To ask if you are happy in your 'small' home?

There are 4 of us in a 860 square foot cottage. I’d like a bit more room but 1000 doesn’t feel small to me! Minnen beds are your friend for two children sharing a room - flexible lengths and slightly narrower.

Forgot to say yes I’m happy In small terrace, especially when I’m taking advantage of the freedom I have..would never go the other way

We live in an old cottage which is small as most little doer-upper cottages in Ireland are. We have 4 bedrooms but two of them are barely box room size. 4 kids.
Anyway we spent a fortune on a big fuck off extension out the back, bigger kitchen and family room. It took us so long that now my older 2 are moved out and I’ll have another one most likely away at college in 2 years. I look at it all sometimes and think of all the money, sweat and tears it cost us and think wtaf? I wish we still had our little house, our money and our sanity.
With the right furniture and storage your house will be fine. Can you convert the garage?

I am, I have a 2 bed end terrace. That said, it's not small as such. The rooms are large. But I have 2 dc who really would benefit from a bedroom each. BUT most 3 beds I've seen are actually smaller, and even have a reception room less.

Yes, there is a lot to be said for this.

Our old house was a bungalow (all on the level), 3 great sized bedrooms, dining sized kitchen and two lounges.

But it only had one tiny bathroom and no scope to improve on this (conservation area so unable to build into the loft).

I also felt that in the future, it would be good to have a house over two levels, as opposed to a bungalow.

We moved to our new house a few years ago. It's bigger, not as pretty, needs a lot of work...and is a lot more expensive. And I do sometimes regret it and really miss our old house.

We've been here two years and our weekends are still spent on DIY. And we have so much less money (bigger mortgage, higher heating bills, higher council tax, have to pay for a parking permit, have to pay a gardener to help try and get on top of the garden.)

If there was someway to get a second, decent sized bathroom in our old house, I would have stayed.

It was cosy, pretty, and just the way we wanted it (apart from the bathroom).

It was 1080 sq feet so similar size to yours.

I agree with this approach entirely

I shared my whole childhood! Not a problem. This is so personal as it’s about what you value. I’d say time with your family (because you not working all the hours) and less financial stress and less to clean is a winner every time for me.

what does you husband value and what do you value?

you sound like your stopping at 2 children

Our house is quite small. Like you, we'd always planned on moving somewhere bigger, but it would mean a big mortgage and I am just wary of doing that. We might be able to pay our mortgage off fairly soon which would leave us with a lot more disposable income. On balance I think I'd rather have the extra money. Ours is a fairly new property (about 15 years old), and was well built, so everything works, we are in a great area near schools etc. I hate our garden, as it is small and not private enough for my liking (next door neighbours are a bit annoying), but we just go out to parks and forests instead.

I love small houses with cosy little rooms. They make me feel all safe and hobbity. I love that every room is used and there's no wasted space to rattle around in. I love one main sitting room so the family are together rather than spreading between lots of reception rooms. I love a small garden, so cheap and easy to make lush with plants. I love that decorating from top to bottom is affordable and that i can go for more high end flooring and fixtures as i dont need so much. I love that what I'm saving on what would be unused square footage I can spend on enjoying my life. I also love that it makes me tidy and organised and minimal so I don't buy loads of stuff I don't need.

My friends 19 year-old still has the very small room over the stairs and he's a man mountain!

He has a single bed, but he would still have a single bed even if the room was a football field, and his dad built the bed to fit over 'the lump' where the stairs cut into the room. Yes, in an ideal world he would have a bigger room but he copes.

I enjoy having disposable income for holidays and treats and savings that we wouldn't have if we had a bigger house. We chose to keep our mortgage down to have a higher standard of living.

I'd really love another bathroom and I'm sure the children would like bigger bedrooms but we make it work. My dc are now 14 and 10 so the eldest doesn't have long left at home and it's honestly been fine.

The only thing I would say is we don't really do sleepovers or lots of friends visiting at once as we don't have the space for it.

I'm happy in my small house, a fair sized 2 bed London terrace style. If we don't move we will need to split the big double into a small double and a box room. I think that would make it a struggle. Hopefully our children will manage sharing for a good while yet!

I like having a small home, it's cheaper and less work than a big house. Decluttering really is the key to living comfortably in a small house.

I've cleared out the attic and basement and the attic has my erg and yoga mat, a rug, a chest of drawers and a table and chair. I'm really loving the minimal look of it and it cleans up in a few minutes.

YANBU. We live in a 3 bed terrace, it was expensive and trading up - if we can do it at all - won’t be happening for 5-10 years. We have one DS and another DC on the way.

Our square footage isn’t terrible but the downstairs is oddly laid out with a tiny sitting room, and only a small back yard instead of a garden. We skipped the “starter 2 bed flat” but the compromise will be needing to spend much of our DC’s childhood’s here. It’s central and handy for the station but also near lots of parks/country walks not too far, so we’re going to make the best of it.

The most sensible thing for us to do would be to pull the sitting room wall down and push through to the kitchen/family room, but the middle “family room” (again, not big) currently serves as a playroom and will for the foreseeable when we’ve had DC2, so having a separate more “grown up” space in the sitting room works well now.

It is what it is. DS1 is getting bunk beds and in time DC2 can have our room and we’ll go to the spare room on the 2nd floor or DC2 can share with DS1. Not ideal, but trading up in our area costs hundreds of thousands, and with a second mat leave and nursery fees looming we’re just going to have to ruthlessly declutter and stay put.

I genuinely am happy in our 3 bedroom house with DH and 2 DCs aged 6 and 3.

