Small rooms, how to furnish?

Saria

I need some advice guys! Please help put my mind at ease! :P

We recently put an offer down on our first house, which has now been accepted. We are now waiting for the vendors to find a place and get everything sorted.

Now the thing is that I think we are mostly buying the house for the garden and integrated garage (will become a home gym), the two main things we wanted in a house. But it seems this means we have to lose out on other things. The house is not wide at all, with a tiny kitchen and very narrow bedrooms. There is scope for extension in the back, but that won't change the width of the rooms (plus would be costly and something we can't afford now).

I have been having some sleepless nights now trying to figure out how to fit furniture in these rooms.
The master bedroom for example is about 4.65m max x 2.39m (15' 3" max x 7' 10"). Below is the plan of the house and some pictures of the bedroom currently.




Now because of the shape of the room and the placement of the door and window, you can only really place the bed the way it is now... But with beds easily measuring up to 210-215cm in length or more, this only leaves you about 30cm or so behind the bed...
I thought about placing it against the window, but then you're covering the radiator, and the closet built in the wall on the right.

I would like a king size ottoman bed (king size because we find a double a bit too small, and ottoman to have extra storage, which is needed in this house). But king size is longer than a double (which is what is set up in that room right now I think). So we would have pretty much no space to move behind the bed!

Are there shorter king size beds available? Like 190cm instead of 200cm? I tried looking around but find it difficult to find anything, especially as an ottoman bed.

Or is there something we could do with placing the bed against the window while still getting inside that closet? Are there sliding doors you can get to replace the ones on there?

And this doesn't even cover the living room, which is very narrow as well... I think the problems are all caused by the stairway being where it is right now, taking up space in both bedrooms and the living room, but I'm not sure there is much you can do about a staircase?

I am getting a bit panicky about all this, cause we are spending a lot of money on a house and I want to make sure we can actually live in it without getting annoyed by the small spaces! Please give me some advice! :P

jk0

Is bedroom 2 any wider, or is that an optical illusion?

Saria

jk0 wrote: »

Is bedroom 2 any wider, or is that an optical illusion?

No, sadly it's the same width. The size of the second bedroom is 3.73m x 2.39m (12' 3" x 7' 10"). The third bedroom is tiny because they have fitted in wardrobes at the end.

They are kind of awkward spaces I guess.

Doozergirl

I've never know anyone priotie having a gym over having at least one bedroom that fits a bed and allows a person to move around it.

I can do stuff with most houses but with that staircase bisecting the house, it's impossible without moving the staircase.

Is this a horrendously expensive area where the cost of moving the stairs might pay off?

My advice would be not to buy it otherwise. I'd rather have a two bed, even.

cyclonebri1

Doozergirl wrote: »

I've never know anyone priotie having a gym over having at least one bedroom that fits a bed and allows a person to move around it.

I can do stuff with most houses but with that staircase bisecting the house, it's impossible without moving the staircase.

Is this a horrendously expensive area where the cost of moving the stairs might pay off?

My advice would be not to buy it otherwise. I'd rather have a two bed, even.

But the gyms a proposed garage conversion? and could easily take a staircase to the 1st floor without impinging on the gym, plus giving another 1/2 metre width to beds 1/2?

The staircase would come out in the cupboard however, to be honest I too would steer clear, it has little option for improvemet

theonlywayisup

Doozergirl wrote: »

I've never know anyone priotie having a gym over having at least one bedroom that fits a bed and allows a person to move around it.

I can do stuff with most houses but with that staircase bisecting the house, it's impossible without moving the staircase.

Is this a horrendously expensive area where the cost of moving the stairs might pay off?

My advice would be not to buy it otherwise. I'd rather have a two bed, even.

Each to their own but I'm with this ^

By the sounds, you are first time buyers. Don't rush, there will be something out there that fits the bill without compromising as much as this seems to. I feel 7'10" should be a box room issue, not a main bedroom problem. The staircase is the cause of the headache.

Davesnave

I like gardening, but it would have to be one hellva garden to make me take on that problem staircase.

And if Doozergirl baulks at fixing it, that's me out too!

You are having sleepless nights, because in your heart of hearts you know this place isn't right, whatever the other advantages.

moneyistooshorttomention

Bearing in mind that some people get "stuck" in their starter house for rather longer than they planned on (ie sh*t happens one way or another) then there is always the possibility that you move into a starter house with a starter house worth of possessions BUT are still there 10 years/15 years/20 years later - and, by then, you've gone ahead getting the "that stage of life" possessions and are trying to cram them into an "earlier stage of life" house.

Voice of experience time....:cool:. Twenty years later on in life and, believe me, you have a LOT more possessions....

TheCyclingProgrammer

I can only agree with the others, I wouldn't buy that house. My advice would be to keep looking, there's just too many compromises.

Jamiesmum

Do you need a 3 bed? If not could you make the smallest into a big wardrobe? Dressing table big mirror and hanging rails. Frees up space in the main bedroom then and maybe you could angle the bed different.

I see no problems with having the bed underneath the window, though. Mine has almost always been by a window.

Yes you can get shorter beds, but you'd be better off with a double. A compromise needs to be made somewhere if you want too make it work.

onomatopoeia99

Are you sure about beds being more than 215cm (7') long? Mine's a super king size and is 6'6" (198cm) long. That gives 40cm / 16" which while not palatial would be sufficient to walk around the bed.

Is it an error in the floorplan or is the only access to the kitchen from the back door? And the garage door is the only access to the integral garage?