was tiny .

Jo_R_2

There's 5 of us (me and OH, DD1 aged 6, DD2 aged 3 and DS aged 1) in a three-bed semi. DDs share a double room and DS has his own single room.

We moved last year when DS was about three months old, from a two-up, two-down newish end terrace. Lovely area but with it being so new, the houses are really starter homes and as such are tiiiiiiiiny.

I think there are a multitude of things you can do to accommodate the kids, but I must touch upon something a couple of others have mentioned. We were absolutely claustrophobic with our lack of living space: our old living room and kitchen were tiny and the garden non-existent and moving has given us a dining room, hallway, downstairs bathroom and conservatory, as well as a decent-sized garden and it has done wonders for us. If anything DDs' new bedroom is slightly smaller but everything else makes up for that.

Also the added downstairs 'facilities' are a godsend, which if we stay here long-term I can see being worth their weight in gold once the kids are older. So I think the bedrooms are important but other factors are too -but I also think it's amazing what people can do with the space they've got!

ciderwithrosie_2

We've brought up 3 boys in a 2 bed house, now oldest is at Uni - they've never expressed to us that they felt hard done by not having a room each or there wasn't enough privacy, and they'll never have issues about sharing or changing in front of others etc. Granted there's not much between them in age which might have been more of a problem if there was a big gap. They've got the biggest room which is about 15ft by 12ft, plenty of room for 2 sets of bunk beds and all their other stuff. It's more important to have space downstairs (another toilet would have been handy though). Bedrooms are just somewhere you go to sleep and I'd rather enjoy the company of my children than have them isolated up in their rooms playing hours of x box. My SIL's two children have their own rooms and she hardly sees them, that's not healthy IMO.

bestpud

We've had 5 of us in a 3 bed house and at various times had:

Me and DH in the medium room, DS in small room, DDs in large room (sectioned off with furniture)

Me and DH in large room, DD2 in small room, DD1 in dining room and DS in medium room.

Now it is just me and DDs (17 & 8) and I'm in the big room, DD1 in medium room, DD2 in the small room, and I am just about to turn the dining room into a playroom for DD1. I'd say the house is just about right for the three of us!

Tbh, the biggest issue for us was having just the one toilet, and that being in the bathroom - with two teens, a baby (and later, potty training toddler) and 2 adults it was a bit of a nightmare at times!

If you go for the renovation, I would have a toilet downstairs plus the two bathrooms - that will make a big difference!

I can't see how you will be moving out anytime soon though, so I'm not sure what your worry is on that score? 4 children, 2 years apart, is going to take a good while to achieve, if indeed it all goes to plan...

Northern_girl_2

I have one brother and sister, and when we were younger children we lived in a three bed house. I shared with my sister, which is fine when we were little but she is 5 years younger than me so caused problems when we got older. I wanted more space and stayed up later reading etc. In the end we got an attic bedroom and we all had our own rooms.

As others have said it really depends on how much room there is elsewhere in the house. If there is a big age gap and the little one goes to bed, will there be another quiet room for the elder to do their homework. What about when they want friends to stay? I know my mother rejoiced when we got a downstairs toilet too because there was a always a queue.

I can see what others mean about the potential for kids to stay in their individual rooms and the risk of losing family closeness. It was never a problem for us but we weren't allowed TVs in our rooms or computers so we still sat together as a family.