We have spent time room by room choosing different colour schemes and choosing each item, eg I really love my scatter cushions, light fixtures, lamps, clocks, wall art. These things bring me joy!

As others have said, the key is choosing the right sized furniture for the right room, and really thinking through the purpose of each room, furniture item etc. I ruthlessly declutter regularly, and only have clothes of the correct age/season, toys & books of the current ages and interests etc for my children. Things have to earn their place and I avoid duplicates/having too many of any one item, eg mugs, towels, etc.

People ask me a lot how we find only having 1 bathroom. We’ve never had an issue, as DH likes a morning shower before work, I prefer an evening shower/bath after children have gone to bed, children have a shower/bath after dinner. It works for us (may change when they are teenagers! 😂)

It does help me having a loft to store Xmas stuff, other seasonal stuff etc (eg fans). It also really helps that we have a decent brick built shed in our garden, which gives me invaluable extra outdoor toy storage. I would struggle a bit without either of these.

I also love other aspects of having a smaller house- it’s very easy to clean thoroughly week and cheaper to run. I also love our city location, and how I can walk everywhere- school, shop, parks, baby/toddler groups, library, doctor’s etc. I’m 10 mins from my Mum and have wonderful neighbours I’ve known for 12 years now. I’ve really got to know people locally staying in this house.

I wish you well however long you decide to stay 😊

My house is tiny! Even a hamster would complain🤣it’s Like a 2 bedroom flat but with a garage & garden! It’s a lovely cul-de-sac in a safe area which is perfect for my DD. I just have to keep it decluttered!

The best thing I about my small house if definitely my bank account! I have some savings, we go to lovely places, bills are low, we treat ourselves, I have nice perfume etc & I buy mostly organic from Waitrose. I wouldn’t be able to do this if I upsized and these things are important to me.

Same here. Bought a 2.5 bed (and the third bedroom is TINY) when our oldest was 2, and had our second baby here. Assumed we would upsize (no garden, on street parking) but the house isn’t selling, we can’t afford to drop the price and it’s in a very convenient location. We’ve decided to stick it out another few years until our oldest starts secondary as we will need to move then, the local comp is dire.

Agree with PP, ruthless decluttering and look up storage ideas. We also have a few of these which are brilliant

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/4374512?istCompanyId=a74d8886-5df9-4baa-b776-166b3bf9111c&istFeedId=30f62ea9-9626-4cac-97c8-9ff3921f8558&istItemId=laraaqwwr&istBid=t&utm_custom6=LIA&gclsrc=aw.ds&&cmpid=GS001&_$ja=tsid:59157%7Cacid:804-872-0397%7Ccid:20330964438%7Cagid:%7Ctid:%7Ccrid:%7Cnw:x%7Crnd:6773902740249991174%7Cdvc:m%7Cadp:%7Cmt:%7Cloc:1006709&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=20330964438&utm_term=4374512&utm_content=shopping&utm_custom1=&utm_custom2=804-872-0397&GPDP=true&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD9II9n-guGUci2fDAWIffP3gI1Yl&gclid=Cj0KCQiA8q--BhDiARIsAP9tKI3Iu6puVrrJxJpqJ51XJleXcnF7DLgbDUf-n-Q9xYwlHFeYeesJcRgaAi73EALw_wcB

I actually like living in a smaller house at the moment why the kids are young. 2 adults, 2 kids. Less to clean and less to heat. The key is declutter and have a space for everything. I don't know if I will feel the same when their teens or if we have a 3rd but for now im very happy where we live.

It’s definitely subjective. We are a family of 4- 2 adults, 1 teen and 1 pre-teen. Our house feels big enough to me- large living room, kitchen-diner plus utility room and downstairs loo. Upstairs is 2 doubles and 2 small singles. But I have seen plenty of threads on mumsnet talking about similar size homes being tiny, how playrooms and studies are a must, even that an extra lounge is ‘essential’ with teens.

So I think it’s more if it feels too small for you and like it’s impacting your quality of life too much.

I had the small box room as a kid and my parents got the wall moved between their room and mine to make mine a bit bigger.

Stay for now. Plan to move when they’re in their teens and live in their bedrooms. So at least ten years to save. Then 10-15 years in the big house and downsize!

I've a small house but bit by bit it's becoming stylish AF. So I'm making the best of the size I suppose.

We live in a slighty smaller home than that, then after 6 years had a garden room/shed/office added bringing up to the size you have.

I do think layouts and outside space make a difference so it's not easy to compare.

However my living room, kitchen diner space never feel small.

My bedroom sometimes feels a bit cramped as our previous home had a bigger main bedroom so we were used to more space. Have to be ruthless with clothes. But not worth moving for.

I do also wish my son had a bigger room as he is an adult basically and the box room is a bit small for him and his girlfriend.
.

We’re in a similar position with a similar sized house. I’d love more space as we are due our second child and I feel like there’s just mess everywhere. No downstairs toilet which I find annoying. We’ve got a nice sized living room that leads onto the kitchen /diner through double doors, so it sometimes feels like downstairs is one room and then I get a bit of cabin fever just seeing the same walls all the time, especially in winter.
House prices for what would be our next step are just so unrealistic though. We’ve looked at a few but we’d be so stretched financially. No point swapping the stress of space and mess for the stress of money issues!
I 100% want to have moved somewhere bigger by the time our second child starts school. I grew up with the box room and didn’t like it and would love to give both of my children enough space to have a double bed and enough room to store their clothes when they’re older.

Is the location good for you, OP? Will this meet your long term needs?

You mention that you have a garage. Is this joined on to the house? Could it become part of the house so you had more space? Could you extend out the back at all? Loft?

I agree with posters about decluttering and careful choice of furniture to maximise space.