Downstairs bedroom-any negatives?

sparkiemalarkie

Hi, my husband and I are thinking about moving our bedroom downstairs to one of our living rooms. We have 2 downstairs rooms.

My older teenage son is in the box room and sleeping on a high-rise bed. He really is too big for the bed but a bigger frame won't fit in the room. He doesn't sleep well because the bed is so noisy when he turns over.

We have thought about a loft conversion but my husband won't be able to cope with the stress.

One room downstairs is really only used by me. It's my Ebay/ laundry room and I think that, with a bit of juggling, I could 'move' to the box room.


Can anyone think of any negatives to moving our bedroom downstairs?


sparkie

PasturesNew

None. Surprised you didn't do it years ago if that's all you used the room for!

fierystormcloud

I agree. Not any negatives really. Is it at the back?

victor2

sparkiemalarkie wrote: »

Can anyone think of any negatives to moving our bedroom downstairs?

If there's not a downstairs toilet, you could have to negotiate the stairs at night when you wake up with the urge to go...

Helen224488

I had the same dilemma as you a few years ago. I moved into a 2 bed house with a lounge & sep dining room. At the time my kids were 4 and 13. My 4 year old daughter had a bedroom upstairs and I had a bedroom upstairs and my son had the dining room which was the room at the front of the house as his bedroom. The lounge was at back of house and kitchen was off of the lounge so the only option was to make the dining room into a bedroom.

My only issue or foreseeable problem I had was if we had a break in burglers might go into the room not thinking anyone would be asleep in there. This was my only problem. My son loved it and he had to go upstairs to use bathroom but he didn't see this as a problem. It was great as he could have his TV and X Box on as loud as he liked and we didn't hear it.

He liked it so much that when we moved to a 3 bed house with a lounge and dining room he asked if he could use the dining room again as his bedroom as the third bedroom was a box room. Again it was the the room at front of house and he loved it. He is 22 now and left home but this sleeping arrangement did him no harm at all. It gave him space and independence. I suppose it's everyones individual choice but it suited us great. You could always give it a trial run.

Spendless

I grew up in a bungalow. I'd say the only thing I can think of and what my parents, say as they still live there is that they don't open their windows on a hot summers night, due to intruders being able to get straight in. However there's solutions to this, such as a fan or air con or a certain window that only has limited opening.

Is the downstairs room big enough for the 2 of you? If it'd be a struggle could older teen move into it instead?

melanzana

Any reason why the older teenage son could not sleep downstairs?

You would still have to move your stuff to the boxroom, but you are still in your bedroom!

peachyprice

How old is your son? Would it not be better if he were downstairs, especially when he get to the age when he starts socialising.

Counting_Pennies_2

The only negative is when you come to sell.


So I would say live in it how you are happy and when you come to move on put everything back in the 'traditional' layout!


In terms of loft conversions, I wouldn't completely rule it out. They do a high percentage of the work from the roof in. It is only when they break through to put the staircase in that it gets a little too much. Perhaps you could arrange for a two week break away somewhere at that point, or house sit for someone who is going away.


hth

cyantist

We live in a bungalow and the only other issue I occasionally have is when I go to bed before DH I can hear the TV and it stops me getting to sleep. Depending on the layout of your downstairs this might not be an issue. Otherwise I'd give the downstairs too to whoever stays up latest at night.

While a loft conversion might not be that intrusive, it's going to cost the best part of 20k and if there's another room which doesn't really have a good purpose then it would be was easier and a lot cheaper to use it as the bedroom

sparkiemalarkie

Thanks for your thoughts,
The downstairs room is at the back of the house and looks over our south facing garden. It gets very hot in the summer.
I have thought about ventilation and not quite sure what to do about that at the moment.

There is no downstairs toilet but it's not usually needed by myself or my husband during the night.

The living room is definitely big enough for a king size bed so space isn't an issue.

If my son moved downstairs I would be quite away from 'my things'. While I'm cooking or cleaning I'm used to popping into the back room to check my emails, make a phone call read a book and so on. I would need a complete lifestyle change to then plod upstairs to 'do my bits'.

Also, my thoughts are that.... if it doesn't suit my husband then he may well be more open to an extension/loft conversion. :shhh:


sparkie